This past week, I played in three Alumni charity hockey games. Actually, I played in three games in a span of two-and-half days. I normally don’t play that often anymore, but it was just how it happened to work out.
I played my first game on Thursday in London, Ontario for the NHL Alumni. This game was a lot of fun, simply because it was my hometown and I brought my mom to the game with me – she still thinks that I’m the best – you can’t beat playing for a fan like that!
The next night the game was in Chatham, Ontario, about an hour west of London. What was unique about this game was that in the line up were two of my former teammates from the Atlanta Flames. Both Ken Houston and Pat Ribble live in the area, so they were added to the line up. We played together in 1978, so needless to say we had a lot of catching up to do!
Both games were against the local police department in support of the Special Olympics (we won in case you were wondering!). What’s neat about the NHL Alumni team is that it brings together several former NHLers for each game. Sometimes you know each other; sometimes you are meeting a guy for the first time. It’s great to see old friends as was the case with my buddies from the Flames, and it’s also great to meet somebody new, even if the last time you saw each other you were battling for the puck in the corner.
My third game was in Osgoode, Ontario, a small town just outside of Ottawa. The game was at Noon and unfortunately it was an eight-hour drive from Chatham but it had to be done. I had helped organize the game and our Ottawa Senators Alumni team were playing the Osgoode Minor Hockey coaches as part of the town’s winter carnival. We came out on top but it was a very good game, the coaches kept it close!
Now before you click away, thinking that I’ll continue with play by play from my Alumni games, poetically describing each goal I scored (there actually weren’t any anyhow…) let me get to where I was going with this…
As I said, I had an eight-hour drive to get to my game on Saturday, so I decided to drive home to Ottawa after the Chatham game. While my former Flames teammates were disappointed that I wouldn’t be having a few beers with them at the player reception, one guy there was happy that I was leaving.
Marty McSorley needed to get to Toronto and since I’d be passing through there on my way to Ottawa, I offered him a ride. I don’t know Marty McSorley. I had met him before, even played in a couple NHL Alumni games with him but never had the opportunity to get to know him. Actually, I never went out of my way to get to know him. He played for the Edmonton Oilers and yes, he won the cup and I didn’t (In case you’ve missed it before, I hate the Oilers….(maybe throw in a link to one of those blogs)).
So here we go on a four-hour drive to Toronto, what are we going to talk about? Marty is a pretty talkative guy. So we got the small talk out of the way pretty quick:
Me: “Where you from?… Marty: “Brantford… Me: “Where did you play Junior hockey?… Marty: “I played for the Belleville Bulls… Me: “When was your first year in the NHL, when was your last?… Marty: “1983 with Pittsburgh, finished in 2000 with the Bruins… Me: “Married?… Marty: “Yes, 3 kids and we live just outside of California…
And so for 4 hours the conversation went back and forth, it was an easy conversation, never forced. We talked about the game today, about the game when we played. We talked about players we played with and played against and we talked about our careers. We talked about what we would change in today’s game, the Olympics, and of course who was going to win the cup. We didn’t talk about the ‘87 series, I’ll leave that for our next drive!
I dropped Marty off and wished he was going to be with me for the next 4 to 5 hours for the rest of the drive back to Ottawa. I enjoyed the conversation and needless to say it would have made the late night drive go by much easier.
At that time of night there is virtually nothing on the radio so I turned it off and was left with my thoughts. I found myself thinking about the first part of my drive – my drive with Marty McSorley.
I now have a new respect for Marty. I must admit that I was much like many other hockey fans, when you say Marty McSorley - what do you think of or what comes to your mind first?
Wayne Gretzky’s bodyguard, goon, tough guy, one-dimensional player, etc.
A lot of these comments might be true to a point but there is a some more explanation needed.
Wayne Gretzky’s bodyguard is a role that many think is missing in today’s game. It was a role that Marty played and he did it well, it was his job. Many newer hockey fans may not know what using the term “bodyguard… means. It doesn’t necessarily mean a fighter; the bodyguard is the guy that give that look or makes that comment when liberties are taken on the team’s star player.
Believe me, when you’re on the wrong end of that stare and those comments, the star player gets the extra room. He doesn’t get the extra push or shove in the corner, simply because the bodyguard is there to make sure. Wayne and many superstars owe a lot to this type of role player.
Goon – Marty was an honest fighter, fought for the team not himself. Today`s fighters are very selfish they only think of themselves in my opinion. Marty had a very unfortunate incident involving Donald Brashear, unfortunately many people remember this and it has stayed with Marty. I will not go into detail about, as Marty has a book coming out – I would highly recommend that you get it, it will be a very good read.
Tough Guy – one of the best ever. Played hard, hit hard, competed hard and fought hard.
One Dimensional Player – I will assume that everyone had this wrong – I did, Marty was far from a one dimensional player. In 961 NHL hockey games Marty had 359 points and 3,381 penalty minutes, that is pretty dam good – 108 goals – I had 24. Marty could play the game, he understood the game and what he brought to it.
I arrived home safe and sound, I got in a few hours of sleep and I was off to the rink again! The game was a lot of fun, the stands were packed (as is the case in every small town) and the dressing room was just the same as it was in the previous 2 nights. Even though the town had changed, the opposition was different and my Alumni teammates had changed each game the jokes, the stories and the laughs were all basically the same.