Re: St Lawrence Hockey
Well, for those not yet in the know I'll post the story again. Joe Marsh was quick to point out to me, after this got published in the St. Lawrence Magazine, that it was my sophomore - and not my senior - season based on when Snooks went for #500. As for that error by me..........too much time downtown:
“FREEZING THE PUCKS”
By: Brian M. Henry
This is a story about the only Team Manager in college hockey history who, through his total incompetence, most certainly affected the outcome of a game. I’ll preface this by saying that there was no protective netting behind the goals back in the days.
While managing what was supposed to be my Senior Year (’73-’74), I shared that responsibility with Kevin Arquit, SLU ’75. We practiced those days with unfrozen and “beat-up” pucks and either Kevin or I would go through the stands after practice to retrieve the many pucks that ended up there. Kevin and I got to know every inch of Appleton, trust me. A primarily responsibility that we rotated each week was to go to the Coaches Office on Thursday afternoon before a weekend home game and place 30-35 shiny new pucks into a freezer. They would be removed just before the game and placed into a bucket(s) of crushed ice and then handed to the Officials (Percy Shore) during the game as needed.
It was mid-February ’74 and BC was coming to town (note: we had played BU in Jan. and upset the then #1-ranked Terriers 5-4) for a Saturday game. I got to Appleton around 5:00 PM on Saturday and checked the puck freezer and, voila, it was empty. My eyes were as wide as saucers (reminds me now of many scenes of Christopher Lloyd in the “Back to the Future” series) because I had forgotten to go to Appleton on Thursday and freeze them (it was my turn to do so, not Kevin’s). Hastily, I dumped 35 of them into the freezer but knew it was too late and that our Head Coach (the late Bernie McKinnon) would kill me if he found out. Can’t remember why I “screwed up” -- was either at a Physics Lab or I’d gone to the Hoot Thursday PM -- most likely the latter.
Well, what the hell was I going to do then? My ONLY objective was to make sure that Bernie did not know. However, it occurred to me that my total incompetence could perhaps help us Larries upset BC. Bernie comes into the locker-room and gives the most passionate speech I’ve ever heard as he emphatically and repeatedly says that the late John “Snooks” Kelly is NOT going to win his 500th game in our building.
It must be noted that, back in those days, there were no PC’s/internet and all that we kept up on was what Clarkson was doing and vice versa. That said, the players had no idea what Mr. Kelly’s coaching record was. While nobody admitted it publicly, we (i.e., SLU & CCT) pulled for one-another to ensure that nobody ever swept the NC (it had never happened to that point). Back in those days, CCT usually saved the NC’s bacon!
Bernie leaves the fired-up team and I now ask them to listen up so long as they promise not to tell Bernie and because my incompetence will help us. I then confess to the entire team that the pucks were/are not frozen and (as a result) they would be bouncing like crazy all night, and go on to say that keeping their sticks above the ice and NOT on it might work. To my knowledge, nobody else was made aware of the situation.
The game starts and the pucks are bouncing all over the place. Bernie starts yapping about what is wrong with the ice and the players smile but never say a word (thanks, guys!). Then, Snooks and his players do the same and many remark that bad ice is impossible because Appleton always had the best ice in their view. I could hear the BC guys complain because the benches back then were adjacent to one-another on the east side of the rink, and the Managers/Trainers stood in a runway between both benches.
It’s the third period and we’re up by a goal when BC is awarded an extended 2-man advantage. BC is all over us and misses 3 or 4 glorious chances with a yawning net because (surprise!) the puck hops over their sticks. SLU goes on to win 5-2, I think with an ENG at the end. The game ends and Snooks and his team are infuriated, and Bernie is puzzled, by the “bad ice.”
Bernie and the Manager(s) were always the last to leave and Bernie always offered to drive me back to the dorm. On the way back, I said to Bernie that I had a confession to make and was doing so only because we had won and that I had tipped off our team. He was not a happy camper at first and gave me a well-deserved lecture, but then started cracking up. He then remarked that he also had a confession to make and went on to say to me that, “Snooks was going for win #499 and not 500.” We both laughed like crazy all the way to the dorm.
So, Saint fans, one more victory and one less loss in the all-time won-loss ledger for SLU was due in large part to Muskieman’s total incompetence.
