How TSN Killed The WJCs

I used to love the World Junior championships. But in recent years my interest has waned significantly

Why? That is a question I have been asking myself a lot this week, and I am no closer to a definitive answer.

Maybe it's that we always win. Or at least we are always in the gold medal game. Is there enough competition to make this tournament truly worthy of all the hype Canadians heap upon it?

The one country that will always compete - and I predict will soon dominate the world juniors - is the United States. The era of the United States dominating hockey is soon upon us. Maybe there's some part of me that does not want to get all caught up in this Canadian celebration because I know all good things come to an end.

Maybe it's that we always host it now. I always enjoyed those ancient locations in the Czech Republic or Switzerland or Russia. Hosting it in Canada or in United States border towns ensures huge dollars, and I get that, but I long for the days of early morning games in Prague or Moscow or Stockholm.

In all honesty, I really think it's the over-the-top nationalism that TSN forces upon us. I love Canada and Canadian hockey more than anybody, but it's just a little too uncomfortable for me. It's a little better now that the excessive Pierre McGuire has departed, but Gord Miller is not a whole lot better.

For me, the descent all started after the 2005 championship. With the NHL lockout in full swing, Canada dominated with a full roster that included Sidney Crosby. You would think in a year with no NHL hockey I would have been ecstatic (you know, like the rest of the country) for such high quality hockey, but somehow I was turned off. I really think it was how overly excited Pierre McGuire was with the whole "Double Dion" thing. I was so turned off that I have never really made the World Juniors a priority in my life ever since. Prior to 2005 that was an unthinkable.

Okay so I can't really blame Pierre McGuire. But for some reason my World Juniors interest has waned and I don't know why. Make no mistake. I will be watching Saturday's much anticipated New Year's Eve showdown with the United States. But will I follow the Canadian kids beyond that? There's no guarantee of that. I missed Jordan Eberle's amazing heroics in 2009. I missed Jonathan Toews' shootout hat trick in 2007. I bought the commemorative DVD featuring those games and other classics, but I haven't watched that either.

Will I see the 2012 gold medal game? Maybe. Or maybe I'll go for a snowshoe instead.

Mrazek: Memories Of Pauli Jaks

The World Junior Hockey Championships have quickly become one of the favourite non-NHL hockey tournaments on the hockey schedule. In fact some fans will tell you that it is the most exciting hockey you'll see all season long prior to the start of the Stanley Cup finals.

We watch these kids playing their hearts out and we become instant fans of theirs. They don't get paid, they are there for their country and because they are chasing a dream - a dream that many of us have dreamt for as well, but came nowhere close to fulfilling.

As we watch the excitement on television, often staying up (or getting up!) at the wee hours of the morning if the tournament is held in Europe, we develop instant favourites, and we follow them throughout the rest of their career. Many never become much of a professional player once they reach that stage, but some do.

We don't just become fans of our home countries' players either. Often we are drawn to a great player on another team. Though he is the enemy for this short tournament, we become fans of his too.

At the 2012 World Juniors in Alberta that player turns out to be Czech goaltender Petr Mrazek. His 50 save performance upsetting the might United States is one thing. Heck, he even attempted to score a goal! But it his enthusiastic celebrations mid-game that are entertaining, refreshing and stealing the show. How excited must this kid be to be getting a standing ovation from 17,000 Canadian fans.

Of course, being an oldtimer like myself, I tweeted how Mrazek's spectacular play reminded me of another great World Juniors goaltender named Pauli Jaks. It fell flat, as no one knows who that is any more. Which goes to serve as a reminder: You can earn temporary legendary status at the World Juniors, but it is no guarantee of NHL success.

For a trip down memory lane, here's a look back at Pauli Jaks and the 1991 World Junior Hockey Championships.

Mike Moller: Canadian Crooner

A role player who bounced between the minor leagues and the NHL in the 1980s, Mike Moller is a junior hockey legend in Canada.

Born in Calgary, Moller was chosen 41st overall by the Buffalo Sabres in 1980 after two outstanding seasons in the WHL with the Lethbridge Broncos. A WHL all star, Moller became a hockey legend in Canada when he scored 14 points in seven games to help Canada win its first gold medal at the World Junior Championships. That 1982 team was the first Canadian team in the famed "Program of Excellence."

That 1982 team, which featured both Mike and his brother Randy, will forever be remembered as the Canadian team that sang their own anthem after capturing gold. The hosts in Rochester, Minnesota inexplicably did not have a copy of the Canadian national anthem to play at the gold medal ceremony.

"The bottom line is they should have played it because we had won the gold medal," said Mike Moller.

But the proud Canadians came up with their own solution.

"It wasn't planned, but finally a few guys at the end of the line said, 'Sing it ourselves, boys,'" Moller said. "So we stood there shoulder to shoulder and belted out what was probably the worst rendition of our national anthem."

The song may have been out of key, but it never sounded better. And ever since Canadian teams belt out "O Canada" loud and proud when winning an international hockey tournament.

Read the full Mike Moller biography

Interview With Perry Berezan

GreatestHockeyLegends.com thanks Frederick Lavallee for the following interview with Perry Berezan:

2011 has been quite the year for this little French writer from Montreal, Quebec. Had the chance to interview four former NHLers, and I, of course, wanted a fifth one. I like to read those old NHL Yearbooks, especially since they started at about the same time I started watching hockey. I will always remember that 1991 Minnesota North Stars run to the Stanley Cup finals, and I told myself : ‘’ Why not try and interview a player from that roster? ‘’

I peeked at the forwards, and noticed that familiar name : Perry Berezan. Yeah, remembered him from the Flames, North Stars and Sharks. Played two times in the Stanley Cup Finals, and for an expansion team, interesting! And so, I e-mailed him. And less than 12 hours later, I had my answer...

‘’ Frederick, thanks for taking interest in an old slug.

I’d be happy to speak to you. Call me Tuesday at... ‘’ – Perry Berezan

I was shocked. I called, and was asked by Berezan if I’d prefer meeting him, because he’d come to Montreal a month after. I said yes without any hesitation. He liked my devotion and passion and was willing to take some time to meet and share some thoughts about his career, and the choices that he made in life. And so, it all happened October 21st right here in my hometown of Montreal.

Perry Berezan was born on December 5th 1964, in Edmonton, Alberta. Like many other Canadian hockey kids, he learned to skate early on an outdoor rink close to his home. His dad put him on the ice with his first pair of skates when he was 4 years old...

‘’ I just ran on the ice. Instead of falling, I just ran. Didn’t skate, didn’t walk, but it was pretty obvious to me that I wanted to play. I started playing hockey with some neighbors when I was five and I remember scoring my first goal on a breakaway by sliding in the net with the puck. One of the moms would give 10 cents per goal to kids and I remember telling myself : ‘’ I can get ten cents! ‘’. I was so excited! ‘’ says a laughing Berezan.

He played his minor hockey (up to the age of 15) in the Northeastern part of Edmonton, where he lived in a lower-middle class neighbourhood. He just loved playing. Practiced a lot of different sports and he just craved for more. But that desire especially showed in the form of...running!

‘’ In grade 7, one of the Phys Ed teachers wanted to start the 500 kilometers club, to see if people would follow. I had to get up early before school to run. I remember wanting to do a thousand! I had such a drive. My Junior High would be running in the morning, just because I had to, and then play with soccer or basketball teams, or track teams, and in the winter, during the evening, it would be hockey! ‘’

Read the full interview with Perry Berezan

Johnny Wilson Passes

Johnny Wilson's 12-year National Hockey League career extended over three decades (1949-62). The left winger broke into the NHL in 1949-50 season with the Detroit Red Wings after playing junior hockey across the Detroit River in Windsor, Ontario with the Windsor Hettche Spitfires in the International Hockey League.

Wilson played from 1947-49 with the Spits where he compiled 43 points (26G-17A) in 29 games played. After 4 games in the 1948-49 season with Windsor, Wilson was sent to the Omaha Knights of the USHL where he played 70 games that year, scoring 41 goals and 39 assists with 46 penalty minutes.

One of the things that Wilson says helped keep him and his teammates focused on making the NHL during their days with the Spitfires was that he and his teammates would receive passes to go to Olympia on Sunday nights and watched the guys at the big club play. In addition, guys like Ted Lindsay and Gordie Howe use to come and watch them play in Windsor. Wilson credits the attention with providing a boost to his professional career.

Fully Johnny Wilson biography

Merry Christmas From GreatestHockeyLegends.com

Various NHL Christmas Cards

A Canucks Jersey For Christmas

All I ever wanted for Christmas was a Vancouver Canucks jersey.

Now many of you kids out there today can relate to that idea. All ye faithful Canucks fans proudly wear the colours these days, but when I was a kid nobody else wanted a Canucks jersey. The Canucks were cellar dwellers in a league dominated by Edmonton and Calgary. And their jerseys were, well, downright ugly. The only thing scarier than the defense pairing of Doug Halward and Neil Belland were those dreadful jerseys.

I’m not even talking about those infamous “V” jerseys. I wanted one of those golden specials with the skate going downhill faster than the team in the old Smythe Division standings.

The kids nowadays have no idea how hard it was to wear the colours of Canucks Nation back then. This is a franchise better known for - sing it with me now - 4 logo changes, 3 lost decades, 2 Stanley Cup riots and a mugging by Todd Bertuzzi.

That and the colours were awful back then: Darth Vader black with ketchup red and way too much mustard yellow. Back then you were far more likely to see eight maids-a-milking than a kid wearing a yellow Trevor Linden #16 jersey.

But that is exactly what I wanted for Christmas. Linden was my hero. The Canucks were my team. I did not care if they only had 59 points the season before. I would wear the jersey with pride!
After years of nagging Santa Claus and just about everybody else I knew, I finally got that jersey. The only thing was it was too small. I was a tall, lanky kid, and this jersey was a little too short and it was tighter than Scrooge during the holidays.

I did not mind that so much. But I never liked the ironed on numbers and name plate. I guess I forgot to specify I wanted the authentic replica, complete with stitched on numbers and letters. Those plasticy, ironed-on numbers were almost as embarrassing as the Canucks play back then. But I wore it to school all the time. I even got a school photo done in it once.

When I got older I bought my own Trevor Linden jersey. Complete replica, with stitched on numbers and letters even. I spent over $300 at General Motors Place for it. I didn’t even like those dark blue orca jerseys, but I wore it with elation. Finally, a truly authentic Trevor Linden Canucks jersey! It was a Christmas present to myself.

Three weeks later the Canucks traded Trevor Linden to New York. Mike Keenan and Mark Messier played the role of Grinch, and I was so upset that I never wore that jersey again for five years. Not until the day the Canucks traded to get Linden back. Christmas came early that year – I could wear my jersey again!

Of course the Canucks soon thereafter changed their color scheme to the current beauties. So I took my out-of-date Linden jersey out of circulation.

When Trevor Linden retired soon thereafter, I adopted the Sedin twins as my new favourite Canucks, with Henrik getting an edge in my books because he played centre. Yet I still did not have his jersey, or any new Canucks jersey at all. My girlfriend did not understand it, but I had been haunted too often by the ghosts of Canucks jerseys past.

So imagine my surprise two Christmases ago when I opened my gift from my girlfriend – a Henrik Sedin authentic Canucks jersey! Thanks to a Hart Trophy, Art Ross Trophy and Olympic gold medal in his trophy case, and a no-trade clause in his contract I can finally wear my Vancouver Canucks jersey with great pride. Talk about joy to the world!

Here’s hoping all Canucks fans have a blue – and green with white trim – Christmas. May you wear your jerseys with pride this holiday and in the playoffs – the most wonderful time of the year.

Merry Christmas Canucks Fans

Here's some more team issued Christmas cards courtesy of Erle Schneidman of CanadiensMemorabilia.com

This Day In Hockey History: Dec 21st

1929 - NHL implemented the new "offside" rule for the first time in league play. Forward passing would now be permitted inside all three zones, but not across the blue lines.

1937 - Chicago's Paul Thompson became the first player in NHL history to score a goal against his brother, when he scored on Bruins' goalie Cecil "Tiny" Thompson, at 19:51 of the third period, in a 2-1 Black Hawks' loss at Boston Garden.

1938 - Detroit Red Wings took the first charter flight in team history, when they flew from New York to Chicago for a game.

1972 - Boston's Bobby Orr had an assist to set a new NHL record for career points (541) by a defenseman. It came in Orr's 423rd career NHL game, an 8-1 win over Detroit. Doug Harvey held the previous record, with 540 points in 1,113 games.

1979 - Garry Unger's NHL record for consecutive games played streak ended at 914, when Atlanta coach Al MacNeil benched him during a 5-1 Flames loss to the visiting St. Louis Blues. (The record was later upped to 964 games by Doug Jarvis.)

Happy Birthday to Joe Kocur, Peter Marsh and Steve Montador.

PM Stephen Harper's Hockey History Book Out In 2012

From PostMedia News:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper — the hockey nut that he is — has spent nearly a decade writing a book about Canada's national winter sport. Now, comes word that he is intent on finishing the tome next year.

Harper has a publisher for the book, which isn't expected to merely be a dry history of the game, but rather, a close look at the professionalization of the sport in the early 1990s.

Don't be surprised if the book lands on store shelves in 2012.

Here's the full story.

Merry Christmas Toronto Maple Leafs Fans

Here's an interesting collection of Toronto Maple Leafs Christmas cards over the years:






 

Shoebox Memories: Rod Seiling

This Rod Seiling hockey card is O-Pee-Chee card #71 from 1968. It is not his rookie card (that came out in the 1964-65 season) but I am a big fan of this 1968 set with the fake, colorless background and the contrasting highlighted featured player.

Now coming out of junior, Seiling was a heck of a player. Coach Emile Francis, a contagiously enthusiastic speaker, once said "the prize of all our defensemen is Rod Seiling and he's only 20. He can be great. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if he becomes another Doug Harvey."

Wow - now that is high praise. Many people still consider Harvey to be the 2nd greatest defenseman to ever play the game, behind Bobby Orr. And more than a few lingering old timers would give Harvey the edge over Orr in that debate.

Seiling never did quite enter that echelon of hockey stardom. But he was a quality blue liner for 11 seasons in Manhattan.

Seiling was a finesse defenseman at heart, which was not always a good thing in New York. The Rangers fans notoriously favored rough and tumble hockey players, especially on the back end. They hounded Hockey Hall of Famers Allan Stanley and Harry Howell with choruses of boos because they were rambunctious enough back there.

Seiling made the most of us his first impressions with the Rangers faithful. He was of good size, though he never had the inclination to be a true bruiser. But he would hit to make a play, like he famously did on his first shift in his first game. He slammed Chicago great Pierre Pilote with a thunderous and clean hit, earning many cheers from those in attendance at Madison Square Gardens that night. Such hits may have been rare by Seiling, but the boos never did come for #16.

Best known for his defensive game rather than his offense, similar to a contemporary player like Teppo Numminen. Seiling scored 50 goals and 248 points in 644 games with the Rangers. He later moved on to play Washington, Toronto, St. Louis and Atlanta, upping his NHL career totals to 979 games played with 62 goals and 331 points.

Seiling was never an All Star or a threat for the Norris Trophy, but he was invited to Team Canada for the 1972 Summit Series. It was thought Seiling would be a valuable asset against the Soviets, as he was one of the few NHL players to have previously played them. Seiling previously played in the Olympics as an amateur in 1964. However Seiling was ineffective against the Soviets of '72, and dressed for only three contests.

Glenn Hall: Mr. Goalie

Hockey players, especially goaltenders, have pre-game rituals. Some are more unusual than others. But no one had a stranger ritual than former NHL goaltending great Glenn Hall who, because of nerves, would literally become physically ill while waiting the start of a game.

More often than not, before the first face-off, during the rest periods or after the game was concluded, Glenn quietly and unobtrusively would throw up .

"I always felt I played better if I was physically sick before the game. If I wasn't sick, I felt I hadn't done everything I could to try to win," Hall once said.

It obviously worked for Hall, as the man nicknamed "Mr. Goalie" has to be considered a prime candidate as the greatest goalie ever played.

Full Glenn Hall Biography

Behn Wilson: Big Behn

Behn Wilson was born in Toronto, Ontario. He was named after his grandfather, who was from Scotland,  thus explaining how he got the H in his name.

When growing up his sports activities never centered around any particular sport. Hockey would eventually become the No. 1 sport for Big Behn. Along with his sports interest was his interest in school as well. When he enrolled at the University of Toronto it was to pursue his interest in pre-medicine. Behn's parents encouraged him to not let sports consume all of his time. When he was in grade 2 he started going to speech and drama courses, something that he really liked. He studied Shakespeare and many of the classical plays. He took Canadian poetry and did phonetics and speech therapy

But when Behn put on his skates his poetry was gone with the wind. He was mean and tough. Opposite players hated to play against Behn, who always was ready to deliver a devastating hit or a sneaky punch. He was a brutally punishing hitter, and smashing fighter. But playing that way every shift is not easy, not even for someone of Wilson's size. He was often criticized letting up on players, especially players significantly smaller than him.


Full Behn Wilson Biography

David Volek: Long Island Hero

When you think of David Volek, you can not help but think of the 1993 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was Volek's game winning slap shot at 5:16 of overtime in Game 7 of the second round that saw the Islanders upset Mario Lemieux and the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions Pittsburgh Penguins.



For a franchise once rich in great moments, Volek's goal provided a rare memorable moment for the generation of fans after the great dynasty years in the 1980s.

Full David Volek Biography

The Charitable One

I seriously do not know how guys like Wayne Gretzky find enough time in a day. Beyond being the best in the world at what he does, he always found time for media, for fans, and for charities.

Here's The Great One participating in a charity wheelchair basketball game:

What's With The Sedin Hate?

I don't understand it.

I understand that Alex Burrows and Maxim Lapierre have earned reputation as dastardly villains. I understand that Ryan Kesler and Roberto Luongo come across as arrogant, and that that attitude seems to define this team. I have even come to comprehend that the Canucks are the most hated team in all hockey.

But I can not for the life of me understand why there is so much dislike of the Sedin twins.

David Bolland of the Chicago Blackhawks immaturely called them "the sisters" again. Hey, at least Mike Milbury was far more original with his "Thelma and Louise" comment in last year's playoffs. Bolland went on to call them ugly and wondered if they sleep in bunk beds. And the rest of the hockey world laughs and laughs. Except maybe for Sean Avery whose own stupid comments got him suspended and in some sort of rehab while Bolland gets nothing.

I do not know if I have ever seen such disrespect for other superstars. The Sedins are NHL scoring champions, league MVPs, annual all-stars and Olympic gold medal champions. They captained a Canadian team to within one victory of the Stanley Cup. They have done so - and continue to do so - by playing the game with a sophisticated and intellectual beauty that is as rare as it is beautiful to watch. They are every bit as classy off the ice as they are on, embracing their adopted home. In their spare time they donate millions of dollars and their valuable time to children's charities here in Canada.

What is there to hate about them?

Ultimately it seems the rest of the hockey world wants to see the Sedins fail. Why? Because they are so good. The jealousy factor is huge here. So is the xenophobic component. They are not Canadian. If they were they would have replaced the Queen on the back of a commemorative toonie by now.

There has always been a North American bias among NHL fans. And that in itself is almost as stupid as Bolland's comments.

Garry Unger: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

It may be hard to believe nowadays, but there was a time when the Detroit Red Wings were the weakest of the weak in hockey. Head back to the late 1960s and especially the 1970s. They were ridiculously outpaced by their Original Six counterparts. Even most NHL expansion teams and even some of the WHA teams were stronger than the Red Wings.

The Red Wings made some real bonehead moves back then. Most notably they alienated a young Marcel Dionne and later let him get away. Another young star they chased out of town was Garry Unger, all because of his hair.

In 1971 the Wings had an old school coach named Ned Harkness. In some ways he was the epitome of the later day Mike Keenan, a strict authoritarian who would make unreasonable demands, but without Keenan's success.

Harkness and Unger clashed almost immediately. Unger, who scored 42 goals as a sophomore in 1969-70, had a somewhat misplaced reputation as a playboy. He was good looking with rosy cheeks, and he wore colorful clothes. His signature had to be his shoulder length blonde hair. He was known to use a hair dryer as much as a hockey blade torch. And hey it must have worked, as he was dating Miss America in 1970.

It may have been the 70s, but Harkness would have none of this. He ordered all of his players to get crew-cuts. Unger refused, and on February 6th, 1971 he, Tim Ecclestone and Wayne Connelly were traded to St. Louis in exchange for expansion scoring star Red Berenson. It turned out to be a terrible trade for the Wings.


Full Garry Unger Biography

Battling Brothers: Phil & Tony Esposito

Sami Kapanen: Hurricane Sami

Big Georges Laraque forgot to remind Sami Kapanen to smile for this great photo. I guess Kapanen shouldn't be too pleased, as he is about kiss the glass thanks to a man who is twice as big he is.

I always enjoyed Sami Kapanen, the speedy little Finnish waterbug of a hockey player. He was constantly in motion. He didn't just keep his feet moving, he kept them motoring. He was one of the fastest players I've seen, and just a fantastic competitor.

His skating skills were deeper than just speed. He had an excellent acceleration, and he knew how to change gears on a defenseman. He had good agility and balance on his feet, with a low center of gravity that he learned to maximize to make him hard to knock off the puck. He was good at reading the play develop and knew when to dart in and out of traffic.

Kapanen, like most Europeans, had a play maker first mentality, but he was not afraid to use his fine wrist shot, especially off of the rush. He used possibly the shortest stick in the league, which made puckhandling a breeze for him.

He was a tiny guy, but played without fear. He played a spunky game and put himself in harm's way knowing his speed would draw penalties.

He was also very intelligent, playing a sound defensive game. In fact, he was so good defensively that in 2004 playoffs the Flyers would drop Kapanen back on defense for two rounds when injuries surprised them. Kapanen played positionally well, and rushed the puck out of the zone nicely.

Full Sami Kapanen Biography

Early Christmas Present for Johnny Bower

Just an amazing, heart-warming story here about an early Christmas present for Johnny Bower:

A big-hearted Whitby dad gave Johnny Bower a pre-Christmas gift the Leafs legend never thought he would see again.

After lining up at the Whitby Mall for Bower’s advertised visit, Roger Spivey took the 87-year-old Mississauga resident aside and told him his old goalie pads were in his car.

Bower said he never had a chance to keep them as souvenirs.

“Players weren’t allowed to have any of their gear,” based on rules set by Harold Ballard, the late penny-pinching owner of Maple Leaf Gardens and the team’s principal share-holder, he said.

“We all tried a couple of times, taking a couple of sticks, but I got caught and Mr. Ballard wasn’t very pleased with me,” Bower said. “You had to turn it in and trainers usually handed them down to the minors.”

Hesitant about their authenticity, plus Spivey’s motives, he spotted his initials on the old leather-covered pads.

“I was in tears,” Bower said.

Here's the full story.

Craig Janney: Passing Fancy

Wayne Gretzky is without doubt the greatest playmaker of all time. Now Craig Janney certainly isn't the second best of all time, but he may have been the second best of his era. Adam Oates and Doug Gilmour also deserve recognition as the best set up man not named Gretzky in the 1990s.

Janney was the puck feeder for some great players, most notably Cam Neely in Boston and Brett Hull and Brendan Shanahan in St. Louis. He was an extraordinary puck master, creating space for his line mates with slick moves. He possessed great hockey sense, much like Hall of Famer Jean Ratelle.

Janney was quick to dish off acclaim as he is to dish off the puck.

"I've been pretty fortunate to play with some terrific goal scorers," said the unpretentious center. "The guys who pass the puck are only as good as the guys who put it in the net. That's the real hard job, the scoring. I've been fortunate to play with guys like Neely, Hull and Shanahan."

Full Craig Janney Biography

Tim Kerr: Immovable Object

Stopping Tim Kerr was like trying to stop a freight train. Weighing in at 230 pounds the enormous right winger was impossible to move. Kerr had the ability to park himself in the slot and not be budged even by the defense's best efforts.

Because he was a big player that took abuse often, Kerr was plagued with injuries that he had to continuously overcome throughout his career. His injuries included a torn ligament in his knee, and a bad shoulder that he had to have operated on five times.

When asked about his rough treatment Kerr just shrugged it off saying, "That's what the pads are for. I don't snap much. Sometimes they try to bang me from the back, but that just doesn't work"

Full Story

Classic Snap Shot: Glenn Anderson

Glenn Anderson scored 498 goals in the NHL, most of them with the same reckless abandon as shown in this crease-crashing photo from the early 1980s.

Kelly Buchberger: Bang For Their Buck

"Take 'em wide, Bucky!"

The Edmonton Oilers have had a lot of great players over the years. Wayne Gretzky. Mark Messier. Paul Coffey. Jari Kurri. Grant Fuhr. Kevin Lowe. Glenn Anderson. Ryan Smyth. I could go on.

Through sheer determination and hard work, Kelly Buchberger achieved immortalizing fame in the city of champions, far eclipsing his athletic ability and his tenure with the less than great times in the later 1990s .

Yet he is very much an Oilers legend and a fan favorite. No one, not the Oilers and most certainly not Buchberger himself, could have ever imagined that when he walked into the Northlands Coliseum for the first time.

Read the full Kelly Buchberger biography.

I Love Games Against Montreal

A HOCKEY game in Montreal is as magical as Christmas. While the holidays have a way of losing some of that magic in adulthood, somehow that hockey glory of youth has continued even though the Montreal Forum is now a movie theatre and Les Canadiens are but a shadow of their historical greatness.

I remember growing up watching a lot of Montreal games. All on the French channel. To this day the extent of my mastery of the French language consists strictly of hockey phrases. Gardien de but. La rondelle. Et le but!!!!! I took five years of French in high school and I still could not say much more than Guy Lafleur. Oh that Guy Lafleur.  |  FULL STORY  |

Steve Yzerman: Yzerman Cometh

Heroic. Unselfish. Intelligent. Leader. Complete. These are just a few of the adjectives used to describe Hockeytown's Steve Yzerman.

Once he was scoring machine that used to single-handedly destroy the opposition with mind-boggling individual efforts night after night. Later he became forever remembered as the grizzled veteran captain that puts the team ahead of himself and accepts responsibility for all situations on the ice. 

Steve Yzerman is a winner.


Read the full Steve Yzerman biography.

Classic Snap Shot: Mike Ramsey

A young Mike Ramsey gives the great Valery Kharlamov a rough ride during the Miracle On Ice:

Paul Reinhart: Sidelined Superstar

Paul Reinhart was a tremendous cerebral player who could have been a Hall of Famer had his body held up. A serious back problem really limited him throughout his short career, but you could just tell how intelligent and special this player was despite the pain.

Paul was a very versatile player. He was primarily a defenseman but could also play any forward position. Even as a junior with his hometown team the Kitchener Rangers, he split time between center and defense. This development continued in his pro career.

"My defensive work needed a lot of attention" said Paul of his junior days. "But all that background as a forward was useful because today's defenceman handles the puck a lot and is expected to be an integral part of the offence."

Read the full Paul Reinhart biography.

Harry Mummery: Big Mum

Harry "Mum" Mummery was a well travelled hockey player. He was a regular fixture on the back line of the Quebec Bulldogs in the NHA from 1912 through 1917, but then joined the Montreal Canadiens for that league's final season. When the league reformed as the NHL, Mummery moved on to the Toronto Arenas. Over the course of the next 6 NHL seasons, the likeable man they called "Mum" played for Toronto, back to Quebec, back to Montreal, and then on to Hamilton. He ended his career with one final season in Saskatoon.

Why was Mummery moved so often? Perhaps the teams did not want to pay his food bill. Teams would buy meals, but Mummery taxed the budget all by himself. He was a voracious eater. He was said to be able to "down a couple of five-pound steaks, quaff a huge mug of cream, scoff a whole apple pie ... then go right out and play 40+ minutes of hockey!"

Another source suggested Mummery, a noted volunteer firefighter, would often "take five pound steaks in a shovel and cooking them up in a pot bellied stove right in the dressing room. He'd follow that treat up with some apple pie, and wash the whole thing down with a pint of cream."

He could play well, despite his unlikely physique. The defenseman stood at 5'11" and, due to his constant eating grew from a playing weight of 220lbs all the way up to a suspected weight of 265lbs!


Read the full Harry Mummery biography

Canucks Won't Be Trading Goalie This Season

Think the Canucks will trade either Cory Schneider or Roberto Luongo this season? No way. I tell you why in this week's edition of Canucks Slap Shots.

Steve Durbano: Demolition Durby

They called him "Demolition Durby" and "Mental Case Durbano." He is perhaps hockey's baddest man - both on and off the ice. He is Steve Durbano.

Durbano was a journeyman defenseman for parts of 6 NHL seasons. His toughness was legendary, and also the reason he was so highly touted when he came out of junior. He was drafted 13th overall in the 1971 Entry Draft by the New York Rangers. The Rangers passed on names like Terry O'Reilly and Larry Robinson to get Durbano.

The Rangers, however, traded Steve before he even played a game in the NHL. He ended up in St. Louis where he made his NHL debut in the 1972-73 season. He would go on to play with Pittsburgh, Kansas City/Colorado before returning to St. Louis in 1978 to finish his career. Durbano scored 13 goals and 73 points in 220 NHL games.

Durbano sat out 1127 PIM in his 220 NHL games, a average of over 5 minutes a game! The 5.1 PIM per game is the highest mark for anyone with more than 1000 minutes. When the Broad Street Bullies were brawling their way through the mid-seventies, Durbano led the league in penalty minutes with 370. When asked who was the toughest player of his day was, he'd always answer "I was. I still have all my teeth, and I'm proud of that."

Read the full Steve Durbano biography.