Lunch at the Garden Club with Milt....

At the first of our lunches, I ate my clam chowder and listened to Milt, here's some of what he said.

"For so many years the league and the teams ignored American plyers, living here I went to a lot of college games and I knew there were American kids who could play in the NHL."

"I was 17, lived in a boarding house in Brookline, took the trolley to the Garden for practice. Wore a suit, a white shirt and tie everyday."

"The big road trip was out to Chicago on the train. On the way back we'd play the Wings and the Leafs. Sometimes we'd play Montreal too, then back to Boston."

"6 teams, 48 game season, played each other 8 times a year, 4 and 4."

"Montreal, it was always Montreal, still is isn't it?"

"We played a lot of cards on the train."

"I think Frankie Brimsek was the first American I had as a team mate. Frankie was a great goal tender. When he came up from the Reds in in 38-39 he had 6 shut outs in his first 7 games, if I remember correctly there were 3 or 4 players that made the NFL from Eveleth at that time."

Milt was the center on the Bruins' "Kraut Line" with wingers Bobby Bauer and Woody Dumart. All three of them grew up together in Kitchener, Ontario. They won two Stanley Cups together, After winning the cup in 40-41 they all joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and served for the duration of WWII.

"Woody, Bobby and I finished 1-2-3 in scoring in 39 and we won the Stanley Cup. The Bruins wanted to cut our salaries from $4100 to $3700 for the next season."

I was introduced to Milt Schmidt in 1979. Milt died the other day at 98, the oldest living NHL player. Milt was the only player to Captain his team, coach his team and become the General Manager of his team. Milt had an incredible career,

Stanley Cup champion - all with Boston (1939 and 1941 as a player), (1970 and 1972 as general manager)

Finished his career with 229 goals and 346 assists for 575 points in 776 games.

At the time of his retirement, was fourth in NHL history in points scored and third in assists.

Named to the NHL First All-Star Team in 1940, 1947 and 1951.

Named to the NHL Second All-Star Team in 1952.

Played in NHL All-Star Game in 1947, 1948, 1951 and 1952.

Won the Lester Patrick Trophy for contributions to hockey in 1996.

Was the last active NHL player who played during the 1930s.

In 1998, he was ranked number 27 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.

Won the Hart Trophy in 1951

NHL Scoring Champion in 1940

Milt was one of the two greatest Bruins of all time. Milt said the greatest is Bobby Orr, Bobby says the greatest is Milt.

Here they are being honored at a Bruins game, the 80th anniversary of Milt becoming a Bruin and Bobby's 50th. (Milt first noticed Bobby when he was 12 and took a personal interest in his development as a young player)

I cherish the time I spent with Milt, I know you're skating again like you did when you were a 17 year old kid with the Bruins. It was an honor to get to know you.

UND"s 8th National Championship

After watching UND win their 8th NCAA National Championship last night in Tampa, I thought about another UND National Championship.

On March 29th, 1980 I drove from Boston to Providence, Rhode Island to see a hockey game, an NCAA National Championship game between the UND Fighting Sioux and the Northern Michigan University Wildcats. 

Without a Boston school in the tournament interest in the final four, (they didn't call it the Frozen Four in those days) was low. The Boston teams, BU, BC, Harvard, Northeastern were eliminated in the earlier rounds. Dan Davis, our sports director at WHDH, gave me his press credentials, and off I went to Providence. I was pumped to see the game!

When I was a kid in Grand Forks, UND won the national championship twice, in 1959 and in 1963. In the game in Providence against Northern Michigan, they would be going for their third title, their first in 17 years.

I grew up with UND hockey, skated, and played in the 'Old Barn" on the campus from the time I was a little kid through club hockey at UND.

Gary Como and I were members of Al Purpur's ice crew at the Old Barn, we shoveled the ice before Al pulled his pre-Zamboni contraption around the rink to resurface the ice. For our efforts, we got game tickets and could stand at rinkside during the games. We saw some great WCHA battles at the barn. We saw the incredible World Champion Russian Red Army team play on their first tour of the US. We saw Harvard and the Cleary brothers play UND during Harvard's first-ever western trip. We even saw NHL legend Gump Worsley play in goal for the Winnipeg Maroons during one of his punishment tours in the minor leagues.

After leaving home to make my way in broadcasting I hadn't seen the Sioux play for many years. Living in Boston I was a Bruins fan, I went to Harvard and BU games a few times a year, I never missed a Bean Pot tournament, this night was different because the Sioux were such a big part of my life.

I parked across the street from the Providence Civic center in the press parking section, I went to the press entrance and got my passes updated.

A guy poked me in the back and said, "What the hell are you doing here?" It was Bob Bustin from KNOX radio in Grand Forks. I worked at KNOX for a short period of time and knew the staff. Bob took me up to the broadcast booth to say hello to Doug Teigmeyer. I knew better than to hang around when Doug was getting ready for a game. So I was in and out of the booth and left Doug and Bob to prepare for the pre-game reports and the play by play. Because of my press pass, I had all arena access. I made my way down to the lower section and found a seat about 8 rows up and to the left of the goal. Perfect site lines for watching a hockey game. Here's what I saw from my seat.

The Sioux won by a score of 5-1

The 16-year drought without an NCAA Championship ended in 1980. 

In 1980 head coach Gino Gasparini led the Sioux to the 1st of three championships they would win under his leadership.

North Dakota had lost twice earlier in the season to Northern Michigan.

Mark Taylor and Howard Walker were named 1st team All-Americans.

Captain Mark Taylor, who led the Sioux with 92 points would only play part of the 1st period of the championship game before breaking his collarbone and forced to leave the game.

Doug Smail was named the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Smail, Marc Chorney, and Phil Sykes were named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team.

Smail was the first UND player to score four goals in an NCAA Championship game.

UND first-year goaltender Darren Jensen made 20 saves in the win, ending his season with a 13-0-1 record.

UND had only won one (Dec. 28, 1977, 8-4) of the four games in UND history against the Wildcats prior to playing for the 1980 Championship.

There was a large group of UND fans at the game, they were noisy and the pep band was there.

I found out later the "real" UND pep band wasn't at the game at all because the school wouldn't foot their travel bill. The UND pep band director knew one of the band directors at Brown University and sent the UND music and a box of jerseys east, so kids from Brown could impersonate kids from UND.

After the game, I went across the street to the Marriott Hotel with Bob and Doug to the UND victory party. I got to see people from my home town, people I went to school with and one or two I played hockey with and against. It was a great night for a Grand Forks kid in Providence. It was a great night for Bob and Doug too, because I took them to Camille's Roman Gardens on Federal Hill for late-night Italian food and several bottles of wine.

This is the Old Barn where UND hockey was played when I was a kid.

This is the arena where UND plays now...

Interesting anecdote, Ralph Englestad taught me how to swim.

  

I Love Hockey!

 

When I was a little boy, our next door neighbor Leo Fetig was the goalie for the Amerks a semi-pro hockey team. Leo had three girls. I was the one he taught to skate. I remember Leo after the games with black eyes, bloody noses and his wife Ruth working on his "Charlie horses".

My lifelong pal Gary Como and I were kids who helped Al Purpur with the ice at the University of North Dakota during the Sioux games, we did it for free tickets. We saw some great WCHA Hockey. Gary and I saw the Russian National team play the Sioux on their first US tour. We saw Harvard play UND for the first time on UND home ice. Bill Cleary gave me his stick after the game. Bill and his brother went on to play for the Gold Medal team in the ’60 Olympics. I met Cleary years later in Boston when he was the coach at Harvard, I brought up the stick and he remembered the game and the dumb kid after the game. After that I saw any Harvard game I wanted plus tickets to the Bean Pot. There were some great ones. Gary and I would do our ice scraping and then sit on the scoreboard supports to watch the game, perfect for Junior High boys. I watched Stan Pashcke play for UND and we cried at the sad story of Terry Casey. Later in life I got to know Stan and his eyes lit up when I told him I played at Pashcke Gardens (the rink at Central Park) when I was a kid. The UND play by play guy, Doug Teigmeir would always say when Stan scored a goal, “There’s another light in Pashcke Gardens” I later worked with Doug at KNOX and engineered UND hockey games. The story is always how the coach of the 80' Olympic team was the last cut on the 60 team, Stan was the cut just before Herb Brooks.

With the encouragement of our coach, Bob Peters, we formed a Midget A team and a Jr team at Central Park one year and won both leagues. Plus we played double the games our peers played. Peters later coached UND, then started the program at Bemidji State and won championships in D-3, D-2 and D-1. He was a college goalie drafted by the Redwings, opted to stay in school and to make a career in coaching. My biggest regret is not taking his offer to train me as a goal tender. Shoulda-woulda-coulda.

I played club hockey in college and had some fun. Later, I had a guy working for me whose Mom was in the head office of the North Stars and she got a pair of green and white North Stars skates for me. The next year they became the Dallas Stars.

I feel madly in love with the NHL when I lived in Boston, the Orr-Esposito Bruins were fantastic, the rivalries of the Original 6 teams, the upstart Flyers and Islanders, the Summit Series were great moments. Some friends and I even went to a game at the Montreal Forum. Later as I climbed the ladder in broadcasting, I had tickets to the Bruins, 3^rd row, North end to the right of the goal. The perfect seats for hockey because you can see the entire surface of the ice. I had a “Jesus Saves and Esposito Scores on the Rebound” bumper sticker too. I got to meet and know Milt Schmidt, all star player for the Bruins, hall of famer, coach, general manager of the B’s and then started the Cap’s franchise. Just a wonderful guy. Miss our lunches.

George Johns, a Transcona kid and I took Jim Quall, another Transcona mug to the Boston Garden to see the Bruins. Jim played for the St. Boniface Bruins in Jr. Hockey, it was such a great night for the three of us. For Jim to watch a game in a building he’s only seen on Hockey Night in Canada for his entire life was just amazing. he still talks about it!

I got to know Dallas Smith from Winnipeg who played for the Bruins, Don Awrey, Bobby Orr’s defensive partner became a friend.

When I met Jan she didn’t know hockey from a handbag, now she stands in front of the flat screen with me and watches.

Living in LA, I think the Kings are such a great team, but my Bruins are back in the final and playing the Black Hawks for the Cup, could it get any better than this? Original 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!