Don't Call Me Goon by Greg Oliver & Richard Kamchen

Author:Greg Oliver & Richard Kamchen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ECW Press
Published: 2013-08-08T00:00:00+00:00

JIMMY MANN Keeping clear of an angry Jimmy Mann came at or near the top of most hockey players’ tips for self-preservation.

“Junior was great: I scored a lot of goals and was the toughest kid in the league . . . nobody even wanted to come near me,” said Mann, a native of Laval, Quebec, who scored over 80 points in each of his last two years with the Sherbrooke Castors.

In their first-ever NHL draft, the Winnipeg Jets used their first-round pick to select Quebec Major Junior Hockey League terror Jimmy Mann. The Jets’ roster had been decimated going from the World Hockey Association to the NHL, and general manager John Ferguson seemed to believe the team needed someone who could grab the other teams’ attention the way Ferguson did with the Montreal Canadiens.

“Fergie had mentioned to me, ‘Jim, we don’t have that tough a team and we need you to help us play that role,’” recalled Mann.

The newcomer made an immediate impression on Curt Keilback—the original voice of the NHL Jets—as well as Keilback’s wife. “My wife told me one time, she was sitting in the stands when Jimmy was out there, and he went to go fighting with some guy and his eyes turned black. And some people do—I’ve seen people whose eyes would go black when they really get mad,” said Keilback, who remembered Mann as a young kid who could have used a bit of seasoning before being thrown into the lion’s den.

“He had been a goal scorer when he played junior, but he wasn’t ready for the NHL’s skill level. But he certainly was ready for the NHL’s tough level,” Keilback said, adding that a stint in the minors might have helped Mann’s hockey development.

Mann agreed, but reiterated that Winnipeg was desperate for toughness. “On that team, if they would have let me play, I would have developed. I know what I could have done—I did it in junior. The style I played, they had to let you play more. Chris Nilan was in the same situation as me, but Montreal gave him a chance.”

Keilback believed that there was never a tougher Winnipeg Jet, no small feat given that the team would feature hard men like Jim Kyte, Shawn Cronin, Tie Domi, Kris King, and Jim McKenzie over the years to come. He recalled a game against the Boston Bruins at the Winnipeg Arena in which the rookie Mann took on three of the league’s most ornery in Terry O’Reilly, Al Secord and Stan Jonathan—and beat them all. The fans went nuts and so did Fergie. After that, Mann’s role was established.

“I didn’t mind fighting, I’ll tell you that much, especially for my teammates . . . But you get into a track and that’s what’s expected after a while. You get into that rut and it’s something that’s really hard to get out of,” said Mann. “But I did what I can, I worked at it, and I said if this is what I have to do to be here then that’s what I’m going to do.

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