Detroit Leads NHL Race, But Toronto Will Win Cup

The National Hockey Leage is heading into the last two weeks of its regular season with the usual rat race developing at the top of the pack.

The Detroit Red Wings, who were battling four weeks ago to get out of fourth place, have suddenly shot into the league lead with a recent seven-game winning streak.

One game behind the Wings, the slumping Chicago Black Hawks and Montreal Canadians are now scrambling for second place.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, in the thick of the race for most of the season, are now hopelessly mired in fourth, the last position that qualifies for the post-season Stanley Cup play-offs. As usual, New York and Boston are looking up at the rest of the league.

Detroit has built up a terrific head of steam, and with four of its last six games at home and three of them against New York and Boston, the Wings can't be stopped from winning their first championship in eight years.

Chicago has only five games left, four of them on the road, and won't be able to hang on to second place. Montreal, with one more game to play than Chicago, will overtake the Hawks, leaving Toronto to finish fourth.

But the Stanley Cups will be a different story. I lot the ECAC Tournament last weekend, and I'm getting it back by putting my money on long-shot Toronto in the post-season play-offs.

Leafs Like the Cup

The veterans on the Leafs have won three straight Stanley Cuba. They're used to winning, and they've been saving up what little energy the have left for the play-offs.

Besides, Toronto is in fourth place only because it has lost its season series with lowly New York. Against the other teams that will play in the Stanley Cups, the Leafs have done better than Montreal, and nearly as well as Detroit and Chicago.

During the regular season, Toronto's offense has been plagued by injuries, with the result that leading scorer Frank Mahovlich has only 46 points. But its veteran defense, with old timers Terry Sawchuch and Johnny Bower alternating in the goal, is one of the best in the league, and it's usually the defensive teams that win the Stanley Cup.

Detroit's recent bingo has been spearheaded by Normie Ullman, whose 31 goals and 74 points are both second is the league, and who should be the league's most valuable player, assuming the Wings hang on to first place.

Gordie Howe and Alex Delvecchio, two old reliable Wings, are third and sixth in the league in scoring. Rookie goalie Roger Crozier has done a brilliant job backing up the relatively weak Wing defense, allowing fewer goals than any other netminder in the league.

The big story at Chicago has been Bobby Hull, who scored his 37th goal in his 42nd game, and looked like a cinch to break the record of 50 goals in a season. But thanks to a knee injury and a slump, he has scored only one since, way back on February 6.

Boston. . . well, what can you say about the Bruins? Dean Prentice, Bobby Leiter, Forbes Kennedy, Tom Johnson, and goalie Eddie Johnston have all been sidelined for the year with injuries, and Boston didn't have a chance to break its four-year string of last-place finishes.