Somewhat Stubborn
Chicago Blackhawks,Colorado Avalanche,Retirement,Stanley Cup,Tampa Bay Lightning,Teams / Dec-2016
My path to the Cup was pretty crazy because, that year, it started out looking like my career might be over. I had signed a one-way contract in Chicago.
Uncategorised / Aug-2016
n 1988, I was riding in a van through northern Ontario. We stopped in Thunder Bay,…
Uncategorised / Jun-2016
Drew Remenda is now a broadcaster with Sportsnet but previously worked with the San Jose Sharks…
Uncategorised / May-2016
ll the stories about John Brophy seem to be along the same lines, don’t they? He…
Uncategorised / May-2016
This is Part 3 of a series entitled Tales From The Aud by Derek Paternostro, a…
Uncategorised / Apr-2016
This is Part 2 of a series entitled Tales From The Aud by Derek Paternostro, a…
Uncategorised / Apr-2016
As a 17-year-old, Derek Paternostro worked under the head athletic trainer for the Buffalo Sabres at the…
Uncategorised / Apr-2016
few days ago, at the Blue Jays game with my daughter, I participated in some unintentional…
Uncategorised / Mar-2016
n 1988-89, playing in only 68 games, I scored 49 goals. I actually scored the 50th twice….
Uncategorised / Mar-2016
was tooling around with some Mission sticks. I had this one stick that I just loved…
Art,Russia,Uncategorised / Feb-2016
1972 Summit Series,Russia / Feb-2016
Photos courtesy JP Melville These days, I only really ever play a rare pickup hockey game. Most…
I was working at Attic Records, a large independent record company based in Toronto. We distributed…
Uncategorised / Feb-2016
The Zambonis are a band from Connecticut that’s written hockey songs since 1991. Dave Schneider read…
It’s 5 a.m. on a cold, snowy morning in December 1980 and my brother Pat and…
Uncategorised / Jan-2016
e had a really good start to the 1992-93 season, even though we were missing Gretzky…
Uncategorised / Dec-2015
hen I was 12 years old, I started to really get into hockey. The previous years,…
Uncategorised / Dec-2015
In 1985-86, goalie John Vanbiesbrouck won the Vezina trophy and was a part of the New…
Uncategorised / Dec-2015
Which goaltender gave you the most problems? Gerry Cheevers. I did score some goals on him, but…
Guy Lafleur,Montreal Canadiens / Dec-2015
How many times do you see a player wind up and slap the puck 100 miles…
National Hockey League,Winnipeg Jets / Dec-2015
In 1985, Manitoba-born Ray Neufeld was enjoying life as Ron Francis’s winger in Hartford. Then he…
Art,Music,National Hockey League / Nov-2015
Last spring, I happened to be talking to Darcy Regier, the former Buffalo Sabres general manager,…
Uncategorised / Nov-2015
Earlier this week on The Players’ Tribune, hockey great Bryan Trottier wrote a letter to his…
First Game / Nov-2015
For there to be an NHL career, there must first be an NHL debut, the first game. These are the stories of that first game. (Part 2)
First Game / Nov-2015
For there to be an NHL career, there must first be an NHL debut, the first game. These are the stories of that first game. (Part 2)
Anaheim Ducks,Hall of Fame,St Louis Blues,These Hallowed Halls / Nov-2015
He knew where everybody was on the ice and where they should be. He was able to see the game so well from everybody’s perspective. He played against the fastest players in the world.
Hall of Fame,Series,These Hallowed Halls,Winnipeg Jets / Nov-2015
Phil was an incredible defenceman, a guy who could easily play forward as well. An excellent skater with an unbelievable eye and reach. Phil could stop on a dime and the puck would come off his stick like a rocket ship.
Fighting,IHL,Minor League / Nov-2015
When you’re in the middle of a brawl and the place erupts, you don’t know what’s going on: you’re not looking for a guy in street clothes on the ice.
Music / Nov-2015
Al Iafrate was nuts about music. From the second he showed up, you could tell that he was a different dude. Russ Courtnall, Al and I lived together in the Westbury Hotel.
First Game / Nov-2015
For there to be an NHL career, there must first be an NHL debut, the first game. These are the stories of that first game.
Drinking,Minor League / Oct-2015
I lived 38 steps from the bar. I’d walk through the front door and out the back and I was in my apartment. One day, I ran practice from Wolski’s.
IHL / Oct-2015
“This is the greatest hockey player! This is my wife, we’re from Saginaw, and we used to watch
him play and he is the greatest hockey player!”
Canada,Free Agency,PEI / Oct-2015
He ended up making the team that year and I ended up getting cut. He played there for about 10 years and won a Stanley Cup with them. That’s the way the world works.
Coaching / Oct-2015
Père Murray was a living legend. The legend, as legends always do, has broadened and brightened following his death. He was short in stature and stocky, but his size was deceptive.
Fighting,World Hockey Association / Oct-2015
They had to get Bill Goldthorpe out of jail to practice. They had to get him out of jail to practice and then take him back, because by the time the playoffs came around he had to be in shape.
Minor League,World Hockey Association / Oct-2015
There were about six of us in the waiting room. The hospital staff was a little leery about us pulling up in a Greyhound and telling ‘em we were a hockey team.
Coaching,Montreal Canadiens / Oct-2015
When I played for Halifax in the Habs’ system in the AHL, we weren’t allowed to lose to either Moncton - who were Toronto’s farm team - or Fredericton - who were Quebec’s
Fighting,Minor League,Montreal Canadiens,Toronto Maple Leafs,Western Hockey League / Oct-2015
Larry Robinson was beside me and he turned to me and said, “Hey Rocky, I’m so glad you’re here, you really deserve it, I really thought you should have had your shot in Montreal.”
Boston Bruins,Canada,Father Ted Flanagan,National Hockey League,Signing / Oct-2015
When I told my father about the scout, he couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe a pro team was interested in a 16-year-old. “You’ve never lied to me before,” he said. “Pa,” I told him, “I’m not lying now.”
National Hockey League,World Hockey Association / Oct-2015
I was never the biggest guy in the room, so I always heard “Where’s the rest of you?’ or,”Are you carryin’ Frank Beaton’s bags?” from the guys. I always had to prove myself.
Buffalo Sabres,Music / Oct-2015
A local disc jockey, Danny Nebrith, read the story and said, “How’d you like to go into a recording studio and make an album?” When you’re a kid, everything seems like fun.
Harold Ballard,Los Angeles Kings,Music,Red Kelly,Toronto Maple Leafs / Oct-2015
For the first few years, Harold Ballard didn’t know my name. He called me ‘Bob.’ But I liked him well enough. I once told him, “I don’t care what you pay me, as long as you sign my cheques,” and he thought that was pretty hilarious, so we got along well.
Coaching,Concussions,Gordie Howe,Jean Beliveau,Legends / Sep-2015
Gordie didn’t show all that much in the beginning, then he improved. He was sort of lackadaisical; you’d say. He was a great teammate.
Music / Sep-2015
I was introduced to music as a kid in Northern Ontario. I was in an orchestra in which I played a string instrument very similar to the Russian balilaika– a tamburica– which was Croatian in origin.
Art,Bobby Hull / Sep-2015
The first time I met Bobby Hull, I was asked to present him with a poem I’d written. At the reception, Bobby already had a little crowd around him when we were introduced.
Chicago Blackhawks,Coaching,Minnesota North Stars,Olympics / Sep-2015
USA Hockey found out that I was available and so Walter Bush, who ran the national team, got a local congressman to put a bill through congress making me an American citizen.
I asked him: “Can you take bad news standing up or sitting down?” I brought him into the kitchen and it was like charcoal. Even worse for Larms was the fact that the next day I was called up to Chicago.
Countries,Croatia,Europe,Kontinental Hockey League / Sep-2015
I was unrestricted and unsigned and it was getting late in my career. I pretty much knew that a one-way ticket in the NHL was not gonna come and a two-way contract was not what I was looking for.
Jacques Plante,Montreal Canadiens,National Hockey League / Sep-2015
They saw me and they said, “Hey, get in here you’re playing, we gotta find your equipment. [Laughs] Jacques Plante had an asthma attack, and you’re it.”