No doubt in my mind that Pal Hal is looking UP at us now, shaking his fist...
... and probably chuckling at the same time over the dysfunction from Stavro's through Rogers/Bell.
...but in 40 years you have maybe a maximum of 10 years where the team wasn't an utter joke. And you can trace this to Ballard.
... pretty much ya, he spent his time as have those who followed more concerned with profit & loss more than anything else really.
OK, calm down there -- I was referring to the teams' respective play on the ice, not the management.
Interesting to read that Brophy was actually respected and was a successful coach at another level. I did not know that.
....
Edmontons' hardly handicapped in the same way Toronto was in the 70's & 80's as it was with Ballard vs Katz. Perhaps though Peter Pocklington, when his empire began to crumble and the Oilers were dismantled, unwinding, certainly theres a faction in Edmonton & Oilers fans elsewhere who have issues with Peter Puck. So similarity there perhaps as well.
And ya, John Brophy went on to have a lengthy career as a minor league Coach. 18yrs as a player (born in 1933) in the old Eastern Hockey League mostly with the Long Island Ducks ("Once a Duck, always a Duck") retiring at the age of 40 having racked up over 4000 PIM's. A record beyond imagining. Swath of destruction and a sea of blood behind that ones playing career. Hard core Baby. The character Reggie Dunlop in Slapshot based roughly on it in fact as were other players from that league & era.
Through the 70's (starting with the role of Playing/Coach on LI) he coached the Hampton Gulls of the EHL for several years before joining Birmingham of the WHA as an Assistant to Glen Sonmor, who left, then taking over as Head Coach.... when that stint ended hired by the Montreal Canadiens as HC with the Nova Scotia (he's actually a native of Antigonish NS) Voyageurs where he remained for 3 seasons. Hired by Toronto as an Assistant Coach then reassigned as HC with the St.Catherines Saints of the AHL, Coached the farm team for a year before being promoted to Head Coach in Toronto. Feuded with Gerry McNamara the so called GM, but a Ballard favorite, McNamara demanding Brophy be fired but instead getting the axe himself. Eventually was fired though in December 88. Thereafter he returned to the ECHL winning several league titles through the 90's. Had a bad car accident around 2000 but did return to Coaching in the ECHL & Southern Professional Hockey League before retiring, and at 73 then Coached a Junior Team in Nova Scotia for awhile.
Believe you me, his evil goes further...much, much further.
.... couldnt help himself, no. I read several bio's on him, speculated or postulated that the death of his wife from Cancer years earlier was a huge blow to him, that she'd been an anchor to his wandering, egoistic & miscreant propensities. On the other side of the coin, he could be very generous, benevolent, donating a fair amount of time & $$$, free use of the Gardens to charities over the years. Quite a facinating character in many ways. Full speed when he was a younger, including a love for Hydroplane Racing including Long Distance Races around Lake Ontario & so on. His father doing very well with Ballard Manufacturing, Machinists, the development of the Ballard Skate, entry into hockey circles & so on. A sort of Salesman/Promoter type. Rather bizarrely, he kept the family home out in Etobicoke long after he'd moved into the Gardens, a sort of timepiece, museum, tribute to his departed wife and that he rarely ever visited, stuck in the 50's that his youngest son (who had all kinds of problems) lived at and sort of "maintained". Very dysfunctional family situation. His other Son Bill Ballard quite successful, teaming up with Michael Kohl forming CPI (Concert Productions International) who amongst other tours handled the Rolling Stones Steel Wheels Tour, Michael Kohl then going on to handle exclusively every Stones tour that followed through the 90's & 00's. There was a major fight for control of the Gardens & Leafs after Ballards death, Bill Ballard unfortunately losing out to Stavro's, who's triangulations in gaining control werent exactly on the up & up, not entirely Kosher but thats another story altogether.
