sting101
Registered User
- Feb 8, 2012
- 17,393
- 16,815
i was at that game also and to piggy back off the story.....I had the good fortune to see his NHL debut where he wore #66 and fought both Dave Manson and Stu Grimson (not at the same time... he wouldn't take on whole teams until later). We had been pushed around for the better part of a decade by the Semenkos, McSorleys and Proberts of the league and with Gino we finally had our deterrent... which was an important aspect of the game at the time.
With the arrival of Linden in '88, Odjick in '90 and Bure in '91, the fortunes of our sad sack franchise finally took a turn for the better.
RIP Gino
the late Bob McCammon was the coach and they called him up to combat the toughness of Chicago and others but this was his big night and he wore 66 if i remember correctly. From the first shift you could see this was one big ass mother and he was literally skating right through the opposition hitting everything that moved and causing havoc. It was pretty funny to see this wrecking ball wearing the same number as Mario Lemieux who played the game with grace and like Gretzky with 99 you rarely saw others wear these numbers
As things went on Dave Manson took exception and they had a go. Gino with what would become signature piston rights was too much for Manson who was one tough hombre. So as the game wore on Stu Grimson who arguably was amongst the top3 heavyweights of that time decided to set this rookie straight who continued to skate around like the Hansen brothers when they finally got to play in Slapshot and they had a go. Gino threw hay makers again and didnt give an inch arguably getting the best of Grimson who certainly held his own.
With Gino getting the boot this time with a game misconduct he had to go through the Canuck bench at the old coliseum to the dressing room and when he did he turned to Coach McCammon and said "hey coach dont lose it without me" and the legend was born. Coach McCammon would later recant the story and say he barely knew who this kid was and after wreaking havoc and terrorizing the Hawks he says this to me. We (the coaches) were just looking at each other and laughing shaking our heads. Not a chance he was going back to the minors
Didn't take long for the rafters to be chanting Geeeeenno Geeeeenno and like a gladiator Gino Odjick would hop over the boards and set teams right if they were running our best players.
RIP Gino Odjick the Maniwaki Warrior, Forever Remembered
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