Steve’s Hockey Corner
Many retirements have popped up in the last few weeks. It is disappointing that so many great players missed their final year because of the lockout.
Messier. Greatest leader in any team sport. Ever.
Al MacInnes. What a pleasure to watch…his slap shot bust the glass behind a cowering puck-eater! Won The Cup with Calgary in ’89. Hasn’t played since a detached retina in late ’03
James Patrick. Unheralded (unheard of?!) veteran of 21 years with the Rangers, Whalers, Flames, and Sabers. Invisible D-man doing his job.
Vincent Damphousse. All-Star MVP with 4 goals in 1991, the year before he was traded to Edmenton for Grant Fuhr.
Scott Stevens. Classic rugged D-man. If you don’t recognize the significance of this player, stop reading now.
Trent Klatt. A minor name, but I remember him in the ’91 Cup finals in his rookie year.
The passing of these careers continue to mark the passing of our own years. I
Filed under: Hockey
Messier retires. I am on official suicide watch. I can’t put into words the level of admiration I have for that guy. I tried to be like him on the ice, hard in the corners, goal scorer, clean and cheap shot artist. Alas, a career of ref abuse stopped me from emulating him in the leadership category.
There are three sports figures I will relentlessly tell my kids about; Pete Sampras, Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier.
Read that Messier article. Great. Favorite part:
There was another night in Hartford when Messier became so emotional during a team meeting that he began to weep.
“And then all of a sudden his tooth popped out of his head. He was so passionate,” Healy said.
What a riot!
Good night, Mess. And Ric Natress, wherever you are, it’s safe to come out now.
The Messier-Natress hit was the all time hardest hit I’ve ever seen. The guy couldn’t even skate to the bench, but like any good hockey player, he kept his legs moving and tried. Made you proud of both of them.
Mark Messier will be remembered with the same reverence as….well….I’m hard pressed to come up with any historical sports figure I admire the same way. He wasn’t a man of raw talent like a Gretzky or Lemieux, but he could dominate a game through force of will.
People like Gretzky are made at birth. Messier made himself through sheer determination.
It’s a sad day for hockey.
It’s a sad day for all sports.
This quote, from an article at ESPN.com, better encapsulates what I was trying to say getting old…
“For a new generation of hockey fans, the ones weaned on 30 teams and third jerseys, Mark Messier served the function of grand old man of the game, a throwback to another era that dads spoke of in hushed, almost reverential tones.”
WE ARE THOSE DADS !!