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October 30, 1987
The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.
Zeidel Accepts The Blame
The infamous and frightening stick-swinging battle of 1968 between Larry Zeidel of Philadelphia and Eddie Shack of Boston has long been misunderstood. That comes from no less an authority than the man who started it all. To an entire generation of hockey fans, the perception is that Zeidel, the NHL’s only Jewish player, became enraged at Shack over a barrage of antiSemitic taunts and attempted to carve the Boston forward into a bloody pulp. But there is more to this long-remembered episode. “It was the culmination of many months of frustration,” admits Zeidel, now 60 and a stock broker in Philadelphia. “The anti-Semitic thing had very little to do with it.” A noted disturber on the ice, Zeidel had spent 13 seasons playing the tough guy in minor-league cities. The NHL expansion of 1967…
Ricci Hot New Man
Mike Ricci is the youngest player in the OHL but that hasn’t kept the Peterborough Petes’ rookie center from playing like a veteran. Ricci, who turned 16 on October 27, exploded for six goals and 10 assists in his first seven games as a Pete. The fast start had the 6-foot-l, 175-pound Ricci in second place in the early OHL scoring race, just a point behind Guelph Platers’ 19-year-old center Rob Arabski. NHL teams will have to wait for Ricci, however. Players who have turned 18 by Sept. 15 of their draft year are eligible to go in the first three rounds of the following summer’s draft. But because of his late birthday, Ricci won’t be eligible until the 1990 entry draft even though others in his age group will be taken…
Williams Is No Answer To What Ails Hartford
DESPERATE MEN DO desperate things in desperate circumstances. Such was the case when Emile Francis picked up the telephone and a load of trouble known as Dave (Tiger) Williams. Everyone in hockey thought old Tiger was done like dinner, but not old Emile, who’s something of a tiger himself. His smallish Whalers, minus Dave Semenko’s brawn, and with centers the size of Davey Keon, needed help after beginning the season in something less than stellar fashion. Four losses in four starts—discouraging enough to force Emile to turn to the Tiger, a most discouraging individual at the best of times. After all, what could the man do? Buffalo had just added Kevin Maguire and Ed Hospodar to its already-skilled and talented roster. Not to be outdone, the Bruins went shopping for big Willi Plett, he of the…
Sutter The Voters’ Choice In This Campaign
UNIONDALE—You’ve heard that old hockey expression, if the ‘C’ fits, wear it. Well, the New York Islanders had a problem before the season started, when Denis Potvin resigned the captaincy after eight years. How could they not give the captaincy to Bryan Trottier, a symbol of Islanders’ supremacy in the early ‘80s and a right guy for the job? But how could they not give the captaincy to Brent Sutter, the leader of the Islanders’ new generation and a right guy for the job? Management, which announced it would name the new captain before the season opener in Los Angeles on Oct. 8, was stuck. It couldn’t decide. So the players voted. And that’s how Brent Sutter became the fourth captain—Ed Westfall, Clark Gillies and Potvin were the others—in the team’s 16-year history. It was a…
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