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If you can't stop him. trip him. That's the attitude taken by this Stamford player as a Waterloo Bee chases after the puck. We all remember the final game of the Challenge Cup Series, don't we? Not only were the Soviets better skaters and playmakers, they were far ahead of the NHL stars in conditioning and mental attitude-at least for that series. A lerfect example-was last Thursday's tiarmi between Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens-just a tre- mendous performance-by both learns., _ _ _ On that fateful night at Madison Square Gardens in New York, the theory that North American hockey is supreme was put to rest. _ - - However, rm still convinced that North American hockey is much more exciting and ski1lef--whtm played properly. But there are far too few of those efforts these days. and far too many acts of barbarianism and outright hooligan- ism. Officials abused, stickswinging and bench-clearing brawls. Sometimes it's too much to stomach. Shudders. If it affects me that much, how is it affecting the little tots just learning to play the game in our cities. At a very impressionable age. _ I visited Waterloo Arena last Saturday to find out. What unfolded in front of me was a Hub League minor atom Tier II playoff game between Waterloo Bees and Brantford Ponderosa Steak House. Bees finished second in league play behind Preston and had been previously eliminated from Ontario Minor Hockey Association playdowns by Kitchener Klippers. But Bee coach Dave Stumph was quick to defend his club. "Preston starts early every year and they have a program for eight-year-olds at the Tri-County level. It took us till Christmas but now we're a match for them even though we haven't beaten them yet. "And the Klippers ivere a Tier I team so we were playing over our heads. Still, we lost twice by only one goal." Going into Saturday's game, Bees Were 1-2-1 in the round- robin playoffs with both losses coming to Preston. Even the parents got into the act. Greeting the Wa- terloo Bees as they hit the ice is a sign cheering them on, Bees built up a 4-0 first period lead on two goals by Chuck Dietrich and singles by Brad Hyde Aand Greg IrafDona1f, But it was soon very obvious that Brantford would be no match on this occasion. -. But he alone was not the difference in the game. The Bees played tremendous positionally, were superior skaters and playmakers and completely ignored the goon-like tactics of the bigger Brantford squad. That pleased me to no end. They upped it to s/fin the seéond with Diétrich complet- ing his hat-trich and Scott Zavaros iced the victory in the third with Bees final marker. Randy Tracey was sensational in goal for Waterloo, espe- cially late in the third period when he made three consecu- tive close-in stops. __ __ 7 - __ - Anfihe final score t-0. What Was the score in the So- viet--NHL game? - - _ - _ _ _ _ “Brantfofd had bigger boys but they couldn't skate with our guys so they ran at us a bit," said Stumph, with a degree of understatement. The young Waterloo players have reaped the benefits of Stumph‘s excellent coaching. In six years (four in Kitchener) he has won four championships and last year took the Bees to the all-Ontario finals before losing to Burl- ington. Why so much success? "We teach the kids three things" said Stumph. "To skate. Goal number four goes into the net as Waterloo Bee Chuck Dietrich Iets fN. Bees won the game 60. Rick Campbell You have to be prepared to take all kinds of shots during a hockey game. Watertoo Bee turns to his backhand to fire at the net. Bees, who average a practice and two games per week, have learned well. They play extremely heads up hockey, always looking for the winger, watching offsides, and. cover- ing for the pointman. But what is most startling is their superb skating ability. to look and to think. We stress basic positional patterns; "We had a figure skater out at the beginning of the year to teach cuts and crossovers," said the coach. "The guys didn't like her at first because they couldn't use their sticks. But after a while, they, well. sort of sucked it up and let pride take over. They pick things up very quickly, they like to learn. The only frustrating thing is that they often do the same things wrong. Overall though. it's beep very rewarding coaching them." Thank youv Waterloo Beef, and coach Dave Stumph, for being what you are. Gosh. leave it to a group of nine-year-olds to restore my faith in our great Canadian garmr - -- _ _ - Helping the Bees along Saturday was the great support they received from their fans. After every goal parents sang "Waterloo, Waterloo" and not one negative sound was ut- tered from the home side of the arena. But as much as the parents impressed me, it was 17 little guyS'on the ice who warmed my insides. T Wmloo Gimmick. wound-y. Mach 7, 1979;?(93 "