Jeremy Laura: When your favorite isn’t a superstar - hockey fandom

Joe Pavelski struck a chord with me. I was living in the Bay Area at the time and I saw his 1st NHL game against the LA Kings. Joe was creating scoring chances, checking hard, hitting and was just a ball of energy in the middle of the action all night. My buddy was a die hard Sharks fan saying that he was a 7th round pick who wasn’t likely to stay after some players got healthy. I told my buddy he’s never getting sent down. Pavelski scored late in the game and scored 7 goals in his 1st 12 games. I always followed him after that even though he was never on my favorite team.

My moment was being able to attend media day foe the 94-95 season. I was a senior in high school and just in awe of everybody. Guys like Yzerman, Fedorov, Coffey, Larionov, Primeau, Etc. The best was sone of the professional reporters were coming up to me because as A Fan, I knew the lesser known players too. Guys who were just coming up and weren't known yet. But the guy I remember most was Shawn Burr. Sadly he passed away, but I remember him telling me "Oh f$%k Scotty Bowman." When asked who his favorite coach he ever played for and how everyone else said Scotty.

I met Terry Sawchuk at a hockey camp in Livonia summer of '69. He singled me out and took be aside and instructed me on my skating. He showed me one skating exercise that strengthened my legs significantly. It was simply by keeping my skates on the ice at all times, and spreading my legs past shoulder width and the drawing your legs back to almost touching each other, propelling you forward or backward, By pumping your legs back and forth (actually more side to side) and doing several reps will greatly strengthen your the muscles along the inside of each leg.
Sadly, Terry died the following spring from injuries from a drunken tussle with roomie Ron Stewart in NYC. During the scrap, Terry fell on a BBQ grill's center pipe (attached to the bottom center of the round grilling surface) that was used to raise and lower the grill. He suffered internal injuries and after a couple operations and a 2 week stay in a hospital, he died. You can read the details here:
https://www.nytimes.com/1...aying-injury-sawchuk.html

I met Terry Sawchuk at a hockey camp in Livonia summer of '69. He singled me out and took be aside and instructed me on my skating. He showed me one skating exercise that strengthened my legs significantly. It was simply by keeping my skates on the ice at all times, and spreading my legs past shoulder width and the drawing your legs back to almost touching each other, propelling you forward or backward, By pumping your legs back and forth (actually more side to side) and doing several reps will greatly strengthen your the muscles along the inside of each leg.
Sadly, Terry died the following spring from injuries from a drunken tussle with roomie Ron Stewart in NYC. During the scrap, Terry fell on a BBQ grill's center pipe (attached to the bottom center of the round grilling surface) that was used to raise and lower the grill. He suffered internal injuries and after a couple operations and a 2 week stay in a hospital, he died. You can read the details here:
https://www.nytimes.com/1...aying-injury-sawchuk.html
- HenryHockey

I remember watching a special on Sawchuk. That is a very cool and very rare memory. I know Larkin and his brother helped start a summer camp that still goes on in Waterford. Now people come from all over the country. It breaks my heart that there are a lot of insanely talented athletes (like Sawchuk) that don’t always get the help they need. In his day, depression/mental illness wasn’t as openly talked about. It’s a shame to lose anyone, especially if there’s a possibility that some therapy could have made a big difference.

I met Terry Sawchuk at a hockey camp in Livonia summer of '69. He singled me out and took be aside and instructed me on my skating. He showed me one skating exercise that strengthened my legs significantly. It was simply by keeping my skates on the ice at all times, and spreading my legs past shoulder width and the drawing your legs back to almost touching each other, propelling you forward or backward, By pumping your legs back and forth (actually more side to side) and doing several reps will greatly strengthen your the muscles along the inside of each leg.
Sadly, Terry died the following spring from injuries from a drunken tussle with roomie Ron Stewart in NYC. During the scrap, Terry fell on a BBQ grill's center pipe (attached to the bottom center of the round grilling surface) that was used to raise and lower the grill. He suffered internal injuries and after a couple operations and a 2 week stay in a hospital, he died. You can read the details here:
https://www.nytimes.com/1...aying-injury-sawchuk.html
- HenryHockey

I remember watching a special on Sawchuk. That is a very cool and very rare memory. I know Larkin and his brother helped start a summer camp that still goes on in Waterford. Now people come from all over the country. It breaks my heart that there are a lot of insanely talented athletes (like Sawchuk) that don’t always get the help they need. In his day, depression/mental illness wasn’t as openly talked about. It’s a shame to lose anyone, especially if there’s a possibility that some therapy could have made a big difference.

My moment was being able to attend media day foe the 94-95 season. I was a senior in high school and just in awe of everybody. Guys like Yzerman, Fedorov, Coffey, Larionov, Primeau, Etc. The best was sone of the professional reporters were coming up to me because as A Fan, I knew the lesser known players too. Guys who were just coming up and weren't known yet. But the guy I remember most was Shawn Burr. Sadly he passed away, but I remember him telling me "Oh f$%k Scotty Bowman." When asked who his favorite coach he ever played for and how everyone else said Scotty.
- Big Daddy J

Whoa. I know Scotty was fairly divisive. Chelios did a luncheon for a corporation I worked for. He would laugh about it now, but Scotty had some “quirks” for sure, and I’m sure he’s glad there weren’t camera phones back “in the day”!

Ok, waaaaay back in the day the Wings held camp at McMorran Place arena in Port Huron. Bill Lecain was a fringe player who lived in Marysville during the off-season and was friends w/my great aunt & uncle. He'd tell stories about the guys on the team, but only played a few games at the NHL level w/Pitt I believe. He played w/the Port Huron Flags in the IHL but spent almost his entire career playing in the bus leagues. However, he know Dale & Dan McCourt's father so I got to meethem. Incredible guys.

The players would go to the Brass Rail bar/grill after training & games, so here's me....all of 7/8 years old horsing around in the restaurant with these guys. My memory was just how nice they all were. I did meet Chelly, Shayne Courson, Roy, and a few other Habs guys in Montreal when I was stationed in upstate NY (posted about hearing Wings games on WJR in a previous post,...). My take is that, except the BIG stars, these guys are sooo laid back & thankful to be given the chance to play in the NHL. 'Course that's a while ago and attitudes have changed, but the 3/4 line guys are usually the cooler of the guys.

Wade Belak was my favourite player for years. Lol I owned two Wade Belak jerseys.

I've been fortunate enough to meet quite a few players as a fan. Years ago, I lived on a lake. My neighbor was an ex-pro and would play pickup games in the summers with a bunch of current and ex NHL players. I was lucky enough to get to skate with them for a few summers before I moved out of state. I was able to meet a number of players due to my son's hockey career, but I do have a couple of cool fan experiences. The first was in the 70s when I was able to meet Gretsky and other Edmonton players at a rink during a camp. I specifically remember Wayne as I had heard his name, but it was the summer before Edmonton's first NHL season. I want to say they were doing some sort of promotional tour, because it was open to the public. He and the other players signed my stick (which I still played with). When it broke, I just put it in the corner of the garage with my other broken sticks. When Edmonton exploded, I looked for that stick to see what other players signed it. The stick was nowhere to be found. I asked my dad, and he used it to build some shelves in the garage and painted it. I'll never know what other Edmonton players signed that thing, but obviously they had a bunch of greats.

The second was years later when we went to a Big Boy north of Flint after my son's game and as we were getting seated, Gordie and Ted were being seated in the booth next to us. I had met Ted because one summer I helped my uncle dig a pond on Ted's property. Of course, he didn't recognize me, but I was telling my son how important they were to Detroit hockey, and that Howe was the greatest of all time (in my mind). Those men talked to us for probably 90 minutes and insisted they buy our lunch. They signed a few things for my son. As he advanced, he met lots of ex NHL players, played with and against the kids of players and was coached by a few, but to this day he said meeting Gordie and Ted was his greatest hockey fan experience. Those autographs are among his treasured possessions.