Eddie Shore

After doing some research on Eddie Shore, I was hoping to find some cool factoids, or tidbits that would serve up for good commentary. Unfortunately, the executive summary of my research resulted in a one word. CRAZY. This guy was a lunatic at best. Haha! He was the sort of cat that you knew in high school who liked to pick fights because they felt good when they were hit in the face. He was our hockey version of Van Gogh. Anyone need an ear? If he didn’t have hockey, he would have surely made a good MMA fighter or boxer. Hell I’d cringe if he played Lacrosse.

I should invent an app called the Shanaban to see how many games he would have been suspended given the current situation in the NHL. Mind you the logic would be a bit fuzzy at a best to predict the resulting suspension. Did I say Eddie was nuts? Oh yes, I covered that already.

Eddie owned the Springfield Indians and what made this interesting was who played on that team in 1967. Brian Kilrea, Alan Eagleson, Bill White, Barclar Plager. And for the record, they all hated him. We all know what happened to Alan. tsk tsk..

Eddie was a warrior of the scary-physical-kind?

– Eddie Van Gogh errr I mean Eddie Shore

Don Cherry

I thankfully didn’t need to research much about dear old Don. Everyone knows about his fame, fortune and hockey stories. He is very well documented. However I will paint my picture of Don in my own words and thoughts. In short, I love his persona. He is charismatic, passionate and often misguided in most of his rhetoric. You cannot deny his passion and love for the game. What I pride most about Don is that he supports our troops and our fallen heroes. I can remember vividly watching him almost come to tears when talking about a fallen soldier or a family who lost a loved one. If he were to run for office, I think he could give anyone a run for their money.

Another good memory I have is when he kissed Killer Doug Gilmour on live TV. He never hid his passion for the Leafs and Dougie may as well have been the son he never had. Don wears his heart on his sleeve and I thank him for that. One of these days we will listen to some of his ideas. He does have quite a few good ones. Unfortunately people love to hate him. It works for him. I don’t think we will ever find a truly passionate person to replace him should the good Lord decide Don needs a timeout up in Heaven. I pray that doesn’t happen for many many years to come. Keep it up Don. We love ya.

Sidebar: Don’s conversation with Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates.

Don: Sees Saint Peter, stops, fixes his lapels and moves towards him
“Let me tell ya something.”
SP: “Yes Don?” Saint Peter knew he was in for a treat.
Don: “Who do you got in the trolley tracks up here?”
SP: “Don, only good people come to live with us here?”
Don: “oh? Then Rose is here?”
SP: “Yes she is here, walking Blue”
Don: “Is she mad Peter?”
SP: “That’s SAINT Peter!” I have earned it and no, she is waiting for you.”
Don: “That’s good to know. I am not sure I want to go in there.”
SP: “Don, you do realize you are at the pearly gates haven’t opened for you yet? I have to allow you to enter.” Saint Peter was starting to get a bit annoyed
Don: “It’s okay, I will wait outside.” Don moves to stand by Saint Peter’s side, like he was also a guard of the gates.
SP: “Wait outside? Why on earth would you want to do that?”
Don turns his head to the side and stares up at Saint Peter like he was Ron McLean
Don: “Well Rose’s gonna be mad at me and I know there are plenty of people in there who are mad at me? I am not walkin’ in there.”
SP: “Don, you can’t just stay here. You have to make a decision and I have to determine if you should be allowed to enter.”
Don was very agitated now, he fixes the cuff links on his grandiose suit, and turns to face Saint Peter
Don: “Listen Peter! I played a thousand games in the AHL. I have broken every bone in my body and been through hell and back. I am not gonna be stuck in the trolley tracks in there.”
Saint Peter, turns to face Don, with palms facing outwards to try to maintain his sense of inner and outer peace and prevent Don from producing an elbow pad, typically his weapon of choice.
SP: “Don, either you follow the rules and answer my questions and I will determine if you should enter.”
Don is irate. He looks for the elbow pad and only found a newspaper clipping about a Pee Wee hockey tournament. Damn, I am gonna have to get dirty with this guy. Stares at his hands and then proceeds to yell at Saint Peter.
Don: “Listen Prince or Preeter or Peter of whatever your name is. I am gonna play by my own rules. You can’t tell me what to do and I won’t accept 7 second time delays either”
SP: “Don! I said you have to play the game, you know the rules!”
Saint Peter was clearly frustrated. The beads of sweat was staining his tunic as if he just ran the Boston Marathon. Don and Saint Peter stared at each other for a few minutes. Mind you they are currently standing at the gates of heaven. A few minutes could very well have been 10 years. Don, lost his train of thought. He could see Toe Blake, Hap Day, Dit Clapper and a few other heroes of his youth. He was trying to recall some sort of AHL Rochester American  connection to those players. Unfortunately he was drawing a blank. Then his mind snapped back to the current situation. He looks up at Saint Peter and rapid fires the first three questions on his mind.
Don: “Is Ulf Sammeeyson in there?”
SP: “No, he is on earth. It is not his time yet.”
Saint Peter scratches his head with wonder
Don: “Is Matt Cooke in there?”
SP: “No Matt Cooke is not here”
Don: “Is Alpo in there?”
SP: “No Don, he is not here.”
Saint Peter admits to himself silently that he has no clue who Alpo is. But his dogs like the food. He wasn’t in the mood to share it with Blue
Don: “Okay let me in.”
SP: “DON! I haven’t asked you my questions.”
Don: “I am not answering your questions. By the way, I like the robe you got on”
Don reaches over to feel the make of the garment. Thinks it could use a bit of color.
SP: “Why thank you, my tailor made it.”
Saint Peter was very proud of his attire and felt like a King.
Don: “Oh ya, what about my suit! Spiffy eh? What’s your tailor charge?”
SP: “I don’t know, I don’t exactly pay for my outfits.”
Don: “Isn’t that guy over there.. him?”
SP: “Yes, that is him. Let’s go meet him.”
Don: “Sure thing!”
They both walk through the pearly gates
Don: “Saint Peter?”
SP: “Yes Don?”
Don: “I told you I’d go into heaven on my own rules.”

A true warrior of the verbal kind

Disclaimer: These are images taken from the web. I do not own these images and hope I can use them in this post.