THE SPORTING SCENE

The Chicago Black Hawks lead the Montreal Canadiens by a single point in the race for the top spot in the National Hockey Leauge as the 1963-64 season approaches its last weekend. But Montreal has two games remaining to Chicago's one, and can wrap up its seventh title in ten years by beating Boston and New York Saturday and Sunday. The Hawks close their season Sunday at Boston.

Some ten points below the leaders, Toronto and Detroit have sewed up the other two Stanley Cup Playoff berths. New York, after making a run at the Red Wings in January, has collapsed back to fifth place. The home-town Bruins are mired in their customary last-place bog, as they have been all year.

Chicago opened the year as though it wanted to clinch the crown by Christmas, and had a fantastic fifteen wins against just two losses in its first 21 games. But the bruising Hawks have played only average hockey for the last two months, and they have been neck-and-neck with Montreal for several weeks.

Man for man, the Hawks boast the most potent line-up in the league. Stan Mikita, Bobby Hull, and Kenny Wharram have 120 goals among them. Mikita leads the league in scoring with 89 points, while Hull's 43 goals is tops in that department.

Pierre Pilote leads defensemen with 44 assists, just two shy of Bill Gadsby's record. Chicago plays defense, too--goalie Glenn Hall's 2.29 goals-against average is best in the league.

That the Hawks haven't run away from the league may be partly due to their low-scoring third line. But the main problem seems to be that the super-stars play for themselves, not for their team.

Montreal's presence at the top of the league was predicted by no one at the start of the season. But the Canadiens have come up with rookies Jacques Laperierre and Terry Harper to patch up their defense, which seemed hopelessly weak five months ago.

Jean Beliveau has squeezed another great year out of his aging self, and is third in the league in scoring. John Ferguson, another rookie surprise, has supplied brute force to the previously fast but small offense.

Toronto began to fall back from the leaders in January. Frank Mahovlich was in a slump, and the usually murderous defense wasn't hitting.

The Leafs needed help, so they pulled off the biggest trade since Jacques Plante went to the Rangers before the season. From New York, Toronto got great rightwing and captain Andy Bathgate, along with Don McKenney.

Bathgate and McKenney have come through in a big way, scoring eleven goals in twelve games to cement third place for the Leafs. Bathgate, fourth-leading scorer in the NHL, has 54 assists, just four short of Beliveau's all-time record.

Detroit has been about the hottest team in the league since January 1, but hasn't quite been able to rise above fourth place. The whole reason for the Red Wings' surge has been Gordie Howe, who has become the leading goal-scorer in NHL history.

New York won nine and lost just three in January, and had forged into fourth place early in February. But then the Rangers lost five straight while Detroit was putting together a five-game winning streak, and fell completely out of the Stanley Cup picture.

At this point, it's difficult to predict a Stanley Cup winner. Chicago and Montreal lead the league, but Toronto and Detroit have played better hockey over the last few weeks. Detroit has been moving up steadily over the last two months, and can't be counted out.

But Toronto may be the team to watch. Since Bathgate and McKenney have become accustomed to their new team- mates, the Leafs have won dired straight. The line of Bathgate, McKenney, and Dave Keon was on the ice during eight Toronto goals in two games last weekend, after being united only a week before. If these men keep scoring and the defense starts to pull itself together, the Leafs will be hard to stop