Gordie, Goalie McLeod Send Aeros Into Orbit • by Joey LeBourgeois • The Sporting News • June 1, 1974
With Gordie Howe's power play, Gordie Howe's penalty-killing crew and Gordie Howe's experienced majesty bonding 20 others into a powerhouse, the Houston Aeros swept away the Chicago Cougars like a bunch of household pests to step into the winner's circle in the World Hockey Association.
Howe, the 46-year-old super star who last won a championship in 1955 with the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL, iced his own cake with nine assists, seven of them while the Cougars were short a man. And the Aeros made short work of the league's Cinderella team to grab the Avco World Trophy, the new league's version of the Stanley Cup.
It only took four games for the Aeros, who finished first in the West Division by 11 points, to dispatch Chicago. Only one of them was even close.
Houston squeezed out a 3-2 triumph in the first game of the final series, after a 12-day layoff from a semifinal verdict over the Minnesota Fighting Saints. There was little doubt as to the outcome after the Aeros' opening game win.
With Don (Smokey) McLeod keeping a steady hand on the door to the goal, Houston then packed away 6-1, 7-4 and 6-2 victories to end a long season of excellence and complete a storybook season.
Gordie Howe not only came back from retirement to play with sons Mark and Marty, but also carried his team to a championship.
In the first game of the series, played in a suburban ice rink north of Chicago because the Amphitheater was committed to a
production of Peter Pan, Howe didn't figure in the scoring. He picked it up from there.
In the second game, he helped on a pair, in Game 3 he set up three goals and, in the final game, played before almost 10,000 Houstonians, he assisted on four goals to lead the charge.
It was almost as easy as tossing a fishing line into water, the way the power play was working.
McLeod finished best in the league with a 2.57 goals-against average and was named the WHA's All-Star netminder. He thwarted Chicago again and again. Meanwhile, the Aeros had Andre Gill and Cam Newton spinning in their tracks.
Instead of shooting from the point and working on the tips, Houston kept working one side until a man could spring free on
the other.
lt worked like a charm. Howe's big windup from the point would bring everybody running, but the puck would go across rather than toward the goal. Seven times the goalie got caught on the strategy.
The offense stole the show, but Houston's defense kept the comeback Cougars at bay. Pat Stapleton's charges, who erased deficits time and again in a drive to the finals, couldn't even get a good shot very often.
Houston had the center sealed off most of the time, forcing the Cougars to shoot from outside and at tough angles. And when Chicago could find an opening, McLeod was there to close it.
Stapleton, who played with infections on both hands and feet in the final game, rallied his squad past the dethroned New England Whalers and the Toronto Toros in 14 games, but this time there was no hope.
It was the men against the boys.
"You've got to give them their due," said Stapleton when all was over. "They've got great balance. They had so many guys score over 30 goals (six) and they had the best defense in the league. That's a great combination to have.
"For a team like Houston to win the league in 78 games like they did and then win the playoffs, you have to say they're the best."
Andre Hinse, a left winger that Aero's Coach Bill Dineen said would have brought him a championship last year if he'd been
around, led the scoring with five goals — four of them in two games. Murray Hall, Frank Hughes, Gordon Labossiere and defenseman Larry Hale added three each.
The only Houston line that didn't do any damage in normal circumstances was Howe's — but only because of a lack of ice time. Center Jim Sherrit and Mark Howe were the ones left behind during the many specialty-team minutes.
The only Cougar to score even twice was Rick Morris. Don Gordon, Ralph Backstrom, Rosie Paiement, Larry Mavety, Frank Rochon and Jan Popiel all had singles as McLeod kept losing shutouts late.
The goalie, even more than Howe, was the hero of the series and of the season for Houston, which finished fourth in the west last year.
McLeod posted a 12-2 record in the playoffs, losing twice to the Saints [and] cooling quarterfinal foe Winnipeg in four games.
McLeod and the power play were too much to handle. Houston made good on 11 of 16 power-play attempts while McLeod handled
all but nine of 116 shots by the Cougars during the series.
Indeed, the Aeros looked strong enough in their l4-game post-season to provoke discussion of equality with the NHL finalists. A common conclusion was that only Philadelphia would pose a real problem.
That, however, was not the big question in the wake of the season. What everybody wanted to know was "will Gordie do it again?"
He's got three years left on a four-year pact, which includes an eventual front-office post, and has said that he'll play another year if his legs hold out.
But what does he have to gain?
"I came into this league with nothing to prove and I have nothing to prove next year," he said. "If I think I can help the team, I'll be back."
