Great Defencemen
Stars of Hockeys Golden Age
AUTHOR: Jim Barber
FORMAT: 5.5 x 8.5 pb / pages
ISBN-10: 1554390834
ISBN-13: 9781554390830
Staunch sentinels behind the blueline, the best defencemen of the golden age were loved and hated, robust and unflinching. To admirers, these bodycheckers appeared to have no understanding of the word pain. Francis Clancy, Ching Johnson, Allan Stanley, Eddie Shore, Doug Harvey, Tim Horton sometimes they could be brawny bad guys, but they were always rocks on ice. It was in their zone that the puck stopped!
Prologue
The Detroit Red Wings were pressing, hoping to steal the lead from the New York Rangers. It was a mid-season contest, but for the Wings, who were looking to challenge the Toronto Maple Leafs' dominance of the National Hockey League (NHL), every point, every goal counted.
The Rangers were just trying to not get blown out by the powerful Wings.
The puck, suddenly lobbed deep into New York territory, slid into the corner, not far from goaltender Chuck Rayner. There was a foot race between 22-year-old rookie Ranger rearguard Allan Stanley, the pride of Timmins, Ontario, and the streaking James Enio.
Enio was not a regular member of the Red Wings' roster, but sure wanted to be. If he could make an impact early in the game, through a big hit, a fight, or a goal, he might gain the favour of manager Jack Adams, and a permanent spot on the roster. With a loud clatter of stick and skates, Stanley - all 6' 1", 175 pounds of him - collided in the corner with Enio, who was just a couple of inches shorter. Both players lost their balance in the two-player pile-up, as the crowd roared its appreciation of the thunderous collision.
Somehow, Stanley landed on top of Enio, who was lying on his back. Stanley's arms were extended and pressing against the winged-wheel crest on the Red Wing jersey beneath him. In effect, Enio was being held in place. Suddenly, Stanley, who was watching to see where the play had gone, felt a short sharp clinching pain in one of his forearms. He looked down to see an enraged Enio looking more like a pitbull than a man, with his teeth dug into his arm. The absurdity of the situation momentarily dulled the pain. And that's how one of the greatest defencemen of the Original Six Era was introduced to the grace, class, and elegance of the NHL.
About the Author
Jim Barber managed to find time to write this book while working as the Sports and Arts Editor for The Barrie Advance, and as the Editor for the Collingwood-Wasaga Beach Connection, two community newspapers in Central Ontario. Jim is a recipient of the Ontario Community Newspaper Association Award for Sportswriting and a Canadian Community Newspaper Award for editorial writing. Educated at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. and Toronto's Centennial College, he has had a passion (obsession?) for hockey and hockey history most of his adult life. The books of Scott Young and Brian McFarlane inspired him as a youth, as do the works of Andrew Podnieks, Douglas Hunter, and Bruce Dowbiggin today. A member of the Society for International Hockey Research, current chairman of the Barrie Sports Hall of Fame Society, and executive member of the Collingwood Historical Society, Jim lives in a very old house, in a very small village called Nottawa, a few kilometers from the shores of Georgian Bay, near Collingwood, Ontario. He has a beautiful wife, two great stepsons, a somewhat annoying but loveable dog, an unnatural affinity for odd hockey stuff, and way too many books on his bookshelves.
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