My 5 minute major with Marty McSorely

He’s a decade removed from NHL play, after a dubious end to his NHL career, but Marty McSorely is still a drawing card wherever he goes.

I caught up with the two-time Stanley Cup champion last Thursday after the first round of play at Wayne Gretzky’s Celebrity Pro-Am in Thornbury, ON. After battling the extremely high July temperatures, and an aggravated pair of recently replaced hips, the now 47-year-old, former NHL enforcer was kind enough to sit down with me over lunch.

“My body didn’t feel good,” he saidon  what he felt was an off opening round. “The last three or four years have been pretty hard. I had one hip replaced in June (2009) and one in November, and just started playing golf again in March.”

McSorely has even found himself back on the ice playing a bit of hockey, something he has missed over the years, “I loved the competition, but over the last five years (in the NHL) I didn’t like the way I was used".

He found himself on teams that were focused primarily on developing younger teams, which turned out to be a bit of a regret for him. “I told Robby Blake, before he left L.A. and signed with San Jose, to go to a really good team, one that needs to put you on the ice and will let the young guys develop on their own.

“That was probably the mistake I made. I was thinking I was going to a team to help with the young guys, but ended up only playing in my own end.”

I also asked McSorely on his recollections of Blake, as well as Scott Niedermayer and Keith Tkachuk, who all retired at the end of the 2009-10 season.

“Robby Blake was a big athletic man, that really moved very very easily, and hit guys hard because he surprised him,” he said on his former teammate.

“Scott Niedermayer’s area of influence on the ice was greater than any other players’. He had an effect on the game in such a huge area. Keith Tkachuk was a strong winger, a talented package in a big box.”

Of course the passing of Bob Probert, just days before, had to come up in the conversation.

“It was a sad day, not just because he was great player,” McSorely said. “Off the ice, he had a great aura. Whenever he walked in a room, and not just the dressing room, everybody was better for it. He was genuinely a good guy.”

A classic battle between Marty McSorely and the late Bob Probert. “I’ve been asked that a lot the last couple days,” McSorely said when questioned as to how often they matched up over the years. “I don’t know how many times it was.”

After thinking back on his battles as a heavyweight in the NHL (bad hips or not, he’s still in great shape and his 6’1” listing is a bit undersized), I elected not to ask whatever happened to his infamous illegal stick from Game Two of the 1993 Stanley Cup Final.

I do always toss the question to NHLers of naming a player that isn’t in the Hockey Hall of Fame, that they think should be. “I would have said Dino Ciccarelli up to now,” McSorely said, noting Ciccarelli’s recent 2010 induction announcement. “He was a guy that competed hard and scored a lot of goals.”

Coincidentally, last NHL player to be convicted of assault for an on-ice incident, prior to McSorely’s conviction, was Dino Cicarelli who received a day in jail for hitting a Toronto player over the head with a stick in 1988.

The Cayuga, ON native also gave me a little insight into a hometown project he’s helping to gain support towards building a new arena.

Earlier in the day, some autograph collectors, that were clearly resellers, had inquired about some further signings. “Best thing to do, is contact our organization or the NHL Alumni Association,” he told them. “Send a donation, and I’ll sign anything you want.”

“I have pretty much every card ever made of me, but I was never much of a collector over the years,” McSorley later told me. “Instead of autographs, I always got a picture of me with whoever came down in Los Angeles. Ronald Reagan, Chuck Norris, you name it.”

In light of a rough first day of play, McSorely and his pro partner did manage to make it to the final round. The Anaheim Ducks Corey Perry would end up the celebrity winner for the tournament.

Feb 18, 1967: Rogie Vachon makes his debut with the Habs

If I had to choose one goalie who is not in the Hockey Hall of Fame, and deserves to be, it would be Rogatien “Rogie” Vachon.

Growing up as a kid, I always saw Vachon as the the Los Angeles Kings All-Star netminder with the blank white mask.

Upon paying more attention to the stats on his hockey cards, rather than flinging them against the school walls at recess, I learned that he got his start with the Montreal Canadiens. I later learned the same of Tony Esposito.

In mid- February of the 1966-67 season, the Canadiens were a .500 team. With Gump Worsley injured, and not overly confident in the recent play of Charlie Hodge, Montreal GM Sam Pollock and coach Toe Blake had a decision to make.

Having seen the prodigy’s stellar play during three Apollos games earlier in the season, Pollock made the call for Vachon..

He made his debut against the Detroit Red Wings on February 19. Detroit  was a sub-.500 team at the time, but they still had the firepower of Gordie Howe, Norm Ullman, Alex Delvecchio and the up and coming Paul Henderson in their lineup.

Vachon stunned the Red Wings, making 40 saves (his first of the night on a Howe breakaway) and earning the First Star in a 3-2 Canadiens victory.

The rookie stayed on with the big club for the rest of the season, and was called on to carry the team through the playoffs. Vachon did just hat and despite a Cup Finals loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, he was in the NHL to stay.

He and Worlsey would win the Vezina the following season and go on to win back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1968 and 1969.

Vachon then found himself in the number one roll with the departure of Worsley, but it would just for one full seasons and the start of another.

At the end of the 1970-71 season, Vachon found himself on the bench for the last 10 games of the season and through the playoffs. Ken Dryden had arrived.

Vachon cracked the Canadiens lineup, originally wearing the number 29 and later number 30 before settling on number one. He would be ousted from Montreal when a new number 29 arrived to immortalize the number.

With Dryden now the new goaltending hero of the Canadiens, Vachon knew he wouldn’t see much action in the 1971-72 season. He requested a trade after the first game and soon found himself in Los Angeles, where he shone on the west coast.

As Gretzky did for the Kings in the ‘90s, Vachon did likewise for the franchise in the ‘70s adapting to the laid back California lifestyle. Gone was the clean-cut Vachon and enter the long-haired, fu manchu mustached Vachon.

Maybe it was the hair, maybe the moustache, but it was mostly the goaltending that vaulted the Kings from a second-worst team at the end of the 71-72 season to a 105 point Cup contender three seasons later with Vachon coming in runner-up to the Hart Trophy.

In the first Canada Cup in 1976, it was Vachon, not Cheevers, Parent or Dryden who played every game going 6-1 with a 1.39 GAA.

While his Canada Cup success brought him back to tthe national TV spotlight, playing on the west coast meant little TV exposure and highlights were far and few between in the pre-internet/cable-satellite TV eras.

That combined with the Kings offensive meltdowns in the playoffs is a key factor in Vachon not being in the Hall of Fame.

It’s a shame, plain and simple.

Rogie Vachon’s Career Statistics

I’m not the only one who feels this way:

Todd Denault, author of “Jacques Plante: The Man who Changed the Face of Hockey”, a contributor to HabsWorld.net and an avid goalie historian, also offers some valid arguments for Vachon’s induction.

Robert Lefebvre a huge fan of Vachon fan, echoes Denault’s thoughts with some more insight.

Some more support form Kingscast

The Montreal Gazette’s Dave Stubbs is another supporter.