CrashingTheGoalie

by Ron Spence
On the question of leadership, Jonathan Toews is Chicago’s twenty-year-old captain.
Who was the youngest player, in NHL history, to be named his team’s permanent Captain? Who was the youngest player to be named his team’s interim Captain?

The answer to the second question is Brian Bellows.
He was named Interim Captain of the [...]

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by Ron Spence
And, because I’ve never met a dead horse that I didn’t want to kick, at least three times, I’m staying on the subject of the culture of winning.
Larry Robinson briefly referred to winning in Montreal.
There is also a family that personifies winning – the Sutters, from Viking, Alberta.
“If I had to be adopted,” [...]

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by Ron Spence
Referring back to the Dwyer article again, I talked to Larry Robinson once about the culture of winning.
He was coaching the L.A. Kings at the time, and was very frustrated by his team’s lack of effort, in a loss to the Canucks.
“Would your players play differently back in Montreal?” I asked.
“You always play [...]

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by Ron Spence
As noted in the Dwyer article, sports were becoming mainstream by the 1910s, as large stadiums were being built, and working class people had both the time and money to attend games.
As this was happening, newspaper coverage of sporting events was expanding. In 1880, only .04% of a newspaper’s editorial was dedicated sports. [...]

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by Ron Spence
Name the only goalie, to ever play against Georges Vezina, and later win the Vezina Trophy.
Also – a hint – he is one of the few goalies to play for the Habs and never lose a game.

Roy “Shrimp” Worters
 
Worters finished the 1930-31 season with a 1.61 goals-against average, and was awarded the Vezina [...]

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by Ron Spence
It’s the Roaring Twenties, and there’s hockey on the front covers of January and December issues – 1927 – of the Saturday Evening Post.
“Here was a new generation,” F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, In This Side of Paradise, “to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken.”

What’s wrong with these [...]

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DURING THE MID-THIRTIES HE “INFLUENCED” FIVE OF THE EIGHT NHL FRANCHISES

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by Ron Spence
The Kamloops Blasers are now owned by an investment group. Four NHL players are part of this group.
Who are these players?

Jarome Iginla, Darryl Sydor, Mark Recchi, and Shane Doan

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by Ron Spence
They were my zen moments – hockeywise.
I was sitting on the visitor’s bench – in GM Place – watching a game, and would look around, and I was the only spectator in the building.
There were six of them playing, a half-rink game, and they were flying at it – Game 7 tempo.
This happened [...]

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