Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Shoots and Scores (18 page)

In 1918 the Seattle Metropolitans were far in front of the PCHA, killing attendance in the league. Up to that point, the team leading the standings at the end of the schedule was declared champion. Frank Patrick's idea of a playoff between the top two teams revived interest in the remaining games and produced large gates plus concessions for the playoff series. Other sports leagues quickly saw the wisdom of having playoffs and copied Patrick's notion.

The PCHA had several excellent playmakers who received no official credit when their passes resulted in goals. The Patricks solved that by awarding assists on goals counting as one point, the same as a goal.

When stoppages of play anytime a player kicked the puck resulted in yet more aggravating halts to the action (and they say there are too many whistles today!), a PCHA rule allowed the puck to be kicked anywhere except into the net.

The Patricks decreed that PCHA games would have two referees and also that teams would play home games on the same night every week, a pleasing move to fans.

When the Victoria Cougars, with Lester Patrick as manager-coach, beat the Montreal Canadiens in the 1925 Stanley Cup final, their big edge was in changing forward lines on the fly. The PCHA had increased rosters from seven to 11 skaters and the quick line change was part of hockey in the west.

END OF AN ERA, BUT LEAVING A LEGACY

The PCHA could not survive the NHL's expansion into the U.S. in the mid-1920s, as several of the new clubs were to be stocked with players from the west. The NHL rule book also included a large number of rules from the PCHA; that many have not changed is a tribute to the Patricks' incredible hockey foresight.

How the Montreal Canadiens landed one of the greatest players for what now seems a ridiculously small amount.

T
hat Howie Morenz was not signed by an NHL team quickly remains a hockey enigma, still debated by folks in western Ontario where Morenz grew up. He was born in Mitchell and raised in Stratford, the railway hub in the early 1920s, and later the Shakespeare capital of North America. The teenage Morenz was a fabled amateur player with dazzling speed, superhuman puck control and enough toughness to handle any defensive tactic used against him. In what ranks among the worst recruiting errors in hockey, the scouts for the Toronto St. Pats were not enthusiastic about his pro potential.

I'LL BE WORKING ON THE RAILROAD

The Montreal Canadiens, who paid little attention to players outside the province of Quebec, did not look seriously at the “Stratford Streak,” until he was 20 years old. Canadiens' boss Leo Dandurand asked referee Lou Marsh, who also was sports editor and columnist for the
Toronto Star
, to check on the kid who was attracting attention in Stratford. Marsh sent the Canadiens two letters of praise for Morenz, urging them to act quickly because the St. Pats were showing interest. Dandurand sent former NHL goalie Riley Hern to Stratford with a $2,500 per season contract to offer Morenz. But Morenz had a good job with the railway and liked playing intermediate hockey. While the Toronto club was preparing an offer, Marsh told Dandurand that Morenz and his family had a few small debts that he wanted to clear up.

CASH ONLY, PLEASE

Dandurand sent Cecil Hart, later a great coach with the Canadiens, to Stratford with a batch of small bills. When Hart spread the $850 on the Morenz kitchen table, Howie was wide-eyed, and his father signed the contract because his son was under
the legal age of 21. A negative reaction in Stratford led Morenz to send Dandurand a cheque for the $850 with regrets that he could not join the Canadiens. But Dandurand had learned that Morenz was paid $800 a season to play in Stratford, a violation of amateur rules, and threatened to expose the fact.

STAR POWER

When Morenz traveled to Montreal to plead with Dandurand for his freedom, the wily Canadiens' executive had an associate summon every Canadien player available at a restaurant where he took the downcast Howie for lunch. Such illustrious players as Sprague Cleghorn, Georges Vezina, and Aurel Joliat treated Morenz as if he were a star, not a frightened kid. Morenz agreed to attend training camp for two weeks. The two weeks turned into one of the NHL's greatest careers, by a player who dominated his era enough to earn the title “the Babe Ruth of hockey.”

* * * * *

HEY, GOOD LOOKIN'

“I was 14 when I lost them [his front teeth]. The main thing was we won that game, so I was the happiest. You hate to lose your teeth and the game, too.”

—Bill Barber, forward and coach, Philadelphia Flyers

“Most people who don't know I play hockey think I was thrown through a plate-glass window or something.”

—Theoren Fleury, former Calgary Flames forward

“We get nose jobs all the time in the NHL, and we don't even have to go to the hospital.”

—Brad Park, former New York Rangers defenceman

“I had all my own teeth and I wanted to keep it that way.”

—major leagues pitcher Tom Glavine,
on why he decided to play professional baseball
rather than hockey

While the top stars usually produce in the crunch, a few modest workers have had big moments at important times.

T
he hockey cliché goes that in crunch situations—especially in the Stanley Cup playoffs—watch out for the “little guy”: the fourth-line forward, little-used defenceman or backup goalie; the unlikely hero who jumps out of obscurity to make the big play when it counts the most. This outlook is more myth than reality—the big stars who usually produce are also most likely to score when the heat is on—but enough examples exist to illustrate that the little dogs can have their day in the sun. Perhaps the fact that they are not well-known threats means they can go unnoticed until they find the room for the big move.

MY NAME IS MUD

Mud Bruneteau and Ken Doraty are the NHL's two prized examples of the unlikely hero. They were fill-in forwards when they scored overtime goals that ended the two longest games ever played. Bruneteau, 21 at the time, had spent half the 1935–36 season with the Detroit Olympics of the International League. Promoted to the Red Wings when regulars were injured, he scored only two goals in spot duty over 24 games. In the Stanley Cup semifinals the Red Wings met the Montreal Maroons, at the time an NHL power. The opening game of that series started at 8:30
P.M.
one night and ended at 2:30
A.M.
the next morning. Not a goal was scored in the near-equivalent of three games until Bruneteau, used a little more through each period to give the exhausted big guns a breather, scored after 116:30 of overtime to give the Wings a 1–0 win. Bruneteau played another ten seasons for the Red Wings, was a member of three Stanley Cup winners and scored 139 goals. But Mud is mainly remembered as the guy who ended the longest NHL game ever played.

133 POUNDS BEFORE OR AFTER THE GAME?

The record Bruneteau broke had been set by Ken Doraty, an even more out-of-the-blue hero. He was a 5-foot-7, 133-pound winger
who had played a few games with the Chicago Black Hawks in 1926–27, then made it back to the NHL in 1932–33 as the Toronto Maple Leafs' extra forward. In a semifinal game, the Leafs and Boston Bruins played 106:46 of OT before Doraty, who had played very little in the previous eight periods, scored to win the series for the Leafs. Doraty played only 37 NHL games over the remainder of his career but in oft-told tales of Maple Leaf history, his is one of the first names that pops up.

TALK ABOUT LEAVING IT TILL THE LAST SECOND

Only two of 20 Stanley Cup finals that have reached the decisive game have also gone to overtime. Both were won by the Detroit Red Wings of the 1950s, but even though they had an assortment of big stars at the time—notably Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay—the OT Cup-winners were scored by two “foot soldiers,” Pete Babando and Tony Leswick.

During the 1950 playoffs, when the Wings won a tough seven-game series against the Leafs, defenceman Leo Reise, who scored 28 goals in a nine-season career, twice won games with OT goals. Their seventh game against the New York Rangers was a dogfight, tied 3–3 after 60 minutes. At 8:31 of the second overtime, Babando, a journeyman winger who scored 86 goals in 351 NHL games and had a long minor league career, scored to give the Wings the Cup. It was the final playoff goal of his career.

In the 1954 final, the Wings and Montreal Canadiens split the first six games and were tied 1–1 after 60 minutes in the seventh. Leswick, who had a solid 12-season NHL career mainly because of his strong defensive play, fired a shot that struck the glove of Canadiens defenceman Doug Harvey and eluded goalie Jacques Plante at 4:29 of overtime to give the Cup to the Wings.

STICK IT TO 'EM, ALFIE

Alfie Moore was a skinny goalie who had spent 15 seasons in minor-pro hockey before he played 18 NHL games with the New York Americans in 1936–37. He had spent the 1937–38 season in the minors and was back in Toronto working his summer job with a dry cleaner when he received a call to report to Maple Leaf Gardens, where the Maple Leafs and Black Hawks were in the Cup final. Hawk goalie Mike Karakas had a broken toe and couldn't
play and Leaf boss Conn Smythe had refused the Rangers' Davey Kerr as a replacement, suggesting Moore for job. Moore told Smythe that he would win the game and he did, 3–1, with a brilliant display as the Hawks tied the series. Moore was barred by the NHL from the next game but Karakas, sore toe and all, returned to lead the Hawks to the Cup.

THE SONS OF SUDDEN-DEATH HILL

Sudden-Death Hill sounds like a hit man for the mob, but Mel Hill of the Boston Bruins earned the nickname when he scored three overtime goals in one series against the New York Rangers in the 1939 playoffs. Only one other player scored three OT winners in one spring: Rocket Richard of the Canadiens in 1951. The 2004 playoffs were a big time for the unlikely. Six players who had only one goal in postseason play saved the score for a big occasion—an overtime winner. Steve Montador (Calgary Flames), Marek Svatos (Colorado Avalanche), Nikos Dimitrakos (San Jose Sharks), Steve Ott (Dallas Stars), Mike Fisher (Ottawa Senators), and teenager Patrice Bergeron (Boston Bruins) produced at precisely the right time for their teams.

* * * * *

BY ANY OTHER NAME

Hockey has had some real doozies—players and their nicknames.

Chicoutimi Cucumber
— Georges Vezina
The Dominator
— Dominik Hasek
The Flower
— Guy Lafleur
Golden Jet
— Bobby Hull
Grapes
— Don Cherry
The Great One
— Wayne Gretzky
Grim Reaper
— Stu Grimson
Mr. Hockey
— Gordie Howe
Pocket Rocket
— Henri Richard
The Rat
— Ken Linseman
Russian Rocket
— Pavel Bure
Stratford Streak
— Howie Morenz
Super Mario
— Mario Lemieux

Sure he's rookie of the year, but now what? How to live up to the reputation of being a Calder Trophy winner.

H
e makes a big splash in his pro sports debut, perhaps earning the award as best rookie to confirm glowing prospects for a splendid career. But sometimes, a funny thing occurs on the way to stardom: It doesn't happen. Maintaining first-season performance standards has proven to be difficult, leading to the cautionary words: Beware the sophomore jinx.

STATS COURTESY OF THE BRI

A check of the first 77 players (1933–2010) to win the Calder Memorial Trophy as top NHL rookie reveals that 43 of them more-or-less matched their rookie performance, 14 improved their work by a noteworthy margin, and 20 suffered from the so-called “jinx,” a noticeable sag in their play the second time around.

“Rookie award winners sometimes figure they have it made and not step up their play enough to show improvement in their second season,” said Scotty Bowman, the NHL coach with the most career wins and Stanley Cup victories. “Then, too, they're much better known in their second season and are watched more closely. Quite a few rookies learn their way around the league in their first season, then increase their effort to, at least, stay at the level they've established. Many players have used that consistent start as the springboard to a good career.”

SECOND-YEAR SAG

The play of several top rookies declined noticeably in their sophomore seasons, giving credence to the jinx theory. The Toronto Maple Leafs had two Calder winners in the mid-1960s—defenceman Kent Douglas in 1963 and winger Brit Selby in 1966—and both spent large parts of their second seasons in the minors. Eric Vail of the Atlanta Flames scored 39 goals to win the Calder in 1974–75 but could manage only 16 in his sophomore term. Gus Bodnar of the Leafs had 22 goals and 62 points as 1942–43 Calder winner, then sagged to eight goals and 44 points in season two.
Kilby McDonald of the New York Rangers had 15 goals in his 1939–40 Calder season, five goals the next term.

OVER THE HILL AT TWENTY-ONE

Vail, Bodnar, and McDonald were among eight Calder winners who
never
equalled the statistics of their first season, though several still had decent careers. Goalies Frank Brimsek of the Bruins (1.80 average in 43 rookie season games, 1.25 in 12 playoff games) and Roger Crozier of the Detroit Red Wings (40 wins, 2.52 average) had lengthy stays in the league but never matched their first-year numbers. Howie Meeker, Jimmy McFadden, and Pentii Lunds were others with a first year as their best statistically.