Congrats, Coach Crocker

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It was an honor to witness Bob Crocker receiving the Lester Patrick Award for his service to hockey in the United States. Crocker, who was my coach at the University of Pennsylvania, is a particularly deserving winner of the award.

Coach Crocker has helped dozens of young men over the years both on and off the ice, including many who made it to the NHL. At age 86, Bob is still a fixture around the rink. He was an icon at Boston University, especially for his contributions recruiting for Jack Kelley. In the NHL, the longtime scout owns three Stanley Cup rings; one with the 1993-94 New York Rangers and two with the Los Angeles Kings.

After I finished Groton, I had two choices for my future. I was either going to attend Boston College and try to play hockey there or else I was going to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. Bob Crocker opened a different door for me. He enabled me to have the opportunity to get an Ivy League education and attend the University of Pennsylvania.

Crocker knew my dad and he was looking to recruit players for Penn hockey.The coach arranged an interview for me with Penn's admissions staff for late August. He and I drove to Philadelphia together for the appointment. I drove Crocker's car because he had the stomach flu, and so we hit several rest stops on the way to Philadelphia.

The interview with Jim Nolan, dean of admissions, went well. Without even touring the campus, I boarded a plane home to Boston, paying my own airfare. My dad picked me up at the airport and informed me there that the university had called. I was accepted.

Bob Crocker innovated something the Weighted Wonder -- a weighted puck used in practice. While at Penn, I used to take a bucketful of weighted pucks and worked on my shooting. I would shoot 200 to 400 per day.

Years later when I was playing professionally, I set up a mini-gym in my garage with free weights and the heavy bag from the Class of the 1923 Rink that Coach Crocker had given me while I was at Penn.

"This will be your ticket to the NHL," the coach told me.

I appreciated him giving it to me. Upon bringing it home, I hung the bag underneath the cottage's screen porch. The house and porch shook as I pounded it for hours. Nobody could relax on the porch while I trained.

Every day, I did couple of hundred pushups, and lifted free weights. I bought the Rocky soundtrack -- Bill Conti is a brilliant composer, by the way -- and constantly played it for inspiration as I hit the bag, jumped rope, did pushups and sit-ups until I couldn't do any more. To this day, whenever I hear "Gonna Fly Now," "Going the Distance," or "Philadelphia Morning," it takes me back to those days of taking Bob Crocker's advice to heart.

In the original Rocky movie, Rocky tells Adrian, "My old man used to tell me, 'You weren't born with much of a brain, so ya better start usin' your body.' Right? So I become a fighter."

Coach Crocker's advice to me wasn't all that different. It's no secret that I was a square peg in a round hole in college hockey. There was no fighting and the game wasn't particularly physical. I wasn't the most naturally skilled player around, even on Penn's team. So his advice was spot on: build up muscle, find a niche (which happened to be as an enforcer) and focus on being the best I could at those things.

I didn't play at all my junior year and barely played my senior year of college. I never held it against the coach, though. I made connections at Penn working at the Class of 1923 Rink -- the Philadelphia Flyers players and coaches, friends who went on to be successful in other lines of work, etc -- and I earned a college degree from a prestigious university. I owe a debt of gratitude to Bob Crocker for those things.

I was hardly alone in that regard. Crocker has helped countless young men over the years and he has always been an astute judge of hockey talent. He has served the game as a whole and the sport within the U.S. very well for over a half century.

Without Bob Crocker as one of the people who helped me along the way, you would not be reading this blog today. Over the course of his career, he's helped dozens of young men along their paths to success. I was just one of many.

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The longtime referee heads Officiating by Stewart, a consulting, training and evaluation service for officials. Stewart also maintains a busy schedule as a public speaker, fund raiser and master-of-ceremonies for a host of private, corporate and public events. As a non-hockey venture, he is the owner of Lest We Forget.