Like all members of Canuck Nation, we here at Critically Canuck have suffered a long time. We will not die happily unless the Stanley Cup makes its way to Stanley Park.
Here you'll get the straight goods on our heroes. With both feet on the bandwagon, we will, however, pull no punches. As long time season ticket holders, that's our prerogative.
Expect analytical insight with a strong sense of history. We'll ask the tough questions. And answer them. Enjoy.
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Vancouver hockey fans have been witness to some of the most brutal acts of violence in hockey history. In recent times, there was the Marty McSorley head-clubbing of Donald Brashear and, of course, the Todd Bertuzzi neck-breaking of Steve Moore. And the Stanley Cup riots of 2011 are still fresh in our memories.
But the history of violence at Canuck games goes much further back. And today, with the 300th blog entry in our history, and with the Canucks posting the 2nd most fighting majors in the league, we revisit December 29, 1972.
On that night, the Philadelphia Flyers were visiting the Pacific Coliseum and were on their ascendancy to becoming the league’s best and most penalized team. During a scrap between Don Saleski and Barry Wilcox, Vancouver fans, apparently incited by the barbarity of the Flyers’ play, grabbed the hair (and there was plenty to grab) of Saleski, also known as Big Bird. Ultimately, seven Flyer players (Saleski, Bill “Cowboy” Flett, Bob Taylor, Barry Ashbee, Joe Watson, Ross Lonsberry and Ed Van Impe) became involved with Vancouver fans.
All seven were charged with creating a disturbance “by using obscene language and by fighting with spectators with fists and by wielding hockey sticks against and in close proximity to spectators in the general seating area for spectators”.
Further, there were six criminal assault charges levied with goalie Bob Taylor, who had assaulted a police officer, ultimately sentenced to 30 days in jail!
The picture featured in this entry documents a brawl that ensued in Philadelphia when the Canucks visited there the following season. You’ll note that Taylor is again in the middle of the action, duking it out with Canucks’ keeper Gary “Suitcase” Smith.
The Flyers, of course, went on to hockey immortality as the Broad Street Bullies. The Canucks, despite not being in the same conference as the Flyers, would continue to test their mettle against them in heated battles through the 70’s and 80’s that often featured record breaking penalty totals - expect more on that in future instalments of Canucks’ Weekly Wayback.
In the meantime, enjoy tonight’s encounter against the Colorado Avalanche, who remarkably lead the league in penalty minutes, though are hardly the goons of yesteryear.
What do you mean by toughness anyway? Well, we’re going to let you, valued reader, decide. Though from our perspective, it’s not just the tendency to drop the gloves and pound someone. We’re thinking about that, of course, but also thinking about the ability to effectively play through injury, delivering devastating, but clean hits and going to the hard places on the ice and paying the commensurate price. And, of course, things like agitating the opposition and sticking up for fallen teammates. Bottom line, we’re looking for the kind of player that is respected by his teammates and physically feared by the opposition.
Let’s keep this party going:
Stan Smyl - Back in the days when nicknames actually meant something (we’re sorry but “Kes” and “Bur” and “Hank” and “Lou” score zero on the creativity scale), “Steamer” was aptly named. Smyl was the heart and soul of a gritty, but typically crappy team. A borderline midget by NHL standards, “Steamer” left no check unfinished. Ever. We are quite certain he was the last player to lead his team in goals, assists, points AND penalty minutes in the same season. When it came to scrapping, Smyl was cagey enough to get in close and stay there. There’s a reason his number hangs from the rafters and it’s got nothing to do with skill. So says Mike Vernon’s glove hand. The little clip shows Steamer coming in to defend a fallen teammate instigating a scrap with a tough defenseman 5 inches taller and 20 pounds heavier. Smyl had little trouble with his round one opponent, the much larger Jack McIlhargey.
Curt Fraser - This gritty winger (and Smyl linemate) was a middle weight by size, but a heavy weight in punching power. Many times he’d drop a guy with one quick punch. One of the key players in the improbable ‘82 run. Able to score, hit and fight; he’s the type of player the Canucks miss most right now. This clip is one that is forever ingrained in our minds. And it’s exactly as we remember it. One punch and out. Fraser took out heavyweight champion Donald Brashear in round one, apparently still a little woozy from that Marty McSorley stick to the head.
View and vote here:
Today’s Honourable Mention:
Brad May - While never a particular favourite of ours, May has carved out a long career for himself by being a willing pugilist and, at least early in his career, a decent scorer. His recent career path has regressed into following Todd Bertuzzi whereever he goes, seemingly the George to his Lennie.
Okay, we’ve milked this for long enough - we’re on to round two. Thanks for your participation. A quick recap of round one:
Trevor Linden defeated Rick Rypien in a mismatch. Clearly, the voters are putting more emphasis on a balanced definition of toughness as opposed to pure pugilism. We applaud your discriminating taste.
Stan Smyl took out the much larger Jack McIlhargey in a fairly lopsided pairing. After this battle, we envision Jack Mac wearing that neck brace he fashioned on one of the late 70’s hockey cards of our youth.
Harold Snepsts destroyed Tim Hunter in our most lopsided match. And no, we were not stuffing the ballot box in favour of our hero Harold. Really, an ex-Flame had no business being in this contest in the first place.
Mattias Ohlund narrowly edged out Cam Neely. This will have some eyes rolling but Mattias presumably gets credibility for his long career here. In fact, we will go as far to say that if Ohlund were not Swedish, he’d have been a bigger fan favourite here and just might have wound up with his number hanging from the rafters. Flame away.
Ron “Chief” Delorme took out “The Strangler”, Garth Butcher, in a close match (did we say how much we loved the old school nicknames?). We suspect ”Chief” (now the Canucks’ Chief Amateur Scout) won’t get much further. Especially, if we get too much further in our draft analysis before his next match.
Gino Odjick barely eclipsed the original “Captain Canuck”, Orland Kurtenbach, in another close one. We’re sure this will leave some of the 70’s natives (we mean you, kenikoop) more than a little restless. If anything, this proves that pure pugilism can win out, particularly against a faceless victim (sorry Kurt, but you’re too old for our sketchy memories).
Ed “Jovo Cop” Jovanovski dispensed with Dave “Tiger” Williams proving that you don’t need brain to overcome brawn. Perhaps just more brawn. Or less criminal convictions.
Curt Fraser in the tightest match-up brought down Donald Brashear. We’re surprised by this outcome, not because Fraser wasn’t fantastically tough, but because his prime was quite sometime ago and Brash was the heavyweight champ for so many years.
Thanks for your patience. And now, the final two entrants:
Donald Brashear - Donald has managed a lengthy career and it’s not just for his pugilistic nature. He’s proven he can play and the very sight of him in the line-up gives his team the leg up on intimidation. Brashear was dealt away from the Canucks at the height of his powers leaving a revolving door of wanna-be’s (Darren Langdon, Wade Brookbank, Jeff Cowan, Darcy Hordichuk) in his wake. As friend (and fellow season ticket holder) Davis was apt to point out, “if you’ve got the guy who is the best at what he does, you don’t trade him.” We concur. Of course, there’s no end to Donald’s resume - we do enjoy each and every time he clobbered his favourite whupping boy (much to Don Cherry’s chagrin), Tie Domi.
Curt Fraser - This gritty winger was a middle weight by size, but a heavy weight in punching power. Many times he’d drop a guy with one quick punch. One of the key players in the improbable ‘82 run. Able to score, hit and fight; he’s the type of player the Canucks miss most right now. This clip is one that is forever ingrained in our minds. And it’s exactly as we remember it. One punch and out.
Today’s Honourable Mention:
Jim Sandlak - While never quite fulfulling his ample promise, “House” was a fixture in Vancouver when the team finally turned the corner in the early 90’s from perennial pretender to division champions. He was yet another character guy who was removed to tears when finally dealt away (though he did return later for his final NHL season). And while it wasn’t clear if the moniker “House” applied to Sandlak’s broad shoulders or the lights being on with no one home, he was a fan favourite capable of thunderous body checks (when he could actually catch his opponent) and equally thunderous (but typically wild) slap shots. Big Jim was a strong scrapper, too. We miss him.
We’re not much for fashion at CC, but we do confess to a small collection of Canuck attire. Our favourite is a vintage autographed Harold Snepsts jersey. There’s a Kyle Wellwood jersey that was benched for most of the season, until he found his game late. There’s the Martin Gelinas jersey (the Orca Bay era logo) that used to get lots of play back in the day. The autographed Trevor Linden jersey is a recent edition (thanks, Pete) and will be saved for something real special. And an original stick-in-the-rink logo home white with number 26 - we have no idea why. And there’s one more, but it’s not really a Canuck jersey - it’s a game worn Philly Flyer jersey worn by none other than Donald Brashear - that gets lots of action these days. This jersey is dear to our hearts since we outbid cocky Matt Cooke at a silent auction to get it. That’s if you call paying $150 for an autographed game worn jersey “outbidding”. Poor Donald gets no respect. And to no one’s surprise, Matt Cooke is a cheap f*cker.
