American Affair

Sirens screamed. A string of firecrackers sounded off for a full minute, popping on the ice. A dead fish was tossed across the arena. Hats soared.

Chicago never got quite so heated up over ice hockey as it did last week when its Black Hawk pros whipped the Montreal Canadiens 3-0, putting themselves in the final play-off for the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1944.

Excitement ran just as high in Detroit after its Red Wings had beaten the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team that had led the league through much of the 70-game schedule. For the first time since 1950, the play-off for the big silver cup donated by Canada's Governor General Lord Stanley back in 1893 is an all *American-affair. Even as they wait for next year, Canadian fans realize that power is now so equally divided between the National Hockey League's top four teams that for the next few seasons the cup play-offs should continue to be a wide-open contest.

No Flukes. Under the N.H.L.'s peculiar play-off rules, designed to boost team treasuries, the first-and third-place teams fight it out for a place in the playoffs. The second-and fourth-place teams skate through the same routine. Thus, while the third-place Black Hawks disgraced the first-place Canadiens by beating them four games out of six, including unprecedented back-to-back 3-0 shutouts, the lowly, fourth-place Red Wings swept four straight (after dropping the opener) from the Maple Leafs. But the pair of upsets were no flukes.

Ever since Maurice ("The Rocket") Richard retired last year, the Canadiens have lacked the old luster that the great scorer-playmaker added to his team. Without him as a catalyst, such stars as Goalie Jacques Plante and Sharpshooter Jean Beliveau have seldom played up to their best. By season's end, complacency proved fatal. In contrast, the Black Hawks came into the play-offs in top form. Forward Ab McDonald's return from the injured list restored their stealthy "scooter line"--one of the lightest in the league. Brisk playmaking, sharp checking and the defense work of Goalie Glenn Hall (TIME, Jan. 20), made the difference. "We played that funny game," said Red Wing General Manager Jack Adams. "We didn't let them have the puck."

Double Winner. The outcome of the Maple Leafs-Red Wings fracas turned on a combination of three factors. Toronto was hamstrung by injuries to key men. And the Leafs let down, sure they were a shoo-in after losing only twice to the Wings in 14 previous games. The Wings, on the other hand, particularly slopeshouldered Veteran Gordie Howe and Goalie Terry Sawchuk, played far above their mid-season form.

While the players absorbed their bruises and Detroit and Chicago squared off for the Stanley Cup finals, the season's biggest winner turned out to be the family of the late Millionaire Chicago Grain Merchant James Norris, founder of hockey's richest dynasty. One son, Spectator-Sportsman James D. Norris (deposed front man for the hoodlum-hampered International Boxing Club), is co-owner of the Black Hawks, while another son, Bruce, and Daughter Marguerite are co-owners of the Red Wings. In the new, wide-open competition of professional hockey, the Norris clan has inherited a rewarding family responsibility.

-Something of a misnomer, since all but three players in the entire league were born in Canada.

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