Much like wide receivers and quarterbacks in football, catchers and left handed pitchers in baseball, and sub-six foot guards in basketball, the men who don the mask and pads of the goaltender in hockey are just "different" then everybody else who plays the game. To willingly stand in the path of a frozen puck being shot at you at lightning speed is, of course, not what any "normal" (or sane?) person would do. And many of the playing rules that apply to them are different too. The stories about the exploits of the men who willingly choose to be the human "targets" in our glorious game are legion, and so is some of the unusual trivia relating to them. Here are a few more puzzlers about the exploits of some "landlords of the laced lean-tos."



7) What unexpected (and unplanned) NHL "accomplishment" did former minor league goalies Dennis Roy (Fresno Falcons), Russ Gillow (Spokane Jets), & Mike Bloski (Mohawk Valley Stars) all achieve in common during their careers?

While none of these three minor league goalies ever played a minute in the NHL, each once served as an emergency backup for the Philadelphia Flyers in a regular season game.

Montreal native Dennis Roy was for many years an NHL off ice official in Los Angeles were he was also on the staff of the Canadian Consulate. On December 2, 1968, the Flyers had arrived in Los Angeles from Detroit for the third game of a four game, week long road trip. By the morning of the game two days later on December 4th, however, both Doug Favell and Bernie Parent had come down with the flu leaving coach Keith Allen with a dilemma. Although sick, Parent agreed to give it a go in net but Favell was so sick that he was unable to even dress as the backup. With the Flyers' AHL Quebec Aces farm club being almost 3,000 miles away in Quebec City, there was no time to bring up another goalie from there. Roy (who would later go on to play some semipro hockey with the Fresno Falcons of the Cal-Neva League) was thus pressed into service to sit on the bench wearing Flyers’ uniform #1 (which was Favell’s number at the time) while Parent (wearing his original #30) stopped 35 of 38 Kings’ shots in a 3-1 loss.

Russ Gillow’s emergency backup stint came on February 9th, 1972, the night after Bruce Gamble had unknowingly (at the time) suffered what would prove to be a career ending heart attack during the first period of the Flyers 3-1 win in Vancouver which incredibly Gamble finished before his attack was diagnosed. With no other backup available for the Flyers game in Oakland the next night, the Flyers borrowed Gillow from the Spokane (WA) Jets of the Western International Hockey League to back up Doug Favell in the Flyers’ 3-2 loss to the Seals. Gamble was replaced on the Flyers’ roster by their next game in Minnesota on February 12th by Don McLeod which he started and lost, 5-1. Although Gamble recovered from his heart attack, he would never play another game of professional hockey. Tragically he died a decade later on December 30, 1982, at the age of 44, of another heart attack suffered during an old-timers' hockey game. Gillow returned to Spokane and never appeared on the ice in the NHL, but the next year he signed with the WHA Los Angeles Sharks and played in that league for most of the next four years. McLeod played a total of four games with the Flyers (0-3-1) before also signing with the WHA the next season with the Houston Aeros and continued to play in that league until 1978.

Mike Bloski served as an emergency backup for the Flyers for two games under the most tragic and emotional of circumstances. Early in the morning of Sunday, November 10, 1985, the Flyers Vezina Trophy winning goalie Pelle Lindbergh drove his customized Porsche 930 Turbo racing car into a wall in front of a Somerdale, NJ, elementary school seriously injuring himself and his two passengers. While his two passengers would eventually recover, it soon became clear that Lindbergh had suffered irreversible brain damage. After consultation with his doctors, Lindbergh's family agreed to discontinue life support and donate Lindbergh’s organs (including his heart) for transplantation. Ironically the Flyers were just starting an unusually long five day break between games with their next contest scheduled for November 14th at home against the Edmonton Oilers, the team to which the Flyers had lost in the Stanley Cup finals the previous spring. Bob Froese -- who had been expected to be traded to Los Angeles -- was suddenly back to being the Flyers’ number one goalie, and rookie Darren Jensen -- whose entire NHL experience to that point consisted of a 7-5 loss to the New York Islanders the previous February -- was called up from the AHL Hershey Bears to back him up. Incredibly, however, the day before the Oilers' game Froese was injured in practice leaving the Flyers with just the inexperience Jensen to play in the game with the Oilers which was to be preceded by a extremely emotional memorial ceremony for Lindbergh. With the Bears also having a game to play that night, however, the Flyers decided not to call up rookie Ron Hextall and instead brought in Bloski from the Mohawk Valley Stars of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League to sit on the bench both that night as well as in the Flyers next game in Hartford two nights later. After the moving pregame memorial ceremony, the game began with Jensen in goal for the Flyers and Andy Moog in the Oilers' net. With the contest tied at 1-1 after two periods, Oilers' GM/coach was Glen Sather was ejected for arguing with referee Don Koharski about three penalties called on the Oilers in the final 13 seconds of the frame. Ironically Sather was replaced on the bench for the third period by former Flyers' GM/coach Bob McCammon who had coached Lindbergh with both the AHL Maine Mariners and the Flyers. This appeared to inspire the Flyers who would score four goals in the third period to the Oilers' two for an impressive 5-3 victory.

In addition to these three, a number of other goalies have served as emergency backups for the Flyers over the past forty seasons without ever playing in a game for the club including Fern Rivard (Oct. 24, 1968), Peter Sternig (Nov. 2, 1968 & Jan. 8, 1969), Bob Sneddon (Mar. 18, 1972), Gil Hudon (Feb. 16, 1984), Darryl Gilmour (Mar. 22, 1988), Dave Settlemyre (the Flyers’ trainer) (Mar. 24, 1990), Norm Foster (six games from Oct. 29 to Nov. 8, 1993), Mike Greenlay (Feb. 4 & 6, 1995), and Les Kuntar (Mar. 5, 1995).


8) Although he and his team had compiled a paltry "winning" percentage of just .221, this netminder nonetheless out polled almost 170 other NHL'ers -- including four future Hall of Fame goalies -- for one of the game's most coveted seasonal palms. Who is he?


Al Rollins, Chicago Black Hawks, 1953-54
The Dr. David Hart Memorial Trophy (MVP)

After two stellar seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs which included both a Stanley Cup and Vezina Trophy as a rookie in 1950-51, Vanguard, Sask., native Al Rollins was traded to the Chicago Black Hawks on September 11, 1952, along with Gus Mortson, Cal Gardner, and Ray Hannigan for All Star netminder Harry Lumley. The defense he would play behind in Chicago, however, was pretty porous compared to Toronto leading him to observe that he often "faced more breakaways in one game there than his whole time in Toronto." Rollins' heroic efforts did not go unnoticed, however, as he finished second to right wing Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings for the Hart Trophy as the League's MVP in 1953, and the next year he won the award despite the Hawks' distant last place finish on a record of 12-51-7 for 31 points which was 37 points fewer than the fifth place New York Rangers!



Al Rollins, Chicago Black Hawks
Hart Trophy, 1953-54


9) To what manifestly "streaky" former NHL twineminder were the perceived influences of the likes of Tomás de Torquemada, and the vagaries of sidereal months, often as consequential in his own mind to his on ice performance as were the efforts of enemy shooters?

Gilles Gratton, St. Louis Blues & New York Rangers (1975-77)

Nicknamed "Gratoony The Loony" for his bizarre actions both on and off the ice, former St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers goalie Gillies Gratton marched to his own drummer perhaps more than any other in his profession known for its odd characters. In addition to once having "streaked" across the ice in practice wearing nothing more than his skates and mask, Gratton believed that he was a reincarnated former soldier in the Spanish Inquisition, and often refused to play when he considered that the moon was in the wrong part of the sky. After playing three years in the WHA between 1972 and 1975 with the Ottawa Nationals and Toronto Toros, Gratton moved the NHL in 1975 with the St. Louis Blues who had acquired his NHL rights from the Buffalo Sabres (who had drafted him from the OHA Oshawa Generals in 1972) for cash on July 3, 1975. After playing in just six games, however, the Blues placed him on "voluntary retired" list after he walked out on the team following a game against the New York Islanders on November 28, 1975. The Blues refused to place Gratton on waivers, thus blocking his attempt to sign again with the WHA Toros. After finally securing his release from St. Louis, Gratton signed as a free agent with the New York Rangers on March 24, 1976, with whom he played in 41 games in 1976-77 before retiring the next season after making once appearance for the New Haven Nighthawks of the AHL.



Gilles Gratton, New York Rangers (1976-77)


10) What squeaky clean long time NHL target toiled for no fewer than fifteen teams in six different leagues during his sixteen year pro playing career?

Gary "Suitcase" Smith

Gary Smith was another most colorful goaltender during his sixteen year pro playing career between 1964 and 1980. In additions to playing for fifteen different teams during that period, Smith was known for his curious habit of completely undressing, taking a shower, and redressing between every period of every game in which he played. After winning the Memorial Cup with the OHA Toronto Marlboros in 1964, Smith played briefly with the WHL Victoria Maple Leafs, CPHL Tulsa Oilers, and AHL Rochester Americans before making his NHL debut the in 1965-66 in three games with the Toronto Maple Leafs but spent the majority of the year in the AHL with the Rochester. After another brief stint with the Leafs in the 1966-67, he was claimed by the Oakland Seals in Expansion Draft, on June 6, 1967, and spent four years with that club before being traded to the Chicago Blackhawks for Kerry Bond, Gerry Pinder, and Gerry Desjardins on September 9, 1971, where he shared the Vezina Trophy with Tony Esposito in 1971-72. "Suitcase" was on the move again on May 14, 1973, when he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks along with Jerry "King Kong" Korab for current Chicago GM Dale Tallon, and after three years with the Canucks he was sent to the Minnesota North Stars for Cesare Maniago on August 23, 1976. On September 3, 1977, Smith signed as a free agent by the Washington Capitals who traded him back to Minnesota for cash in February 19, 1978. In September, 1978, Smith moved on to the WHA for the first time when he signed as a free agent by Indianapolis Racers but soon moved on to the WHA Winnipeg Jets on December 17, 1978, after the Racers folded and helped that club win the WHA's final Avco Wold Cup championship in 1979. Smith's NHL rights were retained by Winnipeg prior to June, 1979, Expansion Draft, and he played his final pro season with the NHL Jets before retiring in 1980. In addition to the seven NHL and two WHA clubs smith played for, Gary Smith also toiled in the minors with the WHL Victoria Maple Leafs, the AHL Rochester Americans and Hershey Bears, the CPHL Tulsa Oilers, and the CHL Fort Worth Texans and Tulsa Oilers.




Gary "Suitcase" Smith


11) This Hall of Fame goalie once tried out for and was the favorite to win the starting job with an NHL expansion team, but then never suited up for a game with the club. Who was this venerable netminder, for what team would he have been the starting goalie, and why did he end up never playing a game for the club?

Jacques Plante, Oakland Seals

After a distinguished thirteen year career with the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers, future Hall of Fame goalie Jacques Plante retired after the 1964-65 season which he had finished the year on assignment by the Rangers to the AHL Baltimore Clippers. With NHL expansion in 1967, however, Plante was lured out of retirement and signed a try-out contract with the Oakland Seals and appeared to have won the job as their starting goalie but then was ordered to leave the training camp when it was confirmed that his NHL rights still belonged to the Rangers. That would not be the end for "Jake the Snake," however, as a year later he was claimed by the St. Louis Blues from the Rangers in Intra-League Draft on June 12, 1968, and for the next two years he shared the goaltending duties there with fellow Hall of Famer Glenn Hall. After another three seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs (1970-73) and eight games with the Boston Bruins at the end of the 1972-73 season, Plante moved over to the WHA as head coach of the Quebec Nordiques for the 1973-74 season before returning to the ice for one more campaign in the nets with the WHA Edmonton Oilers in 1974-75.

Plante, who was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979, appeared in 837 regular season games duing his his NHL career (437-246-145) collecting 82 shutouts and a GAA of 2.37. In 112 games in Stanley Cup play he had 71 wins, 36 losses, and 14 shutouts with a post season GAA of 2.13. In addition to winning the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's MVP in 1962, and capturing the Vezina Trophy a total of seven times, Plante also backstopped the Montreal Canadiens to Stanley Cup titles six times (1953, 1956-60).

And here's what might have been...



"Jacques Plante, Oakland Goal"

(Digitally Created Composite Images)




12) This nifty netminder won four Stanley Cups in his career -- with four different teams. Who was he?

Harry "Hap" Holmes

From 1912 to 1928, Hall of Fame netminder Harry "Hap" Holmes was a preeminent goalie who dominated five pro leagues in which he played -- the National Hockey Association, Pacific Coast Hockey Association, Western Canada Hockey League, Western Hockey League and National Hockey League. During those sixteen years the Aurora, Ontario, native won four Stanley Cup titles with four different clubs. Holmes captured his first Cup title in 1914 with the NHA Toronto Blueshirts defeating the Montreal Canadiens in the NHA play-off and Lester Patrick's Victoria Aristocrats in the Cup final. His next Cup came three years later on the other side of the continent when he backstopped the PCHA Seattle Metropolitans over the Canadiens again to bring the Cup to a US based team for the first time. The following January, Holmes was loaned to the Toronto Arenas and again led his club to a Stanley Cup title by first defeating the Canadiens for the first NHL crown and then downing Frank Patrick's Vancouver Millionaires in five games. In 1925 Holmes won his fourth and final Stanley Cup as he led the WCHL Victoria Cougars over the NHL champion Montreal Canadiens in a four game final played in Victoria, BC. (This was also the last time that the Stanley cup was won by a non-NHL team.) Holmes was the leading goalie in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association/Western Canada Hockey League six times during his Hall of Fame career outperforming such stalwarts as Hugh Lehman and George Hainsworth, while in Stanley Cup play he beat out such legends as Georges Vezina and Clint Benedict.



Harry "Hap" Holmes

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