And this just seemed so perfect...
It reminded me of this real life picture of Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull that I love:
Posted on 08/10/2021 5:22:17 PM PDT by rickmichaels
Tony Esposito, the pioneering Hall of Fame goaltender who played almost his entire 16-year career with the Chicago Blackhawks, has died following a brief battle with pancreatic cancer, the team announced Tuesday. He was 78.
Esposito debuted with Montreal during the 1968-69 season and appeared in 13 games. He was then left unprotected with the Canadiens deep in goalies and taken by the Blackhawks in an intraleague draft for $25,000, an investment that paid immediate dividends for a team that finished last in its division.
Esposito helped lead the Blackhawks to first place, showcasing his butterfly style to post a 2.17 goals-against average and 15 shutouts, still a modern record for an NHL goalie. He won the Calder Trophy as the NHL's rookie of the year as well as the Vezina Trophy given to the top goaltender. He also won the Vezina in 1972 and 1974.
``Tony was one of the most important and popular figures in the history of the franchise as we near its 100th anniversary,'' Blackhawks Chairman Rocky Wirtz said. ``Four generations of our family — my grandfather Arthur, my father Bill, my son Danny and I — were blessed by his work ethic as a Hall of Fame goalie, but more importantly, by his mere presence and spirit.''
(Excerpt) Read more at sportsnet.ca ...
Just after Gerry Cheevers and Gump Worsley.
Yes. One of the last maskless goaltenders when I was a 15 year old goalie. In Phoenix of all places.
LOL, crazy stuff! That’s crazy with a real puck!
LOL, I became a goalie because I moved up to New England and had never ice skated before, so the only thing I could do was be the goalie, if I was going to play pond hockey with all the guys.
I found out a couple of key points to remember:
First, everyone ALWAYS needs goalies. Always.
Second, as a goalie, you could never bail and not show up. People would excoriate you if you did that. The worst thing to do was not show up, and hear later they had to turn one of the nets around.
Third, playing goalie could be painful. When I first started playing with friends (as a transplanted southerner) and became the goalie, my equipment consisted of a first base mitt, a regular hockey glove with two squares of wood paneling sandwiching foam attached to the glove with phone wire, and folded up carpet samples stuck up the pants of my dungarees.
No mask.
They wanted to “practice” with me while we waited for the ponds to freeze, so I stood in front of a metal shed at the top of a driveway, and they laid a sheet of paneling at the bottom of the drive way so they could slapshot the puck off something better than asphalt.
The shed was “the goal”.
The puck was not a regulation puck, but a street hockey puck, one of those ones that is just a tad lighter than a real puck but is made of some kind of harder material like plastic, not rubber.
It had sharp edges.
The kid wound up and slapped the puck at me, since the driveway was somewhat slanted, as the puck came flying at me, it was rising.
It hit my unprotected thigh right above the knee. Holy crap, that hurt. I jumped around in place for about a minute, cussing and breathing heavy, gritting my teeth. Damn, did that ever hurt. But I did what you had to do. Cussing and shifting in pain from foot to foot, I got back into position in front of the shed and set myself up again.
He wound up and fired the puck...it rose as it came, and hit me in the exact same spot. Unbelievable. That REALLY frikking hurt. I hopped around for twice as long, cussing guttural curses through my gritted teeth, than, shaking my head from side to side thinking how much this sucked, took position again in front of that shed.
He reared back and slapped the puck with a full swing, and as the puck came towards my stick side, I stuck my paneling/foam/phone line homemade blocker in front of it, and the puck deflected off and came up hitting me at nearly full speed high on my cheek right under my eye.
I took all the stuff off and threw it angrily on the ground yelling and cussing about how much this game sucks!
That was my southern boy intro to hockey! To this day, my buddies still laugh about it. They were watching me throw that shit on the ground and were saying to each other “Holy crap, I can’t believe he got back in front of us that third time!”
When I got out of the USN at the age of 21, I got a call from the father of a guy I knew, and he heard I wanted to play goal, and said he had some old equipment I could borrow, and if I was interested, I could sub for him if he couldn’t make it to a game or needed a night off, so he gave me the equipment (old leather pads, gloves, and this stupid quilted shoulder and arm protector that gave absolutely no protection, but I took it and began playing.
I play up until I was about 37 when I tore up my knee playing volleyball of all things, and could never get back on the ice. I tried it once, but...I could see it was no good and sold all my equipment. (by that time, I had some decent equipment, all new stuff where a snapshot wouldn’t have a good chance of doing me real harm, just sting a little.
Funny, the guys father who lent me the equipment played up until he was in his mid-sixties...they all called him “The Gump” and it kind of fit him...he wasn’t totally mobile at the end, but...hockey players often just want a warm body to aim the puck at...:)
And this just seemed so perfect...
It reminded me of this real life picture of Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull that I love:
I think Cheevers had the most famous mask, IMO.
I lived through it as a teen in high school. What was remarkable is the initial shock Canada got when they found out how good the Russians were and then the comeback from being down in games. That also happened in the final game as well. Canada fell way behind and came back. All the sports cliches played out in the series and that final game. Paul Henderson who scored the winning goals in the final 3 games is an amazing story. Later became a Christian. I got him to autograph my bible at a card show years ago. He’s been battling cancer for years now but is still with us.
Heh. I first say hockey when someone took me to a DU Pioneer game, before we went to Phoenix. I was fascinated by the goalies.
When I started laying I was defense, could skate backwards Like hell. Eventually saved enough to buy the pads, gloves and mask and that big cup. Started net minding. I did ok but the other kid was the son of the goalie for the Phoenix Roadrunners, had the best equipment and the coach was star struck.
Had to quit when I out grew my pads and started getting hurt because the guys weren’t kids anymore, they could shoot and play. And I was shipped back to CO because I was too much for mom to deal with. Thus I entered my biker era...
RIP Tony. Say hi to Stan Mikita for us. Let’s Go Flyers!
RIP
Yes. I did the stitches thing for a short time. Then I got the big mask that covers your ears and top of your head. Painted that like the cover of the Steve Miller band Joker album cover.
wasnt there an espisito that played for the boston bruins too?
Pancreatic cancer is the tough one. No blood markers or symptoms until it’s almost over. The surgical treatment, the Whipple, is a 9 hour removal of everything necessary for digestion.
We live day to day, 27 months after diagnosis.
Good memories and posting provided imagery.
Unfortunately, yes.
The advent of the helmets and later half shields may have done that kind of good in terms of preventing injuries from bad awkward falls or errant sticks or pucks, but that still really detracted from the game. The players were more recognizable individually and had that kind of appeal both on TV and in person at places like Madison Square Garden or the Montreal Forum and elsewhere.
Also, many players and others connected with the game before and during the time in which the headgear was phased in say that the helmets really encouraged or enabled the cheap shots or careless behaviour with the sticks. You might have had the stickfights back in the day, but that involved the living by the sword and dying by the sword principle.
I had a brother who got pancreatic cancer in his early 70’s. He and his wife were told he had only weeks to live. He “lived” for 14 months and it was agonizing for both of them. She had two heart attacks during the time of being his caregiver.
It’s an insidious disease and there is no “natural causes” about it.
My condolences to the Esposito Family.
I agree completely...
I do miss watching hockey, we used to go to games in the nasty old Boston Garden, which always reminded me of the Roman Coliseum, it was more vertical, with all those columns and obstructed view seats.
We were young guys, and between playing at night two or three nights a week, and watching hockey on TV...that was our thing for a few years!
Heh, I love the pictures...after games they always seemed to be having a good time when someone took pictures-it was such a photogenic sport on and off the ice.
Yeah...those masks that had the bulges on both sides for the ears?
Old days at the Garden. Potvin sucks was used at games even when the Icelanders were not there. I also miss the the Big Whistle.
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