Kooks and Degenerates on Ice by Thomas J. Whalen

Author:Thomas J. Whalen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2012-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Tony faced Phil professionally for the first time while playing for the Canadians on December 5, 1968. Although Tony allowed only two goals to the high-octane Bruins offense that day in Boston, both came courtesy of Phil in a 2–2 tie. “Hey Tony, I’ll bet Mom’s gonna be mad at Phil for spoiling your night,” a teammate joked afterward. For his part, Tony dismissed each score as “lucky,” but the first goal near the eight-minute mark of the opening period proved particularly bothersome. “I swept around [Montreal defenseman] Larry Hillman and tried to shoot the puck between Tony’s right pad and the post,” Phil recalled. “The puck bounced across, hit the other post, and went in.” Tony raged at his misfortune. He retrieved the puck from the net with his stick and angrily launched it down the ice. “For a second I thought he was aiming at me,” Phil said. “He was teed off, the same way he used to get when I’d beat him in our pick-up games as kids. But this time he was just shooting the puck . . . so he would have a little more time to recover from my goal.” Tony’s then wife Marylyn exhibited no such restraint in her response. She told Phil in a heated telephone conversation after the game that he was a “dirty dog.”

While Tony Esposito had been a major factor in Chicago’s success, Bobby Hull remained the team’s central driving force. It was easy to understand why. Hull was Chicago hockey. Since breaking in with the club in 1957–1958, the brawny, high-scoring forward had led the league in goals seven times and overall points three times. If that wasn’t impressive enough, Hull held the honor of becoming only the third player in history to score 50 or more goals in a season, a feat he would duplicate on four other occasions during his superlative 15-year NHL career. “He’s definitely the toughest shot in the league,” contended New York’s Eddie Giacomin.

Hull was able to pile up the goals courtesy of a devastating left-handed slap shot that rival goaltenders like Giacomin struggled to draw a bead on. “I’ve fanned on shots of his when I reached for the darn thing, and, all of a sudden, it would take a drop of about a foot or something and go in,” said Toronto’s four-time Stanley Cup–winning goalie, Johnny Bower. “At first you think you can glove the puck without putting your body behind it, but the dip fools you.” Bower candidly admitted to having panic attacks before games facing Hull. “Sure, I’m scared,” he told an interviewer. And not just because of the Chicagoan’s ability to peel off a game-winner. Bower was most fearful of how close Hull’s shots came to his head, as these “sledgehammer blows” often travelled at velocities approaching 120 miles per hour. “If [one] ever hit I’d hate to say what would happen,” Bower said. “I’ve never worn a mask in a game before, but I’d be tempted to wear one against him because I’m just liable to get one where I don’t want to get it.

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