A Hockey Poem

Championships, Hockey Poetry, Other Stories, Rookies 2 Responses »

May 192010

I like to imagine that this hockey poem could have been written by Albert Forrest, the youngest goalie ever to play in a Stanley Cup series (in 1905, for Dawson City, versus Ottawa. Forrest lost the second game by a 23–2 score).

The Night I Faced One-eyed Frank McGee

Yes, I’m the boy who stood in goal,
Facing pucks he hurled at me.
Yes, I’m the lad whose job it was
To stop the Great McGee.

I tried my best but failed the test,
For the record shows that he
Scored 14 goals in a single game,
And all of them on me.

Oh dear, oh my, it was a catastrophe!

They cheered him loud, they cheered him long.
It was quite a sight to see.
Each time he scored, the more they roared,
“You’re our hero, Frank McGee.”

I stood there shaken, looking on,
The victim of his spree.
Oh yes, he scored those 14 goals,
It was easy as could be.

I wish he’d done it somewhere else,
And on someone else—not me!
When he tired, his mates took up the slack
Till the score reached 23.

Oh dear, oh my, it was a catastrophe!

Someday, when I’m old and grey
With my grandson on my knee,
I’ll tell him of the night I faced
The mighty Frank McGee.

I’ll tell him of his blazing shot
And his boundless energy
And how he played with one bad eye—
Why, the man could hardly see!

But his scoring touch was a gift from God,
At least, that’s my philosophy.
I’ll talk about Lord Stanley’s Cup
And how it slipped away from me

Because of hockey’s greatest star,
Old one-eyed Frank McGee.

Oh dear, oh my, it was such a catastrophe!

To read more about Albert Forrest look for my book, The Youngest Goalie at your local library or try finding it :

In Canada at this link:The Youngest Goalie

In the US at this link: Youngest Goalie

Talking with Topper

Other Stories, Players, Stars 1 Response »

May 182010

Jerry Toppazinni

On the golf course Jerry Toppazinni is a delightful companion. Over 18 holes in a charity tournament in Toronto he has lots of time to talk hockey–and his career with the Bruins (from 1952-53 through 1963-64).

“Did you know the Bruins’ Alumni honored me at their golf tournament in New Hampshire one summer?” he says. “All the old Bruins pick one guy who they feel represented what a Bruin should be. It felt good when Milt Schmidt, a man I’d played with, a man who’d coached me, came across the room and shook my hand. ‘Jerry, you really deserved it,’ he said. ‘You were one of the most honest players I ever worked with.”

“Did you have to make a speech?” I ask.

He laughs. “No way. They knew if they asked me to speak they’d never get me to sit down.”

“Jerry, you never won a Stanley Cup ring, did you?”

“No, but there’s an Englishman who may think I did.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Henri Richard and I were playing golf one day with a businessman from London, England. He didn’t know that Henri Richard had won 11 Stanley Cups with Montreal. In fact, he didn’t know much about hockey at all. On one hole he said to me, ‘Jerry, how many Stanley Cup teams did you play on?’ And I said to him, ‘Well, between Henri Richard and myself, it was eleven.’”

Then he tells me a story that’s a complete surprise.

“I’m at the NHL meetings in Montreal one summer–it was 1973–and I don’t have a job in hockey. But I’m hoping for something. The Bruins at the time were trying to hire Don Cherry as their new coach. But Cherry was reluctant to move to Boston. He owned 25% of the Rochester franchise and he’s really popular there.

“So I get a call from Lynn Patrick, who was then general manager in St. Louis. He says, ‘Listen, Jerry. It’s obvious Cherry is not going to Boston. You’d be ideal for that job. I spoke to Harry (Sinden) about you. Are you interested in coaching the Bruins?’ I said, ‘You kidding? Of course I’m interested.’ Continue reading »

ZANY WAYNE CASHMAN

Players, Real Characters, Stars No Responses »

May 092010

One Zany, Mean, and Tough Bruin

Despite the antics of Derek Sanderson, Mike Walton and others, Wayne Cashman was the zaniest, if not the meanest and toughest member of the Big, Bad Boston Bruins of the seventies.

“I knew I’d never be a 50-goal scorer so I spent my career doing what had to be done,” Cashman told Sports Illustrated while toiling in the twilight of his career.

He played left wing on one of Boston’s most prolific lines, with Phil Esposito at center and Ken Hodge on right wing. He was counted on to do the dirty work in the corners, and to get the puck by fair means or foul to Espo in the slot. Goaltender Gerry Cheevers says, “Cash was the greatest of all the guys from our era when it came to digging in the corners and along the boards. And if someone gave Orr or Espo a cheap shot Cashman would be there in an instant, throwing punches, exacting revenge.” When he retired in 1983, he had served 1,041 penalty minutes to rank third among Boston sinners (behind Terry O’Reilly and Keith Crowder). At 38, he had served the Bruins well in 1,027 games, second only to Johnny Bucyk’s club record of 1,436. When veterans Serge Savard of the Winnipeg Jets and Carol Vadnais of the New Jersey Devils bowed out of NHL hockey a few days before Cashman’s final game, it made the Bruin left winger the oldest survivor of the Original Six league.

Master Of Mishief

Off the ice, he was a master of mischief. Three examples come to mind. Once he broke his foot while swinging on a chandelier and in Los Angeles one night, when the anthem singer was about to perform before a critical playoff game, Cashman spoiled the soloist’s rendition by impishly cutting the microphone cord with his skate. In 1970, after the Bruins won the Stanley Cup, he played traffic cop during the celebrations that followed. He stood on a Boston intersection waving cars in all directions until there was a mammoth snarl. Reluctantly, the cops arrested him and brought him to the station where he was told he could make one phone call. Did he phone his lawyer? No, his call was to a restaurant—for an order of Chinese food.

One Heck of a Party

Cashman, like millions of others, was stunned on the night of Nov. 7, 1975, to learn the Bruins had traded his best pal Phil Esposito, along with Carol Vadnais, to the hated New York Rangers in return for Brad Park, Jean Ratelle and someone named Joe Zanussi. He organized a going away party for his former mates in a Vancouver hotel room and before it was over there were damages to pay of $2,000.

Leadership Role Puts Creativy to Good Use

The following season, he assumed the Bruins’ captaincy and the hi-jinks became less frequent. Johnny Bucyk, who’d been wearing the “C”, returned from an injury, saw the leadership that Cashman was providing, and told him to keep the “C”. Manager Harry Sinden would say, “I don’t think I could have dreamed of Cashman becoming such a leader.”

He was durable enough to play in more than 1000 games, third highest in team history.

A great player? Yes. A different kind of guy? You bet.

Early Signs he’d be a Man who Loves the Game

Even as a child he was unpredictable. One day on the family farm near Kingston, Ontario, where he grew up, he acquired a new pair of skates. Told by his parents not to wear them outside until the weather warmed up, young Cash waited until his parents went off somewhere. Then he opened all the windows, hooked up a hose, and flooded the kitchen floor with an inch of water. When it freezes, he reasoned, I’ll skate inside.

Hockey - The Brightest Part of my Life

Getting Started, Goalies, Other Stories, Stars, Team Canada 1972 No Responses »

Apr 082010

What Hockey has Meant to Vladislav Tretiak

I was never so happy in my life as I was the first time I was a member of a world championship team. That was in 1970 when I was 18, serving as backup goaltender to Victor Konovalenko, a wonderful goalie with fantastic intuition. I don’t know of any Soviet player of that era who commanded more respect than Victor. He was respected for his sense of fair play, his devotion to hockey and for his valour and steadfastness.Often it seemed the pucks flew into his glove by themselves. He was twice my age but there was a bond between us. He patiently revealed to me the secrets of the goaltender’s art and he knew them all. Hadn’t he played on seven world championship teams? Hadn’t he been an Olympic gold medallist? At that young age, more than anything else, I wanted to be the kind of man, the cool competitor, that Konovalenko was. I was also helped to the top by such world-renowned players as the brilliant forward Anatoli Firsov and the reliable defenseman Alexander Ragulin.

Later on, prior to the famous Soviet-Canada series in 1972, I would meet the fabulous Canadian goaltender Jacques Plante, who was kind enough to give me some tips on how to play the top NHL forwards prior to the Summit Series. Had it not been for that unique tournament, perhaps I would not have had an opportunity to have my own puck stopping abilities compared to future Hall of Fame goalies like Ken Dryden and Tony Esposito. More than any other hockey event, the 1972 tournament made it shockingly clear that there was very little difference between the Soviet national team players and the top NHLers. Suddenly there was renewed interest in world and Olympic hockey tournaments, and beginning in 1976, in the establishment of the popular Canada Cup competitions. Today, as a fitting finale to hockey’s first century, we have the best of professional players competing at the Winter Olympics in Japan with a world-wide audience anticipating a thrilling race for the gold medals and the coveted title “Olympic Champions.”

If you want to hear more about what the hockey experience was like from his Russian persepctive, you may want to take a look at Vladislav’s book Tretiak : The Legend. At Amazon, Brian E. Erland says it “…provides an illuminating glimpse of those years… and examines the volatile games that took place when the ‘Eastern Block’ collided with the ‘Powers of the West.’ “

More About Orr

Other Stories, Players, Stars No Responses »

Apr 072010

More About Orr

When Bobby Orr signed a contract to play for the Boston Bruins in 1966-67, for a base salary of $15,000 and a bonus of $5,000 for playing in more than half his team’s games, he became the highest paid rookie in NHL history. He went on from there to become one of the greatest players in the annals of the game.

“He was the greatest,” says Don Cherry, his former coach.

In 1997, The Hockey News conducted a survey, attempting to discover who was the better player, Orr or Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky, who played eight more seasons than Orr, was the choice of voters by a narrow margin. The difference was less than one per cent.

In 2000, The Hockey News conducted another vote. A panel of experts was asked to name the most significant full season performance by an NHL player.

This time Orr edged Gretzky by the slimmest or margins–864 votes to 857.

Orr’s 1969-70 season, in which he became the first defenseman to win the scoring title with 120 points, was seen as the most significant full season by an NHL player. Gretzky’s 92 goal, 212 point season in 1981-82, received just seven fewer votes in the balloting.

Before knee injuries forced Orr to retire at age 30, he had helped the Bruins to two Stanley Cups and had smashed most scoring records for defensemen. During the 1969-70 season, he won four major trophies: the Hart (regular season MVP), the Norris (best defenseman), the Art Ross (scoring leader) and the Conn Smythe (playoff MVP)

No other player has ever earned so much silverware in one NHL season.

The Referee

Other Stories, Referrees, Snowbirds No Responses »

Apr 062010

We’re on the ice at the Skatium in Fort Myers hard at play when a dapper little guy dashes out wearing a full referee’s uniform. He barrels around the ice, warming up, then pulls out a whistle.

“Tweeeet!”

“Offside!” he shouts, snagging the puck off the ice and motioning the guys to line up for a faceoff. Like sheep, we obey.

Seconds later, there’s another blast of his whistle.

“Tweeet!”

“Icing!” he bellows. He stands in the faceoff spot while one of the players directs the puck to his feet. He drops the puck between two sticks and blasts his whistle again.

This goes on for five or ten minutes. There’s a faceoff every few seconds and the guys begin to grumble.

“Who the hell is that guy?” someone asks. “Who told him we needed a referee?”

“Nobody invited him,” Dave St. Andrews says. “He just showed up,”

“Then tell him to go home,” I say. “We lose 15 seconds of playing time every time he blasts that friggin’ whistle.”

Dave calls the ref over to our bench. “Not so many whistles, pal. They eat up too much time. Besides, we’re used to calling our own offsides.”

The guy looks offended. Just then a defenseman slaps the puck into the net.

“Tweeet!” goes the whistle.

“How about that one?” says the ref, looking over his shoulder. He dashes in to retrieve the puck. “That was a good whistle.”

We don’t argue.

But he must have sensed how we all felt.

Two more offsides follow. He wanted to blow them down but he hesitated. No “tweet”. Then he lets an icing go.

Silence.

A ref who can’t “Tweet” is no ref at all.

A few minutes later he was gone. Off the ice and into the dressing room.

Pissed off, no doubt.

But what do we care. We don’t give a hoot—or a “Tweet”.

REFEREE QUITS AFTER PLAYOFF FIASCO

Other Stories, Referrees No Responses »

Mar 192010

Red Storey Ends his Career

Throughout the 1950s, Red Storey, a former football star who once scored three touchdowns for the Toronto Argonauts in a Grey Cup game, established himself as one of the most colourful, popular and highly-respected referees in the NHL. But his illustrious career came to a shocking end during the Stanley Cup playoffs in 1959.

On April 4, 1959, the Montreal Canadiens, pitted against the Chicago Blackhawks in game six of a best-of-seven semi final series at the cavernous Chicago Stadium, held a three games to two lead. Storey’s work over the first two periods of a spectacular see-saw game drew nods of approval from Chicago coach Billy Reay and Montreal’s bench boss, Toe Blake. Earlier in the series, Reay had pleaded with referee-in-chief Carl Voss to assign the unflappable Storey to referee game six. Before the third period was over, Reay would regret making that request.

It was an emotional match that was tied 3-3 in the third period. At one point Storey stopped by the boards and turned to see a fan pointing a gun at him. “I’m going to blow your brains out,” the man threatened, before two cops moved in and tossed the gun-toter from the rink.

With seven minutes left in the third period, Ed Litzenberger, Chicago’s leading scorer, went sprawling after he stepped on Marcel Bonin’s stickblade. No whistle, no penalty to Bonin. The Chicago fans, anticipating a power play, were stunned. They howled in frustration. Moments later, they howled even louder when the Habs scored on Glen Hall to take a 4-3 lead..The boos rained down on Storey. With two minutes to play, and the score tied 4-4, Bobby Hull, in his second season, was flattened by a hip check thrown by Junior Langlois. It may have been a legal check but not a soul in the Chicago Stadium thought so. Again, Storey’s whistle remained silent.

While the enraged fans screamed at Storey, Montreal’s Claude Provost scored the go-ahead goal.

Bottles, cans, coins, programs rained down on the ice–all of the debris aimed at Storey’s balding head. Suddenly, a fan vaulted over the boards and ran at Storey, throwing a cupful of beer in his face. Before Storey could react, Montreal’s all-star defenseman Doug Harvey skated over and punched the intruder—hard. Continue reading »

A Rhyming Goalie's Tale

Goalies, Hockey Poetry No Responses »

Mar 152010

The goalie grinned, unfixed his pad and threw it from his leg,
Then told about a shot he’d stopped one night in Winnipeg

“That shot,” said he, “was moving fast. I can almost feel it yet:
For it bent me in the middle and it hurled me through the net,

Through the backboards and the red brick wall and when I scrambled to my feet
I discovered I was standing on the sidewalk in the street!

But I sold the puck to someone (that was clever don’t you think?)
For a buck to buy a ticket to get back inside the rink.

“Some shot!” laughed the defenseman, “But one I’ll not forget
I took myself one night and, as it whistled o’er the net

They say it took a brick out in the arena near the roof
And it won a game a mile away—but of course I have no proof.”

“That’s the very night,” he said, “That I bodychecked Bill Gawk
And the last I saw of William he was sailing o’er the clock!

But the next day in the paper I was stunned to read the news
That he’d played the last ten minutes for a team in Syracuse.

Ted Lindsay Remembers Rigged Juvenile Championship

Getting Started, Junior Championships, Stars No Responses »

Mar 142010

I enjoyed a bit of reunion with Hall of Famer Ted Lindsay the other night here in Naples. Ted is 84 now. He was about 50 when we worked together for three seasons on the NBC telecasts back in the early fifties. He can look back on a career in hockey filled with fabulous memories of Stanley Cups and scoring accomplishments. But he still retains a bitter memory of a juvenile championship that eluded him—and it shouldn’t have.

In the early 1940s, Ted played left wing on an outstanding juvenile team in Kirkland Lake, Ontario—Holy Name.

“We were said to be the best juvenile team in Canada,” he says convincingly. “But we got robbed in the playoffs.

“We played for the Ontario title and handled a team from Sudbury rather easily, carrying a two-goal lead into the second game of a two game series–total goals to count.

At the end of two periods in game two, we still maintained our two goal lead.

Then came the second intermission which stretched on for a good hour. None of us could understand the reason for the long delay. Turns out Maxie Silverman, a shrewd hockey owner who ruled the game in Sudbury, used the delay to hustle in four or five of the top junior players in the area. Continue reading »

A Hockey Poem

The Night I Faced One-eyed Frank McGee

Talking with Topper

Jerry Toppazinni

ZANY WAYNE CASHMAN

One Zany, Mean, and Tough Bruin

Master Of Mishief

One Heck of a Party

Leadership Role Puts Creativy to Good Use

Early Signs he’d be a Man who Loves the Game

Hockey - The Brightest Part of my Life

What Hockey has Meant to Vladislav Tretiak

More About Orr

The Referee

REFEREE QUITS AFTER PLAYOFF FIASCO

Red Storey Ends his Career

A Rhyming Goalie's Tale

Ted Lindsay Remembers Rigged Juvenile Championship

JIM DOREY

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