Players you remember absolutely nothing about (or, who was Steve Poapst)

[seventieslord]

What was Ed Ward doing in an NHL skills competition?

I don't know for sure how many years they did it, but I know that in 95-96, everybody was eligible to participate in the skills competition. it was based on the results from the individual team competitions.

This was my grade 9 year and my first year as a THN subscriber. I probably nerded out about hockey more than I ever did before or since, during this season. Another strange factoid I can tell you, is that Jamie Heward had the hardest shot in the AHL that season, and Len Esau won it in the IHL. Heward had the hardest shot overall, ahead of both Manson and Esau.

This is something that probably stuck in my head all this time because Jamie Heward was a St John's Maple leaf that year, and because my dad had coached him (and converted him to D) when he was 15. Being that he was someone my family knew personally, we were rooting hard for him to make the show, and following his AHL progress pretty carefully.

 

[seventieslord]

.....all three were Saskatchewan born defensemen, 6-2 or 6-3, drafted within 4 years of each other, who all spent one of the least memorable periods of their careers with the leafs.

 

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

That's definitely how to pronounce the player's name. As for the skates, is it possible they were just known for years by the incorrect pronunciation because most people just saw the name on the skates and in newspaper ads and pronounced it like it was English?

I don't remember people pronouncing the skates that way. Maybe some kids. Daoust skates were well-known, worn by Gretzky.

Yeah, probably the case, because I had Daoust skates years before Dan Daoust was on the scene, and I "retired" from hockey by that time. My Dad called them that and so did kids on my hockey teams in the 70s. I don't recall TV or radio ads, but definitely a lot of print ads in the 70s, so I guess I'm remembering other peoples' misprounounciations.