Music has the power to sooth
Many professional hockey players involved in music
Posted 2 months ago
In the February 1957 issue of the Hockey Pictorial a novelty photo featured Maurice "The Rocket" Richard standing in front of an orchestra made up of Canadiens hockey stars: "Butch" Bouchard, Dollard St. Laurent, Doug Harvey, and Ken Mosdell, with coach Dick Irvin sitting behind the drums, and trainers Gaston Betz and Hector Dubois on piano and flute.
According to long-time hockey-ist Frank Selke Jr., this was just a "gag shot", since, he said, "None of them could carry a tune in a bucket, let alone play a musical instrument!"
But it did inadvertently illustrate that music has had a place in the life of pay-for-play pucksters down through the years. It was, and continues to be, a diversion from the pressures of big league shinny.
Three hundred years ago William Congreve coined the adage, "Music hath charms to sooth a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak!" But it also has power to sooth the hurts of the bumps and bruises of pro hockey players. Music may simply serve as relaxing sound in the background to those who satisfied with just listening to it. But since it requires concentration to play it, for some players in the world of puck chasing, it is a useful distraction from the warp and woof of the world's fastest game!
A quick glance through the Media Guides of current NHL teams indicates that, more than ever before, the most manly skater can be into listening to popular songs, and even playing and/or singing in a big way. The recently retired Jamie Allison had his own country band in which he strums the guitar. The musical preference of most skaters who are inclined to express themselves this way, however, is rock. Darren McCarty, who remains an unrestricted free agent, and is active as a colour commentator, favoured the "punk" variety, belting out the beat with his band called "Grinder". He hosted concerts and even released a CD a couple of years ago.
The Ranger's talented backstop, Henrik Lundqvist, played in a Swedish rock band before coming to New York, and still enjoys his acoustic guitar as a means of relaxation. He is known to give impromptu renditions while riding in taxis in the Big Apple. And, when Sean Avery opened his "Warren 77" sports bar recently, Henrik was on hand to provide the entertainment.
Drew Stafford and Ryan Miller of the Sabres have performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and were headlined in a concert to raise funds for the local Women's and Children's hospital.
Ken Baumgartner recently hung up his blades, but made headlines a decade ago when he recorded "Bomber" (his nickname) on "Metal Blade", and heavy metal label. Ryan Johnson, Mike Green, Scotty Upshall, Brad Stuart, and Jason Cullimore are other current NHL'ers who are into music in a big way. Most favour the guitar. Only Tuomo Rutuu breaks the pattern—he enjoys the saxophone.
The piano seems to be passé when it comes to the choice of amateur musicians who also wield a stick for a living. The last puckster to have "he plays the piano" in the "personal" segment of his profile was Todd Ewen, who retired from the NHL in 1997. Noting that his penalty minute total over ten years was 1911, it seems incredible that the same hands, which often connected with opposition player's helmets during altercations, could be precise enough to tickle the ivories as well.
One of the first references in hockey history to a shinny star's passion for melody was of one who was also skilled on the eighty-eight keys. Eddie Gerard is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, and ranks right up there with the best as one of the all-time stars of
the game. He turned pro with the Ottawa Vics of the Federal League in 1908, and concluded his stint as a shinny mercenary in 1923. He was an expert defender and was the captain of the Ottawa Senators. According to his sister Margaret, who still lives in their native Ottawa, he taught himself to play the piano by ear. For some strange reason he felt most comfortable playing only on the black keys. He used to make up songs about hockey and sing them to his family and friends. When the Capital City sextet won the NHL championship in 1922-23, the team represented the circuit in the East-West clash for the Stanley Cup against Vancouver and Edmonton. When they left Ottawa, somehow the guys managed get a piano aboard the train. They plopped Eddie in front of the keyboard and ordered him to play. They wouldn't let him stop either. By the time they got to Sudbury his hands were blistered.
Frank Nighbor, another Ottawa Senator of hockey's good old days, was a talented soloist. In the October 1, 1921 Ottawa Citizen featured this tongue-in-cheek tribute to the famous poke-check artist: "Horror! The Ottawa Hockey Club is in danger of losing Frank Nighbor, its brilliant centre man. He has not accepted an offer from Eddie Livingstone, nor has he jumped to the Western Outlaws (the PCHA). Frank has gone on stage. He and other Pembroke residents launched an amateur performance, and "Dutch" is said to have gone so big that Klaw and Erianger have flashed him an offer. Nighbor's hit, in fact, is said to have been almost as sensational as he scored on the night he sang 'Sweet Adeline' in the Barron Hotel in Vancouver."
Frank Frederickson was a valued member of the Winnipeg Falcons who won Olympic hockey honours for Canada in 1920. Lester Patrick, very much aware of the big Icelander's on-ice talents, came to Manitoba in the fall of 1921 with one purpose in mind: to take the brilliant puckster back to Victoria for skate for his PCHA Cougars. At that time Frank was playing violin in a five-piece orchestra in the Fort Garry Hotel. He had been a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I, and his love for music was manifest during a harrowing experience in the Mediterranean Sea. When the ship on which he was traveling was torpedoed, he ended up in a life raft in his P.J.'s clutching his precious instrument. He DID sign with Patrick, but continued to pursue his melodious interests by setting up a music store, along with his bride, on the side.
It is not well known that the sensational "Mitchell Meteor", Howie Morenz, knew something about the same instrument as Frederickson. It was his mother's dream that he become a violinist. So, as a dutiful son, he practiced for hours. However, whenever there was a frozen patch of ice available, his musical interests waned drastically, and took "second fiddle". Once he began to weave his magic on the ice in NHL arenas, his mother's dream was virtually forgotten.
Roger Jenkins hardly competes with the above-mentioned "Stratford Streak" when it comes to puck-chasing skills. He scored some 250 less goals than Morenz, although he
shared a connection with the same musical instrument. It is believed that he gained his nickname, "Broadway Roger" because of his involvement with entertainment. When one of his coaches was cornered about Jenkin's abilities as a hockey player, he answered: "Well! He's on heck'uva violin player!"
In his book, "Amazing Trivia From The World Of Hockey", Stan Fischler makes an abbreviated reference to Andy Aitkenhead, the New York Ranger's twine-tender from 1932 through 1935. He claims that the Scottish-born backstop ran the squeeze organ and acted as practice goalie in Saskatoon in 1925-26.
Charlie Gardner, the heroic cage cop who led his Blackhawks to the 1933 Stanley Cup Championship, even though he was so sick he could barely stand on his skates, was an excellent singer. The happy-go-lucky Scot used to sing on the radio in his adopted city of Winnipeg, even after leaving Manitoba to guard the twine for Chicago's NHL sextet. There are those who maintain that he continued to fill the airwaves with his specialty, romantic ballads, after he moved to the Windy City as well. He always maintained that it was his therapy, and that's why he used to serenade opposition players when they came into the vicinity of his net. He often scared the dickens out of skaters who battled for the puck in an effort to get a shot on goal, by suddenly bursting into song. He took special delight in tantalizing the bombastic Eddie Shore. He would croon, "I'm in the mood for love" at the top of his voice, and the "Edmonton Express" would gripe that referees should penalize him because of it. But, according to Gardner's memoirs, instead the officials would make requests for tunes from time to time.
Several humorous incidents loosely connected with music emanate from the era before hockey became all business, and the "gashouse gang" atmosphere prevailed. When Lorne Chabot was guarding the twine for Chicago in the mid-thirties, he had a habit of skating over the Blackhawk bench for a "rest". One night "Baldy" Cotton became antsy waiting for him, and joined him along the sidelines, taunting him about his extended respite, and asking if he were "selling ice cream to the boys". The comeback was quick and pointed: "Yeah! You'd better get your songbook out and lead the guys in the old 'Fight! Fight! Fight!'"
"Taffy" Abel loved to sing and harmonize, and constantly broke into his favourite,
"When strolling through the park one day
In the merry month of May,
I was taken by surprise, by a pair of laughing eyes,
While strolling through the park one day."
In the process he would break into a soft-shoe routine, with that marvelous grin which so often creased his round, glowing face!
As unlikely as it may sound, even the hard-nosed Eddie Shore had a taste for melody.
According old timers who were his mates on the Bruins, he made a gallant effort to learn the saxophone. His manager, Art Ross, did not share his enthusiasm, especially after long minutes of listening to him practice. When horrible sounds would ring through hotels where they were staying, Ross would send one the players with this message: "Tell him to blow on that thing and not suck on it!"
The Maple Leaf's "Flash" Hollett was quite a good singer, but often chose the wrong
moment to exercise his vocal chords. One night during this same time frame, his team had lost a close battle with the Montreal Maroons. Seemingly he was not overly upset with the turn of events and started to belt out one of his favourite tunes. It almost started a riot. An angry veteran player accosted him for "singing at a time like that". "Why?", the naïve forward asked. "Is there anything wrong?"
Tom "Windy" O'Neil is said to have been the only Maple Leaf Gardens usher who graduated to the Maple Leaf team. He was a fledgling piano player during his days in the "house that Smythe built", and the usually austere club owner actually paid for him to take lessons. He must have succeeded, because when he was transferred to the Quebec Aces in 1945, he insisting on pounding on those eighty-eight keys in the boarding house where he stayed. But he nearly drove his landlady crazy. She didn't like the Boogie Woogie he played.
Of course the arena organists previous to, and during the days of the "Original 6", were musical "commentators" ad libbing about the mood of the game, as well as significant incidents during the action. "King" Clancy used to tell about Al Melgard's habit in the Chicago Stadium of playing "Three Blind Mice" when the officials skated out to commence the game. At last he had his fill of it and asked management to put a stop to it, because it stirred up the spectators against them. He did as he was asked. But in turn he chimed out with "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow", and the fans threw everything on the ice that wasn't nailed down. It was then that Clancy ceased to be a music lover.
Melgard was no kinder to referee George Gravel, who didn't have a hair on his head. For his benefit he would sound out, "Silver Threads Among The Gold!"
When the great Syd Howe was given a "night" at the Detroit Olympia on January 30, 1942, in recognition of his immeasurable contributions to the Red Wings, among the many gifts presented was a spinet piano. It was purchased by contributions sent in by the
fans, and presented by Dave Griffith, the chairman of the occasion. It was a storybook night for the talented forward, about whom it was said, "As Howe goes, so go the Wings". He scored the only two goals in a 2-0 win over visiting Chicago. The press put it this way: "He tickled the ivories to the delight of the fans, then tickled them more with his goals!"
Most hockey buffs will recall the official transfer of the Toronto Maple Leafs from the Gardens, where they had played before sellout crowds since 1932, to the Air Canada Centre. One player who did not make his way from one building to the other with his teammates was Glenn Healey. He marched instead with the 48th Highlanders, squeezing out the march tunes on his bagpipes. But he was not the first NHL'er to master that difficult instrument. Back in the late 1940's and early 1950's Dunc Fisher, small in
stature by today's standards, but build like a professional wrestler, thrived on off-season swimming, AND, playing the pipes in his hometown band in Regina.
His friend on the New York Rangers from 1948 through 1951, Don Raleigh, enjoyed strumming the banjo-ukulele for his own enjoyment. But his pride and joy was his extensive record collection. His "Big Four", as far as favourites were concerned, were: Mozart, Hayden, Schubert, and Beethoven. He was also partial to Dixieland music, and on a free evening in the Big Apple, he might move from the Metropolitan Opera to a Jive joint to take in some Boogie Woogie.
Many other skaters, in the same mode as "Bones" Raleigh, were involved in music of
various kinds strictly for their own pleasure. "Red" Kelly fondly remembers the quiet evenings in the farmhouse near Simcoe, Ontario, where he grew up. The family spent many a happy time as the future superstar played the piano while others held forth on the instruments of their choice. And Leo Fogolin enjoyed playing the trumpet in the privacy of his own house.
Hard-nosed Adam Brown, who kept opposition forwards awake with his rugged play, used to amuse his compadres with his imitation of Al Jolson. Tommy Williams' music tastes greatly differed, and he loved to impersonate Elvis Presley. Maybe it was this trend, which prompted Lynn Patrick to lay down some definitive regulations in the Bruin's dressing room during his tenure as bench boss, beginning in 1950. There was "no swearing" (a swear pot put some teeth into that one), "no smoking", AND, "no singing"!
Seemingly just about as far-fetched as thinking of Eddie Shore involved in any kind of music, except the sound of drumming his troops into the most work for the least money, is picturing Eddie Shack participating in a Toronto Symphony Orchestra rehearsal. Well, it actually happened. As a publicity stunt he and the rest of the Leafs took their places among the musicians and did what they could. "Sweet Daddy Shacky" took the maracas and swung his foot in time with the lilt, completely out of control, as usual.
Always a natural "showman", "Boom Boom Geoffrion must be given credit for being the first NHL player to record a song. In 1962 he cut an LP called "En Francais". This was more or less the climax of his instantaneous fame he gained commencing with his
appearance as a soloist on the Joan Fairfax "Parade" programme on CBC TV. That was followed by his "crooning" on Shirley Harmer's "Summer Night" show. Bernie also
made a hit on French-language television on the "Tonight of Never". He gained enough attention by his "moonlighting" that he attracted Ed Sullivan, who was the variety show guru at the time. Following all this hype he gave serious consideration to making entertainment his full-time occupation when he hung up his skates for good. But a few
commercials on the "tube" proved to be the extent of those ambitions. Perhaps the taste in pop music had changed too much by then.
In a totally different vein, in December of 1965, the amazing Johnny Bower teamed up with his 11-year-old son John Jr. to record a 45-rpm single entitled "Honky The Christmas Goose", a sure-fire reason for audiences to stop listening to "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer". The novelty tune, backed by the flip side, "Banjo Mule", was written by ChipYoung. A group called the Rinky Dinks accompanied the pair. The "China Wall" as Bower was called because of his stellar blockading of the net, admitted that, up to that point he had confined his singing to the shower. However, when, during the cutting of this record the hydro went off in the whole northeastern part of the continent, he refused to believe that his voice was bad enough to cause that!
Truly one of the all-time enigmas of the hockey world was super-flake, net minder Gilles Gratton. He lived and died by astrology charts, and claimed that in his "former life" he
was a Spanish Count. But, as is often the case with eccentric personalities, there is abundance of talent. Had he concentrated on the game he could have been a shinny superstar. He also was a musical marvel. Even though he never took a lesson in his life, he could play classical music on the piano, which he frequently did in the house in which he and some other players rented in Long Beach. He was also skilled on the 12-string guitar.
Here is an item to match Eddie Shore's saxophone lessons, Eddie Shack's Symphony Orchestra debut, and Mike Keenan's involvement with a rock band. Would you believe, Don Cherry's summertime hobby during his days as a hard-rock rearguard for the Rochester Americans of the AHL was playing tenor drum in the City of Rochester Pipe Band back in 1967? Scouts honour! It's a fact!
The Redmond brothers, Mickey and Dick, have both been retired from the world's premier hockey circuit for over 25 years. But when they were growing up in Peterborough, various kinds of racket emanated from their Braidwood Ave. home. Some of it was connected to the kind of in-house hockey which parents detest; the rest was fostered by both boys learning to play the guitar. Taught to appreciate music by their mother, one off-season pastime was to participate in "jam sessions"—two guitars, a friend on the piano, and several voices cranking out "Bobby McGee"! Dick, the better guitarist, once gave an impromptu performance at Ontario Place.
Ron Ellis was another NHL'er who had time to learn to pick a string. Recently he related that he and a couple of friends who used visit nursing homes to sing and play for the residents. At the time Brian McFarlane was still active on Hockey Night in Canada, and, when he got wind of it, he taped a portion of their performance for a between period feature, focusing on the former number six's rendition of "King Of The Road".
Phil Myre, best remembered as goalie for the Atlanta Flames in their fledgling years, was married to a classical music pianist. He confided in a Hockey News interview in 1976, that her playing relaxed him. But he also found the pressures of big-time backstopping eased by strumming the guitar on his own, and singing country songs. While he taught him self to chord on the guitar, his wife was teaching him to play the piano as well.
Times have changed, and music has changed. That is evidenced in the fact that the next pay-for-play skaters to have their names on a record label called themselves the "Ranger Rockets". Phil Esposito, Ron Duguay, Dave Maloney, John Davidson, and Pat Hickey, through the influence of Ranger's President, Sonny Werblin, were put in touch with the "who's who" of the music scene in Los Angeles. They appeared on the Dinah Shore programme, jumping over hockey sticks in Ooh La La designer jeans, and ultimately got connected with Alan Thicke. Using the latter's band they cut a record, "Hockey Sock Rock", in July of 1979, which was released the following February. It created quite a stir among Manhattan socialites; but they were urged, nevertheless, "not to give up their day jobs". All proceeds went to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Association.
On the flip side of that 45 rpm disc, was tune entitled "Please Forgive My Conduct Last Night". This featured the Los Angeles Kings Triple Crown Line of Charlie Simmer, Marcel Dionne, and Dave Taylor. And Twenty-five years later Dionne repeated his recording efforts with a solo effort of "Lady Marmalade."
During the winter of 2003, the Toronto Sun's Mike Ulmer wrote an on-going series, "Sport's Storybook". One week's feature was of a young boy who grew up in rural Saskatchewan, learned to walk, and learned to play the guitar. He knew they liked Country music in Saskatchewan, and, by the time he was 15 he was playing and singing in honky tonks both sides of the border. But he also learned to love hockey. He never caught on as a singer, so he turned to the other thing—hockey! "He will never have a star on the walk of fame, but there is a plaque at the Hockey Hall of Fame for the boy", Ulmer concluded. "His name? Brian Trottier."
As near as it can be determined, only one professional skater ever graduated to a full-time career in music. That was minor-leaguer, Jack Cain, a native of Lindsay, Ontario, who became a soloist at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. So it well that all the
above-mentioned pucksters saw it the same way Charlie Gardner did ("Singing is my
therapy") Because pay cheques were far more certain from their chosen sport, rather
than from music.
