Liam Maguire knows more about the history of the NHL and Canadian hockey than everyone else … combined!
As I sought someone who both understood and could articulate the Montreal Canadiens-Toronto Maple Leafs rivalry and the importance of the Hockey Hall of Fame, in advance of my time in Toronto as part of the Around the World in 80 Sporting Events project, I turned to my resident Canada expert: Brent Savidant (S:2, E:51). Did he know of anyone who might fit the bill?
I was secretly hoping he’d fire off the long-time host of CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada, Ron MacLean‘s, phone number or email address.
He did not:-(
Who he did might have been even better. He was familiar with this fela, Liam Maguire, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of NHL history and, pretty much, anything Canadian hockey. He didn’t have a contact for me but said he’s easily searchable.
And he was!
I traded a couple of emails with Liam and before I knew it he was on the books to record a special bonus episode in conjunction with the Events 27 and 28. Only after we began speaking it was clear this was no bonus episode. In fact, I can’t wait to have Liam back to plumb the depths of his hockey knowledge even further.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy my time with the President of Liam Maguire Hockey Enterprises Inc. and the author of The Real Ogie: The Life and Legend of Goldie Goldthorpe (aka the inspiration for 1977 hockey movie Slap Shot‘s character, Ogie Ogilthorpe).
The capstone of any trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame is a visit to the Great Hall where all of the trophies are housed and the enshrinees are highlighted. I plan to see the Stanley Cup once more during my Around the World in 80 Sporting Events project, when its presented to the 2027 NHL Champion’s captain during my 80th and final event. (Photo by Jim Livingston)
Hockey is not my native sport.
You see where I’m from – Indiana – we melt the snow and ice in our backyards and driveways so that we can shoot hoops all winter long. And then, during the summer, we squeeze in some of America’s Pastime, while the hardwood or blacktop is being resurfaced.
But hockey, nah, not really my thing.
Sure, we had the Fort Wayne Komets in our backyard and we’d go to games occasionally, but it was a sport I simply didn’t understand nor did my father or mother or anyone in my extended family that I can recall.
So when we moved to suburban Detroit during my 11th year, I was going to need to become a quick study. Afterall, our new home was in St. Clair Shores which billed itself as “Hockeytown USA” long before the Detroit Red Wings co-opted the moniker. Two years later, a SCS kid – Mark Wells – was beating the Soviet Union in what is still probably the most-watched hockey game in the history of the United States.
And yes, I too was glued to my television the evening of February 22, 1980, for ABC’s tape-delayed broadcast of that miracle on ice.
If I wasn’t a hockey fan by then I certainly was afterward.
So when curating a list of 80 iconic events and/or venues to visit during my Around the World in 80 Sporting Eventsproject, a visit to the Hockey Hall of Fame was never in doubt. While my hockey fandom only dates to the late 1970s, I can still appreciate a museum that honors its past while celebrating its future.
That my visit to the Hockey Hall came directly on the heels of my time in Cooperstown, NY, at the Baseball Hall of Fame is a bit of divine providence. I’ve always contended these two shrines hit all the right notes in honoring their nation’s most historically significant sport.
I’m going to give the Hockey Hall the same treatment as I did for Baseball. A few photos that sparked some recollections of my time as a fan. You’ll be able to see the rest of the photographs and video on the full page for Event No. 27 which is found here.
Grand Palaces
From left, artifacts from the Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens, Detroit’s Olympia Stadium, and Chicago Stadium.
For the hockey unfamiliar, the NHL was comprised, originally, by six franchises (the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs) for 25 seasons (1942-67). These sextet became collectively known, historically, as “The Original Six.”
Each of the Original Six played in grand old palaces (or barns if that’s your style) that are given proper recognition in the Hall’s hallowed halls. Of those six, amazingly I was was able to see hockey played in three of them: Chicago Stadium, Detroit’s Olympia Stadium, and Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens. Here are my memories of each:
Chicago Stadium – My memory is haziest about this one, but I believe it was circa 1991-92 season and the Blackhawks opponent was the post-Gretzky and Messier Edmonton Oilers. My lasting memory is of the famous Barton pipe organ and Wayne Messmer‘s singing of the “Star-Spangled Banner.” There was a Chicago fan in the stands who white-knuckled a railing, veins popping in this neck, and screamed the anthem in conjunction with Messmer.
Olympia Stadium – My first-ever NHL game was the Atlanta Flames at Detroit Red Wings on January 20, 1979. It was the final full season of Olympia and I recall being seated in the upper level that featured steep seating and incredibly sticky floors. My 11-year-old self had issues lifting his feet off the floor in the seating area to move, it was so sticky.
Maple Leaf Gardens – My buddy Wayne was working at the now-defunct Sport Detroit Magazine in 1988 and one of his assignments was a feature story on the Red Wings’ recently acquired winger, Miroslav Frycer, who’d previously defected from the former Czechoslovakia and played for a time for the Maple Leafs and Coach John Brophy. Wayne had requested, and received, a pair of press passes for a Red Wings-Maple Leafs preseason game in Toronto. He invited me to join and we had seats in the press box which was in a gondola high above the ice. Afterward, Wayne went to the press scrum with Brophy to ask about Frycer and received the following quote: “#&*% Mirsolav Frycer!” And that was the end of the interview. We got in Wayne’s car and drove four hours back to Michigan.
Paul Kariya, University of Maine
Paul Kariya was the face of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for the first half of his career and has some memorabilia included within a larger display about the the movie, “The Might Ducks.”
I was the beat writer for the University of Michigan Wolverines’ hockey team for two full seasons, 1991-92 and 1992-93.
The M-Icers, as they were sometimes referred to by a certain sportswriter, were on the ascent during this era. Head Coach Red Berenson, himself a former Wolverine, decided to forego professional coaching where he won the NHL Coach of the Year honor in 1980-81 season with the St. Louis Blues, to set up shop in Ann Arbor and rebuild the Wolverines. It took longer than he’d have liked, but in Berenson’s seventh year the team reached the NCAA Hockey Championships where it advanced to the quarterfinals. The next year it reached the Frozen Four as it did the year after that (my final year on the beat).
The Frozen Four in 1993 was in Milwaukee and Michigan’s opponent in the semifinals was the University of Maine Black Bears which was rated No. 1 the entire season. Leading the charge for Maine – a team loaded with talent – was a hotshot freshman from British Columbia named Paul Kariya. Just 18-years-old during the season his on-ice skills were unequaled. He finished the the year with 100 points, scoring 25 goals and assisting on 75 others in just 39 games en route to winning the Hobey Baker Award.
Maine won that game 4-3 in overtime – and the championship two nights later against Lake Superior State – to claim its first-ever NCAA title and finish the season 42-1-2. It’s considered by many to be the greatest college hockey season in history.
Less-than-a-year later I saw Kariya again, on my television, as a player for Team Canada in the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics where Canada lost 3-2 in a shootout to Sweden for the Gold Medal. Kariya’s shootout attempt was stopped in the seventh round by Swedish goalie, Tommy Salo, allowing Sweden the victory.
I then watched him for the next 15 years in the NHL with the Ducks, Colorado Avalanche, Nashville Predators, and St. Louis Blues. He was a 2-time Lady Byng Memorial Trophy recipient (most sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of play) and a 2017 inductee in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
He was the first hockey player I could say, “I saw play back when they were just starting out.”
“I was just trying to capture the spirit of the moment.”
“Slap Shot” was a cult classic for those of us in the pressbox at the University of Michigan’s Yost Ice Arena.
I noted that I spent two-plus seasons on the University of Michigan hockey beat for the Ann Arbor News.
While the hockey team was on the rise during my era on the beat, it was certainly no U-M football or basketball team in terms of media coverage, so we who trudged up the staircase to the pressbox high atop Yost Ice Arena each weekend were a close-knit group.
And because we were fairly well removed from the spectators, we found a certain level of, shall I say, latitude with the conversations we were able to engage in. One of our go-tos during this era was almost a choral recitation of scenes from the minor league hockey-based cult movie classic, Slap Shot. Though I’m not sure any movie starring Paul Newman could be considered a cult classic, it sure as shootin’ wasn’t mainstream any longer. The fact that it had been released in the theaters 15 years earlie meant that most of us in the press box had only seen it on VHS tapes.
Anyhow, one of us with mutter a line from the movie and away we’d go with the scene.
Our favorite, of course, was Dickie Dunn (played by M. Emmet Walsh), the local sportswriter whose go-to line was always, “I tried to capture the spirit of the moment.”
I’m willing to bet that by me writing: “I am personally placing a hundred-dollar bounty on the head of Tim McCracken. He’s the head coach and chief punk on that Syracuse team.”
Someone reading this will be able to complete the scene with broadcaster Jim Carr’s line and the response from player/coach Reg Dunlop (Newman’s character).
A Golden Moment
The goal, stick, and puck from Sidney Crosby’s “Golden Goal,” the Gold Medal game-winner of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics over the USA.
Beyond the USA-Soviet 1980 Lake Place Olympic semifinal, perhaps one of the greatest hockey games I ever watched was the Gold Medal Game between the host Canadians and the USA in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Team USA won the pool play match, 5-3, and forced Canada to take the long road to the Medal Round. The rematch was a beauty. Canada jumped out to a 2-0 lead by the midpoint of the second period before the United States got on the board later that frame. With the U.S. goalie, Ryan Miller, pulled Zach Parise scored an equalizer with 25 seconds left in the third period to force overtime.
That’s when a kid named Sidney Crosby scored 7:40 into the extra session to walk it off … a Golden Goal as it was.
During my Conversation with Mike “Doc” Emrick, he said this was his most memorable moment on the microphone as he called the game for NBC Sports.
If it was good enough for Doc, well, it’s good enough for me.
Hear Doc Emrick’s call of Crosby’s Gold Medal-winner.
Doc Emrick in the Hall
Doc Emrick’s Foster Hewitt Award honor in the Hockey Hall’s Great Hall.
During the past three-plus years I’ve hosted my podcast, Conversations with Sports Fans, I’ve published 225 episodes as of this writing. Along the way, I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with all variety of sports fans and/or folks connected with the sports industry. Hands down, however, I was never more anxious/nervous/eager/worried (choose the descriptor of your choosing) than I was when my old pal, Ken Kal, was able to put me in touch with Doc Emrick.
To me, a relative newbie to the world of hockey, Emrick is hockey broadcasting royalty. His equivalencies across the broadcast spectrum in the U.S. would be the likes of Bob Costas, Jim Nantz, Verne Lundquist, or Brent Musburger. All icons in their own right.
He was, as some say in the business, a big get.
He afforded me a half-hour of his time and as we began our chat it became apparent he was a bit off. He had a tickle in his throat and a scratchy cough he could not shake. It seemed he scheduled the bulk of his media appearances on the same day of the month and I came near the end of several hours of speaking. His voice was fading and, as he profusely apologized, he let me know he wouldn’t be able to continue.
I was, understandably, crushed. However, no sooner did he say he’d need to go, he also gave me three possible dates for a re-recording. We found one that worked for both of us and he could not have been a more generous guest who leaned into what I’ve always tried to do at Conversations … learn how my guest became a sports fan and take them on a journey through their lifetime highlights.
And let me tell you, Doc Emrick has some highlights!
He was my first and, hopefully, not my last Hall of Fame honoree from the four major North American sports. So, yeah, I lingered a bit longer in front of his glass plate recognizing him as the Hockey Hall’s 2008 Foster Hewitt Award Recipient.
If you’ve not yet listened to the Doc Emrick Conversation, I invite you to do so at this link. It’s a half hour well spent.
A Final Look
It’s incredibly difficult to capture the beauty of the Hockey Hall’s Great Hall with a camera phone. This is my best shot.
(About the Series: Based upon my Conversation with guest Derek Meinecke, I’m going back in time to be in the stands at 10 sporting events. This week, it’s #8. You’re able to find links to the previous installments below.)
Before beginning I should note, this is my wayback machine and that means my rules. So for today’s “Back in Time” we’re we’re returning not to a sporting event, but rather to a sports-centric trip I took with my father, Jerry, during April 2007.
If one Hall of Fame visit was fun, I figured, four would be spectacular! So I got to work mapping a route for my father and I to visit the four major sports halls of fame (baseball, basketball, football, and hockey), all of which were drivable from our home in southeast lower Michigan.
And, if the sports gods looked favorably upon us, we could also see a ballgame at Boston’s famed Fenway Park; a venue neither my father nor I had visited at that point.
As the calendar flipped to 2007 and it became apparent we were going to make this roadtrip, I began chunking out our travel days, booking hotel accommodations, reserved a rental car for the week because neither of us had the type of vehicle that should take on this roadie, and – most importantly – secured tickets to the Thursday, April 12, Seattle Mariners at Boston Red Sox game. Yep, they were obstructed view (darn support posts!) but the seats were inside Fenway Park and that’s all that really mattered.
My biggest regret with this trip – and, likely, the reason I’d welcome the ability to go back in time – is that I didn’t keep a journal of our daily experiences to better reflect upon the significance of each day. That said, what follows is my best recollections of our seven days together.
Day 1 – St. Clair Shores, MI to Canton, OH
Following an Easter Brunch at my parents’ place, my dad and I loaded up our rental sedan and headed out bound for Canton, OH, home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. As it was a holiday Sunday, traffic was light and we were in Canton by the early afternoon and had large portions of the Hall to ourselves.
Maybe it was because neither of us were ever football players and our native Indiana was a pro football desert for the entirety of our time living there, but we didn’t feel much in the way of disappointment when the announcement that the museum would be closing came over the public address system leading up to the 5 o’clock hour.
Documentation that I have been to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Sure, I recall lingering at the bronzed busts of Bob Griese and Dan Marino (my favorite Miami Dolphin quarterbacks) and Gale Sayers (hey, I’m a sucker for “Brian’s Song,” what can I say) in the Hall of Fame Gallery, but I walked out feeling as though the 3-4 hours we had in the museum were enough. I’m sure that’s sacrilegious to some, but I’m happy I saw it with my dad and would welcome a revisit someday.
Day 2 – Canton, OH to Williamsport, PA (via Punxsutawney & State College, PA)
A day was going to be needed to get to Cooperstown because, quite frankly, it’s about a day’s drive from everywhere. As we looked at possible routes from Canton we decided to take the leisurely one that afforded us the most opportunities to visit some places we’d always wanted to see so we decided to split the trip into two days.
That route took us to Punxsutawney, PA, which is home not only to the Western Hemisphere’s most famous groundhog, but also to Detroit Pistons and 1992 Olympic Dream Team head coach Chuck Daly‘s first coaching gig. We spotted the lovely townsquare where so much of the 1993 film, Groundhog Day, was to have been filmed (it wasn’t, that was Woodstock, IL) and we even made our way to the famous Gobbler’s Knob where Punxsutawney Phil is awaken each February 2 at daybreak to predict the weather.
We also took advantage of the scenic route to drive by State College, home of Penn State University and did a driveby of Beaver Stadium, home of the Nittany Lions. It is a monster of a stadium and, not unlike Cooperstown, seems to be located in the middle of nowhere.
The highlight for both of us, however, was our Day 2 destination: Williamsport, PA.
Sports fans will no doubt know that South Williamsport is home to the annual Little Baseball World Series. There were, of course, no games being played at the complex in early April, but we still found it be accessible and were able to see both Howard J. Lamade and Volunteer stadiums.
The author standing atop the famed hill at Lamade Stadium in South Williamsport, PA.
Day 3 – Williamsport, PA to Cooperstown, NY
Northbound and down early on Tuesday morning with Cooperstown as our destination, but first, what’s this sign outside Oneonta, NY? The U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum? Of course we’ll stop! We did not pay the admission, but it was a hall of fame and was certainly on brand for this trip. We checked out the entrance and the gift shop and snapped a couple of photos that looked no unlike the one below. Alas, financial challenges ultimately caught up with the Soccer Hall and it closed in 2009 before reopening in Frisco, TX, in 2015.
The exterior of the Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, NY.
We arrived at the Baseball Hall of Fame shortly after its opening and committed to staying through the mid-afternoon. I also had scheduled a visit to the Giamatti Research Center to review files for former Detroit high school athletes Don Lund and Dave DeBusschere.
It’s always an enjoyable visit to the Baseball Hall, but it’s always special to visit it as father and son. We found ourselves lingering near exhibits that featured artifacts from dad’s favorite, Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, my beloved Big Red Machine, and the 1984 Detroit Tigers. And, as I always have done, I watched the entirety of Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First?” bit.
And, of course, the Plaque Gallery is almost a religious experience for longtime baseball fans. It’s reverent, quiet, and spiritual in nature.
The author and his father at the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Day 4 – Cooperstown, NY to Springfield, MA
Another early wakeup for us as we hit the road heading east bound for Springfield, MA.
Upon arrival we proceeded directly to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and were, if I recall correctly, fairly unimpressed. Perhaps it was because we’d just visited baseball’s shrine with all its history and prestige. Or maybe it was the bronzed busts found in the Pro Football Hall. Whatever the reason, of the four halls we toured on this trip, this one fell short. And one would think for a pair of native Hoosiers this place would be hallowed ground for us. But it didn’t really live up to what we had hoped it would. Sure, there were artifacts and items that piqued our interest and were memorable (though for the life of me, I can’t remember them 16 years later). I believe the piece that was most frustrating was way inductees were presented. Unlike at football and baseball, visitors were unable to get close to the images of the enshrined that lined the upper walls of the dome that is the centerpiece of the museum.
The Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA.
We noticed another museum resided in Springfield, one that was of more interest to me than my dad, but we did a drive by anyway to check out the Dr. Seuss Museum and Sculpture Garden. As my hazy memory recollects, we didn’t pay to enter the museum but did check out the lobby, gift shop, and the public sculpture garden. For a parent of two younger children and an elementary school teacher, it was fascinating to see the homage to Dr. Seuss. Like many, my view on the man born Theodore Geisel in Springfield in 1904, has evolved over time, but this surprise find was certainly a highlight of this trip.
Day 5 – Springfield to Boston
Today was the day, Mariners at Red Sox!
And it was raining buckets!
As we headed into Boston the plan was to see some of the sights before heading to Fenway for the mid-afternoon game. But after attempting to explore Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market and their surroundings we quickly realized it was far too wet to spend any appreciable time outside. (But dagnabit we would at Fenway!)
I noticed an advertisement on our way into the city at a Borders Bookstore about Cal Ripken Jr. appearing for a book signing. I pitched it to my dad who figured he could kill some time in a store filled with books. So off we went and into the queue I got. It was clearly going to be a bit, but at least we were warm and dry and I was about to meet a future Hall of Famer.
I remember two things about my time in line. One, was the kindly lady behind me in line who was a big Red Sox fan who agreed to buy my rainchecks off of me should the game be washed out (which I was nearly certain it would be). Second, was meeting Ripken who noticed my Tigers’ fleece. “That Verlander kid is going to be a good one,” he noted. Sixteen years later who opened Game 1 of the American League Championship Series for the Houston Astros? Justin Verlander making his 36th post-season start. Maybe Cal knew something?
We made it to Fenway and, inexplicably, the gates were open and fans were able to come in and spend money on parking, concessions, and souvenirs (at capitalism grand!). It was clear, however, there was no way baseball was going to be played. And sure enough, about an hour after we entered, the public address notified us of the cancellation and subsequent rescheduled date of May 3.
The author’s soggy debut at Fenway Park.
Day 6 – Springfield to Buffalo
Nothing special about today, just a whole lot of driving.
We attempted to see the New York State Capitol but, embarassingly, couldn’t be sure we found it because unlike so many other capitol buildings it didn’t have a dome.
My dad remembered another hall of fame that we’d pass en route, the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, NY. As we clipped along it became apparent we’d be close in arriving before the museum closed. As it turned out we missed closing time by 10 minutes, but saw where it was and promised to return (which we did a decade later).
Day 7 – Buffalo to Toronto/Toronto to St. Clair Shores
The Hockey Hall of Fame is situated in downtown Toronto, a large portion of which inhabits an old bank.
Of the four halls we visited, this one might have treated its honorees and its awards with the most reverence. To be sure, it was a special place and my dad and I were in agreement that had we grown up as hockey fans rather than baseball fans we could have spent multiple days exploring every nook and cranny.
Alas, we didn’t and we didn’t, and by the time we exited shortly after noon, the siren sound of baseball was calling us again. Rained out two days earlier in Boston, the Toronto Blue Jays were readying to play in the domed Rogers Centre just a few blocks away against the Detroit Tigers. We walked up to check out the CN Tower and how much tickets would cost. The outer reaches were pretty inexpensive so we went for it. And just like that we were watching the defending AL Champion Tigers take on the Blue Jays. (Detroit scored four in the top of the ninth to earn a 10-7 come-from-behind win that we heard on the radio because we were gone by the fifth inning.)
The upper reaches of the Rogers Centre.
Nonetheless, it was a terrific exclamation point on an epic seven days spent on the road with my father. Sure there were plenty of long silences because Hill men are not known to fill the gaps, but there was also plenty of discussion about sports and life.
My desire to go back to this trip, as noted earlier, is not only to better document it but also to spend more time talking about life.
