the examiner Wednesday Dec 21 1977 By MEL SUFRIN Sports Editor Cindy Nicholas who became the first woman to svvim the English Channel both ways nonstop and then complained because she missed oneway record by couple of minutes is Canadas female athlete of the year for 1977 The 20yearold Toronto student already planning another attack on the record that eluded her was clear choice in the annual yearend poll conducted by The Canadian Press Second was Sylvia Burka of Winnipeg winner of the world sprint speed skating championship and third was skier Kathy Kreiner of Tim 1111115 Ont who placed fifth in World Cup giant slalom racmg Kreiner was the 1976 win ner of the poll after cap turing gold medal in the giant slalom at the Winter Olympics Oh darn it were Nich olass first words after lan ding at Dover England 25on roundtrip in 19 hours 55 minutes10 hours and five minutes faster than the record set by John Erikson of the United States two years earlier She was mildly upset because her time on the crossing to the French coast was eight hours 58 minutes just two minutes off the womens record of 856 held by Wendy Brooke of England PLANS RETURN She promptly turned around and swam back to England in 10 hours 57 minutes well off her own FrancetoEngland record of 946 And before going to sleep she announced she would return in 1978 More than 100 sports writers and sportscasters participated in the annual poll first held in 1933 and 43 picked Nicholas first 16 second and four third Based on 32lt1 valuation that gave her165 ints Burka surrendered her overall world speed skating title in 1977 but came Sept having made the back within weeks towin the Dave Kryskow triglit who scored two goals for Winnipeg Jets and jschoslav Nazarov of the touring Soviet Union team collide near centre ice of hardhitting and fast skating international game that counts in the WHA stan dings1ets on 131 Photoi Stingers tie Czechs 55 By TIIE CANADIAN PRESS Cincinnati Stingers coach Jacques Demers had heated ex change with team captain Rick Dudley after Tuesday nights game with the touring fzechoslavakian national hockey team ended in overtime tie Demers apparently felt Dudleys fiery outburst cost Cincin nati chance to win the game which counts in the World Hockey Association standings He looked like an out there the fiery coach said of Dudleys 10minute misconduct penalty six minutes into the third period after shoving match with Czechoslovak defen ceman Jaroslav Lycka Outraged at the penalty Dudley broke his stick in the penalty box in disgust He acted like an absolute idiot Demers said He made fool of himself He was just frustrated because the Europeans are better skaters than him In other games Winnipeg Jets beat the touring Soviet Union allstar squad and Houston Aeros downed Edmonton Oilers both by 64 scores Apprised of Demers remarks Dudley said dont know what he wants work hard out there and sometimes get frustrated He Lyckai sticked me right in side of the eye He almost poked the damn thing out Sure got frustrated but maybe it would be good thing if some of these other guys got frustrated too It was the latest frustration for the Stingers who have been wallowing near last place after expecting to have one of the top clubs in the WHA this season Cincinnati blew twogoal lead and was held scoreless through the third period and the 10minute overtime switch in goaltendcrs paid off for Czechoslovak coach Sta nislav Nevcsely He pulled starter Miroslav Kapoun after Cin cinnati went ahead 43 with 212 minutes left in the second period His replacement Ivan Podesva gave up goal to Richie Leduc minute later then blanked the Stingers the rest of the wav KR YSKUII SfOIt ES Tth At Winnipeg the Jets scored five consecutive goals after spotting the Soviet Union 10 lead Dave Kryskow scored twice to pace the winners who moved to within six points of the idle Whalers with the victory Russian coach Boris Mayorov said through an interpreter that the Jets were good team but he was critical of the work of referee Ron Ego They tthe Jets played beautifully powerfully and quickly he said hockey II THE NAIHAN PRESS Washington 20 63115 WIIA Adams Divliilon 20 4115 til 5109 78 Buffalo Nev Eng 20 1127 91143 Boston Winnipeg 111121 141 97 37 Toronto 19 4110 76 Quebec to 121 109331 Cleveland 1018 79116 Houston 11151 103110211 umphell onferrnre Edmonton 11 15 106113127 Patrick Diviulon Birmingham Ihlla 21 4134 65 11 13 9310324 Islanders l7 6128 72 inci 11 17 911116 23 Rangers Indianap 1417 9412322 Atlanta 1115 6109113 111 If 86 104 Tuesday Reuultu Smythe DIvIIIon Iloustoii ti Edmonton Vancouver 10 111 90 111 Winnipeg SoViet Union Chicago 111 10 79 90 Cincinnati Czechoslovakia Colorado It 13 13 96 97 Tonights flames Minnesota 20 1171117 Winnipeg at Houston St Louis 20 73127 Cuchoslovakia at Birming Tuenday Reaultl ham NY Islanders Colorado Sovtet Union at Edmonton Atlanta Vancouver Nu Tonlxhtu inmo Wnlu hnIlrente Washington at NY Rangers Norrin Divinion Philadelphia at Cleveland Montreal at Toronto Montreal 20 1111 61 44 Buffalo at Detroit Los Angeles 11 as so 33 Minnesota at Los Angeles Detroit 1015 Hf 95 24 Chicago at St Louis Pittsburgh If or 127 24 Colorado at Boston CINDY NICHOLAS best sprint championship received 21 firsts 22 seconds and 13 thirds for 120 points and Kreiner got 18 firsts 19 seconds and 17 thirds for 109 points Fourth with 72 points was top 15yearold Karen Kelsall of Surrey BC the Canadian woman gymnastics cham pion fifth with 68 was Debbie Brill of Victoria who won silver medal in the high jump at the World Student Games in Bulgaria and sixth with 25 points was swimmer Becky Smith of Edmonton who set Canadian record of 21851 in the zoometre individual medley It was the years third fastest time for the distance in the world Others who received first lace votes included num er of athletes from Ed monton swimmers Shan non Smith and Cheryl Gibson and world womens trap shooting champion Susan Nattrass There was also support for two golfers professional Sandra Post formerly of Oakville 0nt and amateur champion Cathy Sherk of Fonthill Ont BROKE BELLS RECORD Nicholas was the first dis tance swimmer to win the athleteoftheyear nominati on since Marilyn Bell of She first made splash in the international marathon scene in 1974 when she broke Bells record by swimming Lake Ontario in 15 hours 15 minutes year later she broke the FrancetoEngland record and in 1976 she tried for the EnglandtoFrance record twice without success as stinging jellyfish and tur ning tide resulted in disap pointing times Her 1977 double crossing was made in 17degree wate and for time there was doubt whether she could complete the swim She was flung against the rocks on the French coast by waves as she began the return section and had to complete the run to England with cuts and bruises The two crossings made her oint holder of the Queen of Channel crown with Greta Anderson Dane now living in the United States Both have swum the Channel five times record that Cin dy is almost certain to break if she fulfils her promise to Toronto in 1954 and 1955 try again next summer Bergeron scores two Rockies pounded 91 By THE CANADIAN PRESS Michel Bergeron scored two goals Tuesday night and some slick saves by Colorado goaltender Doug Favell cost him two others but the New York Islander right winger looked at his performance philosophically You cant score on every shot he said in the Islanders dressingroom following the clubs EH drubbing of the Rock ies in National Hockey League action In the only other contest At lanta Flames and Vancouver Canucks played to 22 tie The Islanders took 13 shots in the third period and six of them found the net club record Billy Harris who assisted on Bergerons goals which came 42 seconds apart in the opening minutes scored twice in the thirdperiod barrage with Ber geron returning the favor by setting up both Bob Bourne Clark Gillies Bryan Trottier and Bob Nyst rom also scored in the third pe riod However Favell said it was powerplay goal rookie Mike Kaszycki late in second pe riod that decided the issue That goal really hurt us Favell said Its really hard to say what happened after that Everything started to go bad and itcompounds GAME STARTED TIGHT For more than 38 minutes it was 21 squeeker with Favell and New Yorks Glenn Resch stopping almost everything fired their way except for Ber gerons early pair and power play 40foot slapshot by Colo rados Andy Spruce early in the second period But at 1847 of the middle ses sion Favell stopped Denis Potvin slapshot with his shoul der and the puck landed at his feet Kaszycki then slipped the Levy may leave Als KANSAS CITY AP Marv Levy decided Tuesday to better himself by leaving champion ship team for chance to fulfil lifelong ambition Levy who guided Montreal Alouettes to the Grey Cup championship last month has left the Canadian Football League to ply his trade with Kansas City Chiefs of the Na tional Football League who have just completed their worst season ever know there are quite few areas where they have to im prove said Levy protege of Washington Redskins coach George Allen would hope the talent is better than 212 The Chiefs woeful finish tied them with Tampa Bay Bucca neers for the worst record in the NFL while the Alouettes whom Levy has handled the last five seasons finished 115 Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt who fired interim head coach Tom Bettis and all six of his assistants Monday said the search for new man ended much quicker than anticipated There were several other NFL clubs interested in Marv Hunt said Marv brings with him record of proven success in pro football Im convinced he will be innovative hard working and demanding Levy signed fiveyear con tract terms of which were not disclosed Slim Collars to 19 Sleeve to 36 mm mam puck home for oiily his second goal of the season Two Islander milestones were reached in the contest as Gillies got his 20lth career point and coach Al Arbour recoreded his with coaching triumph 158 with New York and 42 with St Louis Blues Guy Chouinard and Eric Vail scored in the final two periods to put Atlanta into the tie with Vancouver The Flames out played Vancouver getting off 31 shots to 12 for the Tanucks But Cesare Maniago and Curt Ridley were brilliant in the Vancouver net Ridley left the game and was taken to hospital after beig hit in the throat by Vail shot team official said the injury was not thought to be serious Jere Gillis and Dennis Ver vergaert were the two Canticks shooters to beat Atlanta net minder Dan Houcha rd Canadians down Ottawa 67s 42 By THE CANADIAN PRESS Kingston Canadians downed Ottawa 12 on Tuesday handing the 67s their first homeice loss in Ontario Hockey Association Major Junior play since February Toronto Marlboros blanked Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds Hi and Sudbury Wolves and Hamilton Fincups skated to 55 tie in other games Play resumes tonight with Sault Ste Marie at shawa The visiting Canadians got two goals from Glen MctleIIand and three assists from Gary McMonagle Tim Kerr and Jay Wells scored the other Kingston goals as the Canadians moved into third it of the leagues Leyden Division and 10 points behind firstp ace ttawa crowd of 2000 fans watched Jim Fox and Dave MacQuecn score for ttawa which outshot Kingston 48730 Czechs will play series with NHL MONTREAL CPI Less than week after they threatened not to play art of an eightgame series the Czechoslovak Ice Hockey cration tCIHFi confirmed to the National Hockey ngue early Tuesday that two teams Klazho and Far dubicer would play four games each against NHL competition The CIHFs confirmation was contained in telegram to NHL president John Ziegler just few days after Ziegler had sent stifflyworded message to Maroslav Snbrt of the CIHF warning him that the series would be cancelled unless the Czech oslovakian representative agreed to play all eight games Remports downed by Czechs 64 QUEBEC CP Czechoslovakias national junior team scored three goals in the second period and went on to defeat Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in exhibition hockey play Tuesday night ndrej Weissman Miroslav Frycer Miroslav Moc Marian Bezak Pavel Skalicy and Jiri Hrdina scored the other goals for Czechoslovakia hef ore 2376 ans Sylvain Locas borrowed from Sherbrooke Beavers Denis Halle Michel Goulct and Yves Richer were the Quebec marks men DOUG FAV ELL saves great case for party FREE CASE OFFER SEE PAGE 10 Our price is the only difference Buyfield Mall Barrie 7372352 CHRISTMAS GIFT ED FOR WITH ORDUROY Navy chocolate block tan Sizes 2532 Boyfield Moll 7372352