Brooksie isn't wrong
Slap Shots.
Exposing one injustice at a time.
Boston Bruins' snub of Frank Brimsek is ridiculous
One and only one of the Original Six has not retired No. 1, and that team is the Bruins, who apparently are laboring under the misapprehension that Mr. Zero, Frank Brimsek, wore 0 on his uniform.
The snub makes no sense. Brimsek, a Hall of Famer, was the preeminent goaltender of his time — winning the Stanley Cup twice in 1939 and 1941, named to the first- or-second All-Star team in each of his first eight seasons of his career, and winning the Calder Trophy and two Vezina Trophies while finishing in the top five of Hart Trophy voting three times.
It does not line up. The Bruins aren’t one of those franchises to ignore anything that happened in the NHL’s formative, pre-World War II days. They have retired the No. 2 for Eddie Shore (1926-40), No. 3 for Lionel Hitchman (1925-34) and No. 5 for Dit Clapper (1927-47).
Brimsek, born in Eveleth, Minn., was the first American goaltender to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was among the inaugural class of players inducted into the U.S. HHOF. So what gives?
A trusty well-informed observer in Boston reports that upon returning to the B’s following his service for the Coast Guard in WW II, Brimsek had personal issues and repeatedly clashed with management before he was sent to Chicago for his final season in 1949-50, so he could be closer to home.
Art Ross, yes, Mr. Trophy himself, was GM for three decades into the mid-1950s and oversaw the number retirements of the three vintage Bruins. But not Brimsek. When the goaltender’s longtime teammate, the beloved Milt Schmidt, served as GM for the five seasons that included the 1970 and 1972 Cup championships, he did nothing to rectify the wrong.
It is time for current club president Cam Neely, steeped in the tradition of his franchise, to make matters right and put No. 1 up in the rafters in Boston.
Slap Shots.
Exposing one injustice at a time.
Boston Bruins' snub of Frank Brimsek is ridiculous
One and only one of the Original Six has not retired No. 1, and that team is the Bruins, who apparently are laboring under the misapprehension that Mr. Zero, Frank Brimsek, wore 0 on his uniform.
The snub makes no sense. Brimsek, a Hall of Famer, was the preeminent goaltender of his time — winning the Stanley Cup twice in 1939 and 1941, named to the first- or-second All-Star team in each of his first eight seasons of his career, and winning the Calder Trophy and two Vezina Trophies while finishing in the top five of Hart Trophy voting three times.
It does not line up. The Bruins aren’t one of those franchises to ignore anything that happened in the NHL’s formative, pre-World War II days. They have retired the No. 2 for Eddie Shore (1926-40), No. 3 for Lionel Hitchman (1925-34) and No. 5 for Dit Clapper (1927-47).
Brimsek, born in Eveleth, Minn., was the first American goaltender to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was among the inaugural class of players inducted into the U.S. HHOF. So what gives?
A trusty well-informed observer in Boston reports that upon returning to the B’s following his service for the Coast Guard in WW II, Brimsek had personal issues and repeatedly clashed with management before he was sent to Chicago for his final season in 1949-50, so he could be closer to home.
Art Ross, yes, Mr. Trophy himself, was GM for three decades into the mid-1950s and oversaw the number retirements of the three vintage Bruins. But not Brimsek. When the goaltender’s longtime teammate, the beloved Milt Schmidt, served as GM for the five seasons that included the 1970 and 1972 Cup championships, he did nothing to rectify the wrong.
It is time for current club president Cam Neely, steeped in the tradition of his franchise, to make matters right and put No. 1 up in the rafters in Boston.
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