Now You Know Big Book of Sports. Doug Lennox

play the Chicago Black Hawks in a bruising donnybrook of a game that prompted Ruth to comment, after witnessing his very first hockey spectacle, “Never saw anything like it. Those fellows wanted to kill one another. Thank God I’m in baseball. It’s so peaceful and quiet.”

       What incredible feat did Mario Lemieux accomplish on New Year’s Eve 1988?

      During his career, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Mario Lemieux accomplished incredible feats and provided hockey fans with some of the game’s most memorable moments, but on December 31, 1988, he did something even pretty extraordinary for him. In a game against the New Jersey Devils the Magnificent One became the first and thus far only NHL player to score goals in five different ways. Lemieux put the puck into the Devils’ net at even strength, on the power play, shorthanded, on a penalty shot, and into an empty net in an 8–6 Penguins victory.

       What happened to the World Hockey Association?

      First taking to the ice in 1972–73 as a rival to the National Hockey League, the World Hockey Association had a rollicking roller coaster of a ride through professional hockey until it finally went off the rails at the conclusion of the 1978–79 season. While it existed, the WHA harried the staid NHL and forced that venerable league to boost players’ salaries, consider European and U.S. talent more seriously, and generally run a better ship. Before the WHA was finished it had had 32 different franchises at one or another time in 24 cities, most of which bit the dust ignominiously. The WHA’s founders were two enterprising Californians named Gary Davidson and Dennis Murphy, but if it hadn’t been for the involvement of two of hockey’s greatest superstars — Bobby Hull with the Winnipeg Jets and Gordie Howe with the Houston Aeros, then the New England Whalers — the rogue league would have gone belly up a lot sooner. Enticed by lavish salaries, other major NHLers, including Gerry Cheevers, Frank Mahovlich, J.C. Tremblay, and Dave Keon, jumped to the WHA. In the league’s inaugural season it actually got teams onto the ice in Cleveland; Philadelphia; Ottawa; Quebec City; New York; Winnipeg; Houston; Los Angeles; Edmonton; Chicago; St. Paul, Minnesota, and Hartford, Connecticut. When the adventure was over, the WHA had just six clubs: the Edmonton Oilers, Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets, New England Whalers, Cincinnati Stingers, and Birmingham Bulls. The first four teams made the transition from the WHA into the NHL. Ironically, two of those clubs, the Whalers and the Jets, have since relocated to Raleigh, North Carolina (Hurricanes), and Phoenix, Arizona (Coyotes), respectively. The WHA’s championship award was the Avco Cup or World Trophy, named after a finance company. That’s also something of an irony, since the league was seriously underfinanced and fiscally mismanaged throughout its entire life. What was the upstart league’s legacy? Without doubt it forced the NHL to become a more globally minded sporting endeavour, propelled it into a much greater presence in the United States, and for better or worse kickstarted it into the realm of big business. Was the WHA a pale, inferior stepchild of the NHL, as many critics would have it? Let’s not forget that the careers of future stars Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Mike Gartner, Rick Vaive, Michel Goulet, Rod Langway, and many others began in the WHA. And let’s not forget, too, that in the 67 exhibition games played between the two leagues the WHA won 33, lost 27, and tied seven.

       Quickies …

       Did you know …

      that the largest attendance ever for a hockey game was 74,554 for a match between the University of Michigan and Michigan State University on October 6, 2001, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan? The college rivals had to settle for a 3–3 tie in a hockey battle that was dubbed “The Cold War.”

       When did the longest shootout in NHL history take place?

      For three periods, on November 26, 2005, the Washington Capitals and the New York Rangers battled it out at Madison Square Garden, ending the game’s regulation time with a 2–2 tie. After five minutes of overtime, the score was still tied. Under the NHL’s new rule, the next step to break the tie was a shootout in which each team had a chance to score with one of its players in alone on the opponent’s goaltender. The Capitals’ goalie, Olaf Kolzig, and the Rangers netminder, Henrik Lundqvist, got ready for the barrage of “breakaways” they would have to face. Neither had any idea just how long the shootout would take. In the first three rounds each team scored twice but couldn’t break the deadlock. After Washington’s 15th shooter failed to score, it was the Rangers’ turn. Coach Tom Renney had to choose defenceman Marek Malik after running out of every other available possibility. Malik hadn’t scored a goal in 21 months, but he gamely skated in on Kolzig, passed the puck behind himself, and fired it from between his own legs over the startled Washington goalie, just under the crossbar, to finally end the game in a 3–2 victory for New York.

       What NHL player scored a goal on his back?

      The two newest NHL players to energize the game and electrify the fans are Nova Scotian Sidney Crosby, playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Russian Alexander Ovechkin, skating for the Washington Capitals. Ovechkin, a left winger, debuted with the Capitals in 2005-06, the same season that Crosby, a centreman, joined the NHL. Crosby, who is barely into his 20s, has already done some incredible things such as winning the Art Ross Trophy in 2006-07 as the league’s top scorer with 120 points (36 goals, 84 assists). The Penguins’ captain is the youngest player ever to win the Art Ross, but he also added the Hart Trophy (most valuable player as picked by the league) and the Lester B. Pearson Award (most outstanding player as selected by the NHL Players’ Association). However, Alexander Ovechkin is no slouch when it comes to matching Crosby’s amazing brand of hockey. In his first year the Capitals’ sniper beat out Crosby for the Calder Trophy as best rookie, scoring 52 goals and 54 assists. Then, in 2007–08, his third campaign, the Russian really broke out, scoring 65 goals and 47 assists for 112 points and winning the Art Ross. That year he also won the Hart and the Lester B. Pearson, not to mention the Maurice Richard Trophy for most goals. No doubt hockey fans have more heroics in store for them from Ovechkin, but one single action already stands out in his blossoming career. On January 16, 2006, the Capitals had built a commanding 5–1 lead over the Phoenix Coyotes when Ovechkin potted a goal that many hockey pundits have dubbed one of the greatest scoring feats of all time. Knocked down by Coyotes defenceman Paul Mara as he was surging toward Phoenix’s net, Ovechkin slid on his back, facing away from the goal. Somehow he was able to hook the puck with one hand on his stick and slip it into the net past goalie Brian Boucher for his second goal of the evening.

       Quickies

       Did you know …

      that the first Finnish-born player in the National Hockey League was Albert Pudas, who played one season (1926–27) for the Toronto St. Patricks (now the Maple Leafs)? Actually, Pudas, who was born in Siikajoki, Finland, but grew up and played hockey in Port Arthur, Ontario, only got into four games in his entire NHL career. The second Finn to make the NHL was Pentti Lund, also from Port Arthur, who was awarded the Calder Trophy as best rookie in 1948–49 with the New York Rangers. The reason there were so many Finns playing hockey in and around what is now Thunder Bay is that the area attracted a lot of Finnish immigrants, as well as a fair number of other Scandinavians.

       What were the first NHL teams to play exhibition matches in Europe?

      If you’re thinking the answer to this question lies in the 1970s onward, you would be wrong. After the 1937–38 season, the Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Canadiens sailed for Europe by ship to take part in a nine-game exhibition tour in Britain and France. The first match was staged in London before an audience of 8,000 people. The Habs beat the Red Wings in that game 5–4 with an overtime goal by Toe Blake. The Canadiens went on to win the entire series, with five victories, three losses, and one tie. More than 20 years later, in 1959, the New York Rangers and the Boston Bruins did the Canadiens and Red Wings one better by participating in a 23-game exhibition tour through Europe, battling each other in 10 cities, including London, Paris, Geneva, Berlin, and Vienna. The Rangers added the Chicago Black Hawks’ Bobby Hull to their team for the series, and in a weird twist, the Toronto Maple