I was never much of a fitness buff. I'm still not. Some people get enjoyment out of exercise on its own but not me. As a kid, there was really no need to train for hockey because let's face it, kids as a rule are pretty fit. However, there was one summer where I did …
Sittler’s Big Goal
On this day in 1976, one of Elmira's best (although he never played in the W) scored a big one to help Canada win the inaugural Canada cup. It was a beauty. A little touch of the puck out of mid-air to knock it by the defenseman, the fake slap shot to freeze Vlad Dzurilla …
Hound Dog Kelly
The Broad Street Bullies had their share of colourful characters. One of these was Bob "Hound Dog" Kelly. A scrapper to go with a bunch of other Flyer scrappers, Kelly played a lot like Tie Domi in later years with the Leafs. I remember him skating at crazy speeds chasing opponents "doggedly". Thus the …
Leaving Flin Flon
Bobby Clarke was once asked about his slash on Kharlamov during the '72 series. His reply: "If I hadn't learned to lay on a two-hander once in awhile, I'd never have left Flin Flon." If you google maps Flin Flon, you'll notice it's a fair distance from anywhere except what appears to be good fishing. …
Hockey Songs
A buddy sent me the audio of this song several years back. This live rendition just polishes the apple a bit. While I'm not advocating Canada set the bar too low from a cultural perspective, don't get your hopes up that this is going to help us win many points from an artistic flair perspective …
Great Names in Hockey
I've written other posts in this blog about funny hockey player nicknames. Here's a couple more. Remember Alex Mogilny? Started with the Sabres after defecting to the West (during the World Junior Christmas Tournament, which was played in North America that year) shortly before the wall came down. He earned the nickname "Choo-Choo" because …
I’ll Have an Oveckin
A guy walks into a bar and sits down. Bartender says "What can i get you?" The guy says "An Ovechkin". The bartender says "An Ovechkin - what's that?" The guy says "A White Russian, no ice and no cup." That said, will Ovie ever get a ring? I'd love to see it. Given how …
Keeping the Bar at Just the Right Level
The Blue team opened with a 4-1 win in the W last night. Moose, our crafty keeper of the cage, finally had one get past him with less than a buck to go. Not discouraged in any way, his comment after the game was that winning by a shutout on opening night would set the …
Missing Hockey in the “W” No more
Hard to believe we're at that time of year again. The W season kicked off earlier this evening in Elmira in dandy fashion. It was fire-wagon hockey, with end-to-end rushes, lots of hitting, passing so crisp you'd swear it was mid-season and teams playing with such a grudge towards each other, you'd swear it was …
The Game That Wasn’t
At the Queen's homecoming weekend this year, Commerce '87 and MBA '87 made early noises about playing a game against each other on Sunday morning at 8:00 am. Each side managed to accumulate 8 skaters and since the Commerce side had 2 goalies willing to play, the MBA's lack of a tender was no problem. …
Rink Tales 