In Memoriam Former pro hockey players/management/others deaths

[Gee Wally]

Not NHL but I thought should be mentioned.

Bob Cleary, 79, of Weston; played on first US hockey team to win gold.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...lympic-gold/BhxkfaQQK6kzKXsvxXbVRM/story.html


When the United States defeated the favored Canadians, 2-1, Mr. Cleary scored the game’s first goal while absorbing a body check in front of the net from Harry Sinden, a future Boston Bruins coach and executive.


“That goal really lifted us and showed we could stand up to them,†recalled Mr. Cleary’s teammate Dick Rodenhiser, a Malden native.

The US squad went on to defeat the Soviet Union, 3-2, and then earned the first gold medal by a US hockey team by coming from behind to knock off Czechoslovakia, 9-4.

 

[Nunymare]

Unfortunately another...
Rick Foley, 70 on Sept 29
http://www.lifenews.ca/announcement/5939619-foley-gilbert-rick-

 

[Killion]

Bob Cleary, 79, of Weston; played on first US hockey team to win gold.

You ever run in this individual Wally? Seems rather likely given your origins playing the game as a kid in the area/region. Might not remember it, remember him or the even the name, but as he was so active, probable.

 

[Gee Wally]

You ever run in this individual Wally? Seems rather likely given your origins playing the game as a kid in the area/region. Might not remember it, remember him or the even the name, but as he was so active, probable.

I cant recall. He may have Ref'd some of my Arlington High games as Joe Bertagna talks about in the article.

Joe is Hockey East Commishioner. Great former Harvard goalie. I remember Joe most as a roving goalie coach when I played bantam and midget.

 

[Nunymare]

Oct 19 - Fleming Mackell, 86

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thestar/obituary.aspx?n=fleming-mackell&pid=176174882

 

[Killion]

^^^ Joe Pelletier on & with Fleming Mackell: www.bruinslegends.blogspot.com/2010/11/fleming-mackell.html

 

[Gee Wally]

Mackell's NHL career ended in a dispute with management. "The Bruins and I had a kind of falling-out. They thought they had better young players to bring in. They sold my contract to Quebec. I went to the Quebec Aces as a playing coach. That was a big mistake. It didn't work out at all. The Bruins themselves didn't do very much after I left either. They went downhill pretty fast. They could never beat anybody. When I was with them we never missed the playoffs except the year I had a bad knee."

If he were given another chance at his career, Mackell says he might "look after himself a little better" and pay more attention to the individual side of the game. "I could have been a little more intense, maybe a little more cooperative.... I wasn't cooperative with management, when you look at it now from a different perspective."

http://web.archive.org/web/20050118052922/http://www.bruins-legends.com/M/mackell.htm

 

[Killion]

^^^ Yeah, rather an interesting guy & career. Leading scorer with St.Mikes coming out of Junior, obviously crafty smaller forward, scoring threat but with the Leafs, round peg meets square hole. Demands he adopt a more two-way defensive checking game & role. Then when that wasnt happening, trade with the Bruins for promising Defenceman Jim Morrison, who had originally been a Forward himself. In Toronto, he was converted back to Forward, Defensive Specialist, while in Boston Mackell becoming a real stalwart, fan favorite. Boston eventually reacquired Morrison in exchange for Allan Stanley, a key player partnered with Horton in Toronto & the Cups that followed. Kinda have to feel for Mackell early in his career in being told no, you play it defensively or its off to the minors, up & down like a yo-yo, finds a home and some success, gives it his all in Boston to then only be essentially dispensed with like yesterdays news when he obviously did have a lot more hockey left in him, sold to QC.

 

[Peter9]

Fleming Mackell had an absolutely phenomenal scoring record as a junior player, all the way through his team's Memorial Cup championship, and it was all the more amazing because it came during an era not known for offensive hockey. He was a truly exciting player, very fast, and also had versatility, sometimes playing on the left as well as his usual center. And give the fellow his due; he was named first all-star team center in the 1952-53 season with a 27-goal year, very high for the era (although it came during the lull in star center talent between Lach and Schmidt, on the one hand, and, on the other, Beliveau and Henri Richard).
In my youthful judgment at the time, which I think still withstands modern scrutiny, he would have done much better with another club (although not the Maple Leafs). He was diddled around with so much during much of his career, asked to play so many different roles, even though his offensive potential was paramount.

Anyway, it's a pity he fell out with the autocrats at the Boston club; he was far from the only one. I saw him play a game with the Los Angeles Blades of the old Western Hockey League in the early 1960s, a few years after his last NHL match, and he still looked NHL-ready to me.

It sticks in my mind that he was one of Foster Hewitt's favorite players; the old man always seems to have words of admiration for him in the days when Hockey Night in Canada was in its infancy. But I'm going back a long way. Can anyone else confirm my memory?

 

[Killion]

Can anyone else confirm my memory?

.... afraid I cant Peter. Just a couple of years before my time. But yes, from all Ive read, he rather like Red Kelly wasnt deemed a keeper by Toronto, though unlike Red he was signed, earned a spot coming out of St.Mikes, his first NHL Game actually an All Star tilt back in the day when the Stanley Cup Champions squared off against the best of the rest of the league. With St.Mikes, a real "sparkplug", yet Toronto at that time & indeed right on through the 60's, System Hockey, Team Defense First. It later drove Carl Brewer, Frank Mahovlich & Mike Walton absolutely Batty, none of whom ever really fulfilled their potential under so rigid a style of play. Ultra conservative, rather like the city itself of that era, even more so in the 1950's. Boston was the best of the worst in the 50's, Chicago didnt find its footing until late in that decade, New York as well through the 50's to mid-to-late 60's pretty much out of it by Christmas time every year. But Mackell & the Bruins, they did enjoy some success in the 50's, making it into the Playoffs, the players able to collect some bonus dollars. Cratered in the early 60's after Flemings' departure, no coincidence, so ya, diddled around with early by the Leafs, by the Bruins later in his career, and as you saw when he was playing in the WHL, still NHL ready, lots of hockey left in the guy.

 

[NewtJorden]

Jim Roberts

http://montrealgazette.com/sports/hockey/nhl/montreal-canadiens/former-hab-jimmy-roberts-dies-at-age-75

 

[double5son10]

Nice article on Jimmy Roberts here. Truly one of the greatest utility men the game's ever known.
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/hock...cle_4aca174d-5513-525e-bbbe-ea848a9d0016.html

 

[Killion]

^^^ Great tribute by the St.Louis Post-Dispatch. Thx for linking that up.

 

[Nunymare]

Nov 8 - Aldo Guidolin

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thestar/obituary.aspx?n=aldo-reno-guidolin&pid=176408790&fhid=11944

 

[double5son10]

Dirty Bertie has passed, age 89.
http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2015/11/18/bert-olmstead-est-decede-1

 

[simon bedford]

bert Olmstead

at age 89 former nhl 5 time cup winner has passed away http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/f...all-of-famer-bert-olmstead-passes-away-at-89/

 

[Sprague Cleghorn]

At one time, he even held the single season assists record at a time when the likes of Howe, Beliveau, Bathgate etc. were playing too.

 

[Ben Grimm]

Bert Olmstead, a Hockey Hall of Fame member and five-time Stanley Cup champion who at one point co-held the record for points in a single game, died Monday. He was 89.

Olmstead, a Saskatchewan native, won the Cup four times as a member of the Montreal Canadiens and once with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was a runner-up for the Calder Trophy in 1950-51 for the Chicago Blackhawks.

"The National Hockey League family mourns the passing of Bert Olmstead -- a fierce competitor and a five-time champion who played in the Stanley Cup Final 11 times in his 14-season career with Chicago, Montreal and Toronto," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. "Bert's passion for the game earned unwavering respect from his teammates; his knowledge of the game once earned him a role as a playing assistant coach; and his skill led to what was then an NHL single-season record for assists: 56 in 1955-56. We send heartfelt condolences and comfort to Bert's family and friends."

Olmstead, a left wing, scored eight points (four goals, four assists) in a game on Jan. 9, 1954, equaling the record set by Canadiens great Maurice Richard 10 years earlier. The record was eclipsed by Darryl Sittler of the Maple Leafs, who had 10 points in a game on Feb. 7, 1976.

Olmstead was inducted into the Hall in 1985. He finished his career with 181 goals and 602 points in 848 regular-season games, and 16 goals and 59 points in 115 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=788599

 

[Nunymare]

November 23 - Steve Hrymnak, 89
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/chroniclejournal/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=176668183

 

[Nunymare]

Dec 6 - Dale Anderson, 83 http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/th....aspx?n=dale-anderson&pid=176811624&fhid=6664

 

[Fenway]

Glen Sonmor, former North Stars head coach, dies at 86

Glen Sonmor, a former coach of the University of Minnesota hockey team and the Minnesota North Stars whose folksy and enthusiastic color commentary during radio broadcasts of Gophers hockey games made him a fan favorite, has died.

The Canadian-born Sonmor, whose playing and coaching career spanned from the 1940s to the 1980s before he entered the radio booth, was 86.

His death Monday morning was confirmed by Lou Nanne, a close friend and hockey colleague at the NHL level.

http://www.startribune.com/glen-sonmor-former-u-and-north-stars-head-coach-dies-at-86/361797651/

 

[NewtJorden]

Dickie Moore has passed away

 

[Fenway]

Dickie Moore has passed away

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=793556&navid=nhl:topheads

MONTREAL - The Canadiens organization was deeply saddened to learn that former player and Hall-of-Famer Richard "Dickie" Moore passed away earlier today in Montreal. Moore was 84.

Born in the Montreal borough of Park Extension on January 6, 1931, Dickie Moore was one of the most exciting and productive players of his era. After two consecutive Memorial Cup championships, in 1949 with the Montreal Jr. Royals and the following year with the Montreal Jr. Canadiens, recording 24 points in a mere 13 games, Moore made his NHL debut with the Canadiens mid-way though the 1951-52 season. In his Canadiens debut at age 21, he managed to record 33 points in as many games and was a deserving candidate for the Calder award as Rookie of the Year.

 

[Canadiens1958]

Dickie Moore Obit

Dickie Moore obituary by Red Fisher from The Gazette:

http://montrealgazette.com/sports/h...bs-legend-dickie-moore-who-has-died-at-age-84

 

[Robert Gordon Orr]

Dickie Moore obituary by Red Fisher from The Gazette:

http://montrealgazette.com/sports/h...bs-legend-dickie-moore-who-has-died-at-age-84

A legend paying tribute to another legend.

One of my favourite Dickie Moore stories is when he played for the St. Louis Blues. After a game one of his young teammates was mad and threw his sweater on the floor of the dressing room. Dickie Moore, a guy full of pride, grabbed the player by the throat and put him up against the wall, his feet dangling over the floor.
Dickie Moore ment business and squeezed his hand hard around the throat and hissed “That sweater never hits the floor, you got that? That crest never touched the floor in Montreal. That Bluenote, that crest, is your life, your livelihood. You always take pride in it.” I love that kind of mentality and I wish players today had an ounce of that.