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

[Hot Water Bottle]

This is a great thread idea!

My candidate is Jaroslav Pouzar. Surely he can't be real... I was an Ontario '80s kid and how the F could I have never heard of an actual Oilers dynasty member?

 

[Johnny Engine]

This is a great thread idea!

My candidate is Jaroslav Pouzar. Surely he can't be real... I was an Ontario '80s kid and how the F could I have never heard of an actual Oilers dynasty member?

That's a great one. I made an poster one time that was essentially a Sankey diagram of what happened to the Oilers (they all gathered in New York, LA, more of them in Buffalo and Toronto than you think...) and I had a games played cutoff of something like 150 games between 1983 and 1988 or something like that, and that was the one guy that made me do a double take.

So Pouzar is on the pouster (which I have somewhere, but not handy to me), although he doesn't do anything interesting, just fattens up the Oilers area between 1983-87 by one row. More interesting to look at are guys like Napier and Semenko, who start elsewhere and join, and guys like Coffey and Kurri who weave all over the the place once the 90s hit.

Now try to pronounce "Pouzar"

 

[Staniowski]

This is a great thread idea!

My candidate is Jaroslav Pouzar. Surely he can't be real... I was an Ontario '80s kid and how the F could I have never heard of an actual Oilers dynasty member?

That's a great one. I made an poster one time that was essentially a Sankey diagram of what happened to the Oilers (they all gathered in New York, LA, more of them in Buffalo and Toronto than you think...) and I had a games played cutoff of something like 150 games between 1983 and 1988 or something like that, and that was the one guy that made me do a double take.

So Pouzar is on the pouster (which I have somewhere, but not handy to me), although he doesn't do anything interesting, just fattens up the Oilers area between 1983-87 by one row. More interesting to look at are guys like Napier and Semenko, who start elsewhere and join, and guys like Coffey and Kurri who weave all over the the place once the 90s hit.

Now try to pronounce "Pouzar"

Many of these examples just come down to how old you are, and when you started watching hockey. Pouzar was a very well-known hockey player, a fixture on Team Czechoslovakia.

 

[Johnny Engine]

Many of these examples just come down to how old you are, and when you started watching hockey. Pouzar was a very well-known hockey player, a fixture on Team Czechoslovakia.

This is true. It's also possible that the story of the dynasty Oilers bringing in a relatively early European talent would have had more legs if they didn't have a Finnish superstar as well.

I will note that when I say Pouzar "doesn't do anything interesting", that's purely in the context of diagramming his movement around the NHL. Although perhaps an improved version of the poster could show Pouzar coming from the Czech league and then going to West Germany - it'd have the happy consequence of removing a dotted line from Kurri around 1991 if European clubs/leagues were represented. However, given the layout, that would mean three extra columns (unless "Europe" was its own column which feels sort of ignorant and reductive), so maybe it's for the best.

 

[ShelbyZ]

As for Canucks, I have no memory of Harry York's stint with the team. But I do remember he existed, and maybe played for the Rangers?

I always lump Harry York in with a bunch of Blues forwards from the late 90's and early 2000's who would have one or maybe two productive seasons for them and then end up completely out of the league within 3/4 years:

Jim Campbell, Blair Atcheynum, Lubos Bartecko, Daniel Corso, Eric Boguniecki, Petr Cajanek, etc.

In the spirit of this thread, I don't remember anything about any of them.

 

[VanIslander]

Joe Carveth.

Led the NHL in game-winning goals for the second time in 1950 (was 3rd in PP goals that year); was top 10 in goals, assists and in points over the decade leading up to that.

He won two Stanley Cups, leading the NHL in playoff goals in his first cup victory run, led the playoffs in scoring in a second finals run, and contributed secondary scoring in his second cup-winning run late in his career.

What position? What team?

I guessed a winger in Chicago or Detroit.

I had to look it up.

His face was news to me. That 1940s decade is less a focus of attention due to the war years. The 1950s and 1930s are SO MUCH written about!

 

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

I remember dan daoust because of the daoust 901 skates which were customary at the time

His name was pronounced Daw-Oo by the anouncers but I remember the skates were pronounced like "doused."

 

[VanIslander]

Have you ever quizzed someone who has claimed to know/study hockey history?

Ask them which team Marty Barry played for. Or Norm Ullman. These are elite top100-150ish players all time that draw blank stares when mentioned in sports bars.

 

[seventieslord]

His name was pronounced Daw-Oo by the anouncers but I remember the skates were pronounced like "doused."

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 remember having arguments with people about how to pronounce Hyundai. My response was always, "listen to their ads. They'll pronounce their own name correctly in their ads." Were there Daoust skates ads on TV or radio that anyone remembers?