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December 18, 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.
O’Callahan Not Over The Hill’ At Age 30
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.—Jack O’Callahan felt like a 10-cent trinket lost in the bottom of a jewel box. Having come to the Devils in the NHL waiver draft for the bargain price of $7,500, the former Chicago Blackhawk defenseman feared he was being looked upon simply as an insurance policy for the team’s younger defensive corps. It didn’t seem to matter that O’Cal-lahan’s heady defensive play and job as point man on the power play had sparked the Devils during their best start in franchise history. “This is a good organization,” he said. “There’s a commitment to win here. This is also a good team. It’s a bonus that it’s young. The core of this team could be together here for 10 years. I’m happy to be here. The only thing I don’t like…
Imlach Always Did It His Way
George (Punch) Imlach was often depicted as a person with no grey area. He gave you the facts; gave them to you straight, and you either loved him or loathed him. That much was true. So was another circumstance. Punch Imlach got results. The man mostly responsible for Toronto’s glorious hockey empire in the 1960s lost a lengthy battle with heart disease and died Dec. 1 in Scarborough, Ont. He was 69 years old. In his 20 years as a general manager and coach with Toronto and Buffalo, his teams appeared in the Stanley Cup final seven times and won four championships. “He was a winner,” says former Maple Leaf defenseman Bob Baun. “We had a very strong group of personalities on our team in the 1960s—guys like Bob Pulford, Bert Olmstead, Red Kelly…
Wheels Of Justice Fail To Slow Red Wings
DETROIT—These were supposed to be happy times for the Detroit Red Wings. Thanks to a veritable goalscoring orgy and their typically tenacious defense, the Wings won five straight games. Don’t bother them with bad news, thank you. But that’s exactly what a suburban district judge did when he threw Bob Probert in jail for a night for violating terms of his probation—stemming from his arrest for drunk driving two years ago. And just a few days earlier, defenseman Mike O’Connell was sentenced to an eight-game suspension by NHL executive vice-president Brian O’Neill for high-sticking St. Louis Blue Doug Evans. “I don’t want to discuss Bob Probert right now,” general manager Jimmy Devellano said after the Wings whipped Chicago 12-0 Dec. 4. “We have won five in a row. This is a happy…
AHL Goalie Has ‘Lotsa Luck’ Scoring
Darcy Wakaluk of the Rochester Americans has become the first American League goaltender to score a goal. And his goal didn’t require a rulebook interpretation, either. Wakaluk, whose nickname is ‘Lotsa Luck,’ shot the puck into an empty Utica Devil net with one second left in Rochester’s 5-2 win Dec. 5. After knocking down a chest-high shot from outside the blue line, Wakaluk quickly dropped the puck to the ice and flipped it over the forechecking Devils, who were on a power play. “I saw two defensemen coming at me and I knew I had to get it up high so I wouldn’t hit them,” recounted the netminder. “When I saw it going down the ice, I said to myself, ‘God, I hope it goes in.’” Wakaluk is the third professional goaltender to score a…
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