Eddie Shore and Milt Schmidt

[Canadiens1958]

Eddie Shore had an interesting slant on Milt Schmidt`s skating:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=XYstAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1ZwFAAAAIBAJ&hl=fr&pg=4656,4344168

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[Killion]

... oh boy, Eddie Shore stories. Love em! Had rope, cords exactly 20"'s in length that he'd tie to players legs in order to correct their skating skills & posture. Would tape their hands to their sticks. Block & tackle pully system in the rafters at Springfield Arena. Worked & practiced players to near death, four of them during his tenure experiencing cardiac arrest. Cant remember the players name, but received a cut to his leg requiring 40 stitches, hospitalization. Shore calls him up in the hospital, orders him to report that night for a game or else. Claims its nothing, that he once played with 100 stitches in his leg (likely true). Guys hobble down to the arena, played 3 minutes, then suspended without pay for indifferent play.... another time Frank Udvari so incensed Eddie that pulled his entire team off the ice & into the dressing room leaving Goalie Don Simmons alone in the crease. Udvari drops the puck, Simmons facing a 5-0, somehow manages to smother & stop the play.... just on & on.

 

[mbhhofr]

I got to meet and spend some time with both Shore and Schmidt. When I was twelve, I attended a clinic put on by Shore. After the clinic when my Dad and I were leaving the rink, we saw Shore outside waiting for a cab. My Dad asked him if he needed a ride and he happened to be going to a rink in our end of town. He accepted and while we were going there, he reiterated some skating advice to me that he had demonstrated during the clinic.

I was going to Brandon to referee a Jr. game and received a call from one of the sports writers from the Winnipeg Tribune. He asked me if I would give him and Milt Schmidt, who was going to scout one of the Brandon players, a ride. Like I would turn them down.

 

[Killion]

I got to meet and spend some time with both Shore and Schmidt...

Thats fun. Did you ever run into either while working as a Linesman or Ref, they behind the bench?... I met Schmidt a few times in Southern Ontario. Very friendly full of life guy, obviously doing exactly what he should be doing with himself. Shore despite his obvious foibles, eccentricities if you will clearly had a deep & abiding love for the game, thought what he was doing was right and I believe did very much care about the welfare of his players. Just happened to be extremely parsimonious, it was his money, his business. Mistake seems to have been that he both expected & demanded the same passion in others when it came to training regimens & playing hurt, as in no brakes on the body, you went full-out 24/7 & if you dropped in the process, well, he had all kinds of old World medicants for that, many apparently that would just mess you up all the more. One guy apparently, cant remember his name, having his back totalled & career cut short at the hands of Eddie the Physiotherapist. Strange man.

 

[LeBlondeDemon10]

"Bend you knees Mr. Cherry, bend your knees!"

Always wondered if this story from the DC movie is true. Grapes is in a bar with the Bruins after a game when a player, who resembled Peter McNabb in the movie, spots Shore and walks up behind him and slaps him on the back and says something like 'what a treat it is to meet you, Mr. Shore.' Shore tells the player to never touch him like that again. Meanwhile, the player continues to go on about how Shore was his idol and he slaps him on the back again. Grapes, who is watching this from afar, says something like 'look out'. Shore stands up, turns around and decks the player.

 

[Killion]

Shore stands up, turns around and decks the player.

... I suppose its possible, like the time Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones in the 60's spotted Chuck Berry on the street, one of his hero's, accosts him, Chuck there clocking him, unconscious on the pavement, broad daylight, couldnt understand a word Keef was sayin, thinking he was a filthy, ill dressed & crazed lunatic. However, I dont know that Shore wouldve reacted quite so violently to an invasion of his space in public like that. Seemed to reserve his full-on physicality to the rink when he was playing, thereafter all psychological intimidation & warfare.

 

[LeBlondeDemon10]

Eddie the Physiotherapist.

I remember one of his techniques from the DC movie - contrast baths - that is used by physio's today. Bucket of water with ice and a bucket of the hottest water you can stand. 2 minutes of your swollen ankle or whathaveyou in each bath. Start and end with cold (3x), hot 2x. Repeat many times during the day. Works miracles for bringing swelling down.

 

[Killion]

...Works miracles for bringing swelling down.

Ya some of his techniques & theories, ahead of his time for sure. Rather fascinating. Back then, looked upon with horror. Nazi Death Camp ****. The old axiom a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing, Eddie there seemed to run on instinct, gut, knew just enough to have realized some success with his remedies, not quite enough to have avoided leaving a slew of crippled victims in his wake.