Book Feature Dear Red Light (written by Wilf Cude, presented by Ty Dilello)

[nabby12]

Hello everyone!

This week I'll be presenting my late friend Wilfred Cude's book he wrote about his father, former Montreal Canadiens netminder of the 1930s, Wilf Cude.

The book's description is as follows:
Wilf Cude (1906-1968): gifted NHL goaltender, dedicated hockey coach, conscientious sports talent scout, small businessman, husband and parent. A hockey book with all the statistics and information any hockey enthusiast might want, it's a story of success, failure, strength, skill, determination, negotiation, love and luck. This offers a lively and spirited literary immersion into our Canadian and North American hockey past, as well as a son’s loving tribute to his famous father.

I had known Wilfred Cude Jr. through doing my Manitoba hockey research over the past five years or so. A noted scholar, Wilf Jr. taught English Literature at several universities across Canada. When I first met him, he was just in the finishing stages of completing this book.

He was able to fully complete the book shortly before he passed away in October of 2018 at the age of 80. Since he passed, I have worked with family and friends on getting the book published and in the hands of hockey fans across the world. I had a PDF version of the book that I always made sure I read once or twice a year since Wilf Jr. passed. The book is that good.

Anyways, since reaching out to one of Wilf Jr's siblings over the past few months, we were able to expedite the process and get Dear Red Light published via Amazon.

Dear Red Light is not your typical hockey history book, but instead a son's look into his father's life. One that I'm sure many people here will enjoy.

Dear Red Light can be purchased exclusively through Amazon at the link here.
https://www.amazon.ca/Dear-Red-Ligh...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TW2YG9746R8WY81NQM25

I am here to try and answer any questions that anyone has! So please fire away.

And finally, here is an excerpt from the book's opening chapter:

One sharp cold night deep in the winter of 1955, late January maybe, or early February, I was out in the kitchen when somebody came knocking softly at our back door. When I opened the door, there was a smallish older guy standing there, dressed in a railway man’s outfit, Ontario Northland Railway, heavy overshoes, sturdy winter coat, official cap and all. In a slightly Québécois accent, he asked: “Excuse me please, but is Wilf Cude at home?” Inviting him to step inside, I went back into the living room where my father was stretched out on the sofa, snoozing as was his habit in an after-dinner nap. I shook him gently, and told him: “Dad, there’s someone to see you, out in the kitchen.” He pulled himself awake and stumbled off to welcome his visitor.

An explosion of greetings followed. Dad could be noisily demonstrative when he was greatly pleased, especially when encountering a friend from way back then, so I knew this had to be an old buddy from the hockey days. Funny thing, though, this one was rather smaller than most of the others who dropped by: he actually made my father look just a touch bigger, which didn’t happen often in those circles. Not that I cared much then. I was sixteen and a very keen Sea Cadet, determined to join the Navy as soon as I could, with every intention of becoming an Admiral in the fullness of time. An Admiral: the word comes from the Arabic amir al-bahr, Lord of the Sea, and the book I was reading upstairs in my room described the clash of such Lords of the Sea, Japanese and American at the battle of Midway. That was history, that was real, and that’s where I went in my imagination, to the clink of ice cubes in two glasses from the living room below.

Under the weather, I decided to try a sympathetic conversational gambit. “Dad,” I asked, “who was that little guy last night?” He looked at me with a vaguely quizzical glance I had long since learned to recognize, sort of a wonderment at how the question could have manifested itself. “That little guy, son,” he explained, speaking slowly and distinctly, “was Aurèle Joliat.” To which my response, I’m afraid, was nothing more than “Oh,” as I returned my attention to the bowl of porridge before me. Absolute impenetrable incomprehension emanating from me, silence all around descending, the conversation now (figuratively speaking) dead in the water, sunk as deep in the depths of my ignorance as were Admiral Nagumo’s four fleet carriers sent down deep under the oilslicked flaming Pacific waves off Midway, so long ago and far away from Noranda, Quebec. From our breakfast table, me in particularly studied silence, contemplating (and not for the last time) the unplumbed depths of my own incomprehension. My mother was smiling discreetly, my younger brothers Davey and Alan were busy with their own breakfasts, our older sister Beverley was away at college, and Dad was concentrating on getting his glass of tomato juice down. And so that day began for us, much as many others before or after.

Aurèle Joliat! One of the much more flamboyant Lords of the Hockey Arena! In my very own living room, sharing who knows what stories over a glass or two of toxic with my dad, and me upstairs shut away with a book, and not one sweet flipping clue about the import of the event below. Sports history slipping past me, unrecorded and lost forever, while I’m hopelessly insensitive and oblivious to it all. Aurèle Joliat! When he and Dad shared the ice, they were two of the smallest guys in the League. Aurèle at five feet, six inches and 135 pounds, with dad at five feet, eight inches and 133 pounds, they each had to be very fast, very agile and very tough, each in his own highly personalized way. Known as either “The Mighty Atom” or “The Little Giant,” Aurèle skated left wing for an astounding sixteen seasons with the Canadiens, a top scorer in every one save the last, and far taller and heavier opponents instantly and painfully learned not to mess with him. Swift, crafty and well adept at using his stick, in either regulation or unorthodox fashion, he could leave a belligerent wannabe thug sprawled flat on the ice behind him as he went on to twist the knife with yet another goal.

What a legend that ferociously diminutive left-winger soon became. Immediately recognizable as he skated into position wearing his jaunty trademark slightly peaked cap, he was on his way from the outset into the Hockey Hall of Fame, only the third among the first ever Canadiens to arrive there. His lifetime score of 270 goals endured as a team record until finally surpassed by Maurice Richard in the 1951-52 season, and he is still ranked ninth on the team’s current overall list of top scorers. He was instrumental in taking the Canadiens to the League championship three times, in 1923-24, 1929-30 and 1931-32. He won the Hart Trophy as the League’s most valuable player in 1933-1934, and continued as a potent force until his retirement at the close of the 1937-38 season. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947, soon after the Hall was opened, following close behind his teammate Howie Morenz, himself one of the initial twelve inductees in 1945.

Click to read more...

 

[Theokritos]

Looks very interesting.

So Wilf Cude Jr. didn't care much for hockey when he was 16. Did that change before his father died and was he able to still talk hockey with him before he passed away in 1968? Or did his interest only come later so that he had to use other means to get insight into his father's career, like records or a diary?

 

[nabby12]

Looks very interesting.

So Wilf Cude Jr. didn't care much for hockey when he was 16. Did that change before his father died and was he able to still talk hockey with him before he passed away in 1968? Or did his interest only come later so that he had to use other means to get insight into his father's career, like records or a diary?

Wilf Jr was certainly the least interested in hockey out of the three boys it seemed. I think his interest in his father grew as time passed on.

During his playing career, Wilf kept a statistical diary and that would help Wilf Jr get into the mind of his Dad while he was tending goal for the Montreal Canadiens.

 

[Theokritos]

During his playing career, Wilf kept a statistical diary and that would help Wilf Jr get into the mind of his Dad while he was tending goal for the Montreal Canadiens.

That sounds like it must have been a crucial source of information for Wilf Jr indeed.

I'm not familiar with Wilf Cude, but I read he was born in Wales and moved to Canada as a small child. Now that, of course, was anything but uncommon for Canadian hockey players, but I also read he played old-world football/soccer besides playing hockey, which is not something I've come across too often – as opposed to reports of Canadian hockey players also being engaged in lacrosse, Canadian football and baseball. Was that common albeit not often explicitly reported or is there an old-world influence by the Welsh father to be suspected there?

 

[nabby12]

That sounds like it must have been a crucial source of information for Wilf Jr indeed.

I'm not familiar with Wilf Cude, but I read he was born in Wales and moved to Canada as a small child. Now that, of course, was anything but uncommon for Canadian hockey players, but I also read he played old-world football/soccer besides playing hockey, which is not something I've come across too often – as opposed to reports of Canadian hockey players also being engaged in lacrosse, Canadian football and baseball. Was that common albeit not often explicitly reported or is there an old-world influence by the Welsh father to be suspected there?

Soccer was certainly very common in Canada during the early 1900's. It was and still is the easiest and most accessible sport in the world to play - all you need is a ball!

The area of Winnipeg that Cude and childhood friend Chuck Gardiner grew up in was heavily populated by new immigrants from the British Isles at the time. So playing soccer in the summer became the go-to-sport for those boys instead of football/rugby/baseball.

 

[Sanf]

Seems very interesting!

I´m fairly familiar with Wilf Cude. Always liked him. I love the name of the book. I have felt that goaltending became mentally rougher during the time that Cude got to the big leagues. Media was rougher and stat watching became a thing. Audiences became rougher to goalies. Maybe the reason for that is that hockey became lower scoring game. Several goalies suffered "nervous breakdown" (whatever that meant in each case I´m not sure). I find it very curious that Cude kept his own statistical diaries. I have understood that Cude suffered from lost of confidence and lost of love to be goalie at the end of his career? The steak story is atleast somewhat famous.

There is mentioning about his time as scout. I know he worked long time as scout. First for Canadiens and then for Red Wings. Is there anything in the book about that?

 

[nabby12]

Seems very interesting!

I´m fairly familiar with Wilf Cude. Always liked him. I love the name of the book. I have felt that goaltending became mentally rougher during the time that Cude got to the big leagues. Media was rougher and stat watching became a thing. Audiences became rougher to goalies. Maybe the reason for that is that hockey became lower scoring game. Several goalies suffered "nervous breakdown" (whatever that meant in each case I´m not sure). I find it very curious that Cude kept his own statistical diaries. I have understood that Cude suffered from lost of confidence and lost of love to be goalie at the end of his career? The steak story is atleast somewhat famous.

There is mentioning about his time as scout. I know he worked long time as scout. First for Canadiens and then for Red Wings. Is there anything in the book about that?

Goalies were certainly the "scapegoats" in those days.

Cude's statistical diary had notes on every goal that was scored on him and which part of the net it entered. It seemed he was very meticulous on correcting his mistakes from the previous night in practice the next day or his next game.

I think Cude was the first in a trio of Habs goaltenders to have a "nervous breakdown" at the end of their time in Montreal. Bill Durnan and Gerry McNeil followed. There was a lot of stress involved with being a goaltender in the NHL and having to deal with fans, the media, and having to protect yourself as goaltenders were often injured during games with their lack of equipment and facial protection.

And yes, of course, the book talks about his work as an NHL scout. The book details Wilf's entire life from start to finish, and everything in between!

 

[Theokritos]

Soccer was certainly very common in Canada during the early 1900's. It was and still is the easiest and most accessible sport in the world to play - all you need is a ball!

The area of Winnipeg that Cude and childhood friend Chuck Gardiner grew up in was heavily populated by new immigrants from the British Isles at the time. So playing soccer in the summer became the go-to-sport for those boys instead of football/rugby/baseball.

It's not that I'm really surprised to hear that accessibility and immigrant populations made soccer a popular sport, it's just that I've almost never seen it mentioned, as opposed to other sports.

Cude's statistical diary had notes on every goal that was scored on him and which part of the net it entered. It seemed he was very meticulous on correcting his mistakes from the previous night in practice the next day or his next game.

That's impressive.

Is there any mention as to why Cude picked the goaltending position? Did his older friend Gardiner influence him or was it a "classic" case of the kid who didn't skate as well as the others being forced into the net?

 

[nabby12]

It's not that I'm really surprised to hear that accessibility and immigrant populations made soccer a popular sport, it's just that I've almost never seen it mentioned, as opposed to other sports.



That's impressive.

Is there any mention as to why Cude picked the goaltending position? Did his older friend Gardiner influence him or was it a "classic" case of the kid who didn't skate as well as the others being forced into the net?

As Gardiner was a couple of years older, Cude looked up to him and wanted to be like him. That included playing goalie!

It's crazy to think that these two boys who would walk to and from school everyday together would go on to face one another in the 1934 Stanley Cup finals.

Here's another excerpt from Dear Red Light:

As Antonia Chambers (Gardiner's biographer) recognized, Charlie was the more dominant of the two, in a characteristically understanding and considerate way. They went to the same school together, and together stopped on the way back during the winter, involving themselves as untold thousands have done before and since, scampering about in pickup hockey wherever a vacant lot had metamorphosed itself into a makeshift rink. Undoubtedly in their first year or so, dad was just too little to plunge into the sport with his bigger buddy. “He had to sit,” Antonia explains, “wrapped in a red sweater a bit too big for him and wearing a wool hat, and watch Charlie play.” But not for long. The boys fretted about dad’s size and weight until some local sports enthusiast started a “paper-weight” league, and dad immediately found himself launched (after a fashion) towards his eventual adult career. He became a goalie at one end of the play, with Charlie at the other. “The boys shared future hopes and dreams, too,” Antonia speculated, foreshadowing something that in an unprecedented way would eventually come to pass. “Going to the big leagues, getting the chance to play for the Stanley Cup – it was a dream they shared, but scarcely thought possible.” Of course, even at that age, they must have been realistic enough to understand it was a dream scarcely to be thought possible. Nevertheless, they were kids together, fast friends together, and so quite naturally “they talked about it often.”

 

[Theokritos]

As Gardiner was a couple of years older, Cude looked up to him and wanted to be like him. That included playing goalie!

That makes a lot of sense.

Is there any story or new insight provided by the book that has particularly impressed or surprised you?

 

[Sanf]

Does the book have anything on how he ended up to NHL? I know he did have tryout with some other SSHL players with Quakers, but don´t really now any background to it. I have never made deeper research on Cudes career prior NHL. I know that he played sometimes in two leagues simultaneously in Winnipeg (commercial and senior), but I did not get the feeling that he was superstar prospect (granted not a deep research. I only have the teams in which he played).

 

[nabby12]

That makes a lot of sense.

Is there any story or new insight provided by the book that has particularly impressed or surprised you?

There's just very few family-written biographies on players from the 1920s/1930s out there that you really have to appreciate these kinds of books. And it certainly helps that Wilf's son was such an articulate world-class writer that this really is a one-of-a-kind book.

It's really a shame that not many people here are all that interested. I'm surprised that only 1 or 2 posters have even comments on this thread. It's disappointing to say the least.

But oh well. Dear Red Light is currently a top seller for hockey books on Amazon so I'm glad it's reaching the right fans.

Does the book have anything on how he ended up to NHL? I know he did have tryout with some other SSHL players with Quakers, but don´t really now any background to it. I have never made deeper research on Cudes career prior NHL. I know that he played sometimes in two leagues simultaneously in Winnipeg (commercial and senior), but I did not get the feeling that he was superstar prospect (granted not a deep research. I only have the teams in which he played).

Cude played with the St. Vital Saints in the Winnipeg junior league and then the Melville Millionaires. Both stints are talked about heavily in the book.

As an old-school goalie guy, you'll definitely enjoy this book @Sanf.

 

[Sanf]

Yes it is bit of shame. This is great forum with great knowledgeable posters. If I join these with my broken english and oddly specific questions it shouldn´t be intimidating to anyone else. We have lost few veteran members who had deep interest on everything hockey history related. That hurts these kind of discussions.

It´s nice that the book is doing well. I think this book may appeal on different kind of readers too. It is kind of amazing to get such personal view on a player/man whose career was almost 100 years ago. My own problem with books from NA is often how to get them to Europe with somewhat reasonable cost.

 

[Theokritos]

I have felt that goaltending became mentally rougher during the time that Cude got to the big leagues. Media was rougher and stat watching became a thing. Audiences became rougher to goalies. Maybe the reason for that is that hockey became lower scoring game.

Overlooked this post before. @Sanf, from your reading the early 1930s were a period when this development took place? It would be really interesting to learn more about the background.

 

[Sanf]

Overlooked this post before. @Sanf, from your reading the early 1930s were a period when this development took place? It would be really interesting to learn more about the background.

Oh sorry I forgot this. I´m actually going to take bit of summer break from this forum and most likely research so I might get back to this later.

But shortly yes it started to develope in late 20´s. There were some goalies that refused to play in some cities. Few did not even want to play in NHL. Goalies started to suffer "nervous breakdowns". Papers started to constantly talk about goalie GAA and even more about "shutout races". Goalies started to be more of the guilty one of losses. Especially New York spectators were hard on goalies. But I have some good contemporary sources about all of this and I get back to you.