Random stories and info from the world of hockey

[JR Ewing]

If you have a story you know, or an interesting tidbit about a player/ team/owner/coach/whatever, but you don't think it deserves its own thread, here's the place to do it. Share what you know.

JR

[JR Ewing]

Cyclone Taylor, hockeyist for the 1909 Ottawa Senators.

Professionalism was a brand new concept in the hockey world, and was pretty much a hated idea, especially by team owners. Coming off his first hockey paycheque playing Portage Lakes in the IHL, Taylor was in love with the idea. Taylor was the best player in the game, and like everybody else, the Senators wanted him to play for them. Finally, ownership and Taylor agreed on a deal: Taylor would be paid $500 for ten games, and the Senators ownership consortium would use their pull in the capital to get Taylor a secure government job, working for the Canadian Department of Immigration.

This was no little thing for Taylor. When ended up signing with the Patrick brothers to play in Vancouver in 1913, the same condition applied: in addition to a paycheque, he demanded they arrange for his off-season job to be transferred to from Ottawa to Vancouver. It was a job he never left, eventually being promoted to Commissioner of Immigration for BC and the Yukon.

JR

[flyercanuck]

[JR Ewing]

@flyercanuck

LOL

The guy took his time with that one.

JR

[goalnut3133]

Cyclone Taylor, hockeyist for the 1909 Ottawa Senators.

Professionalism was a brand new concept in the hockey world, and was pretty much a hated idea, especially by team owners. Coming off his first hockey paycheque playing Portage Lakes in the IHL, Taylor was in love with the idea. Taylor was the best player in the game, and like everybody else, the Senators wanted him to play for them. Finally, ownership and Taylor agreed on a deal: Taylor would be paid $500 for ten games, and the Senators ownership consortium would use their pull in the capital to get Taylor a secure government job, working for the Canadian Department of Immigration.

This was no little thing for Taylor. When ended up signing with the Patrick brothers to play in Vancouver in 1913, the same condition applied: in addition to a paycheque, he demanded they arrange for his off-season job to be transferred to from Ottawa to Vancouver. It was a job he never left, eventually being promoted to Commissioner of Immigration for BC and the Yukon.

JR

Cool JR! Wondered where our sport store branch name came from...never knew that history.

[goalnut3133]

@flyercanuck Pretty Dan Cleary-ative! (I couldn't resist!)

[yave1964]

@goalnut3133

Hey you stole my Cyclone!! lol

[goalnut3133]

@goalnut3133

Hey you stole my Cyclone!! lol

The credit goes to JR! (or Mr Encyclopedia!)

[JR Ewing]

@goalnut3133

Hey you stole my Cyclone!! lol

No way. Tell the rest; there's way more to his story. I just got a kick out of him demanding a govt job in addition to a hockey paycheque.

JR

[peter puck]

Continuing on the 50 goal theme, Habs legend Guy Lafleur had a equally distinct troika, scoring his landmark goal three times of goalie Denis Herron. Herron was lafleur's victim in 1975 and 1976 while a member of the Kansas City Scouts. Three seasons later, while a member of the Penguins, Herron was Lafleur's target once more.

Perhaps it occured to Herron that he'd best remove himself from Lafleur's range. He joined the Canadiens in 1979-80, and promptly set about killing the Canadiens chances at fifth straight Cup by fumbling the puck, leading to the North Stars winning goal that year. Only Lafleur has a place in their heart for Herron.

[JR Ewing]

This is Joe Hall. He was kind of the Chis Chelios of his day but, given the extreme levels of violence in the game during the 1910s, did things none of us would deem imagineable in a hockey game today... Sticks over the head, face, windpipe. Spearings, beatings, etc.

On February 16, 1917, Hall bit off more than he could chew, and got into it with Renfrew's Frank Patrick, who aside from being a great player, was an outstanding fighter. According to the Montreal Gazette "Patrick had pummeled Hall's face and nose into mallowy pulp." Hall was humiliated, so he turned around and beat the hell out of referee Rod Kennedy (this was not altogether unheard of in those days).

The repercussions? Hall was fined $100, which he refused to pay, nor was he willing to pay the $27.50 required to replace Kennedy's suit, which was tattered beyond repair and heavily soiled with blood.

JR

[JR Ewing]

Cool JR! Wondered where our sport store branch name came from...never knew that history.

Now you know.

Though the game was sufficiently different that the numbers don't translate without heavy amounts of normalizing, it's clear that he's one of the all-time greats.

JR

[peter puck]

Billy Coutu was the first, and to date only, player banned from the NHL for life for violence in 1927; he assaulted referee Jerry Laflamme and tackled referee Billy Bell before starting a bench-clearing brawl during a Stanley Cup game between the Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators, apparently on the orders of Bruins coach Art Ross. The NHL's first president, Frank Calder, expelled Coutu from the NHL for life; the ban was lifted after 2½ years, but Coutu never played in the NHL again.

[JR Ewing]

Billy Coutu was the first, and to date only, player banned from the NHL for life for violence in 1927; he assaulted referee Jerry Laflamme and tackled referee Billy Bell before starting a bench-clearing brawl during a Stanley Cup game between the Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators, apparently on the orders of Bruins coach Art Ross. The NHL's first president, Frank Calder, expelled Coutu from the NHL for life; the ban was lifted after 2½ years, but Coutu never played in the NHL again.

I've always understood that it was even worse than that: the game was over, the Series won by the Senators, when he attacked LaFlamme. Either way...

JR

[peter puck]

@JR Ewing

They were some violent SOBs back then for sure

[JR Ewing]

@JR Ewing

They were some violent SOBs back then for sure

That's what I always have to say when people talk about the 70s as being the most violent era of hockey ever. It was definitely violent, and you definitely needed to watch out for getting jumped, but not close to being as bad as it had been in the past.

Hockey sticks were half for playing the game, the other half for carving an opponent like a Christmas turkey.

JR

[peter puck]

Allan Loney killed Alcide Laurin in 1905

In that game in 1905, it was perhaps significant that Alcide Laurin was French and Catholic and that Allan Loney was English and Protestant. In the game, Mr. Laurin broke Mr. Loney's nose in front of the net during a scuffle and Mr. Loney responded with a stick to the head. Mr. Laurin went down and did not rise. He was dead. And Allan Loney was charged with murder.

[yave1964]

The WHA had its share of characters, one of my all time favorites to read about was Frank 'never' Beaton, who later in his career changed his nickname to 'seldom' and decided to retire when he was forced to change it to 'often.' Fun stories about a gas station attendant spilling drops of gas on his car so Beaton got into a fight and was charged. To avoid arrest he hid in an equipment bag which was tossed on the bus as the team left town. Funny guy who still pops up every now and then telling his stories...

[JR Ewing]

The WHA had its share of characters, one of my all time favorites to read about was Frank 'never' Beaton, who later in his career changed his nickname to 'seldom' and decided to retire when he was forced to change it to 'often.' Fun stories about a gas station attendant spilling drops of gas on his car so Beaton got into a fight and was charged. To avoid arrest he hid in an equipment bag which was tossed on the bus as the team left town. Funny guy who still pops up every now and then telling his stories...

JR

[flyercanuck]

The WHA had its share of characters, one of my all time favorites to read about was Frank 'never' Beaton, who later in his career changed his nickname to 'seldom' and decided to retire when he was forced to change it to 'often.' Fun stories about a gas station attendant spilling drops of gas on his car so Beaton got into a fight and was charged. To avoid arrest he hid in an equipment bag which was tossed on the bus as the team left town. Funny guy who still pops up every now and then telling his stories...

Our local junior team fired the coach Bill Stewart for hiding an import player in an equipment bag while the bus was crossing the border. They were waiting for his proper documentation that hadn't arrived yet, so they "stashed" him. Apparently it was common practise until this incident.

[JR Ewing]

A taste of old school reporting:

"The league-leading Philadelphia Arrows plastered a 4-0 defeat tonight on the New Haven Eagles in the last Canadian-American hockey contest for the local sextet. After a rough first period, during which nine penalties were imposed, one a major, the game settled down to a quiet affair. In the third frame, Wilf Cude, the Arrows' goaler, left his nets long enough to nail a rat that scampered across the ice. His 'feat' was applauded boisterously by the women spectators"

-Associated Press, March 28, 1933.

JR

[jammer2]

@JR Ewing An outstanding in depth article about the pros and cons of hiring a "proven winner" GM to run your team. This guy just nails this article, proves his theory about 15 different ways.

http://www.iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/leadership/debunking-the-proven-winner-myth-in-the-national-hockey-league#.UgMQmazd4ud

[jammer2]

Flyers have all their draft picks (for future drafts) intact with the exception of the 2014 4th rounder given up to the Isles in the Striet deal.

http://www.prosportstransactions.com/hockey/DraftTrades/Future/Flyers.htm

[jammer2]

For the research lovers out there, well.....every NHL transaction....ever.

http://www.prosportstransactions.com/hockey/Search/SearchResults.php?Player=&Team=&BeginDate=&EndDate=&PlayerMovementChkBx=yes&LegalChkBx=yes&submit=Search&start=0

[jammer2]

It's not hockey, but didn't want to start a new thread, but the following is a heartwarming story about a Windsor native and long time Tigers fan who recently had some wonderful interactions with Detroit Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski. The guy has less than a year to live, wrote Dave and got some serious results, including a autographed baseball and getting to be on the field and meet the players during Batting practice. What a nice guy this fella seems like, very happy for him, saw the video of him meeting Cabrera, it was a special moment.

http://www.freep.com/article/20130811/SPORTS02/308110100/