In Memoriam Former pro hockey players/management/others deaths (Kristian Antila)

[Howie Hodge]

^^^Oh the stories some of these guys who had long minor league (mostly) careers have.

"Cowboy" or "Wild Thing" Howie Young comes to mind.

After a good start with Detroit in the early 60's, his undisciplined play - and undisciplined drinking got him sent to Chicago, who gave up on him quicker than did Detroit. Played in the old WHL with LA. Eventually sobered up, and made it back to Detroit - and then again Chicago. Unfortunately, he seemed to have lost a step, and ended up back in The WHL again. A couple retirements, and a couple comebacks along the way. A real talent (and part time actor - who appeared in a Frank Sinatra movie) he knew his way to all The Puck Bunnies around The WHL.

Former Junior Sensation Dennis Sobchuk roomed on the road with Howie during Howie's 1974-1975 season with the WHA's Phoenix Roadrunners. Dennis found out about Howie's Puck Bunnies the hard way. He would occasionally go to their hotel rooms on the road, only to find that Howie had brought a Puck Bunny back. Sobchuk's mattress would get thrown out into the hallway, and Howie wouild just tell him "sorry kid, looks like you're sleeping in the hallway tonight!" I'm guessing Howie's sobriety was gone by this point too.

They don't make them like that anymore.

Sadly; though not surprisingly, Howie passed away at age 62 in 1999.

 

[Howie Hodge]

^^
^^ Yeah, but he got to play in Hershey with Freddy Stanfield and Ron Schock!

I'd almost forgotten Freddy spent his last season in The AHL..... Another player who's game went south once he hit 30.....

 

[Nunymare]

Darryl Edestrand, on Oct 8: http://www.lfpress.com/2017/10/13/d...nd-london-brought-strength-brotherhood-to-nhl

 

[Howie Hodge]

Daryl Edestrand was a journeyman defenseman who put up some pretty good years offensively with Pittsburgh on the mid seventies.

Strong, and a pretty good skater. Not the greatest skill set; though he had a pretty good shot.

I believe he had some shoulder problem on and off too.

He was a personal friend of a acquaintance of my parents, having grown up near him. Otherwise I would only think passingly of him.

RIP Daryl.

 

[Killion]

He was a personal friend of a acquaintance of my parents, having grown up near him. Otherwise I would only think passingly of him.

Oh? Originally from Strathroy. And ya, 71, RIP..... He was well liked by his teammates & everyone who knew him. Great set of wheels & shot. Was originally Leafs property, attended a Marlies Training Camp (and did play a handful of games for them eventually) but was assigned to the London Nationals, OHA Jr.B (a team that included a number of decent players that went on to have NHL & Pro Careers, Walt McKechnie etc) team of the Western Ontario Division, winning the Championships. He was quite the physical presence for a guy that wasnt that huge, legendary strength actually along the lines of Tim Horton & few messing with him as a result... a mistake Bobby Orr made one night in foolishly throwing a soft punch at Edestrands jaw for no real reason other than that a fight had broken out elsewhere & I guess caught up in the bloodlust... decides to take a swing at Daryl. Not a real bright move there Bubba. Dont mess with Jr.B players who came up the hard way there Superstar. Jr.B back in the day as tough & rugged as it got... At anyrate, impressed the Hell out of Orr & the Bruins. Shortly thereafter traded to Boston where he spent 5yrs.

 

[Howie Hodge]

They say Orr never lost a fight. They missed his fight with Daryl Edestrand then.....

The friend's name was Bill Dean; probably not relevant at this point.

 

[SabbathBloodySabbath]

Former WHA/AHLer Duncan Rousseau.
https://globalnews.ca/news/3811166/former-winnipeg-jet-of-whl-days-loses-battle-with-cancer/

http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=338207

 

[Robert Gordon Orr]

Bob Girard [1948-2017]

305 NHL games with California, Cleveland and Washington

R.I.P.

 

[Killion]

^^^ Interesting though little known player outside of smaller circles..... Montreal lad I believe. Played Senior 'A' in the QSHL in the early 70's for the Amqui Aces, Sr.A even as late as then a pretty big deal in places like Bathurst New Brunswick & northern Quebec & environs. Smaller communities right across Canada and an excellent brand of hockey. This was just before the WHA hit, NHL Expansion amping up, a lot of guys in Sr.A well into their 20's & 30's who for a variety of reasons never went on to the NHL or even Minor-Pro from Junior, getting f/t day jobs as Milkmen, Butchers, Factory Workers, Farming or whatever. From smaller towns in most cases though Girard a Montrealer....

Left Winger, excellent skater, offensively talented.... signed as a Free Agent by the Seals in 73 then played in the minors for a couple of years with call-up's. The Seals rather woeful offensively and as Girard was fleet of foot found himself being covered, shadowed pretty heavily as he was a threat, dangerous if not contained. As California couldnt really play "shootout" against their much more established opponents, Girard & his linemates told to concentrate far more on checking, defensive system hockey, try & force turnovers. Keep the score at least respectable. Blow outs an embarrassment.... He moved with the Seals to Cleveland then wound up in Washington, so really a career with weak teams, failure to fully launch however in his final season of 1980 with the AHL Hershey Bears he did win the Calder Cup.... went out a Winner.

RIP

 

[SealsFan]

It's always a sad day in Casa Sealsfan when we lose another who flew the colors of the Seals or Barons. Let me share an anecdote about Mr. Girard you won't hear anywhere else.

March 6, 1977 -- the Barons have a Sunday afternoon game against the Rangers at the Garden, 1 pm start, and broadcast locally on TV in New York. Both clubs had games on the road the night before -- the Barons winning in Atlanta and the Rangers getting clobbered in Montreal.

So it's a late-season game between two teams going nowhere in the standings and they're understandably not looking forward to a 1 pm start after playing and traveling the night before. Even the Ranger broadcasters were groggy, and once play was underway, they were pointing out how listless the teams were skating. And they began zeroing in on one player - Bob Girard.

Every time his line came on the ice, they kept commenting how he was just floating up and down the wing, not hitting anyone, not looking for the puck, and it got to the point where one of the announcers broke into uncontrollable laughter and couldn't stop. Then a few minutes would go by and Girard would be back on the ice and the one announcer would say something like, "there's Girard, out for a recreational skate on the pond..." and it would trigger the other guy into another bout of uncontrolled hysteria. This went on and on and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I'm sure no tape of the game exists and I doubt you'll find anyone who was watching and even remembers this.

Incidentally, NY won the game on a late goal from a trio of former Bruins - Ken Hodge on assists from Carol Vadnais and Phil Esposito!

 

[Killion]

.... So it's a late-season game between two teams going nowhere in the standings and they're understandably not looking forward to a 1 pm start after playing and traveling the night before. Even the Ranger broadcasters were groggy, and once play was underway, they were pointing out how listless the teams were skating. And they began zeroing in on one player - Bob Girard.

Every time his line came on the ice, they kept commenting how he was just floating up and down the wing, not hitting anyone, not looking for the puck, and it got to the point where one of the announcers broke into uncontrollable laughter and couldn't stop. Then a few minutes would go by and Girard would be back on the ice and the one announcer would say something like, "there's Girard, out for a recreational skate on the pond..." and it would trigger the other guy into another bout of uncontrolled hysteria. This went on and on and I couldn't believe what I was hearing....

.... oh dear. poor guy. he obviously completely oblivious to what was being said & how he'd been singled out. but ya, rather embarrassing.... can well imagine it, that daylight like lighting of MSG which on TV always looked weird to me, I guess with the ceiling being white like that cast a daylight natural lighting effect over the ice & seating, quite a bit different from Maple Leaf Gardens, Boston Garden, the old Forum & so on.... and a Matinee game on the heels of a night before including travel. Personally I hated afternoon games when I played. Just seemed weird. Still dont much like them even as a spectator with the exception of Tournament Hockey & Playoffs.

 

[mario01]

subscribed, this seems like a very interesting threadhttp://:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:/isna/3/o.png

 

[Killion]

subscribed, this seems like a very interesting threadhttp://:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:/isna/3/o.png

.... well Welcome mario.... and ya, this one, pretty much all em' here at hf HOH. Enjoy.

 

[Robert Gordon Orr]

R.I.P. Hugh Currie [1925-2017]

He was a "one gamer". Played his only NHL game for Montreal Canadiens against New York Rangers on December 16, 1950

Obituary for Hugh Roy Currie | Wombold Family Funeral Homes, Wetaskiwin, AB

Also worth mentioning is that Johnny Murray [1924-2017], the last surviving member of the British 1948 Olympic team passed away in Miami on November 18.

 

[Killion]

Hugh Currie appears to have had a long & interesting minor-pro career, playing for the old WHL Canucks for a number of seasons in 3 separate stints. Defenceman & interestingly, fairly decent Assists totals, consistent, so could have been used on the PP, front line Defensive pairing. Played pro from 44/63, then Coached the Edmonton Nuggets of the Alberta Sr Hockey League for 2yrs, comes out of retirement in 65/66, played 7 games for the Nuggets getting 6 Assists. Not too shabby.

 

[Habsfan18]

Former Calgary Flames defenceman Zarley Zalapski dead at 49

Zarley Zalapski has passed away at age 49.

 

[Robert Gordon Orr]

R.I.P. Zarley, only 49.

Another former NHL'er that passed away recently is Ron Attwell [1935-2017].
He only played in the NHL for one season (St. Louis and NY Rangers in 1967/68)
He had a fairly long minor league career. His son, cousin and uncle all played in the NHL.
R.I.P.

 

[iamjs]

RIP Zarley Zalapski (1968-2017)

Former Calgary Flames defenceman Zarley Zalapski has died at the age of 49, according to a statement from the team.

“We are deeply saddened with the news of Zarley’s passing,” president and CEO Ken King said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
“We are proud that Zarley wore the Flames jersey; made Calgary his home following his playing career; represented our alumni executive; and we will always remember him as a member of the Flames family.”
Zalapski was born in Edmonton on April 22, 1968.

The left-shooter was drafted to the NHL in 1986 at the age of 18 to play for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
He played for the Flames from 1993 to 1997, when he then played for the Montreal Canadians for one season before playing for the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1999/2000 season.

Former Calgary Flames defenceman Zarley Zalapski dead at 49

Left out of the article was - and I didn't know this - that Zalapski played another eight years in Europe, playing his last game in November 2009 with Lausanne.

 

[Killion]

Zarley Zalapski, Man thats sad. Only 49. Rumor is it was cardiac related but officially no cause released as of yet.

 

[Canadiens1958]

R.I.P. Zarley, only 49.

Another former NHL'er that passed away recently is Ron Attwell [1935-2017].
He only played in the NHL for one season (St. Louis and NY Rangers in 1967/68)
He had a fairly long minor league career. His son, cousin and uncle all played in the NHL.
R.I.P.

Midst of a huge residency controversy with the Junior Canadiens in the early 1950s.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Zalapski is not the second person to pass away this that was involved in the 1991-Mar-04 Pittsburgh Penguins traded Jeff Parker, John Cullen and Zarley Zalapski to Hartford Whalers for Ron Francis, Grant Jennings and Ulf Samuelsson

 

[iamjs]

Did you mean Zalapski is now the second person? Typo kinda confused me.

Also didn't know that Jeff Parker passed away earlier this year.

 

[Chili]

I was at ZZ's draft and I remember the enthusiam that Eddie Johnston had in announcing his selection. Of course he later traded for him when he got to Hartford.

Some thoughts from Murray Craven and Pat Verbeek...

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Shen...at-Verbeek-Remember-Zarley-Zalapski/240/89594

 

[Robert Gordon Orr]

R.I.P. Ron Boehm [1943-2017]

He played briefly in the NHL for the Oakland Seals

 

[Killion]

Ron Boehm, name I havent heard in years. Star player coming out of Jr., loaned to the Edmonton Oil Kings in 64 in their losing effort vs Toronto Marlies in the Memorial Cup.... Smaller player, 5'8" 160. Only played a dozen or so games for the Seals but decent & fairly lengthy minor-pro career..... RIP