All World Hockey by T. Michael Travers

  I sent this note to you because you will understand the passion with which I wrote it and the heartbreak. It's about family and friends.  And, the most important friend ... "My Best Friend" Who is your best friend?   A person with whom you grew up?  You went to grade three with?  Your "best" man?  Your golf partner? For me, my best friend was my brother-in-law,  Emilio Matteo Campanile. His nickname, "Mel", was given to him by a teenage girl who lived across the street from him and couldn't pronounce Emilio. Mel grew up in Anglo-Saxon Toronto in the 1930s on Chestnut Street, behind the Sick Children's Hospital. At that time, before the hospital was built, the area looked like that scene from New York City’s “Little Italy” in The Godfather. A few of the original 12-foot-wide homes on Elm Street are still there. His father was a barber who raised a family of ten children in their tiny house with 15-cent and 25-cent haircuts and shaves. Emilio ...

Terrible Ted and Gentleman Ted Hockey is back. The 2026 Cup Playoffs are around the corner. Every player in today's NHL owes Ted Lindsay. Each one should sign over a personal cheque to him at the beginning of this New NHL in recognition for the stance he took on their behalf against the Original Six NHL owners. Al Waxman as Adams For all players, he demanded better pay and better working conditions. His pioneering work as the architect of the NHLPA was so important that the CBC filmed a movie about his life and the battle he had with team owners. The movie It is titled Net Worth. Incidentally, that money, if Ted were ever to receive it, would go to help others through his Ted Lindsay Foundation, as it provides important research funding for a cure for Autism. If you're an NHL player today and you earn 3 or 5 or 10 million dollars, it's because of what Lindsay did for you. I wonder how many of today's hockey-playing millionaires even know his name and th...

                                          It's been a long ride. Is this the year? Where was Boston's "Pasta" in the humiliating loss on Sunday?  And, the Bruins' #91 tough guy waited 57 minutes to show up? Is it just me, or does the Bruin coach, Marco Sturm, look out of place behind the bench? He is a veteran 17-year NHL player who has had only one year with more than 50 minutes in the penalty box. But the Bruins are noted for push-back. They look tough. Their home uni is black. I expect the Bruin coach to project the same image of toughness. He doesn't. He's way too animated (with his hands) during his late-game timeouts -- he ain't Italian, he's German. Bruin fans must be wondering ... where's Terry O'Reilly when you need him? Hey Sabres  ... as they say, "don't forget to put your foot on their neck when they're down". The late goal by Boston was an embarrassment to...

  In 1940, when Detroit Red Wing soon-to-be superstar, Ted Lindsay, was 15 years old and played for the Holy Name Irish "Juvenile" Kirkland Lake hockey team, he and his teammates travelled by train 230 miles to Port Colborne, Ontario, population 18,300, to face the local team for the province's division championship. Fun Fact: In the 1940's, the town of Kirkland Lake, Ontario had a population of approximately 25,000 -- yet 42 boys from that tiny mining town made it to the NHL. Lindsay was the first.  Lindsay's opponent team was led by the soon-to-be Toronto Maple Leaf superstar, Ted Kennedy. Following that championship game (won by Lindsay), both boys would move on to spectacular careers with their NHL clubs. Ted Lindsay #7 Lindsay would become captain of his Wings and earn four Stanley Cups, and Kennedy would captain his Leafs and be the first player in NHL history to earn five Stanley Cups. Ted "Teeder" Kennedy #9 Today, both players have bronze stat...

GOLD! A spectacular hockey Olympics ... every game was a nail-biter. But Team USA was destined to win ... it was their time, and from the looks of the USA Hockey "Brotherhood", as Jack Hughes called them, every country, most especially Canada, has to now pay attention to the new  Big Dog. Canada put its best on the ice, but the best wasn't good enough to win. But it did give all hockey fans a chance to see a young Canadian boy, only 19, play with and against seasoned men and excel—dominate isn't too strong a word. The teenager led the tournament in goals  and  shots on goal. In 4 years, will all Olympic hockey medal hopefuls be 25 and under? Honourable mention has to go to Bill Guerin, the Team USA GM and architect, who received lots of criticism for his Olympic team selections - he must have known something nobody else did. His team had lots of firepower, and their chemistry was very evident. The game's winning goal scorer and remarkable patriot, Jack...