The Stanley Cup and Eyes!
Blog vol 5.2. The Stanley Cup and Eyes!
Last November, my sons and I went to the Hockey Hall of Fame. The most impressive room was the “Great Hall”, a 45-foot-high stained-glass dome with all the inductees of the Hall of Fame and all the hardware, including a replica of the Cup. When I was a kid, I had two big dreams: the biggest, being an astronaut and travelling to the moon; the second, being a hockey player and winning the Stanley Cup.
I think Roch Carrier put it best in his memorable story, The Hockey Sweater:
“The winters of my childhood were long, long seasons. We lived in three places - the school, the church, and the skating rink
- but our real life was on the skating rink.”
I would dream of being Guy Lafleur, hair whipping in the breeze, flying down the wing, crossing the blue line, winding up, and blasting a rocket into the top corner. Being from Northern Ontario and having outdoor ice all winter long, we could do this many times. What fun!
The other night, I was really glad for another Northern Ontario boy from Sault Ste. Marie, Paul Maurice, who played junior hockey in Windsor with the Spitfires. During a 1987 preseason game, he was hit in the right eye by a deflected puck. That was a game-finisher for him. He still had sight in his eye, but his peripheral vision was diminished. He finished most of that season but had lost his edge in junior hockey, losing the possibility of an NHL hockey career. The Spitfires, however, recognized his leadership abilities and made him an assistant coach. And, as they say, the rest is history.
Hard to believe, but helmets in the NHL were not mandatory until 1979, after which all new players had to wear a “Bucket”, and goalies had to wear a mask — unbelievable that until then goalies were not required to wear a mask (thank you Jacques Plante). Hockey is partly a game of chance. The puck can bounce around like crazy to the point that there is even such a thing as “Puck Luck.” Unfortunately, it can land in places that cause serious injury, like the eye. Even more dangerous, the end of a stick blade has also ended many a career due to eye injury.
The powers that be decided to join the rest of the world and in 2013, the NHL mandated visors to protect the face and eyes of their players. Close to home, in March of 2000, a Toronto Maple Leaf, Bryan Berard, a top pick defenceman with tons of promise, had his career curtailed with a nasty eye injury. Thankfully, we have mandatory eye protection at all levels of hockey now.
REMINDER: Random stuff happens. ALWAYS wear eye protection around whirring machines (thinking weed whackers here, saw one of these injuries this week) or hockey sticks.
No doubt that Paul Maurice has had a great career as a coach and, after 26 seasons, finally hoisted the Cup. Congratulations!
Til next week, (and next year for Leafs’ fans)
The good doctor
