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October 30, 2007

Taking a Stand: Ken Linseman

This is Kenny Linseman. He was a real effective hockey player, but he forever soiled his legacy by creating a reputation as one of the dirtiest, peskiest players in the game.

He was nicknamed "The Rat," not for his antagonistic antics, but because Bobby Clarke thought he looked and skated like one. History will always remember The Rat as a yappy, &#!@ disturber.

But history will also remember The Rat every year at draft time. Ken Linseman took a stand against the 20 year old draft in the WHA, successfully claiming if was old enough to vote, he should be old enough to play pro hockey.

The fall out - the WHA raided junior hockey of its top players, and the NHL lowered its draft to 18 forever. The draft became even more of a wild card, and there was more pressure placed on junior, midget and drafted players at an earlier age.

Full Story

'72 Complete: The Ultimate Collector's Edition Of The 1972 Summit Series

The timing is a bit off, but the 35th anniversary DVD release of the 1972 Summit Series is now available. 72 Complete: The Ultimate Collector's Edition of the 1972 Summit Series is an 8 disc box set, including all eight games and an original documentary feature film on the series.

This box set includes a bonus game Canada vs. Sweden and bonus material such as video footage of Hall of Fame inductions, reunion dinners, and Where were you in '72?

Buy 72 Complete: The Ultimate Collector's Edition of the 1972 Summit Series today!

Taking A Stand: Shorty Green

This is Wilf "Shorty" Green. Like Ted Lindsay he made a stand for something he believed in. Way back in 1925 he and his teammates refused to play playoff games for no pay.

The legacy of Green's stand: The first labour dispute in NHL history, the demise of NHL hockey in Hamilton, Ontario, and the beginning of NHL expansion into the United States.

That's quite the fallout over a demand for an extra $200 each.

Full Story

October 29, 2007

A History of Montreal's Goaltending


WOW!

Robert over at Eyes On The Prize has taken quite the undertaking. He's writing profiles of every goalie to ever play for the Montreal Canadiens. He's working his way up chronologically, so right now you can read all about Georges Vezina, George Hainsworth, Lorne Chabot, and Wilf Cude, among others.

Be sure to check back with Eyes On The Prize for the continuing series.

October 28, 2007

Taking A Stand: Ted Lindsay and Chris Chelios

Chris Chelios and Ted Lindsay share something in common besides their Red Wings jerseys.



Actually they share many things in common. They're both among the greatest players of their eras and of all time. They're both Stanley Cup champions, and one day Chris Chelios will join Ted Lindsay in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

But their commonality I'm referring to is both players took a stand that resulted in changing the National Hockey League forever. Now that's quite the legacy.

In Ted Lindsay's case he was the driving force behind the original movement to create the National Hockey League Players association. The movement was squashed by tyrannical owners of the 1950s, but the groundswell could not be denied. Lindsay paid dearly for taking his stand, and his legacy is all about his quest more than it is about him being one of the all time greats.

Since the lost season in 2005, Chris Chelios has taken his own stand, which no doubt you've heard of. Chelios is question NHLPA practices and leadership, drastically altering the way the PA does its business. Jame Mirtle has it all nicely archived on his valuable site. It will take some time to find out all of the repercussions and legacies involved in Chelios' stand. I suspect we'll get the first taste in the next CBA negotiations.

A lot of hockey fans weren't too pleased with Chelios when he started his at times consuming public rants about it all. Fans just went through a season with hockey, and they were tired of hearing about the business of hockey. Drop the puck they said, but Chelios has kept it all in the front page headlines.

I think everyone now realizes how important it is that Chelios did make this stand, much like we now realize how important it was that Lindsay made his stand some 50 years ago. Imagine if they didn't make their stand.

This week at Greatest Hockey Legends.com I'm saluting five players who made a stand and made a difference. Monday I'm headlining "Terrible Ted" Lindsay, who also just happens to be the newest biography around here, and his drive to better serve the NHL players.

Every day this week I'll profile another player who made a difference off the ice. I'll look at a player who cause the NHL's first labour dispute way back in 1925. I'll look at more modern players after that, including a player who forever altered the NHL draft, a player who fought his country's oppressive government, and finally a brand new biography about recently retired player who wanted to choose where he worked instead of being told where he worked.

I hope you enjoy Taking A Stand week here at Greatest Hockey Legends.com

Interview with Red Fisher

I have to hand it to Tyler over at NHL Digest.com. He's really evolving his site nicely, especially when it comes to original content. He's really branching out and trying to reach every audience.

This weekend, courtesy of a regular feature called The Neil Show, he has posted an interview with Montreal's legendary beat reporter Red Fisher. Fisher has been covering the Habs and the NHL for well over 50 years including 17 Stanley Cup championships. He is a real treasure we must tap while he's still around. NHL Digest does just that, as there's some real nice conversation here.

Fisher recalls the very first game he was ever assigned to cover: March 17th, 1955, the night of the Richard Riot! He also tells us who is the most talented Montreal player he's seen in his 53 years, and the answer is not Rocket Richard or Guy Lafleur. He also has a lot of insight on the 2007-08 Habs.

Check it out at NHL Digest.com today.

$100,000 Hockey Cards

I like to use hockey cards to visualize players here at Greatest Hockey Legends.com. After all, people come to my website to remember their hockey heroes of yesterday, and what a great way to relive memories than with that special hockey card from your past.

Speaking of hockey cards, Eric Bonnici introduce himself and his website to me this weekend. He runs Hockey Headquarters.com, a fancy site about hockey cards and other memorabilia. But, much like my own websites, I really appreciate the content Eric dedicates to his site.

Here's some fascinating news from his site: a 1910-11 Newsy Lalonde rookie card and a 1911-12 Georges Vezina rookie card sold for $100,000 each! As you might expect, both cards now hold the record for the highest valued hockey card.

Bonnici describes both cards in detail if you click on the links. Interestingly, while the Vezina card is in mint condition, the Lalonde card is only graded 3 out of 10. Apparently it is so rare that only 2 cards are publicly known.

Fear not, if you don't have that lucrative Vezina or Lalonde card in a Sprinters shoe box in your attic, perhaps you have a Wayne Gretzky rookie card. Apparently The Great One's card sold in 2006 for $80,000.

October 25, 2007

Les Légendes du Québec Nordiques

With Paul Stastny's early season brilliance, I knew I had to hurry up and get his father, Peter Stastny, profiled.

Of course Peter Stastny is one of hockey's all time greats, and it is long overdue that he is profiled here at Greatest Hockey Legends.com. But I decided to take it a step further, and dedicate a whole new wing to the Legends of the Quebec Nordiques.

While I'll need to add quite a few Nords greats to make the wing complete, the three guys I always associate with the team, Peter Stastny, Dale Hunter, and Michel Goulet, are all profiled. I also have Marian Stastny featured, but I need to work on Anton Stastny to complete the Stastny hat trick.

Others featured are Normand Rochefort, Wilf Paiement, Tony McKegney, Gaetan Duchesne, and WHA star Real "Buddy" Cloutier.

If you give me some time, I hope to have NHL stars like Dan Bouchard, Mario Gosselin, Steven Finn, Paul Gillis, Randy Moller and WHA stars like Serge Bernier, Chris Bordeleau, Marc Tardif and J.C. Tremblay.

Most of the Nordiques profiles have existed on this site for some time, listed under "Other Notable Teams." Also listed under "other" are three teams that may be of interest to Nordiques fans: the Quebec Aces (Jean Beliveau, Herbie Carnegie profiled), the Quebec Bulldogs (Phantom Joe Malone) and the Colorado Avalanche (Craig Billington, Ray Bourque, Claude Lemieux, and Patrick Roy)

October 24, 2007

The Greatest Toronto Maple Leafs Player?

Prolific hockey writer Mike Leonetti set out to answer one of the most difficult questions in all of hockey.

Who is the greatest Toronto Maple Leaf of all time?

Not an easy question, is it? While Montreal has Rocket Richard, Boston has Bobby Orr, Detroit has Gordie Howe, Chicago has Bobby Hull and Edmonton has Wayne Gretzky, is there a definitive face of the storied Toronto Maple Leafs franchise?

In fact, when I named the top 36 hockey players of all time a couple months back, I did not include a single player synonymous with the Maple Leafs. (Terry Sawchuk and Red Kelly both made my list, but I think most people always view them, especially Sawchuk, as Red Wings)

If you were to ask 14 different people you'd come up with 14 different answers. Well that's exactly what Leonetti did for his latest book project Maple Leafs Top 100: Toronto's Greatest Players Of All Time. Leonetti asked a jury of Mark Askin, Howard Berger, Joe Bowen, Milt Dunnell, Doug Farraway, Paul Hendrick, Lance Hornby, Harry Neale, Frank Orr, Paul Patskou, Frank Selke, Bill Watters, co-author John Iaboni and himself to determine a definitive list of the top 100 players in Maple Leafs history.

Coming up with this list is extremely difficult. The Leafs glory years came in the 1940s and 1960s. Very little video evidence and first hand accounts exist for the late '40s dynasty, so how do you fairly treat Syl Apps, Teeder Kennedy, Turk Broda and Max Bentley. Even the 1960s dynasty is very distant, and those teams really prided themselves on putting the team before the individual. Frank Mahovlich, Johnny Bower and Dave Keon stood out, but perhaps their legacies were minimalized. The Leafs have had so little success since the 1960s that a couple generations of fans don't know what a championship run really is. Championships = greatness, so how do you compare Darryl Sittler, Doug Gilmour, Wendel Clark and Mats Sundin.

Well the panel of experts narrowed it down, and I have to say I'm highly impressed with the results, or at least the top end. The panel's voting identifies Dave Keon as the greatest of the Maple Leafs, with Teeder Kennedy, Syl Apps, Frank Mahovlich, Darryl Sittler, Charlie Conacher, Johnny Bower, Tim Horton, Turk Broda and Borje Salming rounding out the top 10.

I have no real qualms over the top 10 list, though once you realize who is not included you realize how tough this undertaking really is. Where's Mats Sundin, the franchise's all time leading scorer? Where's King Clancy, once the undisputed face of the franchise? How about George Armstrong, Doug Gilmour, Max Bentley....

The list goes 100 deep, which is an aesthetically pleasing number, but perhaps a bit too long. Even with 80 years of history to wade through, do Mark Osborne or Todd Gill really belong in a book about the greatest Toronto Maple Leafs of all time? With this being the 80th anniversary of the franchise, perhaps 80 would have been enough?

This book is published by Raincoast Books, and as always they come through with the most beautiful of books. Each of the top 100 receive a full color photo (except, for obvious reasons, for some of the players from decades ago) with at least one more smaller color image.

Leonetti is a power writer, churning out books left, right, and center. In fact, just 5 years ago he did the book Maple Leaf Legends: 75 Years of Toronto's Hockey Heroes, featuring the top 75 players in his estimation. His usual style is to accompany Raincoast's commitment to beautiful photography with biographies, some of which can be quite brief.

Leonetti recognizes that his past formula for success needs refreshing for another greatest Leafs book. Instead of biographies Leonetti highlights a single game in each player's career which was the defining moment in each player's time with the Leafs.

Now the defining moment provides for some nice reading, but it somehow leaves me feeling like the book is lacking. If you write a book ranking the greatest players of all time, then I want some defense of the results. I know it was a panel decision and not Leonetti exclusively, but compel me, wow me with some arguments why. Too controversial? All the better! The greatest game idea is a wonderful concept, but perhaps for another book.

I think the best part of the book's text is essayist John Iaboni's contributions. Perhaps too often his compositions are too biographical, but when he allows himself to get personal in his memories (Keon, Bower) he writes wonderful stuff.

All in all, I think this is a REALLY good book that comes up a bit short of being a GREAT book.

October 22, 2007

Hockey Is Art

To some of us, hockey is art. Every game starts with a clean canvas, and new painters. With every stride of a skate, a new stroke is added to a beautiful masterpiece. Some are graceful beauty, others are bold and breathtaking.

I've recently befriended Chris Tucci over at BiskitArt.com. Though he doesn't call himself an artist, truth is he's a very talented one. He practices something called stippling where he sketches out the shape of his subject, and then shades it in with literally like a millions dots. He uses a special pen, something called a rapidograph ink pen. All that tapping results in some magnificent art work.

Chris is a serious Philadelphia Flyers fan, and his favorite subject is goalies. Above you will see his tribute to Bernie Parent.

My favorite part of Chris' website has to be his blog entries because it gives great insight into just how painstaking his art can be. Drawing Bernie is an amazing look into the composition and handywork of Chris' craft. It also provides an amazing look into his thought process and psyche.

Chris goes through another similar process while drawing Pelle Lindbergh. He details it all in Heaven's Crease.

BiskitArt.com also has galleries showing off Chris' portraits of Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Hull, Ken Dryden, Tony Esposito, Vladislav Tretiak, Bobby Clarke and some non-hockey pieces.

All in all, BiskitArt.com is definitely worthy of a few minutes of your time.

Goalies Gone Wild

Gilles Gratton, aka Grattoony the Loony, was quite possibly the NHL's weirdest goalie.

He claimed to have been reincarnated several times, and that being a goalie was actually punishment for his sins in his past lives.

He once refused to play because the moon was in the wrong part of the sky, and spent most of 1976-77 season threatening to strip naked on ice in front of the fans. (For the record, he didn't follow through on that threat.)

As a rookie, Patrick Roy was asked why he had so many lucky bounces off of the goalposts. His answer: he talked to the goalposts before and during games. The posts were his friends. (Yes, he made a commercial joking about it. No, it's not on YouTube.)

That wasn't his only quirk, either. Roy refused to skate over any line on the ice and so had to step over them. He also had a pre-game routine composed of dozens of smaller rituals.

Gratton and Roy weren't the only oddball goalies, either:

* Jacques Plante refused to spend time with his teammates, instead knitting in the locker room and his hotel room.

* Glenn Hall threw up before every game and between periods, because "[w]hen I threw up, I felt like I was doing what I needed to do to prepare for the game. I felt that if I threw up, I played better." Upon finding out Hall would be inducted into the Hall of Fame, his teammates asked if Hall's bucket would be inducted too.

* Darren Pang also threw up before every game, but not before putting on all of his equipment left side first and finishing his warm-up.

* Tony Esposito created an imaginary crease around his equipment, and no one was allowed so much as accidentally bump any of his gear. He also would take all of his gear apart by hand and then put it back together.

* Gary Smith insisted on showering between every single period.

* Gump Worsley refused to wear a mask until near the end of his career. He said he didn't need a mask because his face was his mask.

* Andy Aikenhead used to lock himself in a room for hours after every game, win or lose.

* On game nights, Bernie Parent never left the locker room without first putting on his mask, and never took it off unless he was in the locker room. He would also sit below a miniature Stanley Cup and think about the night's opponents.

* Martin Biron wore the same skates for over 12 years. They didn't have the same protection as more modern skates, so every day he'd have to use rolls of tape to achieve the protection needed.

* Arturs Irbe refused to change his shin pads, wearing them almost continuously for 14 years. Another former goalie said, “I wouldn't wear those pads for a pick-up game,” but Irbe obviously felt they had mojo.

* Dominik Hasek would arrange every item in his locker—right down to his nail clippers—and no one was allowed to touch or move anything.

* Ed Belfour obsessed over his equipment. If he moved left to right to make a save and failed, he might sharpen his skates multiple times, or he might take his glove apart by hand and put it back together.

Goalies these days are, well, more normal than their counterparts of just 10 years ago, though there are a few oddballs left. Gone is the image of the goalie as the neurotic basket case—though I would argue having small rubber disks flying at you at speeds in excess of 80 miles per hour is a good basis for neurosis.

Coaches used to tell their players not to talk to the goalie. Once banished to their own little corner only to be called upon to stop the puck, they're now recognised as the key to any good team. (Or even a mediocre team. Just ask Roy.) A team's run to the playoffs now lives and dies with a goalie's performance.

Unlike the early days, goalies now have their own coaches. Instead of being used for merely target practice, they now work daily with a goaltending coach and have a conditioning routine specially designed for goalies. If they feel stressed out by their job, they can turn to the team psychologist.

Not only do goalies now have coaching and professional psychological support, they have another goalie to commiserate with. Unlike the early days, when a team only carried one netminder, each and every goalie is now guaranteed one teammate who understands what it's like to stand in front of something like Sheldon Souray's 100-mph slapshot. (My advice would be “duck,” but that's why I've never played in goal.)

Now that goalies now have someone else who needs the same workout and the same equipment, they are no longer completely isolated from the rest of their teammates. Much like Diana Ross, every goalie has backups. Except the goalies actually hang out together and tend to be nice to each other.

But I digress.

Now that goalies have gone from team nutcase to valued teammate (some achieve both), they are able to socialize more with the rest of the team, instead of being almost completely isolated and encouraged—or forced, take your pick—to stay isolated.

In fact, it's now necessary for a goalie to be liked and trusted by his teammates. As Darren Pang once observed, "As a goalie these days, you have to win a team over. You want to be liked/respected by the guys. You want the guys to follow you. You basically do things with them socially and do those little things. Then, when you go to the rink, you work your tail off. You give them no excuses not to play hard in front of you."

So now we enter the newest era of goaltending. Normal guys everywhere, performing the role of team saviour, and functioning as team good luck charms. They may still be supersitious and odd, but it's not as obvious to the public as it used to be.

Goalies gone normal. Who knew such a thing was possible?

-- Contributed by Jennifer Conway

Gretzky, Messier Raced To Indianapolis

This is a hockey card of a very young Wayne Gretzky. If he looks a lot happier than he does nowadays behind the bench of the lowly Phoenix Coyotes, that's probably because in this picture he's 17 and has just signed a million dollar contract with the WHA Indianapolis Racers.

What? Wayne Gretzky played for the Indianapolis Racers? Who were they? And why is Gretz wearing number 20?

Rest assured, the photo is no fake. That is Wayne Gretzky and really did play for the Indianapolis Racers. What is fake is that hockey card. According to the new collectibles site PuckJunk.com, this card surfaced in the 1990s and is a complete counterfeit. Gretzky never had a card from his WHA days, be it with Indianapolis or Edmonton.

The Indianapolis/Gretzky combination has never really been well told. Gretzky tends to outright ignore this very brief part of his hockey history. And perhaps he should. As it turns out he was being used by an unscrupulous owner.

Timothy Gassen tells the story in his new and self published book Red, White & Blues: A Personal History Of Indianapolis Racers Hockey 1974-1979. The always scheming Nelson Skalbania signed the teenage phenom but never had much intention of keeping Gretzky in Indy. No, instead the signing was made more to use hockey's greatest prospect as a pawn in WHA-NHL merger negotiations. NHL teams threatened to eliminate any WHA team from possible merger if they signed underage junior players, so Skalbania and WHA owners conspired to park Gretzky in Indianapolis, fully knowing the Racers would soon die anyways. Gretzky would be move to Edmonton at some point. Surprise, surprise, Skalbania may have still had a significant portion of ownership of the Oilers.

At least that's one of the theories that make this a fascinating book. I'm not a WHA fan or an Indianapolis Racers fan, but I really appreciated Gassen's labour of love. Oh, and he also explains Mark Messier's brief professional debut, also with the Racers. This book is as wonderful and wacky as the WHA was, and I have a full review at Hockey Book Reviews.com

Also in book news: NHL Digest.com has an interesting interview with ESPN's John Buccigross. In addition to being a ESPN Hockey personality, Buccigross authored the book Jonesy: Put Your Head Down and Skate: The Improbable Career of Keith Jones. Thanks to the marketing machine that is ESPN, the book has gotten quite a lot of notice this season. Also in the interview is a hint that Buccigross may have a new hockey book as early as next season. It will again be based on a ESPN hockey personality, only this time it will be about the mulleted Barry Melrose. Stay tuned!

October 20, 2007

Natural Born Killers

I will always remember the late Bob Johnson for two quotes.

The first everyone knows. "It's a great day for hockey." But an earlier quote has never left me. "You don't need great skill to be a good penalty killer. You just need hard work. There's no reason why every team shouldn't have a good penalty kill."

Ultimately, Johnson is right, although certain skill sets make some penalty killers better than others. The most important must be anticipation. Being able to break down the opposition's play in front of you will allow for perfect positioning to get into shooting and passing lanes. With active sticks you can prevent and break up passes, and keep the puck to the perimeter.

Skating would be another important attribute. Speed is obviously necessary, but so is mobility and lateral movement. Some of the greatest penalty killers have been speedballs. Remember Dave McLlwain? Winning faceoffs is another obvious, as that can kill 30 of the 120 seconds shorthanded right there. Shot blocking has become an essential task for all penalty killers. Experience and veteran savvy tends to help, though not always. And needless to say, good goaltending is important.

Goaltenders aside, I wanted to look back at some of the great penalty killers over the years. I also asked the many hockey history fans at HFBoards.com's History of Hockey discussion forum for their input.

The first name that popped into my head was Boston's Derek Sanderson. Together with Ed Westfall, "Turk" was an important member of the Boston Bruins PK unit that regularly finished near the top of the league in PK% in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Not surprisingly, the Bruins also finished near the top of the league in those seasons, including two Stanley Cups.

Now those Beantown teams were known for the belligerent play, and they earned their "Big, Bad Bruins" nickname. But in large part their PK team allowed them to play that way. A strong PK allows a team to play with a more aggressive game plan. With the great confidence that your PK unit will halt opposition power plays, a team can be more initiating in physical play and forechecking. Sure, the higher tempo game plan can result in a greater chance of penalties against, but the overall benefits outweigh the detractions if you're likely to survive the 2 minutes shorthanded anyways.

Having defenseman Bobby Orr on the PK unit didn't hurt the Bruins either. Don Cherry loves to tell the story of how Orr once killed a penalty all by himself. He got a hold of the puck and ragged it for the length of the penalty, refusing to give up the puck!

Which leads me to a different penalty kill strategy. The Edmonton Oilers of the 1980s have really popularized the use of superstar offensive players as penalty killers. Regular PK tandems in Edmonton in those days included Wayne Gretzky with Jari Kurri, and Mark Messier with Glenn Anderson.

Don't laugh. Other than Kurri none of these all time greats were known for defensive play. But the Oilers consistently had strong penalty killing during their Stanley Cup dynasty.

The school of thought here is that an offensive wizard such as Gretzky is always such a threat to score on the penalty kill that other teams would be more conservative and tentative on the power play. Defensemen wouldn't pinch to keep the pressure on. Gretzky scored 73 career shorthanded goals, by far the most in NHL history.

The Oilers had lesser skilled players killing penalties as well, namely Esa Tikkanen and Craig MacTavish. MacTavish is now coaching and penalty killing is generally a strong suit of any MacTavish team. Getting in passing and shooting lanes and blocking shots are key strategies here. Watch any Edmonton Oilers game now and you'll notice the skaters block more pucks than the goaltender.

I always remember Guy Carbonneau as a fearless shot blocker. He was the defensive forward extraordinaire in his prime, but he may be the greatest shot blocker of all time. He knew how to time the perfect drop. Countless bruises led to a lot of wins and 3 Stanley Cups.

Carbonneau of course grew into the role as top defensive forward after learning from the best. Not surprisingly, during the Montreal Canadiens dynasty of 1970s featured strong penalty killing, and Doug Jarvis and Bob Gainey were responsible for that. Carbonneau and Mike Keane formed an effective tandem, both in Montreal and Dallas.

Notice how a great penalty kill seems to coincide with team success? It is almost impossible to be a Stanley Cup champion with poor penalty killing.

Other strong penalty killing tandems in memory include: Nick Metz and Joe Klukay in Toronto in the 1940s; Marty Pavelich and Tony Leswick in Detroit in the 1950s; Claude Provost and Ralph Backstrom in Montreal and of course Dave Keon in Toronto in the 1960s; Don Luce and Craig Ramsay in Buffalo, and Bobby Clarke and Bill Barber with Philadelphia, in the 1970s; Dave Poulin and Brian Propp in Philadelphia in the 1980s; and Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby in Detroit in the 1990s. Steve Yzerman also deserves credit for being a big part of the Detroit penalty kill in their heyday.

In the past two seasons Ottawa has had the best penalty kill unit in the NHL, and that was a big reason why they were in the Stanley Cup final in 2007. As such, Mike Fisher, Chris Kelly, Daniel Alfredsson, Antoine Vermette and now departed Peter Schaefer are also worthy as candidates as the greatest penalty killing tandems, at least in the current era.

Other than Orr, I've only looked at forward tandems. Two defensemen almost always are part of the penalty kill unit, but often they don't get credit as being penalty killing specialists. Often the job falls to the team's best defensemen, who also often happens to be an all star known for far more than penalty kills. Guys like Ray Bourque, Denis Potvin, Chris Chelios, Niklas Lidstrom and Al MacInnis were/are regulars on the PK but better known for their offense.

Defensemen who immediately jump to my mind as penalty kill specialists include Brad Marsh, Kjell Sameulsson, Adam Foote, Bill Hajt, Terry Harper, Craig Ludwig, Dallas Smith, Scott Stevens and Rod Langway. Note how traditionally a top PK defender is big, physical and a great shot blocker. Their job is traditionally to clear the front of the net, block shots and fire the puck out of the zone.

To conclude my look at penalty killing specialists, here's a look at the top scoring short-handed players of all time, heading into the 2007-08 season. Active players are marked with an asterisk:

1. Wayne Gretzky 73
2. Mark Messier 63
3. Steve Yzerman 50
4. Mario Lemieux 49
5. Butch Goring 40
6. Dave Poulin 39
7. Jari Kurri 37
8. Sergei Fedorov 36*
9. Theo Fleury 35
9. Dirk Graham 35
11. Derek Sanderson 34
11. Pavel Bure 34
13. Joe Sakic 32*
13. Peter Bondra 32
13. Bobby Clarke 32
13. Guy Carbonneau 32
13. Brian Rolston 32*
17. Dave Keon 31
17. Bill Barber 31
20. Mats Sundin 30*
20. Russ Courtnall 29
20. Bob Pulford 29
20. Craig MacTavish 29
20. Esa Tikkanen 29
25. Dave Reid 28
25. Jeremy Roenick 28*
25. Mike Modano 28*
25. Mark Howe 28
25. Bernie Nicholls 28

P.S. - A good trivia note: Theo Fleury once scored 3 SH goals in a single game!

October 19, 2007

Hockey Book Review: King Of Russia

I didn't know quite what to expect from McClelland & Stewart's 2007 release King of Russia: a Year in the Russian Super League. Let's just say I'm so impressed by this book that I'm almost overwhelmed.

King of Russia is about Canadian hockey coaching legend Dave King's journey to Siberia to become the first Canadian coach in Russia. The book is based on King's daily diary, typically meticulous and refreshingly open, and polished up beautifully by The Globe & Mail's ace hockey reporter Eric Duhatschek.

I personally consider Duhatschek to be the best hockey journalist out there for quite some time. Not only is he incredibly connected, thorough and respected, but he's got an easy to read and captivating writing style. So I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised how easily I was drawn into the text.

But I was surprised how compelling and fascinating the text is. One biography or well written autobiography that I've always wanted to read is that of Coach King. He is a three time Olympic coach, and formerly the one man Canadian national team king-pin. He's also coached two NHL teams and teams all over the world. As one of the greatest bench tacticians ever, his story potentially has so much to offer a reader - about the Soviets, about the NHL, about Canadian hockey and about European hockey, and so much more.

King of Russia isn't that book. Instead is a look into a single season of King's career. I cracked the spine already disappointed because I knew it wasn't what I was looking for.

A few paragraphs later, I realized I had found quite possibly the leading candidate for best read of the new hockey book season. | Full Review of King Of Russia |

October 17, 2007

50th Anniversary Of 500 Goals

Friday, October 19th, 2007 will mark the 50th anniversary of Maurice "Rocket" Richard's becoming the first player National Hockey League history to score 500 career goals. The goal set the standard for individual success and greatness amongst NHL players.

After scoring goals 498 and 499 two nights earlier against Toronto, the Rocket was looking for the magical 500th goal as the Chicago Blackhawks visited the Montreal Forum.

Red Fisher of the Montreal Gazette, one of hockey's greatest writers, was there that night. Then just in his 3rd year of hockey reporting, Fisher remembers the night well.

"There was a great deal of excitement among the crowd at the Forum, as there was on most Saturday nights, but in particular on this night since the Rocket was going for his 50oth. It was pretty well expected that he would score, because you always expected great things from the Rocket and you always got it."

Even though he was by then the oldest player in the game, Rocket wouldn't let his faithful fans down on this night. With the Blackhawks Ian Cushenan in the penalty box for holding at 14:42 of the first period, the Habs vaunted power play went to work. Jean Beliveau, standing to the left of Chicago goalie Glenn Hall, took a pass from Dickie Moore before setting up Richard for the one-timer. The time was 15:52.

"The great crowd of 14,000 and change at the Montreal Forum went nuts," says Fisher. "When the goal was announced, the ovation for him was a little over two minutes, and probably would have continued if the officials hadn't got the teams together and restarted the play."

Richard retired following the 1959-60 season with 544 career goals. It wasn't until March 14th, 1963 that another player, Gordie Howe, reached the 500 goal mark.

Today 39 players have reached the 500 goal plateau. Jeremy Roenick, at the time of this publishing, is knocking on the door with 497.

Here's some interesting stats about the 500 goal club:

26 of the 39 players achieved the milestone in front of a home crowd.

14 of the 39 players have scored 500 goals with the same franchise.

13 players scored their 500th goal while on the power play.

2 players, Gordie Howe and Mats Sundin, scored their 500th goal while short-handed.

Mats Sundin's goal was also the first time an overtime goal marked a player's 500th goal.

7 players entered the 500th goal club by completing a hat trick: Jean Beliveau, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Mark Messier, Brett Hull, Jaromir Jagr and Mats Sundin.

Interestingly, Patrick Roy, arguably the game's greatest goaltender, has allowed the most 500th career goals in league history. Three times he was victimized, by Steve Yzerman in 1996, Joe Mullen in 1997 and Brendan Shanahan in 2002.

3 players, Mike Bossy, Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri, scored their 500th career goals into an empty net.

"Marcel Is Going Into A Slump"

In this day and age of performance bonuses, scoring 20 or 25 goals could mean 100s of 1000s of dollars in extra income.

But such salary clauses didn't really exist back in the days when Marcel Bonin played with the Montreal Canadiens. Therefor, Bonin didn't see scoring more goals as a positive, but a negative.

In Jean Beliveau's autobiography My Life In Hockey, Beliveau remembered a time when Marcel was riding a real hot streak late in the season. But because Bonin had reached his usual output of 15 goals, he didn't want to score any more goals.

"Jean, starting tonight, Marcel is going into a slump," Bonin told the dumbfounded Beliveau. Goals are hard enough to come by in the NHL. A player purposefully not trying to score goals was ridiculous.

"Fifteen goals, that's my usual production. I'm already there. If I score twenty, they'll ask me to score twenty five next year, and I can't. So for the next seven or eight games, I'll be the play maker," he told Beliveau, of all people. "You score. Marcel is going into a slump."

It's stories like that one that made Marcel Bonin's profile a fun biography to write. He was quite the character, once spending part of his summer wrestling a bear with the great boxer Joe Louis acting as the referee. And no, I'm not making that up.

October 16, 2007

Hockey Blogs Power Rankings

Hockey blogs are a community. And as members of that community it is our duty to help out our fellow bloggers. With my traffic up nicely so far this season, I wanted to point out to all of my readers the blogs that I think are worth reading.

There's no shortage of great hockey blogs out there, and I've ranked my favorite blogs in my Hockey Blog Power Rankings. Ranked simply by personal preference, I keep this list on the right hand column, towards the bottom. Keep an eye on it as I will make additions as the season goes on.

Topping the list, as always, are my three favorite blogs: Lowetide, Kukla's Korner, and James Mirtle. These are must reads every single day for me.

Spector comes in at number 4. I'm not into trade rumors like so many people are, so I don't check his site as often as the aforementioned blogs. Realistically - his content and quality rank him with the top three easily.

I include Eric Duhatschek at #5. Realistically he's being penalized for being a professional. There's no better professional hockey writer in the world today than The Hat.

A newcomer, sort of, comes in at #6. I've been fortunate to know Lucas Aykroyd for sometime now, and he's got some real unique content. He's new to blogging, making him the best kept secret in hockey blogging.

I've included the folks from Orland Kurtenblog at #7. They're fascinatingly entertaining, and I was wowed when I learned the Vancouver Province adopted them for their website. Amazing success story here.

With the new uniforms and logos being unveiled, I think it is safe to say that over the course of the summer NHL Logos Blog got some serious attention. The site's archive is amazing, and the fan renditions of what could have or should have been done are amazing.

Robert over at Eyes On The Prize and Tyler over at NHL Digest are long time mainstays on my power ranking. They're going in interesting though opposite directions. Robert is refocusing on mostly Montreal content now, while Tyler is branching out and trying to cover as much of the NHL as he can. Both sites will be interesting to watch evolve.

I try to keep my blogging list free of the professionals, but like Eric Duhatschek Dave Stubbs and the boys at Habs Inside Out are just too good to not acknowledge.

On The Forecheck, Mike Chen and Tom Benjamin are also old standbys for me, but a newcomer is Hockey Narrative. I have just learned of this site but the writing and research is as deep as Team Canada's forward units. I expect this site to rank higher as the season goes on.

So Very Obsessed, The Hockey Rabbi, Jes Golbez, Jamie Fitzpatrick, and A Theory of Ice round out my listing. All are capable of great posts, but I don't read them as regularly as the others. Part of it is lack of time. Hopefully these girls and guys can recapture my attention on a more regular basis this season.

By the way, below the Hockey Blog Power Rankings on the right hand column are other hockey links that are worthy of note, in my opinion. I really need to expand this collection, but be sure to check out these sites as well:

* Biskit Art
* Remembering NHL Power Players
* NHL Numbers
* Canadiens Memorabilia
* Hockey History @ HF Boards

October 15, 2007

Book Review: Gretzky to Lemieux

Ed Willes has gone down a road that I am very familiar with.

Willes, hockey journalist extraordinare of the Vancouver Province daily newspaper, revisited his youthful memories of the 1987 Canada Cup only to find that the hockey he may have mythologized in his own memories was even more spectacular, more special and more impacting than even he realized. He captures it all nicely in his new book Gretzky to Lemieux: the Story of the 1987 Canada Cup

I know the road Willes has travelled all too well. In 2002 co-author Patrick Houda and I released our first book World Cup of Hockey: A History of Hockey's Greatest Tournament, sort of an encyclopedic history of all the Canada Cup/World Cup tournaments. This project allows me to give a real unique review of Willes' new title.

Read Full Gretzky To Lemieux Book Review

Big Bird

If you had to build your team's blue line around your choice of one defenseman in NHL history, you certainly couldn't go wrong selecting Larry Robinson.

Big Bird, as he became known as, made great first impressions with his size and desire to use it. When he was drafted he was a bit of a diamond in the rough with great potential. I think even the biggest Robinson supporters were surprised that all of that potential was reached and then some.

Robinson became an almost flawless defender. Blessed with a near perfect understanding of positioning, an amazingly long reach, and physical prowess combined with a frequent mean streak, Robinson became the pre-eminent defenseman in the modern era. Every team covets a monster on the blue line who can control the games power forward by installing fear in the minds before the game even starts, yet add an offensive level that is well above average. Modern day warriors like Rob Blake, Chris Pronger, Scott Stevens and Derian Hatcher do their best to imitate Robinson, an intimidating devastator who almost never made a defensive mistake.

Robinson developed into an offensive threat as well. He was a catalyst on the power plays as he was a strong puck carrier and brilliant passer. In his younger days he was a frequent puck rusher. . . . . | Read the full Larry Robinson biography |

October 12, 2007

Looking For Great Penalty Killers

Today I finally got my review copy of Gretzky to Lemieux: the Story of the 1987 Canada Cup by Ed Willes. The book has already been on book shelves for a bit, so you can go out and get your own copy this weekend too.

I plan to read the book this weekend, and on Monday I will feature my thoughts at Hockey Book Reviews.com. I also just got Maple Leafs Top 100 by Mike Leonetti. I'll have that book reviewed next week too.

Also to keep you busy this weekend: brand new biographies on Larry Robinson, Alex Delvecchio and Mickey Redmond.

And I'm looking for input on the game's greatest penalty killing units of all time. Derek Sanderson and Ed Westfall were a dandy tandem in Boston. Craig Ramsey in Buffalo. Dave Poulin in Philly. Jere Lehtinen nowadays. Who else? Email me at teamcanada72@gmail.com

October 11, 2007

The Small Man Has Always Been Able To Play

Daniel Briere is the NHL's reigning leading little man.

In a game where size is supposed to matter, physics might suggest a man the size of Briere, just 5'10" and 175lbs, shouldn't able to participate. But through immense talent, great speed, a dash of luck, and undeniable desire, Briere doesn't just participate, he dominates. He's overcome many obstacles in his career, but you could argue that he may be the best player in the National Hockey League right now not named Sidney Crosby.

Briere follows in the footsteps of other hockey midgets who defied tall odds to achieve great things in the rough and tumble world of the NHL. Martin St. Louis, Brian Gionta, Saku Koivu, Steve Sullivan, Martin Strake, Dan Boyle, Brian Rafalski are among the other veterans in Briere's skates.

The trail always had a few pint-sized blazers in the past, namely Theoren Fleury, Pat Verbeek, Igor Larionov, Ziggy Palffy, Cliff Ronning, Mats Naslund, Paul Kariya, Doug Gilmour, Donald Audette, even Tie Domi.

Even some of the all time greats were smurfs: Marcel Dionne, Ted Lindsay, Henri Richard, Camille Henry, King Clancy, Max Bentley, Dave Keon, Shrimp Worters Pat Stapleton, to name just a few. And hey, Steve Yzerman and Wayne Gretzky are hardly big men by NHL standards, yet their size was never a detraction.

While the new NHL is more inviting for the small, speedy skilled player, bottom line is these players all succeeded because they were willing to play the big man's game. They never backed down, never shied from the heavy traffic and dangerous corners, and even initiated physical play. Yes, they need to be skilled and they definitely need speed, perhaps more so than their larger competitors, but they also had to be willing to pay the physical price. It's the same story today as it was 10 years, 30 years ago and 50 years ago.

The myth about small hockey players not being able to play in the NHL has been busted time and time again. Daniel Briere is just the latest in a long line of fantastic players.

The NHL's Smallest Player Ever: Shrimp Worters

So far this week I've been looking at some of the NHL's best little men. Marcel Dionne, Pat Verbeek, and Mats Naslund have headlined so far. Today I look at the smallest of the small: Hart Trophy winner "Shrimp" Worters.

Roy "Shrimp" Worters is probably the smallest player ever to play in the NHL. Height and weight records from the earliest days are a bit sketchy, but no first-hand accounts have ever disputed Worters' distinction.

Shrimp stood all of 5'3" and never weighed more than 130lbs, but he was a giant of the goaltending crease. Most of those 130lbs must have been from his huge heart.

Worters is seldom mentioned when discussing the greatest goalies of all time, likely because he played with some pretty bad teams. It would be tough to imagine how bad those teams would be without Worters.

Worters played most of his career with the New York Americans during the depression years. He also had stints with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Montreal Canadiens. Full Shrimp Worters Biography

October 10, 2007

Ramage Found Guilty; Faces 2-5 Years In Prison

From TSN.ca: Former NHL player Rob Ramage was found guilty Wednesday on all five charges he faced in a fatal crash that killed a former Chicago Blackhawks player.

Keith Magnuson, 56, died instantly on Dec. 15, 2003, when a rental car driven by Ramage, 48, slammed into another vehicle in Woodbridge, Ont.

Ramage's wife sobbed after the jury in this town north of Toronto found Ramage guilty.

The charges included impaired and dangerous driving causing the death of Magnuson, impaired and dangerous driving causing bodily harm to Michelle Pacheco, the driver of the vehicle that Ramage's rental car struck head-on, and having a blood alcohol level over the legal limit.

"It's a tragedy for all involved, including my family," Ramage said outside court. Full Story

The Toronto Star looks at sentencing possibilities: Ramage is allowed to return to St. Louis for the time being but must return to Canada for submissions on Dec. 18. A sentencing date has tentatively set for Jan. 17 2008. He will likely lose his permanent U.S. residency status once he is sentenced.

Legal experts said Ramage is facing two to five years in prison for his impaired driving causing death conviction.

There are no consecutive sentences in Canada. If he was to receive two years less a day his sentence would be served in a provincial jail. House arrest isn't an option for a penitentiary sentence but would be if he receives a provincial sentence. Full Story

Hockey and DUI

From Buzzle.com

* 2007: Rob Ramage found guilty of 5 charges including impaired driving, dangerous driving causing death and causing bodily harm. Sentencing awaits.

* 2007: Mark Bell receives 6 month sentence for impaired driving. Also suspended by NHL for 15 games.

* 2007: Jay Bouwmeester pleads guilty to impaired driving. He receives a $1000 fine and suspended Canadian driver's license for one year.

* 2003: Chicago Blackhawks captain Alex Zhamnov was placed on court supervision for one year and community service for pleading guilty to driving under the influence

* 2002: Peter Worrell of the Florida Panthers is sentenced to 10 days in jail and his license is suspended five years for driving under the influence.

* 2001: Sergei Fedorov is ordered under court supervision for one year and community service for impaired driving. Eddie Shack is fined $1,000 for driving under the influence after a charity golf event.

* 1999: Steve Chiasson crashes on his way home from a team party is killed. His blood-alcohol level is more than three times the legal limit.

* 1995: Dominik Hasek is fined $850 and community service for a drunk driving conviction.

* 1994: Chris Pronger, Bobby Hull, and Paul Holmgren score a hat trick of drunk driving convictions.

* 1993: Edmonton Oilers Dave Hunter serves seven days in jail for his third impaired driving conviction in six months.

* 1990: Mike Keenan is fined $550 and given a year's court supervision for a drunk driving charge.

* 1989: Peter Klima spends 35 days behind bars for drinking and driving.

* 1987: Calgary Flame Jamie Macoun is charged with drinking and driving after losing control of his sports car. The charge is reduced to dangerous driving and he pays $1000 fine.

* 1986: Miroslav Frycer of the Toronto Maple Leafs spends 14 days in the slammer for his second impaired driving conviction.

* 1986-1994: Bob Probert is arrested five times for impaired driving. He spends several months in jail and in rehab, but continues his NHL career.

* 1985: Pelle Lindbergh dies from injuries when his Porsche slammed into a wall. He had been drinking at a team function.

* 1984: Craig MacTavish leaves a nightclub intoxicated and kills a woman. He pleads guilty to vehicular homicide and spends a year in jail.

* 1974: Tim Horton gets behind the wheel while intoxicated and is killed when he loses control.

Little Beaver

Many of today's superstars of the professional sports world complain about a lack of privacy. The demands on their time because they are famous and worshipped by millions is probably the worst aspect of the life of a pro athlete.

Rarely does a superstar slip through the cracks of prestige and recognition as inconspicuously as Marcel Dionne.

Dionne finished his career ranked as the third highest scorer of all time with 731 goals, 1040 assists and 1771 points in 1348 games. Only Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe amassed more impressive totals at the time.

In fact, of all the greats to grace the ice, Dionne ranks as the highest scoring French Canadian of all time? Not Guy Lafleur or Rocket Richard or Jean Beliveau or Mario Lemieux. Marcel Dionne outscored them all.

Yet when fans endlessly debate who is the greatest player of all time, Marcel's name hardly ever gets as much as a whisper. In the "Top 50 NHL Players of All Time" issue of the Hockey News, the third highest scorer in NHL history was ranked only 38th.

Why is Dionne under-appreciated? Find out in by reading the full Marcel Dionne biography.

October 09, 2007

The Little Ball Of Hate

Would you believe me if I told you there was a hockey player who scored 522 career goals, scored nearly 1,100 career points, earned 2,905 penalty minutes, hoisted the Stanley Cup, and has one of the coolest nicknames of all time, but he's not likely to make it to the Hockey Hall of Fame any time soon?

Well that's exactly the situation Pat Verbeek, known to Rangers fans as "The Little Ball of Hate," finds himself in.

This week's focus on hockey's little men continues with a look at Pat Verbeek. Be sure to check back tomorrow to see tomorrow's featured legend.

Le Petit Viking and his neighbor Kjell

He wasn't a true superstar hockey player but an above average player who took over Guy Lafleur's role as Montreal's dynamic offensive leader and fan favorite. One of my unforgettable memories of the 1980s was the Montreal Forum applause he would get every time announcer Claude Mouton announced a goal by "number 26, numéro vingt six . . . Matsss....Nasluuuund."

Its hard to believe nowadays, but at the time Mats Naslund was the first European trained player to ever play for the Montreal Canadiens. A couple of years later they added another Swede, Kjell Dahlin, who just so happened to grow up on the same street as Naslund back in the town of Timra.

For one season only Dahlin was a Swede Sensation, rewriting the Montreal rookie record book while teaming with Naslund in helping Montreal capture the 1986 Stanley Cup.

Montreal's been a real European friendly place in recent seasons, but interestingly there are few Swedes in their lineup in that time. In fact this year there are 9 Europeans (and 4 Americans) on their 23 man roster, but no Swedes and just 4 Quebecers.

Maybe Montreal's fortunes would rise if they could find themselves another "Le Petit Viking."

Read full Mats Naslund biography - Read full Kjell Dahlin biography

October 08, 2007

Rick Jodzio

During its eight year run, the World Hockey Association had a well-deserved reputation for toughness. In the league that inspired the Hanson Brothers and "Slap Shot," not even Bobby Hull’s hairpiece was considered sacred by enforcers. But despite that an otherwise nondescript goon among goons named Rick Jodzio placed himself firmly in hockey fight history on April 11, 1976 for arguably the most brutal hit – and ensuing brawl – in the history of the WHA or any other league.

That night, during a playoff quarterfinal game between the Calgary Cowboys and the heavily favored Quebec Nordiques at the Colisee de Quebec, Jodzio delivered a vicious shoulder-to-chest check on the Nords’ leading scorer, Marc Tardif. The hit sent Tardif flying into the boards and knocked him unconscious. "Tardif must've flown 10 feet in the air. Just took off – whooosh! – like a plane off a runway," Cowboys trainer Bearcat Murray recalled years later. There are other versions of the story, including one which accuses one of the Nordiques of accidentally kicking Tardif in the head while taking a swing at Jodzio. Regardless, Tardif had to be carried off the ice on a stretcher, lost to Quebec for the rest of the playoffs and doomed to recurring migraines for the rest of his career. Deprived of their main scoring threat, the Nords would go on to lose the series in five games.

The game was halted for a full hour and 25 minutes, not only to attend to Tardif, but also the melee on the ice between Jodzio, his teammates and enraged Nordiques players and fans alike. "I wound up knocking out three of them (fans) before some guy leaned over and kicked me in the head for 14 stitches. Two of their guys had Jodzio on our bench and were beating on him. Police everywhere," Murray said in a recent ESPN interview. Jodzio was later arraigned on assault charges in Quebec City as a direct result of the incident.

Jodzio’s numbers during a rather brief six-year playing career are typical of an enforcer: low on points, high on PIMs. Breaking into the WHA in 1974-75 with the Vancouver Blazers and later splitting his timebetween the Cowboys and various minor league clubs, in 357 WHA appearances he averaged 2.6 PIMs a game while only scoring 15 goals. In his only NHL season in 1977-78, split between the dreadful Colorado Rockies and the horrible Cleveland Barons, Jodzio scored 10 points and spent 71 minutes in the sin bin. After that, he quietly faded into the minors for good before retiring in 1980.

Had it not been for the WHA and the sometimes ill-advised expansion of the NHL in the 1970s, Jodzio would have probably never made it out of the minors. But in his short time in the big show he became forever remembered as central to one of the most visceral, unfortunate and downright bizarre moments in the game’s history.

Doug Berry

Doug Berry was a useless hockey player. That's not my assessment, but the assessment of his NHL coach.

Doug was playing with the Colorado Rockies during the tenure of Don Cherry's coaching range. "Grapes" said the following about Berry in his autobiography:

"Apart from being a useless hockey player, the kid had a distorted idea about the work ethic; he didn't think it existed!"

Berry was a member of the Colorado Rockies more because of his tie-ins with the city of Denver. Berry starred at the University of Denver for 3 seasons from 1975 through 1978. The Rockies manager Ray Miron selected the local star 38th overall in the 1977 Entry Draft.

Berry signed with Glen Sather's Edmonton Oilers when he turned pro in 1978, but once again became Colorado property when the WHA and NHL merged in 1979. Berry played most of the next season and a half in Denver, much to Cherry's chagrin.

"I was rapidly losing points with Miron," recollected Cherry "and I would lose still more watching a center named Doug Berry. After the workout I walked into Miron's office. 'This guy Berry, what's he doing here? He can't skate, he can't shoot, and he can't hit!' "

Miron refused to send Berry to the minors because he feared that Glen Sather would pluck him off of the waiver list. So the Rockies forced Cherry to keep using a player he really didn't want.

Berry played in 121 games, scoring 10 career goals and 33 assists for 43 points, before his poor play under Cherry finally saw him demoted to the minors. His stay in the minors was short though as he opted to join a German team. Berry's game wasn't suited for the North American pro ranks, but Berry enjoyed a long career in Europe. He retired in 1992 after 10 years over seas, 9 of which were spent in Germany.

By the way, I don't believe Cherry's assessment that Doug Berry could not skate. Skating was a prerequisite of any player of interest for Glen Sather, especially back in those days. Plus, Sather also showed interest in Doug's brother Ken. I never saw Doug Berry but I saw Ken Berry with Edmonton, Vancouver and the Canadian national team. He could really motor around the ice, and I bet Doug could too.

For a better understanding of how good Doug Berry was at the University of Denver, check out Berry's profile at LetsGoDU hockey blog.

Cancer Strikes Hockey Again

We may admire our hockey heroes as invincible warriors, but even hockey players can't escape serious illnesses such as cancer.

Today it was announced that Toronto Maple Leafs winger Jason Blake is suffering from a rare form of leukemia.

Blake has something called chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), an uncommon type of cancer of the blood cells that spreads slowly. It is reportedly highly treatable and he will not miss any time from the hockey season. More importantly, his life is in no immediate danger as he is expected to live normally for a long time, although a bone marrow transplant may become necessary later on in life.

Hockey players in the past who had cancer include Mario Lemieux, Saku Koivu, John Cullen, Milos Holan, Yanick Dupre and referee Paul Stewart. Last season Boston Bruins rookie Phil Kessel was diagnosed with testicular cancer. And of course many of the older generations of hockey legends are facing the disease as well.

The 2007-08 season marks the 10th anniversary of the NHL/NHLPA joint charitable initiative Hockey Fights Cancer. To date, more than $9 million has been raised to support national and local cancer research institutions, Children’s Hospitals, player charities and local cancer organizations.

One of this season's fund raising initiatives is the new book Reflections On A Hockey Season. I have a book review over at Hockey Book Reviews.com

Also see: Donate directly to Hockey Fights Cancer

Vic Howe

If there is anybody who could understand what it was like to be Brent or Keith Gretzky, it was Vic Howe.

Vic, the younger and smaller brother of the legendary Gordie Howe, could appreciate the unfair pressure placed upon Wayne Gretzky's siblings. Coming from the same family everyone expects you to be similar to the most successful brother, and if you faltered early you were considered to be a big bust.

"Being Gordie's brother was great," admitted Vic. "But trying to play like him, well, that was another story! At times there was a great deal of pressure on me. I know I put a lot of pressure on myself."

"There was never any doubt in my mind that Gordie was a better player than me. But it just seemed that every time I turned around, somebody was always comparing the two of us. It was just something I had to live with."

Vic recalled a specific incident back in Saskatoon with the WHL that he would relive in his career several times.

"I had a breakaway and I went in on goal but had some trouble putting the puck past the goalie." said Vic, who like Gordie played right wing. "I missed the shot. I got back over to the bench and sat down and our coach, Doug Bentley, stepped behind me and said 'Gordie wouldn't have missed that shot.' So it didn't matter what I did. It would never be good enough."

Vic Howe never seriously pursued a hockey career until his brother turned pro. Ironically, he likely never would have been given a shot at the NHL if he wasn't the brother of Gordie Howe.

Vic played parts of 3 seasons with the New York Rangers - 33 games in total - and scoring 3 goals and 7 points. His biggest highlight was getting a chance to play against Detroit and his brother.

"I can remember playing against Gordie a couple of times. I even recall lining up against him and then having to go into the corner against him for a puck. He took it easy on me and didn't give me any of the elbows he is famous for!"

When he wasn't making a rare appearance with the Rangers, Vic bounced around the minor league circuit. He played in 6 different leagues ranging from Nelson British Columbia to the British Isles - where he played with the Harringay Racers.

Vic returned to Canada and became a constable for the Canadian National Railway in Moncton, New Brunswick.