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Jan. 1, 1980

Hot Hartford Climbs to 2nd
Top Offense Overtakes Boston, Chicago

The Hartford Whalers have been the hottest team in the league since mid-November, going 16-2-6 to overtake Boston and Chicago and claim second place in the UHL. Hartford boasts the top offense, averaging 4.9 goals per game, led by the first line of C Mike Rogers (49 pts), LW Steve Payne (45), and RW Al MacAdam (43). The club notched its biggest win of the year in its last game of the calendar year, an 8-1 home win over Montreal that featured two goals and two assists by RW Mike Bossy and four assists from D Doug Halward.

G Mike Liut also had a solid month, allowing three goals or less in eight of his last 10 games.

Middleton Nets Four
Minnesota Winger Keys 6-3 Win at Philly

Minnesota's RW Rick Middleton recorded the league's second four-goal game Dec. 20 in a 7-5 win at Toronto. The 26-year-old scored two goals two game before, giving him a six-goal haul over three games that nearly doubled his season tally after scoring just six goals in his first 31 games. Minnesota climbed one spot to 7th,but still sits 15 points behind Los Angeles for the last playoff spot.

Minnesota RW Rick Middleton scored four at Toronto Dec. 20

League Standings

G W L T Pts G GA GD Last
1 1 Vancouver 37 25 6 6 56 160 95 65 8-3-2
2 4 Hartford 36 23 7 6 52 175 120 55 8-2-3
3 2 Boston 36 20 5 11 51 129 80 49 7-4-1
4 3 Chicago 36 21 9 6 48 161 111 50 6-4-2
5 6 Detroit 36 18 11 7 43 143 115 28 8-4-1
6 5 Los Angeles 37 17 12 8 42 145 115 30 7-5-1

7 8 Minnesota 37 11 21 5 27 130 177 -47 5-7-1
8 9 Toronto 37 9 21 7 25 147 189 -42 3-6-4
9 7 Montreal 36 8 21 7 23 123 176 -53 1-9-3
10 11 New York 36 5 23 8 18 126 196 -70 5-5-3
11 10 Philadelphia 36 3 24 9 15 151 216 -65 1-10-1

League Leaders

CHI Darryl Sittler

VAN Gilles Gilbert

Points GP G A Pt
Wayne Gretzky TOR 37 23 41 64
Marcel Dionne LA 37 24 32 56
Dave Taylor CHI 36 24 32 56
Darryl Sittler CHI 36 18 35 53
Charlie Simmer PHI 36 26 23 50
Mike Rogers HAR 36 19 30 49
Steve Shutt PHI 36 20 27 47
+Steve Payne HAR 36 20 25 45
+Bobby Smith TOR 37 12 32 44
Bryan Trottier DET 36 19 23 43

Goals Against Avg
GP GA GAA
Don Edwards BOS 24 53 2.21
Michel Larocque BOS 12 27 2.26
Glenn Resch VAN 22 52 2.44
Gilles Gilbert VAN 13 35 2.70
Pete Peeters CHI 14 37 2.93
Gerry Cheevers DET 21 61 2.98
Gilles Meloche LA 26 75 3.00
Mike Liut HAR 28 86 3.09
Hardy Astrom CHI 23 69 3.11
Denis Herron DET 14 46 3.44

Goals
Charlie Simmer PHI 26
Blaine Stoughton VAN 25
+Dave Taylor CHI 24
Marcel Dionne LA 24
+Mike Bossy HAR 23
+Wayne Gretzky TOR 23
+Danny Gare PHI 23
Pierre Larouche CHI 21
4 tied with 20

Save Percentage
Glenn Resch VAN .917
Gilles Gilbert VAN .911
Don Edwards BOS .905
Pete Peeters CHI .904
Gilles Meloche LA .903
Mike Liut HAR .898
Gerry Cheevers DET .896
Michel Larocque BOS .896
Hardy Astrom CHI .889
Denis Herron DET .885

Assists
Wayne Gretzky TOR 41
Denis Potvin MON 36
Darryl Sittler CHI 35
Larry Robinson VAN 33
Marcel Dionne LA 32
+Doug Halward HAR 32
+Bobby Smith TOR 32
Dave Taylor CHI 32
Mike Rogers HAR 30

Power Play Goals
Mike Bossy HAR 8
Dave Christian LA 8
Steve Vickers DET 8
Rheal Cloutier TOR 7
Mike Eaves HAR 7
Guy Lafleur BOS 7
Pierre Larouche CHI 7
Kent Nilsson VAN 7
+Jean Ratelle MON 7
Darryl Sittler CHI 7

Hat Tricks
+Marcel Dionne LA 2
Bernie Federko MON 2
+Paul Holmgren PHI 2
Charlie Simmer PHI 2

MVP Race

Skaters GP G Ast Pts PIM +/- TkA Hits BkS MVP
1 4 Wayne Gretzky TOR 37 23 41 64 10 2 16 52 18 100
2 2 Marcel Dionne LA 37 24 32 56 39 18 19 60 17 100.0
3 3 Dave Taylor CHI 36 24 32 56 40 9 19 58 10 97.6
4 1 Darryl Sittler CHI 36 18 35 53 31 14 20 48 6 90.6
5 10 Mike Rogers HAR 36 19 30 49 6 17 10 27 8 84.7
6 - Steve Payne HAR 36 20 25 45 21 19 20 54 8 82.4
7 6 Charlie Simmer PHI 36 26 24 50 35 -12 16 39 14 81.2
8 - Blaine Stoughton VAN 37 25 17 42 6 23 8 27 9 80.0
9 9 Bryan Trottier DET 36 19 25 44 29 8 23 56 20 78.8
108 Pierre Larouche CHI 36 21 21 42 10 18 16 26 8 78.8

Goalies GP GAA Save% Great W L T OL SO MVP
1 2 Mike Liut HAR 28 3.09 .898 44 19 5 3 0 1 100
2 3 Gilles Meloche LA 26 3.00 .903 48 15 5 5 0 1 97.3
3 4 Glenn Resch VAN 22 2.44 .917 31 17 3 2 0 3 95.2
4 1 Don Edwards BOS 24 2.21 .905 33 14 2 8 0 1 94.7
5 5 Tony Esposito MIN 33 4.53 .866 47 11 17 4 0 1 84.1
6 6 Hardy Astrom CHI 23 3.11 .889 16 13 5 4 0 1 70.1
7 8 Gerry Cheevers DET 21 2.98 .896 25 9 8 3 0 1 68.2
8 7 Wayne Stephenson MON 29 4.53 .860 23 6 12 4 0 0 64.3
9 9 Pete Peeters CHI 14 2.93 .904 23 8 3 2 0 1 51.3
1010 Gilles Gilbert VAN 13 2.70 .911 21 8 2 3 0 1 49.9

Milestones

Oct 11 - MTL C Ulf Nilsson 1st UHL goal
Oct 15 - MIN G Tony Esposito first UHL shutout, record 57 saves
Oct 17 - BOS Dennis Maruk first UHL hat trick
Oct 29 - MIN Wilf Paiement 5 assists in a game (#1 all-time)
Nov 18 -MON Bernie Federko 4 goals in game (#1 all-time)
Nov 20 - MON Bernie Federko back-to-back hat tricks

Dec 4 - MIN Ray Bourque 5 assists in a game (#2 all-time)
Dec 20 - MIN Rick Middleton 4 goals in game (#2 all-time)

Team Capsules