Quickies …
Did you know … that Gretzky’s office refers to the area behind a team’s net? When Wayne Gretzky was on the ice, he spent a lot of time in possession of the puck behind the opposition goal, waiting for teammates to get open in front of the net. As the Great One once commented, “When I get back there, I prefer to use a backhand pass to get the puck out front. I like to use the net as a sort of screen, to buy time from the opposing defencemen who may be trying to get me.… I try to keep the puck away from them as long as possible so I can hopefully make a play.”
What is the slot?
The slot is the area directly in front of the net and is considered prime scoring territory. Centreman Phil Esposito, during his great years with the Boston Bruins, set up shop in the slot and got down to rewriting the record book in the late 1960s and 1970s. In 1968–69 he amassed 126 points and in 1970–71 he bagged 152 points, with 100 or more points in four subsequent seasons. His 76 goals in 1970–71 was tops in the league until Wayne Gretzky surpassed it with 92 in 1981–82 (still the record).
What is a wraparound?
A wraparound occurs when an attacking player controls the puck behind the opposition’s net and attempts to score by reaching around the side of the goal and jamming the puck in.
Who was the first NHL player to use a slap shot?
A slap shot is a forehand shot in which the shooter draws the stick back above the waist (the back swing) before swinging the stick quickly forward and slapping the puck. It is not unusual for slap shots to travel more than 100 miles per hour. The advantage of the slap shot is its velocity; the disadvantages include a lack of accuracy, the long time it takes to release the shot (slap shots are commonly blocked by doughty defenders), and the opportunity given to defenders to take the puck during the back swing. As to who in the NHL first employed the slap shot, like many things in hockey, that’s shrouded in controversy and speculation. Early practitioners of the slap shot in the 1950s were Bernard “Boom Boom” Geoffrion and Andy Bathgate. Geoffrion, who played most of his career with the Montreal Canadiens, says he got his colourful nickname “Boom Boom” because of that very shot: “One day I was practising at the Forum and shooting the puck hard against the boards and it was making a pretty big noise. A newspaper guy, Charlie Borie, asked me if it would be okay if he started calling me ‘Boom Boom.’ Since that day, the name stayed.”
What is a neutral-zone trap?
The neutral-zone trap is a dreadfully dull defensive strategy that’s popular with many hockey coaches because of its effectiveness. Although variations of the trap have existed for decades, it gained prominence when the 1995 New Jersey Devils used it to win the Stanley Cup. The goal of the trap is to clog the neutral zone with defenders so the offensive team has little momentum when crossing its own blueline. If successfully executed, the trap forces the attacking team to lose the puck before crossing the central redline, or to shoot it in. The Florida Panthers once frequently employed a twist on the trap by attempting to stop opponents before they reached the neutral zone, provoking a turnover near the opposition’s blueline.
Six Curious Terms in Hockey
• Baffle Play: A former term, now archaic, for a fast deke.
• Cookie Shelf: The top of the net where flashy players like to shoot the puck.
• Eggbeater: A player adept with his stick close up, usually in the corner to stick-check an opponent and claim the puck.
• Slewfooting: A dangerous, and dirty, act of tripping another player from behind. A player committing this foul stands behind an opponent and uses his or her foot to sweep the feet out from under the other player, causing the player to fall backward. The offending player is assessed a minor penalty for tripping. Such fouls most commonly occur in traffic in front of the net or following a faceoff.
• Snowplow: To hook a player, usually between the bluelines.
• Spinnerama: A deft manoeuvre in which the puck carrier turns 360 degrees in an attempt to evade defenders.
Who was the last goaltender to play without a mask in the NHL?
The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Andy Brown was the last NHL goalie to bare his face to slap shots and other on-ice hazards. Brown played his last NHL game with the Penguins in a 6–3 loss to the Atlanta Flames on April 7, 1974. The plucky, or crazy, netminder continued his professional career in the World Hockey Association with the Indianapolis Racers, and he didn’t wear a mask there, either. Brown, like the Philadelphia Flyers’ Ron Hextall, had something of a mean streak. In 1973–74 with the Penguins he achieved the then single-season NHL penalty-minute record for goalies, notching 60. He continued his warring ways in the WHA the next season, leading all goalies in that league that year with 75 penalty minutes. Incidentally, the current NHL record holder for penalty minutes for a goalie in one season is Hextall, who earned himself 113 in 1988–89 while playing for the Flyers. Hextall also has the career record for penalty minutes — 584.
Top Five Soviet Players Who Never Played in the NHL
• Vsevolod Bobrov: A forward, he played hockey in the Soviet Union from 1946 through 1957, then coached the Soviet national team, including its games in the 1972 Summit Series. Also a soccer star, Bobrov was one of his country’s first genuine hockey heroes and was often compared to Maurice Richard. He was part of two World Championships and one Olympic-gold effort.
• Anatoli Firsov: One of the Soviet Union’s earliest superstars, Firsov played left wing and centre from 1958 through 1974. He was part of eight World Championships and three gold-medal Olympic teams. Firsov boycotted the 1972 Summit Series in support of ousted national team coach Anatoli Tarasov. It’s often thought that his absence on the Soviets’ Summit Series team was the equivalent of Canada’s inability to put Bobby Hull on the ice.
• Valeri Kharlamov: An eight-time World Champion and three-time Olympic goldmedal winner, Kharlamov, a forward, made his Canadian debut during the 1972 Summit Series and astonished the North American hockey world with his prodigious talent. Kharlamov played for the Soviet national team from 1967 through 1981, his career cut short when he was killed in a car accident.
• Vladislav Tretiak: A 10-time world champion and three-time Olympic gold-medal winner, Tretiak was the Soviet Union’s greatest ever goaltender during his career from 1968 through 1984. He played brilliantly in the 1972 Summit Series and later went on to stymie many North American teams in international competitions. He was the first Soviet-trained player to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
• Valeri Vasiliev: A nine-time world champion and two-time Olympic gold-medal winner, Vasiliev, the Soviet Union’s greatest defenceman, played from 1967 through 1982.
Which NHL player was the last to play without a helmet?
The days of seeing an NHL player’s hair or lack of it on the ice started to be numbered in the 1970s, especially after the league made it mandatory in 1979 for all players entering the NHL to don one. Anyone already in the league at that time could still go helmetless if they so desired. Centreman Craig MacTavish, once an integral part of the Edmonton Oilers in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, continued to display his greying locks until his final game with the St. Louis Blues during the 1997 Stanley Cup playoffs.
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