December 14, 1920: George Gipp Dies

December 14, 1920: George Gipp dies of pneumonia, possibly related to a streptococcus infection, at St. Joseph's Hospital in South Bend, Indiana, seat of the University of Notre Dame, where he was a student. He was 25 years old.

He was born on February 18, 1895, 13 days after Babe Ruth, and 16 days after George Halas, in Laurium, on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He went to Notre Dame hoping to play baseball. But their head coach, Knute Rockne, thought he would be a good back, both offensive and defensive, in football. Gipp had never played the sport before, but tried it anyway.

Rockne proved to be right: Gipp was named an All-American for the 1920 football season, as Notre Dame went undefeated, 9-0:

* October 2: Beat Kalamazoo College at home, 39-0. (They are now in NCAA Division III.)

* October 9: Beat Western State at home, 42-0. (Also based in Kalamazoo, they are now named Western Michigan University.)

* October 16: Beat Nebraska in Lincoln, 16-7.

* October 23: Beat Valparaiso at home, 28-3. (Valparaiso is based in the Indiana town of the same name.)

* October 30: Beat Army at West Point, 27-17.

* November 6: Beat Purdue at home, 28-0.

* November 13: Beat Indiana at Washington Park in Indianapolis, 13-10.

* November 20: Beat Northwestern in Evanston, 33-7.

* November 25, Thanksgiving Day: Beat Michigan Agricultural in East Lansing, 25-0. (Now known as Michigan State.)

Notre Dame outscored its opponents 251-44, for an average of 29-5. And Gipp was a major reason why, on both sides of the ball. There were no official National Championships in those days, but, retroactively, some sources have listed Notre Dame as such. (Other sources awarded it to Harvard or the University of California.) 

So how did he get sick? Most likely, he was giving punting lessons in cold weather. Being in northeastern Indiana, the cold weather is the reason that the Notre Dame-USC game is played in October when it's the Fighting Irish's turn to host it, and on Thanksgiving Saturday when it's USC's turn to host in Los Angeles.

The more popular version, but the less likely one, is that Gipp, a known carouser, returned to campus after curfew one night, and found his residence hall locked. He went to Washington Hall, the campus' theatre building, because he knew the back door was often unlocked, and spent many post-curfew nights in the hall. This time, the door was locked, so he slept outside, and that's how he got pneumonia.

This story is believable because Gipp was a carouser. He was a gambler, a womanizer, and a drunkard. He was a cardplayer and a pool hustler. He would bet on anything. He even bet on his own team, just like Pete Rose would decades later. He also tended to not show up for classes (mandatory) or Mass (equally mandatory for a Catholic school in those days).

And the University, including Rockne himself, covered up for him. Under modern NCAA rules, Gipp might have singlehandedly gotten Notre Dame put on probation.

At any rate, there were no antibiotics available then. Had there been, he could have recovered quickly, spent a nice Christmas at home on the U.P., and played in the early National Football League and become a star, making bundles of money. He, rather than Red Grange of Illinois and the Chicago Bears a few years later, could have become the NFL's 1st real star. (Or maybe its 2nd, after Jim Thorpe, who was already playing for the Canton Bulldogs.) Alas, in those pre-antibiotic days, you really could die from something as simple as "strep throat."

He was buried in Lake View Cemetery, outside Calumet, Michigan. Laurium put up a monument to him.

On November 10, 1928, Notre Dame played Army at Yankee Stadium. A crowd of 78,188 saw the Cadets lead the Fighting Irish 6-0 at halftime. It wasn't that surprising: Army was undefeated, 6-0, while Notre Dame was only 4-2.

In his halftime pep talk, instead of discussing strategy, Rockne told his players, who would have been in junior high school in 1920, about George Gipp. As Rockne told it, he went to see Gipp on his deathbed, and Gipp told him: 

I've got to go, Rock. It's all right. I'm not afraid. Some time, Rock, when the team is up against it, when things are wrong, and the breaks are beating the boys, ask them to go in there with all they've got, and win just one for the Gipper. I don't know where I'll be then, Rock. But I'll know about it, and I'll be happy.

Having told the 1928 players that story, Rockne concluded by saying, "Gentlemen, this is that game." And the players left the locker room in tears, and came from behind, and beat Army 12-6.

That's the story. But it makes no sense. First of all, why choose this game? Because it was in New York? Because it was against Army? Certainly, Rockne didn't need to be afraid of losing his job: He was already an icon in South Bend.

Second of all, they were only down by 6 points. Maybe if they needed a much bigger effort, to overcome a 2-touchdown deficit, such a speech might be warranted.

Third of all, like I said, those players were just kids when Gipp died. They never saw him play. It's not like there was television back then. The newsreels probably never showed Gipp. For all they knew, Rockne could have been lying, and Gipp could have walked into the room at that moment, and they wouldn't have recognized him. (Another coach, Edward "Slip" Madigan of St. Mary's in the San Francisco Bay Area, allegedly once tearfully told his players about his sick son, and said to win the game for him, when the son walked in, just fine.) Gipp's legend shouldn't have had any effect on the 1928 Fighting Irish.

And fourth of all, if the locker room speech did happen, Rockne probably made it up. As one sportswriter put it, decades later, If Gipp said anything to Rockne as he was dying on December 14, 1920, it was probably more along the lines of, "Put a hundred bucks on the 4 horse in tomorrow's 7th race at Arlington for me."

Rockne was killed in a plane crash near Bazaar, Kansas on March 31, 1931. So, whatever the truth of the final meeting between Gipp and Rockne was, it died with Rockne.

On October 4, 1940, the film Knute Rockne, All-American premiered. Pat O'Brien played the coach. Ronald Reagan, who had played guard at Eureka College in Illinois, now an NCAA Division III school, played Gipp, and played the speech scene straight.

Reagan as Gipp

As Reagan went into politics in the 1960s, and was elected President in 1980, he often played up his connection to Notre Dame. At the 1988 Republican Convention, at the Superdome in New Orleans, knowing he couldn't run for a 3rd term, he told the new nominee, his Vice President, George H.W. Bush (who played baseball at Yale), "Go out there, and win one for the Gipper!" Meaning himself. Bush did win the election.

As Reagan fell victim to Alzheimer's disease, and could no longer make public appearances, campaign signs reading, "WIN ONE FOR THE GIPPER" appeared at rallies for Bob Dole in 1996 and George W. Bush in 2000. Reagan died in 2004, and during Bush's re-election campaign, there were more "Gipper" signs than ever before. They still come up, every 4 years: For John McCain in 2008, for Mitt Romney in 2012, and for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.

Reagan's political career was built on many, many lies. The "Win one for the Gipper" story was the first. If the truth about Gipp had been widely known in 1966, when Reagan was making his 1st run for public office, for Governor of California, he might never have won an election. After all, the other movie people tended to remember him for was Bedtime for Bonzo, where he worked with a chimpanzee.

George Gipp was a real person, and he really was a great football player. But the thing everybody remembers about him almost certainly isn't true. But, like Reagan's campaign promises, Rockne's Gipper speech was a fraud -- or, as the actual Irish would say, it was blarney -- that worked very well.

*

December 14, 1920 was a Tuesday. There were no scores on this historic day: The college football season was over except for the Rose Bowl, baseball was out of season, the NBA hadn't been founded yet, and while the NHL season was underway, no games were scheduled.

But there was one notable sporting event that day. Jack Dempsey defended the Heavyweight Championship of the World, knocking Bill Brennan out in the 12th round, at the 2nd Madison Square Garden, the one that stood off the actual Madison Square, at 26th Street and 5th Avenue, from 1890 to 1925. It was his only fight at any building with the name Madison Square Garden.

November 8, 1975: The Rudy Ruettiger Game

The real thing, not Sean Astin

November 8, 1975: Notre Dame beats Georgia Tech, 24-3 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. By the Fighting Irish's standards, it was an unremarkable game in an unremarkable season, going 8-3 with no invitation to a bowl game, and with the 2 guys who would become their biggest stars, quarterback Joe Montana and linebacker Bob Golic, both being freshmen and backups.

But in this last home game for several seniors, head coach Dan Devine, who took over this season from the retiring Ara Parseghian, decided -- on his own, not persuaded to do so like the movie said -- to have 5-foot-6-inch, 165-pound defensive end Daniel Eugene "Rudy" Ruettiger, who hadn't played a down in 4 years and wouldn't get another chance, dress in his Number 45 uniform for the game.

Devine sends Ruettiger in for Notre Dame's final defensive series, and he is in for 3 plays: A kickoff, an incomplete pass by Tech quarterback Rudy Allen (whose name actually was Rudolph), and a sack of Allen by Ruettiger.

And thus did the story of the 1993 film Rudy, starring Sean Astin, end. At least they got that part right. It's not the most ridiculous movie ever made about Notre Dame football, but it is about the school's most ridiculous player.

What happened to Rudy after his sack? He set up a successful maintenance company, and also sold real estate. In 1986, he moved back to South Bend, and decided to sell his story to be made into a film. He had a cameo as a fan, sitting behind Ned Beatty, who was playing his father. He said the movie was 92 percent true.

After the movie, became a motivational speaker, and ran Rudy Beverage, Inc. In 2011, he was charged with securities fraud in connection with that company. He settled, and paid $383,000 in fines. In 2017, this famous former member of the football team at America's best-known Catholic university converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a.k.a. the Mormons.

Maybe Meat Loaf should have played middle-aged Rudy.

As of November 8, 2022, he is still alive.

*

November 8, 1975 was a Saturday. The baseball season was over. The NFL played the next day. But, in addition to Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech, these notable college games were played:

* Number 1 Oklahoma were upset by Kansas, 23-3 at Owen Field in Norman, Oklahoma. This ended a 28-game winning streak for the Sooners, and a 37-game unbeaten streak. They won the Big Eight Conference title anyway.

* Number 2 Ohio State beat Illinois, 40-3 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois. The Buckeyes moved up to Number 1, and won the Big Ten title.

* Number 5 Alabama beat Louisiana State, 23-10 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Crimson Tide won the Southeastern Conference.

* Number 8 Penn State lost to North Carolina State, 15-14 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. N.C. State was then coached by Lou Holtz in his 1st big head coaching job. Penn State was still invited to the Sugar Bowl, where they were beaten by Alabama.

* UCLA, then unranked, beat Oregon, 50-17 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon. They won the league then known as the Pac-8, and then, in the last game coached at that school with Dick Vermeil as head coach, beat Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. They ended the season ranked Number 5.

* Arkansas, then unranked, beat Rice, 20-16 at Rice Stadium in Houston. They went on to win the Southwest Conference and the Cotton Bowl, finishing ranked Number 6.

* Rutgers beat Lafayette, 48-6 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey. The Scarlet Knights finished 9-2, but were not invited to a bowl game.

There were 6 games played in the NBA that day:

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Washington Bullets, 99-95 in double overtime, at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Buffalo Braves beat the Phoenix Suns, 110-105 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Bob McAdoo scored 37 points.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 107-94 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 116-112. It is the 1st game ever played at their new arena, The Summit. It will be their home until the Toyota Center opens in 2003, including back-to-back NBA Championships in 1994 and 1995. The Summit was renovated, and became the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, run by televangelist Joel Osteen.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons, 118-104 at Cobo Hall in Detroit. (It's now named the TCF Center.)

* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 114-106 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

There were 2 games played in the American Basketball Association, which had recently begun its 9th and, as it turned out, last season:

* The Denver Nuggets beat the New York Nets, 128-121 at the new McNichols Arena in Denver. Julius "Dr. J" Erving scored 35 in a losing effort. This turned out to be a preview of the last ABA Finals, which the Nets won.

* And the San Antonio Spurs beat the San Diego Sails, 99-76 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

There were 6 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Los Angeles Kings, 3-1 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* The New York Islanders beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-3 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-0 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 7-5 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs and the St. Louis Blues played to a tie, 3-3 at the Checkerdome in St. Louis. (The St. Louis Arena had that name from 1973 to 1980, while St. Louis-based Ralston Purina, with its Checkerboard Square logo, owned the Blues.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Boston Bruins, 4-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

And there were 4 games played in the World Hockey Association:

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Indianapolis Racers, 3-2 in overtime at the Colisee de Quebec.

* The Phoenix Roadrunners beat the New England Whalers, 3-2 at the Hartford Civic Center. (It's now named the PeoplesBank Arena.)

* The Cincinnati Stingers beat the San Diego Mariners, 7-4 at the new Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati. (It's now named the Heritage Bank Center.)

* And the Minnesota Fighting Saints beat the Toronto Toros, 4-3 at the St. Paul Civic Center.

Also, the football team at what would become my high school, East Brunswick in Middlesex County, New Jersey, beat Perth Amboy, 28-0 at Jay Doyle Field in East Brunswick.

The English soccer team I would one day support, Arsenal, weren't so lucky: They lost to Derby County, 1-0 at Highbury in North London.

Also, actress Tara Reid was born. 

October 4, 1930: Notre Dame Stadium Opens

October 4, 1930: Notre Dame Stadium, the house that Knute Rockne built, opens on the school's campus in South Bend, Indiana, 95 miles east of Chicago, 142 miles north of Indianapolis, and 206 miles west of Detroit. The 1st game is against Southern Methodist University of Dallas. Final score: Catholics 20, Protestants 14.

Notre Dame went undefeated that season, 10-0, and aside from SMU, only Army seriously challenged them, losing 7-6 in front of 110,000 at Soldier Field in Chicago. Years later, Notre Dame was retroactively recognized as National Champions for the 1930 season.

The season finale, a 27-0 win over USC at the Los Angeles Coliseum on December 6, would turn out to be the last game Rockne ever coached, as he was killed in a plane crash in Kansas on March 31, 1931.

Having previously played at Cartier Field since 1900, Notre Dame Stadium originally seated 59,075, which was big for the time. In 1996, that was still its capacity, making it one of the smaller stadiums among the powers of college football. After that season, it was expanded to its current 80,795, and it also received its first permanent lighting.

The expansion raised the height of the stadium, and partially (but not entirely) blocked the view of the Hesburgh Library, built as Memorial Library in 1963, and named for Father Theodore Hesburgh, president of the University from 1952 to 1987. The side facing the stadium is covered with a mural by Millard Sheets, titled Word of Life. It depicts Jesus surrounded by several saints. Since Jesus has his hands raised, and faces the stadium, the figure is known as "Touchdown Jesus."

Since opening Notre Dame Stadium, the Fighting Irish have won 9 National Championships: In 1930, under Rockne; in 1943, 1946, 1947 and 1949, under Frank Leahy; in 1966 and 1973, under Ara Parseghian; in 1977, under Dan Devine; and in 1988, under Lou Holtz.

The field has always been natural grass, and the end zones have never been decorated with anything but thin chalk slashes. The Stadium has hosted 2 games with the unofficial "Game of the Century" distinctions: Notre Dame's tie with Michigan State in 1966, and their win over Florida State in 1993.

They've had 7 Heisman Trophy winners: Quarterback Angelo Bertelli in 1943, quarterback Johnny Lujack in 1947, end Leon Hart in 1949, running back Johnny Lattner in 1953, quarterback Paul Hornung in 1956, quarterback John Huarte in 1964, and receiver Tim Brown in 1987. And 10 of their 1930-onward players have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Hornung, Brown, end Wayne Millner, end George Connor, defensive end Alan Page, linebacker Nick Buoniconti, tight end Dave Casper, quarterback Joe Montana, defensive tackle Bryant Young and running back Jerome Bettis.

The stadium never hosted a concert until 2018, with Garth Brooks as the headliner. In January 2019, it hosted 2 outdoor hockey games: The NHL Winter Classic, with the Chicago Blackhawks, as the home team, losing 4-2 to the Boston Bruins; and then, 4 days later, Notre Dame's hockey team losing by the same score to one of their traditional rivals, the University of Michigan, the school that pioneered outdoor hockey.

*

October 4, 1930 was a Saturday. These other notable college football games were played on this day:

* Army beat Furman, 54-0 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York.

* Navy beat William & Mary, 19-6 at Thompson Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.

* New York University (NYU) beat West Virginia Wesleyan at Yankee Stadium.

* Columbia beat Union College, 25-0 at Baker Field (now Wien Stadium) in Upper Manhattan.

* Rutgers beat George Washington University, 20-6 at Neilson Field in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

* Princeton beat Amherst, 23-0 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton, New Jersey.

* In a rivalry later known as the Backyard Brawl, the University of Pittsburgh beat West Virginia, 16-0 at the old Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia.

* Alabama beat Mississippi, 64-0 at Denny Stadium (later Bryant-Denny Stadium) in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

* And Michigan and Michigan State played to a tie, 0-0 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.

Game 3 of the World Series was played. The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 5-0 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Bill Hallahan pitched a 7-hit shutout, and Taylor Douthit hit a home run. But the A's went on to win the World Series in 6 days.

Also on this day, Bill Wade, quarterback of the 1963 NFL Champion Chicago Bears, was born. So was Roz Wyman, whose vote on the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors made the difference in giving the land at Chavez Ravine to Walter O'Malley, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, so he could build a stadium there, moving the Dodgers to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in the interim.

January 19, 1974: Notre Dame Ends UCLA's 88-Game Winning Streak

January 19, 1974: UCLA loses a basketball game. This is a big deal: It hadn't happened in 3 years.

The basketball team at the University of California at Los Angeles had been coached by John Wooden since 1949. In 1962, he got them into the Semifinal of the NCAA Tournament -- what we would now call the Final Four -- for the 1st time. In 1964, he guided them to an undefeated season and the National Championship. He won another in 1965. He won another in 1967, undefeated. He won another in 1968. He won another in 1969. In those last 3 seasons, led by Lew Alcindor, later to change his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the UCLA Bruins went 88-2.

Losing the future Kareem didn't stop UCLA: They won another National Championship in 1970. On January 23, 1971, they were 14-0, and traveled to South Bend, Indiana to play the University of Notre Dame. They lost, 89-82. This was a surprise, but not a shock: Notre Dame, although (then as now) far better known for football, was then ranked Number 9 in the country, and had the home-court advantage at the Athletic & Convocation Center.

Wooden got the Bruins to shake it off, and they won another National Championship. In 1972, with a new star center, sophomore Bill Walton from San Diego, they went undefeated and won another National Championship. In 1973, they went undefeated and won another National Championship. A joke went around that "UCLA" stood for "U Can't Lose to Anybody."

On January 19, 1974, they were 13-0, having an 88-game winning streak, the longest in college basketball history, when, again, they traveled to play Notre Dame away. Coached by Richard "Digger" Phelps, and led by a freshman from Washington, D.C. named Adrian Dantley, the Fighting Irish were 9-0, and ranked Number 2. Unlike UCLA's 1968 loss to the University of Houston at a packed Astrodome, this game was not billed beforehand as a "Game of the Century."

Had it been, it would have lived up to the hype. UCLA led by 11 points with 4 minutes to play. But Notre Dame went on a tear, and, with 6 seconds to go, took their 1st lead of the game, 71-70. One last-gasp effort by Walton missed, and the streak was over.

In the event that you should ever meet Bill Walton, never, ever mention this game to him. In his 1993 memoir Nothing But Net, he said it still bothered him. As of January 19, 2022, he is still alive, and he has complained about it many times since.

One week later, on January 26, there was a rematch at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, and UCLA got its revenge, 94-75. Notre Dame finished the season 26-3, losing to Michigan in the NCAA Tournament's round of 16.

UCLA would get to the Semifinal, then lose to a North Carolina State team led by David Thompson. N.C. State then beat Marquette for the title. Without the graduating Walton, Wooden led UCLA to 1 last National Championship in 1975, and retired, winning 10 in 12 years. No other school has won that many. UCLA has since won an 11th title, in 1995.

Renamed the Joyce Center in 1987, in honor of school administrator Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, Notre Dame's basketball arena is a house of upsets. In addition to the 2 noteworthy wins over UCLA, Notre Dame also upset the basketball team then ranked Number 1 in the nation in 1977 (the University of San Francisco), 1980 (DePaul), 1987 (North Carolina), 1991 (UCLA again), 2012 (Syracuse), and 2016 (North Carolina again).

No men's basketball team has seriously approached UCLA's 88-game winning streak. UNLV, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, has the longest streak since, 45, in 1990 and '91, including the 1990 NCAA Final over Duke, who then ended the streak in the 1991 NCAA Semifinal.

But the women's team at the University of Connecticut now has 2 longer winning streaks: 90 straight from 2008 to 2011, and 111 straight from 2016 to 2018.

UPDATE: Bill Walton was lifted of the burden of having to live with this defeat on May 27, 2024.

*

January 19, 1974 was a Saturday. Baseball was out of season. Football season had ended 6 days earlier, with the Miami Dolphins beating the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl VIII. There were 5 games played that day in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Phoenix Suns, 112-89 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* The Capital Bullets -- in their 1st season in the D.C. area after moving from Baltimore, they renamed themselves the Washington Bullets the next season and the Washington Wizards in 1997 -- beat the Golden State Warriors, 117-90 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 127-109 at The Omni in Atlanta. Despite the defeat, the Sonics' Dick Snyder led all pro scorers on the day with 41 points.

* The Kansas City-Omaha Kings beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 111-108 at the Kansas City Municipal Auditorium. Austin Carr, who helped Notre Dame beat UCLA in 1971, scored 31 in defeat for the Cavs.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 121-106 at the Milwaukee Exposition & Convention Center Arena, a.k.a. The MECCA. What former UCLA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a practicing Muslim, thinks of that nickname, only he knows, but he scored 34 points that day.

There were 4 games played in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets bear the Memphis Tams, 103-98 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis. Julius "Dr. J" Erving scored 34 points.

* The Virginia Squires beat the Utah Stars, 129-105 at the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virginia.

* The Kentucky Colonels beat the San Antonio Spurs, 103-101 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

* And the Denver Rockets beat the Carolina Cougars, 120-110 at the Auditorium Arena in Denver. In anticipation of being admitted to the NBA (which they were, in 1976), and knowing that the NBA already had the Houston Rockets, the Denver Rockets changed their name, effective the next season, taking up the name of the NBA's 1st Denver team, the Denver Nuggets.

There were 6 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 3-2 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The New York Islanders played the Buffalo Sabres to a tie, 2-2 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens, 8-0 at the Montreal Forum, a truly embarrassing loss for the Stanley Cup holders.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Los Angeles Kings, 2-0 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-3 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-2 at the St. Louis Arena.

* And the Atlanta Flames, the California Golden Seals, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Vancouver Canucks were not scheduled.

And there were 4 games played in the World Hockey Association:

* The Jersey Knights beat the Vancouver Blazers, 5-4 in overtime at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

* The New England Whalers beat the Minnesota Fighting Saints, 5-2 at the Boston Garden.

* The Chicago Cougars beat the Quebec Nordiques, 5-2 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago.

* And the Los Angeles Sharks beat the Houston Aeros, 3-2 at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston.

Also, Arsenal and Manchester United played to a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in Salford, outside Manchester.