A mixed bag of pucks in our summer takeaways from the hockey world

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Who’s up for a summer clearance of hockey takeaways?

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Let’s start with Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, surviving members of The Who, completing their last two Toronto dates earlier this week, some 43 years after their much-hyped farewell concert at Maple Leaf Gardens.

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The full band, with drummer Keith Moon and bassist John Entwistle, had a lengthy bromance with the city, beginning in 1968 (could they be part of the Cup curse?), which Townsend at one point called “my second home”. The four were gifted Leaf sweaters, cardigans and satin jackets by the appreciative Gardens’ concert office during a memorable appearance on Oct. 21, 1976. Other ‘70s acts such as ABBA, The Eagles and Linda Ronstadt were similarly honoured.

Townshend, often wearing his Leaf sweater on stage, wrote in his biography, Who I Am, about strutting through old Malton Airport after receiving the swag “with my puffy Maple Leaf Gardens ice hockey jacket, which gave me the chest of a football player. I had never felt so omnipotent.”

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He and Daltrey, now in their early 80s, re-proclaimed their love of the city and its loyal music fans this week. The self-destructive Moon, who died in 1978, had his monogrammed Leaf jacket and cardigan put up for auction in 2014 by a former roadie who inherited the threads, but the items’ fate is unknown.

REMEMBER THE BRONCOS

The Who’s opening act this week, Manitoba-born Tom Cochrane, mentioned the significance of his green wrist band before launching into his 1989 hit Big League on Tuesday.

He explained it was given to him by the mother of a Humboldt Bronco, one of 16 team members killed in 2018 when a semi-trailer went through a stop sign at a Saskatchewan highway crossing and hit the bus carrying the provincial junior hockey team. Cochrane vowed he’ll never remove the memento, prompting many cheers at Budweiser Stage.

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Next Monday is the premiere of the documentary Sideways at the Hockey Hall of Fame, another heartbreaking bus tragedy. In December 1986, the WHL Swift Current (Saskatchewan) Broncos lost four players when their vehicle flipped on black ice en route to a game in Regina. One of them was Brent Ruff, the younger brother of Buffalo Sabre player and future coach Lindy.

Described as ‘a legacy moment and a new chapter’, the tale is told through the eyes of survivor and NHLer Bob Wilkie. It details the trauma faced by the survivors and families at a time when the sports world had few resources to deal with the mental health fallout. It’s also meant to highlight Tear Off the Tape, a campaign to empower 14 to 25-year-olds to speak about their well-being with alumni from junior and the NHL.

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AS THE PUCK FLIES

If the Edmonton Oilers get back to the Stanley Cup final a third consecutive time, they’ll do so as the league’s frequent flier leaders.

That’s according to data supplied by Bookies.com. The Northern Alberta-based Oil will log 54,426 travel miles (that’s 87,590 kilometres) in their 82 regular-season games, based on arena-to-arena distances, just 338 miles more than the Pittsburgh Penguins. Then it’s a big drop to the Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks at just over 50,000 clicks.

At the other end of the scale, the New York Islanders, handy to Manhattan, New Jersey and northern Pennsylvania, will traverse a league-low 28,477 miles (45,829 kilometres). Toronto (32,124) and Buffalo (32,222) are next. Numbers for all clubs will rise a bit next year when the 84-game schedule returns.

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FLAG OF CONVENIENCE?

Usually, we ignore pushy hockey parents and their play-my-kid politics.

But if you’re looking at future Olympics through red and white glasses, listen to Rob Hutson on his son Lane getting snubbed by Team USA at its recent summer orientation in Plymouth, Mich.

Calder Trophy winner Lane was kept off the Yanks’ 16-man blueline, despite his 66 points in 82 games. Interviewed by Habs’ podcaster Grant McCagg, a riled Rob noted, “I think our family has made a commitment to Team USA hockey throughout the year. I don’t know what (Team USA GM) Bill Guerin was thinking.

“I don’t know him; he probably, obviously, doesn’t know Lane. We have to live with how they see it. We don’t have to agree with it. This fuels anyone, especially if you’re as competitive as Lane. They have the opportunity to make the decisions they make, so be it. You never know what happens in the future; my boys are also Canadian.”

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The elder Hutson was born in Bowsman, Man., while mom, Julie, is American, with Lane and two brothers raised in the Chicago suburbs. After playing for the U.S. team at the 2023 world juniors, Lane declined a world championship spot after such a busy ‘23-24 NHL campaign. Lane, who Postmedia’s Stu Cowan points out can still earn a spot in the February Olympics, has been quiet about the snub.

STOTHERS BACK BEHIND BENCH

Cheers to Penguins’ new assistant Mike Stothers, a survivor of Stage 3 Melanoma of the Lymph Nodes, as he returns to game duty this month.

Diagnosed a couple of years ago while with the Anaheim Ducks, the long-time coach (a Toronto-born ex-Leaf who also mentored junior Morgan Rielly in Moose Jaw) went public with his battle, urging all NHL players and team members to have any unusual body changes checked out. He had discomfort in his groin area before getting diagnosed.

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“Because it did happen to me, it could happen to anyone,” Stothers had told an Anaheim TV station. “I’m as guilty as anyone who says ‘I’m not going to be sick’.  You’re no different than anyone else. The mentality is we’ll play through it, but in (his) instance, time was of the essence.

“I’m a very private person. (But) when I was looking at the guys, they all have young families and great careers ahead of them. Quite a few in response to what happened to me have made doctor’s appointments for a mole, a cough, or whatever else.

“We always try to put off going to the doctor, saying ‘I don’t have time’. Well, people don’t have time to go to your funeral either.”

Lhornby@postmedia.com

X: @sunhornby

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