Barry Melrose

 

I met former NHL player / ESPN hockey broadcaster, Barry Melrose at the Walmart SuperStore in St. Pete FL.

Funny that he'd choose St. Pete as a home base to live following his own multi-city NHL career and success as Gretzky's coach in the 1990s in Hollywood with the Los Angeles Kings.

As I wandered through the discount store in St Pete, I noticed him reading labels in the sports drink aisle. 

I hadn't seen him face to face for almost 30 years. He'd been a hard rock Maple Leaf defenseman from 1980 - 83 and had some great hockey DNA being a cousin of Leaf superstar, Wendel Clark and Red Wing monster, Joey Kocur. 

At that time,  I was part of the group publishing  The Leafs -- the team gameday hockey program and he and I had spent a little time together. 

I approached him and I reintroduced myself. He howled at some of my reminiscences of owner, Harold Ballard as we made our way to the checkout counter. He blended in with the other Walmart customers who also sported lengthy hairdo mullets and they didn't seem to recognize or care about him as the celebrity in their midst.

It was fun meeting up with another hockey guy -- at Walmart.

It's the "thing" I've written about in other essays ... how hockey types like me and you and Barry and Gretzky and the guy on your left wing you played with last week have a mysterious connection because of the game ... you know what I mean.

Today, it was announced that Barry Melrose would leave his post at ESPN to deal with his newly diagnosed Parkinson's disease.

Interesting how a world-class athlete like Barry can survive the bumps and bruises of an NHL career and be felled by something like this.

Note to hockey players: There are things we don't understand like Parkinson's and Cancer and other terrible stuff ... enjoy yourself today. Continue playing hockey.

I forgot to ask him ... "did Steven Stamkos ever thank you for putting him in the press box"? Melrose had been hired to coach the Tampa Bay Lightning in Stammer's rookie year. Stammer was a stick figure and only 175 lbs. Melrose claimed the youngster would get killed by the league's tough guys. Ownership didn't agree and Melrose was fired after only 16 games. Stammer would learn his lesson and join Gary Roberts's boot camp in Toronto in the off-season, put on 25 lbs of muscle and pop 51 goals the next season and 61 two years later. Now, after earning millions + 2 Stanley Cups in Tampa, he gets to sign another multi-million dollar contract with The Predators to start the 2024-25 season!