Rest in Peace/Open Ice

Quote:
"Jack Falla 1944-2008"THe skates and stick leaned against a photo display in the Wellesley, Mass funeral home. They looked lonely. It would have been more appropriate if they somehow joined the stream of mourners. For throughout his life, skates and a stick gave Jack Falla as much comfort and companionship and as many memories as any friend who lined up to say goodbye. Falla, an author, professor and sportswriter, died suddenly of a heart attack at age 64 on Sept. 14th.

He left behind his cherished family - wife Barbara, children Tracey and Brian and grandchildren, Demetre and Ella. And he left behind a hockey world filled with friends, colleagues and former students. Falla was a senior writer at Sports Illustrated in the 1980's, chronicling the rise and reign of Wayne Gretzky and the Oilers. He was a professor at Boston University and authoer of Home Ice: Reflections on Backyard RInks and Frozen Ponds; Quest for the Cup; and the recently released Open Ice: Reflections and COnfessions of a Hockey Lifer. He also contributed ot the The Hockey News, writing major essays in Century of Hockey and the Top 100 NHL Players of All-Time and acclaimed back-page columns for Inside HOckey.

Falla loved music and movies, good wine and a good meal. And he loved great writing. All styles, from any era. But hockey was his true passion; the threat pulling everything together, connecting generations and linking a lifetime of moments, good and bad. And despite covering it professionally, he remained forever a fan.

He revered the hockey gods who won five straight Cups for Montreal from 1956-1960. He sent highlight tapes of Bobby Orr to people who never saw the great Bruin play - because no one should be a fan of today's game without actually seeing the man who changed it. He felt compelled to attend Maurice Richard's funeral, found a reason to visit Georges Vezina's grave and created a professional purpose for a pilgrimage to the pond where Hobey Baker learned to skate. He loved the game, its beauty and brutality.

He built a backyard rink, the Bacon St. Omni, in Natick Mass and that ice - which was to freeze for its 25th year this winter - provided the page on which he wrote so much of his family history. It was here he passed the puck to his kids and then grandkids. Multiple generations of neighbors and friends signed the rink guest book and were rewarded with a lasting memory.

In "Open Ice", Falla wrote that hockey was important to him "For reasons that transcend standings, statistics and scores." He recalled a conversation with a fellow professor: "Why do you go to the draft? THey don't play hockey," the professor asked. Falla replied, "I go to see my friends," adding that the NHL is like a tribal gathering. "Hockey is the only tribe I belong to," he said.

The tirbe has lost a treasured member. The game has lost a fan and a friend.-Kara Yorio-the hockey news and the tribe shall remember jack fallaI am going to buy his book Open Ice next week!Next time I go into town

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NHL Hall of Famer Horner and former Maple leaf Great passes away at age 95.
Canadian Press4/28/2005
TORONTO (CP) - Former Toronto Maple Leafs captain Reginald (Red) Horner died Wednesday. He was 95.
Horner, who was born in Lynden, Ont., played for both the Toronto Marlies and the Maple Leafs, spending his entire career in Toronto.
He was the oldest living member of the Hall of Fame and the oldest living former NHLer.
He played 490 career NHL regular season games for Toronto recording 42 goals and 110 assists with 1264 penalty minutes.
Horner won a Stanley Cup in 1932 and he served as captain from 1938 until his retirement in 1940.

Reginald (Red) Horner, 95: Hard-nosed Maple Leaf hockey hero
Was part of Leafs' first Stanley Cup and went on to successful career in business
Apr. 28, 2005. 02:10 PM FRANK ORR SPECIAL TO THE STAR
When he reflected on his long, full life, Reginald (Red) Horner talked about his two distinguished careers, in hockey and business, with equal pride.
Horner, the oldest Maple Leaf and the oldest surviving member of the Hockey Hall Of Fame, died yesterday. He was a month short of his 96th birthday.
His death was confirmed last night by a spokeswoman at the north Toronto retirement residence in which he spent the last years of his life.
Horner spent 12 seasons on the Maple Leafs defence, two of them as team captain, and followed his days on ice with success in the coal business, a steady climb to owner of Canada Coal Company.
"The two things, hockey and business, were tied together in several ways,'' said Horner in a 2000 interview. "I started life on a farm (near the Brantford area hamlet of Lynden) and hard work by everyone was just part of life. Then in hockey, I learned from Conn Smythe, who was a controversial man but nothing but great to me, that complete effort was the one way to get ahead.
"Sure, the name I had from hockey helped when I got started in the fuel business but, again, success only came through hard work.''
Smythe, who bought the team in 1926, was the legendary founder and owner of the Maple Leafs and Horner was in the crop of outstanding young players that Smythe and his main aide, Frank Selke, recruited for the NHL team via the Marlboros junior development program.
In two seasons, the Marlies sent four legendary hall of fame players to the Leafs — defenceman Horner in 1928-29, the Kid Line of Joe Primeau, Charlie Conacher and Busher Jackson a year later.
Horner's family moved to Toronto and the young teenager delivered groceries for a relative's store. On his route in the Bloor and Spadina area was Selke, who along with his Leaf duties was chief electrician at the University of Toronto.
"I knew Mrs. Selke better than her husband and she sure gave me good cookies on the deliveries,'' Horner said.
The connection helped him get a tryout with the Marlboros and eventually a shot with the Leafs.
Smythe built Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931 and the Leafs won their first Stanley Cup in the 1931-32 season, then were a top contender through the NHL's most competitive decade, the hungry '30s when seven different teams won the Cup.
While the Kid Line supplied the offensive punch with help from such strong forwards as Andy Blair, Harold Cotton, Frank Finnigan and Hal Darragh, and stalwart defencemen King Clancy, Hap Day and Alex Levinsky played in front of goalie Lorne Chabot, Horner was one of the team's most valuable assets. Not only was he a rock-solid, two-way defenceman, Horner was the Leafs' "policeman,'' the tough, aggressive protector of his mates.
"No one, not even the toughest guys in the NHL, took liberties with the Leafs,'' Clancy once said.
"Do one of us dirt and you had to deal with Red. That was absolutely no fun at all. He was as tough as any man who played the game, an excellent body-checker who fought only when necessary."
Horner led the NHL in penalty minutes in a record eight consecutive seasons from '32-33 to '39-40.
He played his last NHL game in a losing 1940 final against the New York Rangers.
He worked as a linesmen for two seasons until a back problem ended his hockey involvement.

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Joe Klukay,Dead at 83:

Won four Stanley Cups with Leafs Feb. 13, 2006. 12:46 PMSAULT STE. MARIE, Ont.—
Joe Klukay, a four-time Stanley Cup champion with the Toronto Maple Leafs, is dead at 83.
The native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., captured Stanley Cups with the Leafs in 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1951, playing alongside such Leafs luminaries as Ted Kennedy, Bill Barilko and Max Bentley.
Klukay finished his 10-year NHL with 109 goals and 236 points. He played in three consecutive NHL All-Star Games from 1947-49.
He was traded by the Leafs to the Boston Bruins for cash in September 1952. His best single-season performance in the NHL would come a year later when he scored 20 goals and added 17 assists in 1953-54.

While in toronto He taillied 180 points 72 goals in 370 regular season games. Playing 55 playoff games and getting 23 playoff points
Klukay retired from the NHL in 1956
Joe Klukay, a four-time Stanley Cup champion with the Toronto Maple Leafs, is dead at 83.
The native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., captured four Stanley Cups with the Leafs in 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1951, playing alongside such Leafs luminaries as Ted Kennedy, Bill Barilko and Max Bentley.
Klukay finished his 10-year NHL with 109 goals and 236 points. Not known for his scoring prowess, Klukay did receive accolades from the likes of legendary CBC broadcaster Foster Hewitt, who called Klukay's stickhandling among the best in the NHL.
Klukay said he developed those puck skills as a youngster playing hockey in the Sault.
``Twenty or 30 of us would jam together on the Bayview rink and play from eight o'clock in the morning until it got dark,'' he told The Sault Star in 1955. ``I can remember falling asleep with my skates on at the supper table.
``With 12 or 15 kids on each side, you had to learn to stickhandle or be happy watching the others.''
Known as the Bayview Flash, Klukay was half of the NHL's best penalty-killing duo with Maple Leafs' teammate Nick Metz.
``He was a hell of an NHLer,'' said good friend Angelo Bumbacco in Sault Ste. Marie. ``He never took a shift off. He was one of those hockey players that played both ways and gave it everything when he was on the ice.''

Klukay played in three consecutive NHL All-Star Games from 1947 to 1949.
He was traded from the Leafs to the Boston Bruins for cash in September 1952. His best single-season performance in the NHL would come a year later when he scored 20 goals and added 17 assists in 1953-54.

Klukay retired from the NHL in 1956, but he didn't stop playing the game he loved. He spent six seasons with the Windsor Bulldogs in the Ontario Hockey Association's Senior League.

Klukay was inducted into the Sault Ste. Marie Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966.
He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Frances, and his daughter, Deborah.

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Gus died on July 1st, 2005, of cancer at the Lakeridge Health Unit in Oshawa, Ontario.
Bodnar holds two important NHL records:
He scored the fastest goal by a rookie, only 15 seconds into his first NHL game against goaltender Ken McAuley and the New York Rangers.
In the last game of the 1951-52 season,he collected the fastest three assists when Bill Mosienko scored the fastest hat trick in NHL history, only 21 seconds.