Re: The Battle of the Michigan Directional Schools 2010--Western @ Northern Feb 12-13
This week we begin a pair of intermission features. In the first intermissions we will take a look at the World Hockey Association, which merged with the NHL in 1979 after competing with the NHL for seven season. The league had a big affect on how the pro game has evolved, spurring changes in free agency, rule changes and introducing new markets and European players to the pro game in the day when the NHL had just 14 teams, less than half its current membership. Among our guests will be former Chicago Blackhawk Bryan Campbell, who along with two other Hawks, joined teammate Bobby Hull among the first to jump to the new league. Also included will be Frank Beaton, who played for Cincinnati, Edmonton and Birmingham, Dave Hanson (of Slap Shot fame), the only Hanson brother never to play in Marquette, although his son Christian did as a member of the Notre Dame squad, and Rick Vaive who would go on to score over 440 NHL goals, and was one of six underage players to sign with the WHA Birmingham Bulls at age 19, when the NHL prohibited players under 20 from signing.
In our second intermission "Casa Calabria Where Are They Now?" series, we will begin a discussion with Eric LeMarque, who played thru 1990. He lost his lower legs six years ago this week when he became lost in the California mountains while extreme snowboarding, and spent eight days in the wilderness in sub freezing temperatures before being rescued. I had originally planned for these to be short series, but all of our guests had so many interesting stories, opinions and analyses, that we've got enough feature material to take us through the rest of the regular season and into the playoffs. LeMarque's book "Crystal Clear" has been on the best seller lists and tells of his battles with addiction, his struggle to survive and how he has turned his life around. If you were unable to see him on campus in November, this will give you a great view of his incredible story,
Hope you enjoy!