Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
46 years ago tonight, yours truly attends his first NHL game at age 17. Bruins 6 Dead Wings 5. Fantastic memories!
https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/bos-v...20219/boxscore
* Made the trek into the big city alone, courtesy of the brand-new Orange Line north of the city (which had opened in '75, replacing half of the elevated tracks leading to the Old Garden), hoping I could snag a single ticket at the box office (I'd done this previously for a few Sox games). Asked the guy at the window for something "near" the Wings' bench. He pulled one out of a box on the side counter, and said "this should be good". Understatement of the century. But I would discover that an hour or so later, so I just said "thanks" and headed off across the street to get some pregame nutrition at a pizza place whose name escapes my memory;
* Came across to the building about 15 minutes before faceoff. Ticket says "Row 3" so I'm already pretty happy, but when the usher points me to my destination - the seat at the corner of the Wings' bench and the runway back to their room - I am stoked beyond belief. It occurs to me then that the guy at the box office did me a real solid, clearly a ticket from the team that got returned at the last minute. So I hit the jackpot;
* I'm literally next to the stool for the DRW back-up goalie for the evening. In retrospect, it was gonna be a Hall of Famer either way, but I drew my all-time goalie hero as a kid, Rogie Vachon. The home run I'd already hit became a part of a 10 RBI, hit-for-the-cycle experience. I try to chat up Rogie from time to time, but being a professional, he kept it minimal but cordial. For context, Rogie had signed a rare free agent deal to leave LA for the Wings, who had made a rarer spirited playoff run the prior season. Dale McCourt was supposed to be the player going back to LA as compensation for Vachon (in those days, free agency wasn't very "free"), but he refused to go, and one might think there was some internal DRW strife as a result of the uncertainty. Jimmy Rutherford, who would become an HOF'er more for his executive work as a GM later in life, tends the goal on this occasion. It's a shootout, a couple of fights, and a close game;
* Errol Thompson, a recent acquisition late in the previous season from Toronto, has already scored a hat trick, and he has to visit the end of the bench for some work with the trainer (Lefty Wilson), so I gotta chat him up. Aside from the nick that's landed him with Lefty, Errol is in a very good mood (understandable) and thanks me for congratulating him on his hat trick, and points up to the scoreboard saying "I need one more". Me, I don't want this to ever end;
* The Wings feature Willie Huber, the tallest player I'd ever seen on skates anywhere up to that time, and the diminutive Dennis Polonich, who was about a month off from having gotten sticked over the head by Wilf Paiement in a notorious stick incident that thankfully fell short of the Green-Maki massacre. He'd go on to break Ray Bourque's nose in a fight a year or two later. Amazingly, the DRW had a 3rd future HoF player (Vaclav Nedomasnky) who was one of the first players to get out from behind the Iron Curtain a few years earlier, and had just settled in Detroit after some time in the WHA. Toss-up if it was either him or "Nifty" Rick Middleton who was the most talented player on the ice. Reed Larson (who'd set the rookie defenseman's scoring record the prior year) had the loudest shot off the boards (sadly wide) a few times that night, and had a pair of assists on the power play, which seemed to keep the Wings in the game that night. DRW had thumped the B's 7-1 at Olympia a month before this game;
* Box score shows that John Wensink had an improbable +4 on the evening to lead the B's. UNH's Bobby Miller took a regular shift for Don Cherry, and did not look the least bit out of place in the Black & Gold #14. On the other hand, Paul Woods (usually a very responsible bottom six two way player) posted a -5
and to add insult to injury, took a late penalty to kill off any realistic chance of a DRW equalizer. Woods is still doing the DRW local radio broadcasts FWIW, and was always a personal fave as "Woodsy" (typical creative hockey name, eh?). Finally, a second connection up in the broadcast booth ... former legendary Dead Wings 50 goal scorer Mickey Redmond had retired due to injuries two years earlier, and had just begun a long career as a TV color guy. His younger brother Dick was a B's defensemen taking a regular shift in this one. Mickey is still doing DRW color, nearing his 50th anniversary, and become a local broadcasting legend;
* Two months later, I'd drag a bunch of friends back to the Garden to see our first Beanpot, where after all the fantastic stories of how things shut down a year earlier during the Beanpot for the Blizzard of '78, we got to see a classic BU vs. BC final, which BU won. A month later, we were all back to watch UNH beat Dartmouth in the ECAC Finals for the '79 title. That supercharged my UNH fandom, which had begun earlier in the '70's by way of really poor TV reception on Channel 11. The next year ('80), my pals were there with me to see Northeastern beat BC in OT with Wayne Turner's goal for their first-ever Beanpot title. My uncle was an NU night school dean, and his tickets were pretty darned good, too. For my college years that followed, I was there for every DRW game (never quite hit the jackpot like 12/7/78!), and every Beanpot Finals.
We're on grandbaby watch for GC#2 this week, so I've had a lot of time to reflect on a lot of stuff, and just how much hockey has been woven into my backstory for about 50+ years now. I know this probably feels like "Six Degrees of Gordie Howe" to many of you, so my apologies for that. But amidst all the angst about the current state of UNH Hockey, I just wanted to share this as a token of affection for this board and its participants. Belated Happy Thanksgiving wishes, and hoping you and yours all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/bos-v...20219/boxscore
* Made the trek into the big city alone, courtesy of the brand-new Orange Line north of the city (which had opened in '75, replacing half of the elevated tracks leading to the Old Garden), hoping I could snag a single ticket at the box office (I'd done this previously for a few Sox games). Asked the guy at the window for something "near" the Wings' bench. He pulled one out of a box on the side counter, and said "this should be good". Understatement of the century. But I would discover that an hour or so later, so I just said "thanks" and headed off across the street to get some pregame nutrition at a pizza place whose name escapes my memory;
* Came across to the building about 15 minutes before faceoff. Ticket says "Row 3" so I'm already pretty happy, but when the usher points me to my destination - the seat at the corner of the Wings' bench and the runway back to their room - I am stoked beyond belief. It occurs to me then that the guy at the box office did me a real solid, clearly a ticket from the team that got returned at the last minute. So I hit the jackpot;
* I'm literally next to the stool for the DRW back-up goalie for the evening. In retrospect, it was gonna be a Hall of Famer either way, but I drew my all-time goalie hero as a kid, Rogie Vachon. The home run I'd already hit became a part of a 10 RBI, hit-for-the-cycle experience. I try to chat up Rogie from time to time, but being a professional, he kept it minimal but cordial. For context, Rogie had signed a rare free agent deal to leave LA for the Wings, who had made a rarer spirited playoff run the prior season. Dale McCourt was supposed to be the player going back to LA as compensation for Vachon (in those days, free agency wasn't very "free"), but he refused to go, and one might think there was some internal DRW strife as a result of the uncertainty. Jimmy Rutherford, who would become an HOF'er more for his executive work as a GM later in life, tends the goal on this occasion. It's a shootout, a couple of fights, and a close game;
* Errol Thompson, a recent acquisition late in the previous season from Toronto, has already scored a hat trick, and he has to visit the end of the bench for some work with the trainer (Lefty Wilson), so I gotta chat him up. Aside from the nick that's landed him with Lefty, Errol is in a very good mood (understandable) and thanks me for congratulating him on his hat trick, and points up to the scoreboard saying "I need one more". Me, I don't want this to ever end;
* The Wings feature Willie Huber, the tallest player I'd ever seen on skates anywhere up to that time, and the diminutive Dennis Polonich, who was about a month off from having gotten sticked over the head by Wilf Paiement in a notorious stick incident that thankfully fell short of the Green-Maki massacre. He'd go on to break Ray Bourque's nose in a fight a year or two later. Amazingly, the DRW had a 3rd future HoF player (Vaclav Nedomasnky) who was one of the first players to get out from behind the Iron Curtain a few years earlier, and had just settled in Detroit after some time in the WHA. Toss-up if it was either him or "Nifty" Rick Middleton who was the most talented player on the ice. Reed Larson (who'd set the rookie defenseman's scoring record the prior year) had the loudest shot off the boards (sadly wide) a few times that night, and had a pair of assists on the power play, which seemed to keep the Wings in the game that night. DRW had thumped the B's 7-1 at Olympia a month before this game;
* Box score shows that John Wensink had an improbable +4 on the evening to lead the B's. UNH's Bobby Miller took a regular shift for Don Cherry, and did not look the least bit out of place in the Black & Gold #14. On the other hand, Paul Woods (usually a very responsible bottom six two way player) posted a -5
and to add insult to injury, took a late penalty to kill off any realistic chance of a DRW equalizer. Woods is still doing the DRW local radio broadcasts FWIW, and was always a personal fave as "Woodsy" (typical creative hockey name, eh?). Finally, a second connection up in the broadcast booth ... former legendary Dead Wings 50 goal scorer Mickey Redmond had retired due to injuries two years earlier, and had just begun a long career as a TV color guy. His younger brother Dick was a B's defensemen taking a regular shift in this one. Mickey is still doing DRW color, nearing his 50th anniversary, and become a local broadcasting legend;* Two months later, I'd drag a bunch of friends back to the Garden to see our first Beanpot, where after all the fantastic stories of how things shut down a year earlier during the Beanpot for the Blizzard of '78, we got to see a classic BU vs. BC final, which BU won. A month later, we were all back to watch UNH beat Dartmouth in the ECAC Finals for the '79 title. That supercharged my UNH fandom, which had begun earlier in the '70's by way of really poor TV reception on Channel 11. The next year ('80), my pals were there with me to see Northeastern beat BC in OT with Wayne Turner's goal for their first-ever Beanpot title. My uncle was an NU night school dean, and his tickets were pretty darned good, too. For my college years that followed, I was there for every DRW game (never quite hit the jackpot like 12/7/78!), and every Beanpot Finals.
We're on grandbaby watch for GC#2 this week, so I've had a lot of time to reflect on a lot of stuff, and just how much hockey has been woven into my backstory for about 50+ years now. I know this probably feels like "Six Degrees of Gordie Howe" to many of you, so my apologies for that. But amidst all the angst about the current state of UNH Hockey, I just wanted to share this as a token of affection for this board and its participants. Belated Happy Thanksgiving wishes, and hoping you and yours all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
