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"= cHowever, today, the most THE SPORTS BEAT : By Glen May Answer the challenge It is a statement of fact the Soviets did not invent the game of ice hockey. It is also a 'fact that 21 years ago hockey '=jeewas relatively unknown in Rus- s1 portant fact is that the So- are unparalleled in " =World and Olympic hockey. In fact, most sane people wouldn't bet a ruble against Russia's chances in a series with lesser lights of the Na- tional Hockey League. Let's go one step further: Russia wouldn't be whitewashed in a five-game set against Montreal Canadiens or Chicago Black Hawks. Larry Reagan, the efferves- cent manager of the Los An- geles Kings, says the Ruskies would be a contending team in the NHL if they had Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita. More than 3-million people play hockey in the USSR to- day. From this the best 18 players make the National team, a team which has won the World title the last five years along with this year's Olympic crown. Coach Anatoli Tarasov once mouthed: "If you haven't got the Cossacks, you ain't going to make it to the caviar." Well, his club is enjoying caviar, and when the NHL decides to send a team or two against the red-shirted Soviets, they'll be able to spread the caviar on imported crackers. Russia has now issued a challenge to the NHL which cannot be ignored, nor over- looked. If the NHL has any pride it must accept the chal- lenge, contrary to president Clarence Campbell. Following the annihilation of Canada, Tarasov exclaimed: "Bring on the best of the National Hockey League like Montreal Canadiens or the Chicago Black Hawks. Let's play three games in Montreal or Chicago, then three in Mos- 20w, and you'll see we'll cream hem, too." Gordon Juckes, secretary- manager of the Canadian Am- ateur Hockey Association, was not surprised by Tarasov's statement. He said, "If some- one were to buy the Russian team and put it into either the Eastern or Western division of the NHL it would not look out of place." Our National team is not a poor aggregation of hockey players. If you recall, it has defeated teams from most hockey leagues. in Canada, from the NHL down. Yet, against the precision passing of the Soviets, the 5-0 score flattered Canada. NHL president Campbell recently said that he would not be willing to accept a Soviet proposal to play exhibition games in either the fall or spring. Campbell's refusal was that in the fall the NHL clubs wouldn't be in shape and in the spring they'd be too tired. A remark like that sounds tired. Perhaps Mr. Campbell now realizes the NHL does not pos- sess the finest hockey team in the world. Russia in the Stan- ley Cup finals? Not in the NHL's democratic (?) society. Thinking of this nature ex- emplifies why wars are fought and young men die. We sug- gest the NHL forgets its corpo- rate outlook and return to the realm of sportdom. It goes without asking that the NHL players would likely forsake a week's pay to have a go against the Soviets. Without the players the NHL wouldn't reap the monetary rewards of jammed arenas, food conces- sions, etc., etc., etc. Russia in the NHL? Maybe the Czechs and Swedes? Why not? Athletes don't provoke wars, but those Major Domos sitting in their ivory towers do. Let's turn this entire situation over to the players. In this way it would be in its proper perspec- tive. And the way the world is spinning today, we. could cer- tainly do with having some- thing in its proper perspective. SUGAR AND SP by Bill Smiley ICE An old friend writes - So you think you have trou- bles, with your two or three Rotten Kids? We all have them. Troubles and _ Rotten Kids, that is. They're insepara- ble. I could tell you stories that would make your heart ache, your hair curl. But so could you, doubtless. According to some inane.schools of thought, the trouble is that we haven't enough kids. We spoil our one or two rotten and then are astounded at the results. All we have to do is have a whole raft of kids, and prob- lems would vanish. They'd help with the dishes, make their beds, and all turn out to be Great Kids. This is rot. I assure you. And to prove, 1'm going to quote some excerpts from a letter received recently from an old and dear friend. She's more dear than old, but I think her remarks will explode that pop- pycock about large families. She has six boys and a girl and knows whereof. The letter arrived at the end of January, when she_ got around to sending out the an- nual Christmas cards. It was written in starts and fits, over three weeks, whenever she had the strength. "It is all defeating because there's too much of it. So you're the way out -- which is where I would like to be. "IT seem to be in a jaded (greenish?) state where noth- ing really shakes me any more. I believe if you want to find a real skeptic and-or cynic, look for an old mother of a large family. It's not that I don't care (about all the big and little crises); it's just a kind of numbness that I think must settle in as a preservative. Or else it's low blood pressure. "Nine p.m. CBC programme reporting comments of English people about Canada. What a bloody superior bunch. I would like to smash them. Excuse writing. Am writing as I quiet- ly recover from a general an- aesthetic. Nothing serious. Also my hand is less than agile due to arthritis. It seems to me a poor system where surviving the rigors of exist- ence is penalized by the ills of age. "Bob decided to take his summer working money (tui- tion fees) and go off on a self-discovery journey to Eu- rope. Night before sailing he phoned (collect, of course) to say goodbye and told me -his girl was going too. I still don't know what her mother thinks or feels. Of course I don't know what I think or feel ei- ther. So then Bill had mononucle- osis. This was enough to change his plans about college and he finally decided to go to Europe, too. They are only on a great larking holiday. Was it better when war got rid of this restlessness? "Tom didn't get his first year at college. Dan is in Grade 11 after a spell at sum- mer school. Jenny is an out- patient waving urinary tract X-ray as follow-up to surgery in September. "I know Bob is in Israel now, working on a Kibbutz for shelter, food and experience but no money. He's working in a banana grove. "J can tell he is suffering from traveller's ego and thinks himself vastly superior to all who stay at home -- especially Tom. Whose reaction' was, 'Yippidy-poop. I've seen a ba- nana.' I guess that says it for me too as I take note of his father's aging look. "My main feeling is irritation with such nonsense, that leaves father still with them on his back. For of course they plan to keep on being college boys too! For another four or five years. : "See you someday. I'm the fat, vaguely familiar-looking one limping along way back there." Cheer up, dear heart. You wouldn't limp if you had'a broken leg. And if you are 'way back there', the band might be playing "The Saints Come Marching In."