Steve Yzerman: A Born Leader

Another one of the most influential hockey players of all time is Bobby Orr. Orr was born in 1948 in Parry Sound, Canada (Orr). Bucko McDonald, a former NHL defenseman in the 30's and 40's, coached the young Bobby. He believed he could be a great defenseman with lots of speed and high stick skills as well. This turned out to be one of the beet moves for Bobby's career, as Orr played ten seasons in the NHL. He played nine years with the Bruins, and his final year in Chicago. He wished to play longer if it wasn't for his knees giving out on him, as he injured them both early in his NHL career. Nevertheless, Orr was arguably called the greatest defenseman of all time for what he did in both sides of the ice.

Hockey, a sport who’s premier league is the NHL. The NHL, over time has had its fair share of players who dominated the game. Some of these players were just “too good”. Examples of this are Mario Lemieux, Gordie Howe, and the Great one, Wayne Gretzky. Today, there are a lot of great players in the league, sadly to go down in history in any sport you need to be at the top of your time. In current days we see plenty of good, young players, who really contribute to the league but some of the older players who have established their name to everyone are the only ones who have really put themselves in the history books. Today I’m writing this article to talk about two players, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. The two players are considered the

Essentially, the 1972 Team Canada was given the name of Canada's Hockey Team of the Century in December 1999 (Hockey Hall of Fame). Another, important event that happen was said by legendary broadcaster Foster Hewitt of CBC Television " The Puck comes out to Hendson . He shoots! He scores Paul Henderson has scored for Canada. "(Quinlan 268). With 34 seconds left in the third period , Paul scored a slap shot to the top left corner of the net , which made Canada become the new hockey power in the world. (Kriser). This Summit Series win was very big for the development of Canada's hockey culture because in International ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) tournaments , Canada was losing to countries like USA, Sweden and Finland ,developing hockey countries, in which should of been easy wins for Canada who is a hockey nation. (Rutley) It also shifted to look at women and hockey . Before the series , women were not allowed to play because of the fact that it was a male sport and it was too aggressive for women to handle. (Rutley). However after the series was over , one young lady step out of shadows and played a game with young men on a pond in Quebec . Manon Rhéaume, the first female hockey player was given great respect and in the next following NHL season played as a Montréal

Buddy Sulliman, by the way, suited up with the 1955-56 Glace Bay ‘Cinderella’ Miners hockey team that we featured recently on these pages. “In his day, Dad was a real tough player who had a reputation,” said Sulliman. “I used to watch him play when I was a kid and I thought games only lasted one period because he’d always have his gear over his shoulder because he got thrown out for fighting or something. He once told me, ‘If you get into a fight on the ice, let the other guy know he was in one.’ That bit of advice lasted throughout my entire career.”

He shoots he scores! The history of hockey has changed over time. There are many good players that wouldn't be as good if these changes wouldn't have changed.

It was while Joseph played for the marvelous Cape Breton Post Bombers hockey club in 1964 that he first took up coaching. “It was an after-school hockey program at the former St. Joseph’s Elementary School in Sydney,” he said. “I was at it for about 10 years and I really enjoyed helping the kids.”

The most memorable moment in hockey history came thirty-four years ago with the 1980 Miracle on Ice. The Americans defeating the dominant Soviet team at the Olympics was not only an important triumph for USA Hockey, but for the entire nation. Contrary to popular belief, the underdog win was not only the result of a miracle; it was also the result of a hard-working team led by Coach Herb Brooks. With increasingly negative views on the position of the United States in the Cold War, the Miracle on Ice and the gold medal win lifted the spirits of the nation and brought hockey into the American spotlight.

A rookie NHL All-Star, the number one overall pick, an 18 year old from Arizona, and the future of the NHL, number 34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews is fifth overall in total goals this season. Auston Matthews was born in San Ramon, California on September 17, 1997 and at two months old, moved to Scottsdale, Arizona. To start, his Uncle had season tickets to then, Phoenix Coyotes games, now Arizona Coyotes, where Auston went to his first hockey game when he was three years old and fell in love with the sport. He first started hockey at age five and was once better at baseball than he was at hockey. He was good baseball because he had good eye-hand coordination and hitting was his strength. Anyhow, there weren't

Another hockey great, who was purely Canadian, and proved his worth in the game of hockey, is the amazing Rocket Richard. He was known for his excellence, but was also just as well known for his great spirit and love for the game. He, as well as Gretzky, was given the honour of being among the best in the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 1955, Richard was, without thought, suspended from the league, Canada, especially Montrealers, went into complete uproar, inducing numerous death threats upon the president Clarence Campbell, as well as what has been called the worst riot in Canadian sports history. This example really shows how dedicated Canadians are when backing up their own players, the ones they know are the best.

Martin St. Louis a Ranger hockey player. Just 72 hours after learning about the sudden death of his mom, France, to a sudden heart attack, scored the first goal of the Rangers playoff game on Mother’s day. From the start of the game the crowd was on Martin side chanting his name over and over again to show support to him and his family. Some say it was like a story that was too good to be true, as if it was scripted by a Hollywood writer. After that game there were questions as to whether Martin would continue to play in this series, but that Friday he rejoined the team.

He was compelled to quit school at the age of 16 and become a machinist just to be able to help his parents put a roof over the heads and food on the table for his 8 siblings. This taught him that you need to work hard and makes sacrifice if you are going to succeed in life. During his rookie season, Maurice only played in 16 games as he broke his ankle for the second time into his hockey career. There were already doubts about his hockey career in the media, the General Manager of the Montreal Canadiens stated that Maurice wouldn’t be able to survive the grind of the National Hockey League due to his prior medical history with broken bones. He was called a “Lemon and a waste of money”. Money was a commodity that you did not waste in the 1940 as people were just starting to recover from one of the worst economic disasters of the great depression. He thought his hockey career was over and that Montreal would just bench him and release him until his contract was over. In the following season, he was a healthy scratch for the first 4 games and his career was clearly in jeopardy. With a newborn daughter, he feared that he would not be able to put food on the table so he decided to show his determination and will. He stayed after practice for hours and worked until the coach decided that Maurice deserves to be on the ice due to his work ethic. Over his career, he showed management and surely the hockey world that he was not a “lemon”; as he would go on to play over 1100 games in the National Hockey league. All of these intangibles that are shown by the rocket off the ice, made him a perfect teammate and captain of the Montreal Canadiens. Former Teammate, Jean Beliveau once stated, “He embodies something which would rub off on many of his teammates. … Quite simply, Maurice Richard hated to lose with every fibre of his being.” Due to his determination and being Montreal Canadiens best

In 1995, he was drafted by the New Jersey Nets. Unfortunately, he only stayed in the league for two years. He was later traded to the Dallas Mavericks and ultimately to the Orlando Magic where he was eventually released. He played professional basketball overseas for seven years in countries including Argentina, Greece, Poland and Spain. He decided to retire at age 32 because of ongoing problems with his knees. He later went back to UCLA in 2011 to complete his education by getting his bachelor’s degree in History. He is currently a marketing director for a car dealership in Las Vegas NV (Websit,

Patrick Kane was drafted fast and to a good team. He was the number one draft pick in 2007. He knew most of his teammates from the Blackhawks from

In Quebec City, Patrick Roy was born on October 5, 1965. His parents were doing very well in life. His father was a great tennis player as well as an amateur baseball player. His mother was a nationally ranked swimmer for her country. Patrick began his journey playing hockey at the age of six years old. He never started out playing in the net but when the goalie on his local team got hurt, Patrick said he would give it a try and never left that position ever since. An interesting fact was that he loved it so much, at home, he would strap pillows to his legs using them as pads. He loved playing goalie so much, he started playing that position for his local junior and midget hockey leagues. Patrick Roy dropped out of school in the eleventh grade and with the help of his parents he played in the Quebec junior league. He played for the team the Granby Bison’s which didn’t go so well for the team but great for Patrick Roy. What I mean by that is the team finished the season with a record of sixteen to