Hating Les Canadiens Comes Easy to Me (updated & revised)

It started with Danny Gallivan ...

He was the TV hockey caller for the Montreal Canadiens for 32 years. I hated him because he was so Montreal and I was so Toronto Maple Leaf.  I hated the sound of his voice. There was something strange about it - something foreign. 

To me, it seemed to say ... "we are the Habs and it doesn't matter what the score is, we are going to win". We have "little Charlie Hodge" and "big Robinson" and "the speedy Cournoyer". He was such a Hab, he even had his own Montreal Canadien hockey card.    He enunciated with an unusual flare. He seemed to create new words while describing the game.  It was distracting. 

He wasn't like Foster or Bill Hewitt.  He said stuff that didn't sit well with me and my Leaf buddies. You know,  the "Savardian Spinerama", "the dearth of whistles" ... "6 and a half ounces of vulcanized rubber finds its way into the seats"... and, oh yeah, the "cannonading drive".

The stuff he said made you say to yourself ... what did he say?

He was a homer and I had to turn the sound off the TV when he got to be too much for me.

One day in 1984 following his retirement I was flipping channels on my car radio and came across an interview with him.  Two minutes in I almost drove off the road.  Apparently, he was from Nova Scotia, not Montreal.  It seems he had a degree in English and Latin and was a high school teacher. 

He admitted to the interviewer that his team while growing up in the Maritimes was the New York Rangers, not the Habs.  When asked to name his all-time starting line-up he named the Leafs former captain, Ted Kennedy, as "his" starting centreman, not Jean Beliveau.  He said, "nobody could match Kennedy for securing the puck at the face-off".   He said, "there was something very unique with Kennedy's face-off stance". He "couldn't quite describe it".

In 1983, I was with the premier sports magazine publishing company in North America, International Sports Properties.  We were about to launch Canada's first sports magazine, MVP Magazine.  

When the USA publication, Sports Illustrated started in the '50's they invited a representative from every major sport to attend their 1st edition party and the Leafs' Ted Kennedy was the NHL's representative.

During the '80s, SI had become terrifically successful and I wanted to invite Ted to our launch to sprinkle a little good-luck dust on us like he did for the American sports publication.

At the time, Ted was a Steward at Woodbine Race Track in Toronto and I'd done a little homework before the meeting.  The word was that Mr Kennedy really didn't like to talk hockey.  So I had to figure out a way to talk hockey.  

He played with jersey #9.  During his era, 9 was assigned to each NHL team's best player -- Howe, Hull, Rocket.  He was my idol as a kid. I "was" Ted Kennedy when I got together with my pals to play ball hockey on the street.  We had to talk about his appearance for the magazine but I wasn't going to pass up this opportunity to talk hockey.  

I was having a few problems coaching my son's peewee team. I knew he could help.  After lunch and the business stuff, I asked if he would mind a few hockey questions. Surprisingly he said “sure".  I explained I was having trouble teaching my 10-year-old centre men how to face-off. Could he offer some tips?  

"Sure", he said.  "The most important thing is where you have your top hand”.

Then, he corrected himself. "No, the most important thing is where you position your feet". 

Then, he corrected himself again." No, the most important thing is to watch the linesman's hand with the puck". 

It was clear. He had no idea how to tell me how to teach someone else the fine art of face-offs. He could do it better than anyone else, according to Gallivan ... he just couldn't teach it. 

Ted was originally the property of the Montreal Canadiens.  The Leaf GM at the time, Frank Selke Sr., traded the rights of popular Leaf, Frank Edolls to the Habs for 16-year-old Kennedy and that move got Selke fired by owner, Conn Smythe.  Selke was promptly hired by Montreal to run their team and he created the dynasty of the 1950s. Can you imagine how much more of a powerhouse they would have had if Kennedy had remained a Hab?

Following that meeting, Ted and I became friends for the next 30 years. I introduced him to Special Olympics and he attended our annual fundraiser for 12 consecutive years to lend his name and support to what he called, his "fellow athletes". 

He shared the same December 12 birthdate as Frank Sinatra. Each year on that date I would put some Frank on the stereo, turn up the sound and give him a call at his home in Port Colborne to wish him well.  He always got a kick out of Sinatra's voice in the background.

He started as an 18-year old, only played for the Leafs for 14 years, was only one of two Leaf players to earn the Hart Trophy in the past 100 years ( in the same year that "Rocket" enjoyed his best points season). Kennedy was the first player in the NHL to earn 5 Stanley Cups. How do you think today's Leaf Nation would treat a 5 time Cup champion and team captain?

He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966. 

No other Leaf player in the team's history could match Kennedy's resume. Yet, when an all-time Top 100 Leaf list was assembled, he somehow was assigned spot #2.  Sadly, the Best Maple Leaf of all time passed away in 2009

at the age of 83.

"Teeder"

In 2016, the Maple Leaf Hockey Club honoured Ted Kennedy with a bronze statue in front of the Scotiabank Centre.  His likeness is in uniform in an upright, standing position. They could have put him in his famous face-off stance ... but the sculptor couldn't figure out how to do it. 

Now, it's 2021 and the Habs are in the Stanley Cup Final against my (other) team, the Bolts of Tampa.  Every hockey commentator and every Book in Vegas promised me the Habs wouldn't get this far. This year's Leafs had them down 3 to 1 in games but Price decided to show the critics they were wrong about the value the team gets from their $10 million dollar investment in him and then they simply reached into their closet and found a 19-year-old midget who skates like Cournoyer and can shoot as quick as Lafleur. Where do they find these guys?

During my years with Special Olympics, you can only imagine the pleasure I've had in spending time with Rocket and Henri Richard and Boom Boom and Lafleur and Jean Beliveau and Brian Watson. They are all exactly the way you'd expect to see superstars behave ... they were all gentlemen, kind, generous, approachable, thoughtful and easy-going.

But, I still hate, hate, hate the Montreal Canadiens and hope they lose in four.