Hello all,
I'm happy to answer any questions about my latest book "Mosienko: The Man Who Caught Lightning in A Bottle". The book can be purchased at book stores across the prairies, online places like Amazon, and the publisher Great Plains' website.
In addition to Mosienko, this book also tells the story of Max and Doug Bentley. I travelled to Delisle, SK (Bentley's hometown) twice in the past year to stay with Max's son and get their family's story as well.
Mosienko became a hockey legend in 1952 when he recorded the fastest hat-trick in NHL history —a record that stands to this day. This biography tells the story of a Manitoba legend, from his childhood spent skating on the rinks of Winnipeg’s North End in the 1920s and 30s to his illustrious fourteen-year NHL career to his return to Winnipeg to play with the Winnipeg Warriors to his post-retirement career as the owner of the iconic Mosienko Bowling Lanes.
Through exclusive interviews with Mosienko’s friends, family, and teammates, Dilello paints a vivid picture of Mosienko, a man known for his sportsmanship and community spirit as well as his incredible hockey talent.
Mosienko | Ty Dilello| Great Plains Publications
“Mosienko: The Man Who Caught Lightning In A Bottle, is an engaging, informative read, I highly recommend it for anyone interested in the history of our game.” — George Grimm, Inside Hockey
“Mosienko’s Hall of Fame career has been largely forgotten. Thankfully, prolific author and noted historian Ty Dilello has gone a long ways to rectifying that long-standing oversight with his latest work, which tells the revealing story of not only the incredible night when the man nicknamed ‘Wee Willie’ recorded a hat trick in just 21 seconds–still the fastest trio of goals ever scored in an NHL game–but of a lifetime spent in hockey, as a player, a coach, an organizer, and a builder.” – Todd Denault, Author of Jacques Plante: The Man Who Changed the Face of Hockey
“Dilello’s latest book introduces all of us to the man behind the record—his modest hockey beginnings, his unusual path to the NHL, his outstanding career and his post-hockey life in a bowling alley.” – Kevin Shea, Author of Barilko: Without A Trace
“Ty Dilello knows the history of Manitoba hockey players, so who better to tell us Mosienko’s story? With access to old interviews (and his own new interviews with several old men!), Dilello explains how a child of immigrants growing up during the Great Depression became not just a Hockey Hall of Fame player but a great ambassador for the game in his hometown of Winnipeg.” – Eric Zweig, Author of Art Ross: The Hockey Legend Who Built The Bruins
Ty Dilello is the author of Golden Boys: The Top 50 Manitoba Hockey Players Of All Time. He is an accredited writer with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and is a member of the Society for International Hockey Research (SIHR). He has been a hockey fan since Peter Bondra led the Washington Capitals to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1998. Ty plays extensively on the World Curling Tour in the winter and can probably be found on a tennis court during the summer months. He lives in Winnipeg.
BOOK EXCERPT:
The Chicago Black Hawks picked Regina, Saskatchewan, to be the home for their training camp in the fall of 1945. Team president Bill Tobin had arranged for a preseason training junket of western Canada in an effort to popularize his team in that area.
It was during these preseason tests that Johnny Gottselig, who had succeeded Paul Thompson as manager and coach of the Hawks, created the Pony Line.
“Now that Mush March has retired,” Johnny told Max Bentley, “you and Doug have to fit in a new right winger, and I think we’ve got the answer in Bill Mosienko. He’s the nearest thing to Mush I’ve ever seen, and two years ago, he and Doug were terrific together. The three of you ought to set the league on fire.”
Max and Mosienko had played together briefly as Hawk rookies at Providence five years prior, so they were fairly familiar with each other’s style. Practice sessions quickly lent credence to Gottselig’s theory that Mosie would blend perfectly with the Bentleys. Though he, too, was on the small side, his dazzling speed and ability to take a pass in full flight indicated that, barring injuries, the Hawks would have one of the greatest lines in postwar hockey.
“With Doug and Mosie to pull the trigger,” Gottselig told Max, “you should set a new record for assists this year.”
Thus, the Pony Line was born. Right from the beginning, Gottselig truly believed his new line could outskate anyone in the league.
“We’ve got the most speed along with the Frenchmen,” he told a Chicago newspaper. “That top line of ours (Bentleys and Mosienko) is apt to skate away from everything in the league. Understand, I’m not predicting we’ll finish on top. Canadiens, Toronto, and Boston will be tough, but we’ll make ‘em play sixty minutes of hockey to beat us.”
The iconic name was given to the line by the team’s publicity director, Joe Farrell. Mosienko later recalled,
“It was because of our size. We were small. And every time we’d go for the puck, we’d give it a little bounce.” Once the trio was first linked together, the chemistry between them was undeniable. Bill became like another brother to Max and Doug. In the Hawks dressing room, Max always had to sit in the middle of Bill and Doug because of a superstition.
The Pony Line quickly electrified hockey fans around the circuit with their speed and dazzling passing plays. They were the key players in Johnny Gottselig’s determined efforts to have the Hawks make good on the “Lightning on Ice” motto expounded by Bill Tobin.
“Chicago fans like their hockey fast, and that’s what we’re going to give ‘em—speed to burn,” Tobin declared.
“The forward pass to the red line has increased the tempo of the game, and it should be great for the Bentleys and Mosie. We’re going to stick to our ‘Lightning on Ice’ motto, and we’re sure it will pay dividends.”
It did, too. The fast-flying Hawks, paced by their Pony Line, shattered all previous attendance records for their home ice and proved a magnetic drawing card all around the circuit.
The largest crowd to that point that ever saw an NHL season opener or league game on a weeknight—18,727—witnessed the postwar Black Hawks outscore the New York Rangers 5-1 at Chicago Stadium. It was estimated that 5,000 fans were turned away after standing room and rafter space had been exhausted.
Mosienko scored the last goal of the night at 5:32 of the final period. Eddie Wares took a long pass from the blueline, and Mosienko picked it up off the toes of goalie Sugar Jim Henry’s boots and converted for goal number five.
With the Pony Line buzzing early in the season, Chicago won five of their first seven games. As Gottselig had envisioned, Mosienko had fit in perfectly with the two Bentleys. Yet, making the plays for Doug and Mosie called for hair-trigger precision on Max’s part as the centreman.
Mosienko liked a hard, fast pass that he could take in full stride as he hit the blueline. Doug was the exact opposite. He preferred Max to hang on to the puck until they were over the enemy blueline, then flip through the defence. This gave Doug, cutting in fast, a chance to beat his man, pick up the puck and have only the goalie to beat.
“We were all so small,” Max Bentley later recalled of the Pony Line as he, Bill and Doug were all around 5'8", “but we were fast and worked so well together that it seemed like somebody was always open. If Doug wasn’t free, or Mosie wasn’t, I would be. Sometimes they’d both be hollering for the puck, and I’d divide up the passes to keep both of them happy.”
The Pony Line and the system the Hawks played under forced other teams to adapt or die. The Black Hawks were scoring 4.75 goals per game on average. According to Bill Tobin, this was accomplished by the simple procedure of sacrificing the defence for an overwhelming attack—like the boxer who takes a punch so that he can deliver two.
The magic number to the team’s success, coach Gottselig told the Chicago Tribune, was scoring four goals a game.
“The days of defensive hockey are gone,” explained Gottselig. “A goalie doesn’t have a chance in these days of five-man rushes, and I don’t care if he’s a second Chuck Gardiner or another George Hainsworth.”
For the two seasons that they were together, the Pony Line outscored every other line in the National Hockey League.
In their first season together, they topped the league as a line at season’s end with 159 points, 13 more than Montreal’s famous Punch Line of Maurice Richard, Elmer Lach, and Toe Blake. The next season, they had 75 goals and 104 assists for 120 points. Their 75 goals represented approximately 40 percent of the Hawks’ total of 193.
Although all three of them are known for their individual success, the Pony Line will always be remembered as one of the top scoring high-flying units in the history of hockey.
I'm happy to answer any questions about my latest book "Mosienko: The Man Who Caught Lightning in A Bottle". The book can be purchased at book stores across the prairies, online places like Amazon, and the publisher Great Plains' website.
In addition to Mosienko, this book also tells the story of Max and Doug Bentley. I travelled to Delisle, SK (Bentley's hometown) twice in the past year to stay with Max's son and get their family's story as well.
Mosienko became a hockey legend in 1952 when he recorded the fastest hat-trick in NHL history —a record that stands to this day. This biography tells the story of a Manitoba legend, from his childhood spent skating on the rinks of Winnipeg’s North End in the 1920s and 30s to his illustrious fourteen-year NHL career to his return to Winnipeg to play with the Winnipeg Warriors to his post-retirement career as the owner of the iconic Mosienko Bowling Lanes.
Through exclusive interviews with Mosienko’s friends, family, and teammates, Dilello paints a vivid picture of Mosienko, a man known for his sportsmanship and community spirit as well as his incredible hockey talent.
Mosienko | Ty Dilello| Great Plains Publications
“Mosienko: The Man Who Caught Lightning In A Bottle, is an engaging, informative read, I highly recommend it for anyone interested in the history of our game.” — George Grimm, Inside Hockey
“Mosienko’s Hall of Fame career has been largely forgotten. Thankfully, prolific author and noted historian Ty Dilello has gone a long ways to rectifying that long-standing oversight with his latest work, which tells the revealing story of not only the incredible night when the man nicknamed ‘Wee Willie’ recorded a hat trick in just 21 seconds–still the fastest trio of goals ever scored in an NHL game–but of a lifetime spent in hockey, as a player, a coach, an organizer, and a builder.” – Todd Denault, Author of Jacques Plante: The Man Who Changed the Face of Hockey
“Dilello’s latest book introduces all of us to the man behind the record—his modest hockey beginnings, his unusual path to the NHL, his outstanding career and his post-hockey life in a bowling alley.” – Kevin Shea, Author of Barilko: Without A Trace
“Ty Dilello knows the history of Manitoba hockey players, so who better to tell us Mosienko’s story? With access to old interviews (and his own new interviews with several old men!), Dilello explains how a child of immigrants growing up during the Great Depression became not just a Hockey Hall of Fame player but a great ambassador for the game in his hometown of Winnipeg.” – Eric Zweig, Author of Art Ross: The Hockey Legend Who Built The Bruins
Ty Dilello is the author of Golden Boys: The Top 50 Manitoba Hockey Players Of All Time. He is an accredited writer with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and is a member of the Society for International Hockey Research (SIHR). He has been a hockey fan since Peter Bondra led the Washington Capitals to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1998. Ty plays extensively on the World Curling Tour in the winter and can probably be found on a tennis court during the summer months. He lives in Winnipeg.
BOOK EXCERPT:
The Chicago Black Hawks picked Regina, Saskatchewan, to be the home for their training camp in the fall of 1945. Team president Bill Tobin had arranged for a preseason training junket of western Canada in an effort to popularize his team in that area.
It was during these preseason tests that Johnny Gottselig, who had succeeded Paul Thompson as manager and coach of the Hawks, created the Pony Line.
“Now that Mush March has retired,” Johnny told Max Bentley, “you and Doug have to fit in a new right winger, and I think we’ve got the answer in Bill Mosienko. He’s the nearest thing to Mush I’ve ever seen, and two years ago, he and Doug were terrific together. The three of you ought to set the league on fire.”
Max and Mosienko had played together briefly as Hawk rookies at Providence five years prior, so they were fairly familiar with each other’s style. Practice sessions quickly lent credence to Gottselig’s theory that Mosie would blend perfectly with the Bentleys. Though he, too, was on the small side, his dazzling speed and ability to take a pass in full flight indicated that, barring injuries, the Hawks would have one of the greatest lines in postwar hockey.
“With Doug and Mosie to pull the trigger,” Gottselig told Max, “you should set a new record for assists this year.”
Thus, the Pony Line was born. Right from the beginning, Gottselig truly believed his new line could outskate anyone in the league.
“We’ve got the most speed along with the Frenchmen,” he told a Chicago newspaper. “That top line of ours (Bentleys and Mosienko) is apt to skate away from everything in the league. Understand, I’m not predicting we’ll finish on top. Canadiens, Toronto, and Boston will be tough, but we’ll make ‘em play sixty minutes of hockey to beat us.”
The iconic name was given to the line by the team’s publicity director, Joe Farrell. Mosienko later recalled,
“It was because of our size. We were small. And every time we’d go for the puck, we’d give it a little bounce.” Once the trio was first linked together, the chemistry between them was undeniable. Bill became like another brother to Max and Doug. In the Hawks dressing room, Max always had to sit in the middle of Bill and Doug because of a superstition.
The Pony Line quickly electrified hockey fans around the circuit with their speed and dazzling passing plays. They were the key players in Johnny Gottselig’s determined efforts to have the Hawks make good on the “Lightning on Ice” motto expounded by Bill Tobin.
“Chicago fans like their hockey fast, and that’s what we’re going to give ‘em—speed to burn,” Tobin declared.
“The forward pass to the red line has increased the tempo of the game, and it should be great for the Bentleys and Mosie. We’re going to stick to our ‘Lightning on Ice’ motto, and we’re sure it will pay dividends.”
It did, too. The fast-flying Hawks, paced by their Pony Line, shattered all previous attendance records for their home ice and proved a magnetic drawing card all around the circuit.
The largest crowd to that point that ever saw an NHL season opener or league game on a weeknight—18,727—witnessed the postwar Black Hawks outscore the New York Rangers 5-1 at Chicago Stadium. It was estimated that 5,000 fans were turned away after standing room and rafter space had been exhausted.
Mosienko scored the last goal of the night at 5:32 of the final period. Eddie Wares took a long pass from the blueline, and Mosienko picked it up off the toes of goalie Sugar Jim Henry’s boots and converted for goal number five.
With the Pony Line buzzing early in the season, Chicago won five of their first seven games. As Gottselig had envisioned, Mosienko had fit in perfectly with the two Bentleys. Yet, making the plays for Doug and Mosie called for hair-trigger precision on Max’s part as the centreman.
Mosienko liked a hard, fast pass that he could take in full stride as he hit the blueline. Doug was the exact opposite. He preferred Max to hang on to the puck until they were over the enemy blueline, then flip through the defence. This gave Doug, cutting in fast, a chance to beat his man, pick up the puck and have only the goalie to beat.
“We were all so small,” Max Bentley later recalled of the Pony Line as he, Bill and Doug were all around 5'8", “but we were fast and worked so well together that it seemed like somebody was always open. If Doug wasn’t free, or Mosie wasn’t, I would be. Sometimes they’d both be hollering for the puck, and I’d divide up the passes to keep both of them happy.”
The Pony Line and the system the Hawks played under forced other teams to adapt or die. The Black Hawks were scoring 4.75 goals per game on average. According to Bill Tobin, this was accomplished by the simple procedure of sacrificing the defence for an overwhelming attack—like the boxer who takes a punch so that he can deliver two.
The magic number to the team’s success, coach Gottselig told the Chicago Tribune, was scoring four goals a game.
“The days of defensive hockey are gone,” explained Gottselig. “A goalie doesn’t have a chance in these days of five-man rushes, and I don’t care if he’s a second Chuck Gardiner or another George Hainsworth.”
For the two seasons that they were together, the Pony Line outscored every other line in the National Hockey League.
In their first season together, they topped the league as a line at season’s end with 159 points, 13 more than Montreal’s famous Punch Line of Maurice Richard, Elmer Lach, and Toe Blake. The next season, they had 75 goals and 104 assists for 120 points. Their 75 goals represented approximately 40 percent of the Hawks’ total of 193.
Although all three of them are known for their individual success, the Pony Line will always be remembered as one of the top scoring high-flying units in the history of hockey.
