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Reaction:▲iHjAISby IAN IVIad AINE( anadian Press StaffWriterThe Canadian Amateur Hockey Association's hands are tied as far as the hockey playing' Howe boys are concerned, says Jack Devine.The newly elected CAHA president said from his home in Belleville. Ont.. Tuesday night that the association is taking under advisement the signing earlier in the day of the two Detroit-horn teen-agers by Houston Aeros of the World HockeyAssociation.The Howe boys — Mark, 18. and Marty, 19 — are sons of former National Hockey League great, Gordie Howe, who at present, still holds an executive job with Detroit Red Wings.Mark, a left winger, and defenceman Marty played last vear with the Canadian junior champion Toronto Marlboros.Under a CAM Aagreement with the NFMi, the pros will not sign any players before their 20th birthday. Marty had one more year of eligibility and Mark, who played with the U.S. Olympic hockey team at Sapporro, Japan, in 1972, still had two yearsleft.“Disappointed, that's all I can say/’ said Devine about the signings. He said that as recently as the junior draft at Montreal in mid-Mav the WHA “as-sured us they had no intentions of signing any juniors.Hethe CAHA had on file two letters from the WHA to Joe Kryczka of Calgary, past president of the CAHA. indicating the league would not sign junior players until they became eligible for the draft.“It was even expressed at one of the meetings we had this year with their negotiating committee.He said that whether the letters mean anything in a court of law is “something we are taking under advisement to see what can be done.Devine said the CAHA and WHA were in the p rocess of pre1 i m i n a ry talks leading to establishment of an agreement similar to the one the amateur body has with the NHL.He said the figures presented by the WHA seemed agreeable and were to be presented to the CAHA’s junior congress at Charlottetown this year before WHA president Cary Davidson advised the association that “the CAflA was too demanding.“We hadn’t demanded anything to this point,” Devine said. “The figures had just been presented and we were to present them to the junior congress.”Gordon Juckes, managing director of the CAHA in Ottawa, said of the WHA letters signed by Davidson: “Obviously, they don’t mean a thing.”“It’s very serious and detrimental to junior hockey in Canada,” he added. “We can discount any claims by Davidson and the WHA that they were professional.“If they did it once, there is nothing to indicate they won’t do it again.”George Armstrong, who coached the Howes in Toronto last season, was not available for comment. Nor w^as the Marlboro general manager, F'rank Bonello. who is on vacation.Pearlier in the day, NHL president Clarence Campbell, recalled the dissatisfaction the league inspired by signing young juniors before they had completed their apprenticeship.“The NHL was flayed byvarious groups including the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association and various members of Parliament all through the early ’60s,” Campbell said.The federal government's task force said we were recruiting hockey players at too early an age.”C’ampbell said the NHL accepted the task force’s recommendations and agreed not to approach players under 20.“Now we find ourselves in a position where an organization that is working as our direct opposition is doing the same thing,” Campbell said adding that the Howe boys and the pro-amateur agreement with the CAHA, which expires June 30, will be studied at the NHL’s annual meeting next week in Montreal.Juckes said the CAHA “completely refutes the suggestion that these players are professional and we refute Mr. Davidson’s arguments in this regard.”“It’s a complete subterfuge to get around his assurances to the CAHA.”In claiming the Howes in the recent WHA draft, Houston said they were professionals in the United States in that they received $60 a week to play hockey in Canada.They used the argument that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) barred major Junior A players from playing college hockey in the U.S. because they were paid.It was subsequently disclosed, however, that such restrictions by the NCAA had no bearing on a player’s amateur standing.Detroit rookie Henry Boucha played major Junior A hockey in Canada with Winnipeg Jets of the Western Canada HockevupsetLeague b(*fore joining the younger Howe on the U.S. Olympic team at Sapporo.The youths also are amateurs in th(» eyes of the International Ice Hockey F’ederation, the Olympic Association, the U.S. Amateur Hockey Association as well as the CAHA.Howard Darwin of Ottawa, owner of London Knights and part-owner of Ottawa 67s — both of the OHA Junior A stories, said the signings were “a sad thing for junior hockey in Canada.”“They (the WHA) will eventually kill off the life line of hockev.”Darwin, who attiuided the meeting with the WHA in Montreal, concurred with Devine’s assessment of the general feeling that the CAHA and WHA were close to signing an agreement.He said the WHA just can’t be trusted.”Kryczka. meanwhi called the WHA signings “a backward step for pro hockey.”“If the World Hockey Association continues to disrupt the minor levels, the whole structure of amateur hockey will go to pieces.” he said in Calgary. “It’s getting to be ridiculous.”He suggested that if the pro teams were allowed to get away with signing junior players, “who is to draw the line to say who is exceptional and who isn’t?”“If clubs can sign 18-year-olds. what is to stop them from signing 17-. 16-or 15-vear-olds,” he added.AUDIOLABORATORIESCOMPLETE HEARING AID SERVICES including RENTALS 217-lOth St, 727-2624
Newspaper Details
Brandon Sun
Brandon, Manitoba, CA
Wed, Jun 06, 1973
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Jason P.
USA 31 Jul 2018
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