When Men Were Men Part I... The Early Days of the NHL

All photos courtesy of Pinterest

Because I'm old enough to have seen most of these guys play, my dear friend @barrydutton asked me to do a post, or series about some of the early guys of the National Hockey League. These guys were tough, none of the pampered dilatants of today's professional sports and although the sport has been spoiled by the introduction of Scandinavians and an overabundance of protective gear (much of which has been weaponized) these are still some of the toughest guys in professional sports.

When I began watching hockey in the 1950's there were six teams in the league- there were no helmets, even for the goalies, travel was by bus and the pay stunk... you had to be dedicated to play in those days. But these stalwart souls persevered and through the years the sport has become more popular with pro teams developing in such unlikely places as Phoenix, Dallas and Las Vegas. Many people still watch for the brawls, there's an old saying in hockey: "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out."

In this post I want to introduce some of the guys that made the sport famous... the guys that made me want to be a hockey player. The NHL began in 1942, although pro hockey goes back to around 1917. The "Original Six" were the Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens, Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks. In 1967 they began their expansion and began to integrate more teams.

Rather than go back to the very beginning, I'll start in the 60's and 70's with players that people have probably heard of. At this time a few players in Major League baseball and the NFL had broken the million dollar mark, although most made several hundred thousand... the average salary for a hockey player at this time was $15,000 a year. The great Bobby Orr made a whopping $35,000! It was the love of the game that kept these warriors playing... and warriors they were.

This is Ted Lindsay and Terry Sawchuck... Ted died on the 4th of this month and although he predates most of the guys I'll talk about he deserves a mention and a place in the "Tough Guys" Hall of Fame, During his lengthy career he amassed over 1700 stitches in his face (thanks for the correction Barry). Terry played 21 years from 1949 to 1970. This can be said of many of these older players such as Gordie Howe. This is also a photo of Terry... [CORRECTION] This is Terry Sawchuck, not Ted Lindsay- my bad!

This is the great Bobby Orr, from his beginning with the Oshawa Generals, through his career with the Boston Bruins. Orr is arguably the best to ever lace up his skates...

His rookie year with Boston

Later in his career...

There have almost always been two types of players- finesse players and thugs. Finesse guys like Bobby Orr you didn't take cheap shots at, mostly out of respect, but also out of fear of guys like these...

The "Turk" Derek Sanderson who lived upstairs from me at Harbor Towers in Boston... and

"Terrible" Terry O'Reilly

These were the enforcers and nearly every team had them. Meet Bobby Clark of the Philadelphia Flyers, AKA the "Broad Street Bullies." Bobby was a finesse player who wasn't adverse to mixing it up a bit. He played with Type 1 diabetes and had to have his blood sugar monitored constantly...

If someone got too rough with Bobby, they called in this guy...

Dave Schultz... Dave could barely skate and couldn't handle a puck- I think he had 1 goal in his 5 years with the Flyers, a puck bounced off his skate and went in- but he could fight... he retired with the most penalty minutes in history, a record I believe he still holds.

Before I fold this up and go on to some bios, I want to include one more guy that shows how tough hockey players are...

This is Rich Peverley... he had a heart attack on the bench and had to be revived with a defibrillator. After coming too, he begged to return to the game... these guys are tough!