Wish we were allowed to post whole articles, this one is really good. Well, here goes:
Derek Sanderson recalls his playing days ahead of auction - The Boston Globe
Perhaps what we’ll best remember of Derek Sanderson’s playing days is something that can’t be tucked into an auction catalog. He was master of the sweep check, his devilish knack for leaning over, dropping his stick nearly flush to the ice, and filching pucks away from opposing forwards and defensemen.
“Oh, what I could have done with sweep checking today,” an ever-perky Sanderson said this past week from his home on the Cape. “I would have stolen more pucks, had more breakaways, than you could shake a stick at. Before I die, I would love to teach [Brad] Marchand how to do it. He’s got the skills to be really good at it”
Sanderson, age 74, has no plans on checking out in the near future. He is fully retired, still enjoys his rounds of golf, and is pleased to report that he is in “generally” good health.
“Stay healthy if you can,” advised the ex-Bruins great, whose adventurous trip to old age included overcoming a nasty addiction to drugs and alcohol. “Because being 74 really, really sucks.”
The Black and Gold glory days long behind him, Sanderson decided in recent weeks to auction off his career artifacts. The Derek Sanderson Personal Collection went up for bids Friday at classicauctions.net, hosted by the Montreal-based online auction house of the same name that last year handled Ray Bourque’s auction
Some of the key items in Sanderson’s lot include a game-worn No. 16 home sweater he wore for the Bruins in the playoffs in 1972, the year Sanderson and his Big Bad Bruins pals won the Stanley Cup for the second time. There is also a stick the Turk used in the 1970 playoffs, but it is not the one he used to dish the puck to Bobby Orr for the famous “Flying Bobby” goal that clinched the Cup Final.
“I wish it was,” said Juteau. “Although very similar, the wear pattern on the blade [as shown in a Game 4 photograph] doesn’t match the stick we have. Our research showed that he only used that model of stick during the 1970 playoffs, so we’re thinking it might have been used early in the game and maybe Derek got one of his extra sticks from that game signed after the game. But we don’t think it is the stick.”
So, why now to say farewell to a lifetime of goodies? Athletes are often compelled to sell their goods when financial times turn sour.
"No, everything’s tidy-tidy there, thankfully, " said Sanderson. “No, it was just time. The stuff’s been at home, filling closets and gathering dust, and what the hell, it’s the last hurrah.”
To see it all go, Sanderson added, brings a sense of sharing.
According to Sanderson, his wife Nancy [Gillis], for years insisted he hold on to the artifacts, but she relented after he recently gave his two Cup rings to sons Michael (age 29) and Ryan (27).
Decades ago, Sanderson lost track of both rings, and was unsure whether he lost or sold them. As hard as that might be to imagine, it serves today as a reminder of his state of mind during his days in addiction.
“When I was drinking, right?” mused Sanderson. “When I was out there pretty good, if I’d had my hands on those rings they would have been gone for another day, and cheaply. Because you’re just day to day when you’re drunk.”
Years into his sobriety, Sanderson met up with Joe Cimino, his former business partner at Daisy Buchanan’s in the Back Bay.
“So I meet him at Daisy’s,” recalled Sanderson, "and he hands me the rings and says, ‘I was wondering when you were going to come back.’ ”
Derek Sanderson recalls his playing days ahead of auction - The Boston Globe
Perhaps what we’ll best remember of Derek Sanderson’s playing days is something that can’t be tucked into an auction catalog. He was master of the sweep check, his devilish knack for leaning over, dropping his stick nearly flush to the ice, and filching pucks away from opposing forwards and defensemen.
“Oh, what I could have done with sweep checking today,” an ever-perky Sanderson said this past week from his home on the Cape. “I would have stolen more pucks, had more breakaways, than you could shake a stick at. Before I die, I would love to teach [Brad] Marchand how to do it. He’s got the skills to be really good at it”
Sanderson, age 74, has no plans on checking out in the near future. He is fully retired, still enjoys his rounds of golf, and is pleased to report that he is in “generally” good health.
“Stay healthy if you can,” advised the ex-Bruins great, whose adventurous trip to old age included overcoming a nasty addiction to drugs and alcohol. “Because being 74 really, really sucks.”
The Black and Gold glory days long behind him, Sanderson decided in recent weeks to auction off his career artifacts. The Derek Sanderson Personal Collection went up for bids Friday at classicauctions.net, hosted by the Montreal-based online auction house of the same name that last year handled Ray Bourque’s auction
Some of the key items in Sanderson’s lot include a game-worn No. 16 home sweater he wore for the Bruins in the playoffs in 1972, the year Sanderson and his Big Bad Bruins pals won the Stanley Cup for the second time. There is also a stick the Turk used in the 1970 playoffs, but it is not the one he used to dish the puck to Bobby Orr for the famous “Flying Bobby” goal that clinched the Cup Final.
“I wish it was,” said Juteau. “Although very similar, the wear pattern on the blade [as shown in a Game 4 photograph] doesn’t match the stick we have. Our research showed that he only used that model of stick during the 1970 playoffs, so we’re thinking it might have been used early in the game and maybe Derek got one of his extra sticks from that game signed after the game. But we don’t think it is the stick.”
So, why now to say farewell to a lifetime of goodies? Athletes are often compelled to sell their goods when financial times turn sour.
"No, everything’s tidy-tidy there, thankfully, " said Sanderson. “No, it was just time. The stuff’s been at home, filling closets and gathering dust, and what the hell, it’s the last hurrah.”
To see it all go, Sanderson added, brings a sense of sharing.
According to Sanderson, his wife Nancy [Gillis], for years insisted he hold on to the artifacts, but she relented after he recently gave his two Cup rings to sons Michael (age 29) and Ryan (27).
Decades ago, Sanderson lost track of both rings, and was unsure whether he lost or sold them. As hard as that might be to imagine, it serves today as a reminder of his state of mind during his days in addiction.
“When I was drinking, right?” mused Sanderson. “When I was out there pretty good, if I’d had my hands on those rings they would have been gone for another day, and cheaply. Because you’re just day to day when you’re drunk.”
Years into his sobriety, Sanderson met up with Joe Cimino, his former business partner at Daisy Buchanan’s in the Back Bay.
“So I meet him at Daisy’s,” recalled Sanderson, "and he hands me the rings and says, ‘I was wondering when you were going to come back.’ ”
