Remembering John Brophy

[Killion]

All~Time PIM's Leader, one of the craziest & most viscous players to have ever laced them up....
Heres a highly entertaining & colorful article that came out I believe last fall sometime.....

didnt see it posted here. Its lengthy, but well worth the read. www.nplusonemag.com/issue-20/essays/enforcers/

Click to read more...

 

[BraveCanadian]

All~Time PIM's Leader, one of the craziest & most viscous players to have ever laced them up....
Heres a highly entertaining & colorful article that came out I believe last fall sometime.....

didnt see it posted here. Its lengthy, but well worth the read. www.nplusonemag.com/issue-20/essays/enforcers/

Good read!

Had no idea that Brophy dusted up Schultz.

Brophy coached for a long long time too.

 

[Double]

Very interesting article, thank you for posting that.

Brophy was the inspiration for the character in Slapshot who played on the Hyannisport Presidents. The guy Reggie told to get off the ice or he'd pee all over himself...

***Edit****
Brophy is widely considered to be the inspiration for the character of Reg Dunlop. The aforementioned Presidents player was named Nick Brophy, another hat-tip to John Brophy.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I knew John Brophy first as an ECHL coach for the Hampton Roads Admirals (now the Norfolk Admirals, who sadly will be relocating this fall).

In that old division of the ECHL, the teams played each other so much and they were so rough-and-tumble that you knew exactly who had a short fuse on the other teams. And Brophy had a shorter one than any of the players. It was a given that at least a couple of times per year, he'd come into your barn and start some **** with the players, refs, and often the fans. So of course, the fans would get after him every game, especially if things got chippy. Next thing you know, you're not playing the Hampton Roads Admirals... you're playing John Brophy And The Hampton Roads Admirals. I distinctly remember him being restrained from going after a guy in the stands after being ejected from a game.

He was a crusty old guy by then and seemed mean as hell from a distance. I'm not at all surprised to see the number of f-bombs he dropped in that article. But he added the kind of color to the league that makes it all seem like a lot of fun, so there was also an aura of bad-guy fondness for him.

 

[Killion]

He was a crusty old guy by then and seemed mean as hell from a distance. I'm not at all surprised to see the number of f-bombs he dropped in that article.

Oh ya. Swore in rhyming couplets did Johnny Boy. Make a sailor blush, put Turrets Guy to shame tarheel. One night in Minnesota while coaching the Leafs, completely snapped on the team and with press within earshot counting dropped 72 F-Bombs during a 2 minute tirade. And ya, meaner than a junk yard dog when he got his dander up. Godfather of Goonery. Anarchist. No one was safe. Not the fans (some idiot through a hacksaw at him one night while he was Coaching, Brophy did indeed return it); not the Cops; not the Refs; not even his own team mates in a practice or his players when he was Coaching. Dave Hanson related a story of how some rookie, just a kid, asked then Coach Brophy what to do in a stickfight if he was ever confronted with one. Brophy asked him "you really wanna know"? Kid says sure so Brophy lines up against him and with lightning speed cracks the guy over the head, Hell of a whack, pole-axed, downed like a Pine Beetle infested conifer, bleeding all over the ice. Brophy leans over looking down at him and tells him "first thing you do is keep your stick up, second thing you do is make sure you get the first shot in", then he straightens up, skates off slowly chuckling to himself.

 

[thom]

Those are the characters the game is missing=yes the game might be faster more skilled then before.But Passion hatred is missing=Dont know if you remember Ernie Punch Mclean famous New Westminister coach of the 1970s-same type win at all costs and at times they went over the line

 

[Pashank]

I knew John Brophy first as an ECHL coach for the Hampton Roads Admirals (now the Norfolk Admirals, who sadly will be relocating this fall).

In that old division of the ECHL, the teams played each other so much and they were so rough-and-tumble that you knew exactly who had a short fuse on the other teams. And Brophy had a shorter one than any of the players. It was a given that at least a couple of times per year, he'd come into your barn and start some **** with the players, refs, and often the fans. So of course, the fans would get after him every game, especially if things got chippy. Next thing you know, you're not playing the Hampton Roads Admirals... you're playing John Brophy And The Hampton Roads Admirals. I distinctly remember him being restrained from going after a guy in the stands after being ejected from a game.

He was a crusty old guy by then and seemed mean as hell from a distance. I'm not at all surprised to see the number of f-bombs he dropped in that article. But he added the kind of color to the league that makes it all seem like a lot of fun, so there was also an aura of bad-guy fondness for him.

Also grew up watching the Admirals. He got suspended for throwing a hacksaw at a fan from the bench once.