Maltby feinted a pass as he raced down upon Hoyt with the puck riding along at the end of his stick, then veered at the last moment and attempted to get around Parker’s left defense. Hoyt, thrown off guard, could not apply his usual body-check and had only time to ram his stick out. The stick caught Maltby between the legs and catapulted him.
“Booh!” roared Hallstead fans. “Take him out!”
“A major penalty for you!” shrilled the referee, skating over and pushing Hoyt to the sidelines. “Five minutes for this man!” he called to the timers.
“What for?” demanded Hoyt, registering innocence. “I only tried to get the puck. I...!”
“I’ve been watching you the whole game,” flashed the referee. “You’ve pulled that stunt once too often!”
“Wow—maybe that penalty doesn’t hurt!” moaned a Parker rooter, as Hoyt, still protesting, slid into the penalty box. “He’s out for practically the rest of the game which shoots our defense and breaks up our attack.”
Parker team members glanced concernedly at one another as a fighting Hallstead lined up close to Parker’s goal for a face-off.
“You see—it doesn’t pay!” cried Rudie.
“Shut up!” blazed Captain Lowery, who was on edge. “Get in there! Don’t let ’em score!”
The referee dropped the puck to ice. It was lost almost at once in the mad turmoil which followed. Goalie Bud Gray did heroic work in warding off a rain of vicious shots. But still Hallstead kept battering with Parker fighting the harder to atone for the loss of their defense men. A cry went up as two Hallstead players were bumped to the ice in front of the net.