FOR THE RECORD: Four Goal Flurry

It was the final Friday of the 1979 WHL regular season. Playoffs were just around the corner. The Lethbridge Broncos found themselves on the road facing the Saskatoon Blades.

There wasn’t a whole lot riding on the game, as the standings had already dictated the Broncos would be playing the Calgary Wranglers to open up the round-robin playoff format. But the Broncos didn’t want to fall victim to the Blades, who had won six in a row.

The two teams traded goals in the first period and then the floodgates opened in the second frame. Before they knew it, the Broncos fell behind 4-2. And that’s when they made their run into the record books.

Duane Sutter made it a one-goal hockey game at 8:41 of the second stanza. 21 seconds later, Randy Ruff tied it up. Just 12 seconds later, Ruff put his team on top. And 17 seconds later, Doug Morrison made it 6-4 Broncos. 

Four goals in 52 seconds. 

Both teams would add another goal before the buzzer went to end the period with the visitors up 7-5.

That would spell the end of the night for Blades netminder Tom Muc, who would be replaced by Murray Stephens. That didn’t really stop the bleeding, as both teams would score twice more in the final period as the Broncos beat the Blades 9-7.

All told, Ruff led the way with four goals, while Sutter had a pair. Morrison, Larry Doyle and Kevin Ginnell also tallied for Lethbridge while goaltender Greg Dumba stopped 24 of 31 shots fired his way.

As John Cherneski wrote in the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix the next day: “There was a contagious disease spread Friday at the Saskatoon Arena. It was called Indifference. It was unique, because only hockey players came in contact with the bug.”

The win did help set the team record for wins in a season with 37. The coach of the Broncos wasn’t impressed, though.

“It was terrible hockey, just awful,” Pat Ginnell told the Star-Phoenix. “The kids are looking ahead to the playoffs. This game didn’t mean a thing and both teams played like that.”

He would have to rip into the team again after their season finale against Billings that Sunday, a 5-4 loss at the Sportsplex.

“There’s no such thing as a ‘nothing’ game as far as I’m concerned,” Ginnell told the Lethbridge Herald. “Those people out there (2,843 fans) didn’t pay their money to see a ‘nothing’ game.”

And he wasn’t about to let them off the hook.

“The season is over, now come the playoffs,” he continued. “If you don’t win, you pack your bags early. That’s all there is to it. The guys know what they have to do.”

 

As mentioned, back in 1979, the first round of the playoffs were round robin. The Broncos went 5-3 to advance to the division finals against Calgary, who they beat in seven games. The league semi-finals were also a round-robin format with the three division winners doing battle. Brandon and Portland went 3-1 while the Broncos went 0-4. The Wheat Kings would go on to win the WHL championship over the Winterhawks in six games.