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Marking Time with Hockey


Through my self-isolation period I have taken to watching old classic hockey games. I can't believe the memories and the times in my life that these games bring me back to. 

I saw a special about Bobby Orr and was transported back to when Micheal Micallef first got me really pumped up to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs in the play-offs.(it was 1969)...........it was heart breaking as the Bruins beat the Leafs 10-0 and 7-0 in the first two games. I remember going into the living room and telling mom and dad how bad it was, but like most everybody else in my family , they didn't much care. But I was hooked , Bobby Orr was like a being from another planet and the game , my word, there was so much going on all at once ! I was hooked on hockey.

When we go for walks we pass the house Paul Haddad lived in and I always recall the night in 1978 when Pauls folks were away and he and his sisters had a rather large and quite wild house party. It was my last year in high school and was memorable for a couple reasons .One was my partying friends from St. Joachim were all there along with a whole bunch of grade school buddies and many others I met along the way. The other thing that made it memorable , and just awesome, was Lanny McDonald's game seven overtime winner. The little house exploded in a fervor of hockey excitement and years of pent up Maple Leaf hockey frustration!!! 

What a night!!.

The following year Montreal and Boston went  to a game seven overtime. The Habs tied Boston late in regulation on a power play. The penalty given to Boston for too many men on the ice. (the lowest point at the highest time in Don Cherry's career, my heart still hurt a bit for him when I watched the classic game the other night. Poor Grapes)

That night was a beauty of a spring night. Greg Price , Dan and I were walking down Forest street in Windsor and most the houses had their windows open (maybe for the first time that year) and the voices of Dick Ervin and Danny Gallivan seemed to coming from every other house.

I remember the first New York Islanders Cup. I was in the Manchester Hotel with my friend Dan Renaud and we made a friendly bet on the game. Dan didn't follow hockey and knew nothing much about it, I picked the Flyers ......and lost. Anyway Bobby Nystrom scored in overtime and the Islanders won there first of four. I still see Dan taking his father Russ into Dialysis (both fine men and good friends), but the Manchester is long gone. 

The 1981 Canada cup team was awesome. we had a team that was trouncing everybody ,a first line of Gretzky- Lafluer- Perrault , imagine, hockey heaven ! They won handily through out the tournament and were in the finals against the Russians, always a worthy adversary, but we still felt very good about our chances. It started fast and exciting , but we fell behind and the Russians played a very patient game . The more we tried to push the more chances we gave up. An 8-1 loss!  Yikes!  Team Awesome? I witnessed this debacle with friends at The Cooper Court Hotel in Belle River. At least there was a a lot of friends, drinks and girls around to re-enforce the crazy idea that it was "ONLY" hockey. 

The 1984 Canada Cup sticks out for a semi- final tilt against the Russians. It was right at the transition of dynasty teams from the New York Islanders to the Edmonton Oilers.It was overtime and Paul Coffey (an Oiler)made a splendid defensive stop on a scary looking 2 on 1 by the Russian then got the puck deep into the offensive zone where Mike Bossy (an Islander ) scored the winner. 

What made this so incredibly memorable was I was working at GM that night and the fellow in the metalurgical lab had a little tiny, maybe 2 "x 2" TV. What they did was put a large magnifying glass (the kind with a neon light around it, if you can picture it) in front of the little TV and, I kid you not, we enjoyed the Great Canadian win with no less than 20 or so fellow workers watching the little screen. John Tonelli played like a savage beast. Just sayin'

Also in 1984 shortly after we were married Lora and I went on a camping trip to a KOA camp ground in Niagra Falls. Two great memories - one was when we were coming back into the camp ground after a walk (it was dark)  these two fellows (I think they were loaded) tried to pick us up. They thought we were available girls. Lora was 7 months pregnant and I had a beard.(I hope they were loaded) The other memory was all the campers , it seemed like every single camper  was listening to the NHL finals. Edmonton won their first Stanley Cup that night.

The 1987 Canada Cup was the best hockey I ever saw or have ever seen. We beat the Russians in three high scoring and very close hockey games. Anybody who likes hockey has to watch it. ( I don't care how fast it is now or how "high tech" it is now give these guys a gun, a spear, a mace or a hockey stick, this was war!!)I watched every minute on our little 16" TV in the house on Stanley Street. That was when Lora first found out I was a fanatic. The Russians won the first game and I believe were up by 3 goals in the second. I was really struggling, they seemed doomed. I seem to remember the line of Hawerchuck-Toccet and Messier (maybe Sutter) turning it around. I love those guys!!!

1993 was a great year as the Leafs upset the Wings in seven games , the last in overtime. Borchevsky scored the OT goal and the line of Foligno, Kruchelniski and Clark were ferocious!!  But, alas in the next series they got ripped off by a high sticking non-call against Gretzky who later scored the winning goal in a game he should not have been in. It was the first and only time that Lora really got into it. She had a little Gilmourmania

going. I knew the the Leafs would get screwed over in game seven and couldn't bear to watch , so instead I went out and played my guitar in the garage. Singing the blues.........

 I remember losing to the Czech-Republic in a shoot out in the 1998 Olympics ,because my hockey senses awoke me at 3 in the morning in a motel in Georgia on our way to Florida. I turned on the TV just in time to see Trevor Linden tie it Yeah!! This is destiny!!  But we lost in a shoot out . Coach Crawford didn't pick Gretzky or Yzerman to shoot in the shoot out. Who knows maybe we would have lost anyway, but gee, what was he thinking......

Anyway. I remember the 2002 Olympics just because we won and everybody was happy. 

Since I retired from GM I don't have many hockey fanatics to share things with so when I do I never forget the great experience. Like being in Driedgers basement and watching Canada play Russia in the World Junior Semi-Final, a highly entertaining back and forth game with Jorda Eberle tying it in the last second (5.4 to exact)

Lora , Behn and Eric "look Uncle Thom, I'm shaking" were with me. What a memory, what a thrill.

When this isolation is over I will be sure to get together with Jordan (a hockey fan) and catch some games . Anybody and everybody else will be more than welcome to join us!!