By the way, while the barn is very nice, it’s makes the Whitt’s energy look off the charts. Had it not been for that last goal, it was quiet enough for a quick nap.
I had the same thought while at the game. The crowd/band/music were virtually non-existent (excluding Miami goals).
ps...looking him up on hockeydb...wow...what a player...so bummed I missed out. Dang, the goals the guy scored every season!!!
Darren was so spectacular when he played at UNH. He could score from any angle around net, clever passer, and worker. Great family as well. We were fortunate enough to visit with the Haydars last April when we took a side trip to Toronto prior to the FF in Buffalo. Darren and his family are back in the hometown of Milton, Ontario, involved in real estate and, of course, still involved in hockey, coaching a bantam team. One of the all time greats.
Always thought that the Atlanta Thrashers should have given Haydar more than the dozen or so games for his 1 goal plus 7 assists NHL totals. But, what a great AHA player he was, including being captain of the Chicago Wolves Calder Cup championship team in 2007-08, with former UNH teammate Jason Krog centering his line.
And, Robbie Ftorek also is being inducted into the AHA HOF with Haydar. Hmmm, what connection does Ftorek have with UNH? Greg Ambrose knows.
Well, he was teammates with Cap Raeder at Needham HS. Somewhere out there in the video stratosphere there is dvd of Eastern Mass. high school hockey from its true heyday, mid sixties to mid seventies. The dvd is somewhat Middlesex League and Bay State League centric (interviews with Umile and Raeder throughout). In it Raeder talks about how Ftorek continually prodded him during the summer to get off his butt and practice. He admits, a bit self deprecating I think, that if it wasn't for Ftorek that he probably wouldn't have played college hockey. Which leads to the story about how he wound up at UNH, straight from Charlie Holt. Raeder graduated from Needham HS in '72. That March, Charlie, Dave O'Connor and Bob Norton sat down one Sunday morning and perused the hockey all scholastics in the Globe and Herald and saw that Raeder made both teams. Charlie decided, we need to recruit this kid. Mind you, this is less than six months before he would have to enroll at UNH. So they made a couple of calls, drove down to Needham, met with the coach (who I am sure they all knew), Cap and his parents and, within side of a week he was signed up. That's how arguably the best goaltender (along with Ty Conklin) in UNH history wound up in Durham. Far cry from today.
Btw, Ftorek was the best high school player I ever saw (Bobby Carpenter was second). He was magic. His hockey brain was so far ahead of that of the average high school kid. He was born to be a hockey player (although he was a great soccer player too), nothing else.
Comment