Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Shoots and Scores (28 page)

AT LEAST HE PUT UP A FIGHT…

When Ballard returned to the Gardens, he embarked on his two decades mediocrity for the Maple Leafs, once a proud NHL team. Accompanied by another old-timer, former Leaf player King Clancy, Ballard was on the scene for all Leaf games, always willing to give an opinion, especially on subjects about which he knew very little. For the rest of his life his energy was high, his mouth active—conditions that all too often did not apply to his hockey team. Right up to his death in 1991, he fought with his three children, his staff, his fellow NHL governors and any reporter who dared to say that he wasn't the finest hockey mind in existence.

Win or lose, there's always excitement for Team Canada at the annual international tournament.

B
IG SCORES OF YESTERYEAR

Before other hockey nations started to assemble competitive teams, Canada routinely toyed with its opponents at the World Championship. The Finns, for instance, clearly needed more time on the ice and less in the sauna in the 1950s. They lost 20–1 to Canada in 1954 and 24–0 in 1958. Now, Switzerland has come a long way since dropping a 23–0 decision in 1959, while poor old Belgium may never have recovered from its 33–0 drubbing in 1950. But what was the biggest margin of victory ever for a Canadian squad? Try 47–0 over Denmark in 1949! The Danes would take more than 50 years to climb back up to the top division of the Worlds. But in their return engagement with Canada in 2003, they got a little revenge with a 2–2 tie.

“VEE” IS FOR VICTORY

On March 7, 1954, the Soviet Union shocked the hockey world by winning its first ever World Championship with a 7–2 shellacking of the East York Lyndhursts, a Senior B amateur team representing Canada. Who would defend the pride of the true north, strong and free against the recently rampant Red Machine? The answer came in the form of the Penticton Vees, the hard-nosed 1955 Allan Cup champions from British Columbia's Okanagan Valley. Led by the three Warwick brothers and goalie Ivan McLelland, the Vees blitzed through seven straight wins at the 1955 Worlds in West Germany before facing the Russians in the decisive match. Early in the first period, defenceman Hal Tarala set the tone with a huge open-ice hit on Russian star Vsevolod Bobrov. The Vees completely dominated in a 5–0 gold medal triumph and then took the World Championship trophy home to
Canada with them. Rumor has it that they kept the original, made a replica and sent that one over to Europe the following year.

THE MAGIC OF MARTIN

Terry Sawchuk. Glenn Hall. Jacques Plante. Seth Martin. Most Canadian NHL fans would say it's the latter name that doesn't fit in this group of all-time great goaltenders. But to European fans, who never saw NHL games in the 1960s, Martin was a certified legend. He backstopped the Trail Smoke Eaters to a World Championship in 1961, the very last time Canada won the tournament with an amateur squad. The International Ice Hockey Federation also named him the top goalie in each of the four World Championships he played. Martin said he performed well against the Soviets because he'd adapted to their complex passing style: “I had to play goal the wrong way, as far as I was concerned. They just would not shoot the puck from where they should have shot from.” The Soviets were so impressed by his consistency that when they arrived in Canada to start the 1972 Summit Series versus NHL pros, they wanted to know if Canada's netminders, Ken Dryden and Tony Esposito, were as good as Martin.

SILENCE OF THE 1970s

Canada doesn't win the World Championship every year, but it didn't even come close to the podium from 1970 to 1976. The reason was politics, not puckmanship. For years, Canada had complained about not being able to use its top NHL players at the tournament, while so-called “amateurs” from the Soviet Union, Sweden, and Czechoslovakia regularly reaped medals for their countries. When the 1970 World Championship was awarded to Winnipeg, Hockey Canada believed it had a deal worked out with the Europeans that would permit Team Canada's use of nine non-NHL pros. But International Ice Hockey Federation president Bunny Ahearne reneged on the deal weeks before the tournament was slated to begin, claiming that competing against pros would compromise other players' Olympic eligibility. Winnipeg lost its chance to become the first Canadian host city ever for the Worlds. The tournament was reassigned to Stockholm after Canada pulled out amid angry recriminations. Only in 1977, when the rules changed to allow using NHL pros, did Canada return to participating.

TO HELMET WITH YOU!

Phil Esposito was a proudly bareheaded star of the 1970s, but when the legendary NHL center joined Team Canada in Vienna in 1977, he was shocked to discover he'd have to cover up his dark locks and sideburns with a helmet due to international rules. Canada's performance was as spotty as Esposito's, with the team suffering 11–1 and 8–1 losses to the Soviets and finishing fourth. When the tournament-closing buzzer sounded in an 8–2 Canadian win over the Czechs, Esposito could restrain himself no longer. He skated past the IIHF directors' box, ripped off his protective headgear, and hurled it at IIHF president Gunther Sabetzki, shouting: “You can keep your !$#!$!@ helmet!”

COURAGEOUS CAPTAIN CANADA

Ryan Smyth of the Edmonton Oilers is an honest, hard-working player on the ice and one of the NHL's nicest guys to deal with away from the rink. But the veteran winger must have gotten testy when he considered his poor fortune at the first four World Championships where he played from 1999 to 2002. Not only was Smyth getting bounced out of the NHL playoffs in April, but he was also being “rewarded” with fourth, fifth, and sixth-place finishes in international hockey. Finally, it all came together for “Captain Canada” in 2003. Smyth became Canada's all-time leader in Worlds games played, passing James Patrick (40), and claimed his first gold medal at the tournament thanks to Anson Carter's dramatic overtime winner against Sweden.

* * * * *

TIT FOR TAT

“When I came to the Rangers, I wanted to be a defenceman, but nobody would chip in for an operation to have half my brain removed!”

—former New York Rangers goaltender Bob Froese

“It takes brains. It's not like a forward, where you can get away with scoring and not play defence. On defence you have to be thinking.”

—1989 winner of the Norris Trophy

(Best Defenceman) Chris Chelios

The Canadiens top the list of teams that won the Stanley Cup in streaks to earn the “dynasty” title.

C
ompared to the great ones of history, say, the Bourbon dynasty which ruled France for 200 years, the hockey teams that have earned that name have had rather short rules. Hockey's longest run at the top was the five consecutive Stanley Cup championships won by the Montreal Canadiens from 1956 to 1960—the icebound equivalent of the Bourbon run.

BUT WHO SHOT J. R.?

The number of teams earning the dynasty sobriquet is not long, partly because the Cup has been so dominated by the Canadiens' three lengthy stretches of success. In addition to the five in a row, the Montreal club won four consecutive crowns from 1976 to 1979, and four in five years within a string of six in nine from 1965 to 1973.

The New York Islanders had four Cup triumphs in a row from 1980 to 1982 while the Toronto Maple Leafs were the first to win three consecutive Cups—from 1946 to 1949—making it four in five in 1951, and earned another three in a row in the early 1960s. The Edmonton Oilers collected four titles in five seasons, five in seven from 1984 to 1990. In the early years of Cup competition, two teams—the Ottawa Silver Seven and Montreal Victorias—had lengthy stays in the throne room.

RICHARD'S REIGN (HENRI, THAT IS)

A couple of goals in the right places and the Canadiens' Cup streak in the 1950s would have been eight in a row. They won in 1953, then lost two seven-game finals to the powerful Detroit Red Wings before launching their record run of five crowns. On that roll, the Canadiens won 40 games and lost only nine, and in only two of ten series did their opponents win two games.

The Canadiens had it all: size, speed, offensive power, defensive acumen, great motivation and spirit—plus tough taskmaster
in coach Toe Blake, who kept the team's ambition at a high level. The best testimonial to the team's greatness is that 11 members are in the Hockey Hall of Fame: Blake and general manager Frank Selke, goalie Jacques Plante, defencemen Doug Harvey and Tom Johnson, forwards Maurice “Rocket” and Henri “Pocket Rocket” Richard, Jean Béliveau, Dickie Moore, Bernie Geoffrion, and Bert Olmstead.

TWO BIG GUNS, TWO BIG RUNS

Béliveau and Henri Richard were holdovers into the 1960s when the Canadiens started another splendid stretch in the 1964–65 season with excellent young players developed in their farm system. They won the Cup in 1965 and 1966, were upset by the Leafs in 1967, then won back-to-back titles in 1968 and 1969. With fantastic young goalie Ken Dryden and a cast of solid veterans, they added victories in 1971 and 1973, the latter with Scotty Bowman as coach.

While the Philadelphia Flyers were bullying their way to two wins, the Canadiens were building an extraordinary team with Dryden, defencemen Larry Robinson, Guy Lapointe and Serge Savard, and forwards Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt, Jacques Lemaire, and Bob Gainey. They ended the Flyers' reign in 1976, then won three more times with a two-way approach of strong defensive work and an opportunistic offence guided by the brilliant Bowman.

ISLAND STRONGHOLD

Born as a 1972 expansion team, the Islanders built a splendid roster through the amateur draft, under the wise guidance of GM Bill Torrey and coach Al Arbour. After crushing late-1970s playoff losses, the Isles filled the weak spots in their lineup with smart trades and beat the Flyers in the 1980 final on Bob Nystrom's overtime goal in the deciding game. That launched a four consecutive Cup victory streak in which the Islanders won an astonishing 19 consecutive playoff series before losing the 1984 final to the Oilers.

The Isles were led by goalie Billy Smith, defencemen Denis Potvin, Stefan Persson and Ken Morrow, the forward line of Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy and Clark Gillies plus Butch Goring, John Tonelli, Nystrom, and Duane and Brent Sutter.

ALBERTA GOLD

The Oilers entered the NHL in 1979 as one of four refugees from the defunct World Hockey Association and brought with them a large advantage. One of the players they were allowed to protect was Wayne Gretzky, starting his career as the highest scorer in NHL history. GM-coach Glen Sather and his staff drafted brilliantly over the next four years, adding goalie Grant Fuhr, defencemen Kevin Lowe and Paul Coffey, and forwards Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson, and Jari Kurri to form the core of the highest scoring team in NHL history.

The young Oilers lost in the 1983 playoffs to the Islanders but in a year the team had matured into a powerhouse “run 'n gun' offensive team. Led by Gretzky, the Oilers won the Cup in 1984 and 1985, suffered a playoff loss to the Calgary Flames in 1986, and then won in 1987 and 1988. Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings, who eliminated the Oilers in the 1989 playoffs. However, with Messier taking the leading role, the Edmonton club rebounded to win the 1990 Stanley Cup.

LEAFS DON'T FALL

When World War II ended, the Maple Leafs had a splendid roster of young players with some veterans in key roles. Centers Ted Kennedy and Syl Apps and goalie Turk Broda were cornerstones of the team that won the crown in 1947 and 1948. When Apps retired, owner Conn Smythe landed front-liner Max Bentley as a replacement in a major trade, and the Leafs added wins in 1949 and 1951.

END OF A DYNASTY…ALL OF THEM?

Detroit flirted with a dynasty destiny at the turn of the century, but had started their run with an already-aged lineup and never could secure a goaltender reliable as a Dryden, Smith, or Fuhr. Under the new salary-cap NHL, it seems unlikely any team could fit the talent of the 1980s Oilers or 1970s Canadiens into one payroll, let alone hold onto that talent for a sustained period. Even the Chicago Black Hawks, after winning the 2010 Cup, couldn't keep all its key players. The New Jersey model, good for three Cups in nine years with one spectacular goalie, a couple top defencemen, and a revolving but consistently solid supporting cast, could be the only route left.

One player you don't hear much about these days—but should.

L
eonard Patrick Kelly was born on July 9, 1927, to a farm family in Simcoe, Ontario, just north of Lake Erie. He grew up listening to the Toronto Maple Leafs on the radio, and playing hockey on ponds.

• His father sent him to St. Michael's College School, a private school for boys in Toronto that had a legendary hockey program. (It produced such NHL stars as Gerry Cheevers, Tim Horton, and Frank Mahovlich.) Kelly waited tables to help pay his tuition.

• It was at St. Michael's that Kelly got his nickname: “I scored eight goals or some dang thing in one of the games, and they nicknamed me,” he told the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003. “Because of the red hair, they started calling me ‘Red'.”