Cowboys, Nordiques Brawl Gives Hockey a Black Eye • by George Bylich • The Calgary Herald • April 12, 1976 The Calgary Cowboys beat the Quebec Nordiques 8-4 here Sunday night to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven WHA Canadian division semifinal. But that wasn't the story. A fierce brawl that at times reached riot proportion took away much of the glory for the Cowboys. It was ugly, a black eye for hockey. It was something for which there is no excuse. Calgary coach Joe Crozier didn't even want to talk about it. Quebec coach Jean-Guy Gendron indicated to an inquiring reporter in the downcast Nordiques dressing room that he laid much of the blame at Crozier's doorstep. Crozier refused to be drawn into the discussion except to wonder why several of the Nordiques had taped fists. Marc Tardif of Nordiques will be out of action for two weeks after being felled by Calgary's Rick Jodzio. A team spokesman said Tardif, the league's leading scorer with 71 goals and 77 assists, will remain in hospital two or three more days for treatment of a mild concussion. A spokesman for Quebec Solicitor-General Fernand Lalonde said the minister is following the matter closely and has assigned Francois Tremblay, deputy minister for criminal matters, to the case. A municipal police spokesman said Jodzio has not been arrested, although the Nordiques asked that charges be brought against him for the attack. The police spokesman said a complete report will be submitted to Tremblay who will decide what action to take. Bud Poile, WHA executive vice-president in charge of operations, was a spectator at the game but did not make any comment. Early today it was learned that Ben Hatskin, chief executive officer of the WHA, planned to meet Nordiques' Gordie Gallant and Crozier in Calgary on Tuesday. The fighting started in the third minute of the game when Quebec's Gallant jumped Calgary's Jodzio from behind in front of the Calgary net and started pummelling him with punches. While there was no serious damage during this altercation, the die was cast. The big explosion came when Jodzio, Tardif's shadow when the clubs have met in the past two months, blind-sided the flashy Quebec winger with a crunching check deep in the Nordiques' zone. As Tardif fell to the ice Jodzio swarmed on top of him, raining punches. Seconds after Jodzio flattened Tardif, both benches emptied. Full-scale battle raged for 20 minutes. Lawson and Gallant joined in by jumping out of the penalty box. The lone consoling feature was there was no stick swinging. Uniformed police stood at the boards until the fighting ceased, then escorted both clubs to their dressing rooms where the players cooled off for another 20 minutes before play resumed. After the smoke cleared, referee Dowling issued 189 minutes in penalties, 110 to the Nordiques. Eleven players — Gallant, Curt Brackenbury, Bill Prentice, Pierre Roy, Steve Sutherland and Gary Gresdal of the Nordiques; Lawson, Jodzio, Warren Miller, Peter Driscoll and Westrum of the Cowboys — were ejected from the game.

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