Favourite Jerseys Pt 3

The Nordiques home white jersey could very well be my personal fave of all time.  I LOVED the Nords while I grew during the 80s up in northern Ontario.  They had some OK playoff runs including trips to the Conference Finals in '82 and '85, and some SERIOUS series with their rival Canadiens (how can anyone not forget the infamous 'Vendredi Saint' brawl in the '84 playoffs). 

The Admirals Pt 2

This entry pays tribute to to a good friend and team mate.  Geoff K played with me for the Admirals in the early 00s (is that how the first part of the century is written??).  Anyway, we played hockey...   a while ago...  on the Admirals.  Geoff was (and is) a pretty decent and steady right winter, but in our playoff run of '02 he was a modern day John Druce (or Chris Kontos if you will).  He took our team on his back and led us (offensively at least) to the Division Championship.  Seven goals in four games, two of them game winners including a tremendous overtime winner...    SHORTHANDED!!!   He also kept us alive in a shootout with a nice deke.  Anyway, this youngster (31 at the time) had a playoff run to remember!  

Cup-O-Coffee Pt 1

Something I've always found intriguing are players who play most of their careers with one team, but at some point did actually suit up for another (of several others) for a small amount of games.  This is more of a common occurrence in our present NHL (thank you NHLPA... NOT!).  Anyway, my first example is Black Hawk (or is it Blackhawk?) Tony Esposito.  In his early years he was property of the Montreal Canadiens.  The Habs actually loaned him to the Vancouver Canucks of the WHL for the 1967-68 season.  He then played in the Canadiens minor system the next season until injuries to Rogie Vachon and Gump Worsley forced the youngster into the big leagues for 13 regular season games.  He also was dressed as the back up during the playoffs and thus had his name on the Stanley Cup for the Canadiens '68 win.  He was left unprotected at the beginning of the next season and was picked up on waivers by the 'Hawks.  The rest is history.

Favourite Jerseys Pt 2

 The Seattle Metropolitans played in the PCHA from 1915-24.  They won the Stanley Cup in 1917 and were also involved in two other Cup Finals, one of them being the '19 Finals which were cancelled due to the Spanish Flu with the series tied 2-2-1.  Anyhoo, I saw this jersey at the Hockey Hall of Fame this past April and thought it was cool.  The 'logo'' kinda sucks, but the colours and the stripes are sweet vintage.  A true hockey 'sweater', as opposed to a jersey.  

Useless Trivia Pt 2

Gretzky's rookie season, 1979-80 saw many statistical races go down to the wire.  The most watched of course was the battle for the Art Ross in which Marcel Dionne edged the Great One nodding him out in the most goals tie-breaker, 53-51.  But aside from total points,  who had the most goals in the league??  Not Bossy (51).  Not Lafleur (50).  Nine players in fact had 50+, and in the end it was a three way tie.  Danny Gare, Charlie Simmer and Blaine Stoughton all had 56 to lead the league.  Born in Terace Bay, ON (a few miles down the road from my hometown), Simmer would have had the outright lead should he have played more than 64 games.  More odd trivia....   he played 65 games the next season and again hit exactly 56 goals!

Useless Trivia Pt 1

At the start of the 77-78 WHA season, the Cincinnati Stingers' Robbie Ftorek and Claude Larose both were intent on wearing jersey #8.  So intent in fact they begged the Stingers to attempt the unthinkable.   And it happened...   Cincinnati received permission from the WHA head office to have both players actually wear the same number during the season.  'Hey ref, #8 on the assist!'

The Admirals Pt 1

The Admirals was a mens hockey team I played for a few years back.  We won our division the first year I played in 00-01.  Ever since I joined the team I have loved the logo and jersey.  They are the exact ones used by the Milwaukee Admirals (of the then IHL) from 1982-97 (I will bring up the Admirals current state of horror in a future post).  Anyway, I can't get enough of everything from that era of Admirals.  I've even named my business 'Admiral Finishing Ltd'.  Yikes!