This was the hockey equivalent of getting your prostate checked by Captain Hook.
Once again, we at HOCKEENIGHT welcome the musings of former Blackhawks farmhand Pierre Duguay, holder of the Central Hockey League record for hooking penalties in a game, with 9. Take it away, Pierre!
By Dave Morris, exclusive to Hockee Night!
Elmer “Moose” Vasko was born December 11th 1935, in Duparquet, a small town in the province of Quebec. In the 2006 census, Duparquet had a population of 650 people. In a sense, Vasko is emblematic of the Canadian who comes from the hinterland to gain glory in the sporting world. Vasko was also one of the few players of Slovak descent back when Slovakia was not even acknowledged as a country.
As a member of the last Blackhawks team to win the Stanley Cup, Moose Vasko embodied the qualities of his nickname. He partnered the slick, smooth-skating Pierre Pilote on a defense pair that gave the Hawks both a robust and rapid presence on the blueline.
If that sounds uncannily like the pairing of Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith, it is because for those of us who watched them play together back in the day, Vasko was to Pilote what Seabrook is to Keith.
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"They are who we thought they were", said Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews after today's game. But who are the Hawks?
I remember when there was talk on the radio about the new World Hockey Association, and they announced that Chicago was getting a team. My dad followed the conventional wisdom, which was that with the NHL expanding to double its size from 6 to 12 for the 1967-68 season, then adding 2 more teams for the 1970-71 season, there wasn't going to be any good players for the new league. He figured, as everyone did, that it would really be nothing more than a glorified semi-pro league.