National Post (National Edition)
HOCKEY FILLED WITH SPOOKY TALES JUST PERFECT FOR HALLOWEEN
Welcome to the spookiest night of the season, when the NHL morphs into the National Haunted League.
A time to look into mischievous Forum ghosts, a wandering sprit at the Hall of Fame, the walls of Maple Leaf Gardens coming to life — and a reminder that a defenceman named Jim Boo was a six-game apparition for the Minnesota North Stars in the 1970s.
VIVE DES FANTOMES
The proud Canadiens have won 23 Stanley Cups. But as more and more banners and retired numbers crowded the Forum rafters, friend and foe swore someone up there was lending an unseen hand the home team's way at crucial times or vexing the visitors.
The Bruins were certainly spooked after losing 18 straight playoff series to Montreal from the end of the Second World War to 1988.
“Death, taxes and the first penalty at the Forum,” was Harry Sinden's superstitious quote, and one of his major rants was the night the Bruins' bench door suddenly jammed during his team's power play. And of course there was 1979, when coach Don Cherry had too many men out within minutes of a playoff exorcism.
Twelve years ago, Habs goalie Cristobal Huet paid tribute to the Forum ghosts with his themed mask — and enjoyed three straight winning seasons.
Four Habs were born on Oct. 31, including '20s star Newsy Lalonde. But with no Cup in 27 years, it's time for the ghosts to pack up and move to the Bell Centre.
CARLTON ST. COINCIDENCE
In one of the most eerie episodes in NHL annals, “Bashing” Bill Barilko of the Leafs scored the 1951 Stanley Cup overtime winner at the Gardens and disappeared on a fishing trip when his plane crashed in Northern Ontario
bush country shortly after. In the 11 years his body and that of pilot Henry Hudson lay undiscovered in the wreckage, Toronto's run of titles abruptly ended. Right after winning again in 1962, stunned Leafs were informed at a team function that the remains had been found.
During the 1990s, when two banners honouring Barilko and the late Ace Bailey were raised at MLG, the flags would mysteriously sway in unison whenever action heated up on the ice.
Overnight security guards at the Gardens in its final years would mention unusual creaks and groans from the doorways. They were attributed to wind, although Carlton St. had very thick concrete walls.
Wayne Gillespie, the last building superintendent before the Gardens closed, was walking alone past the many classic black and white pictures along the east corridor one evening, glancing at the photo of the Kid Line (Joe Primeau, Busher Jackson and Charlie Conacher).
“I suddenly sensed the presence of all three of them walking ahead of me, talking about a player on another team and how they were going to cover him the next game.”
“It was like I was inside a James Lumbers illustration (the Canadian artist specialized in historical photos melded with modern day images). I swear, I had to stop in my tracks, almost frozen until I came out of this trance.”
FRIGHT NIGHT IN HOLLYWOOD
At one time, the old Biltmore Hotel in L.A. was a popular spot for visiting teams, in part for its haunted past. The main bar was reputedly home to the spirit of the Black Dahlia, an aspiring actress brutally murdered in the 1940s, last seen in the lobby. One elevator shaft was sealed off after a fatal fall. The Pat Quinn Leafs of the early 2000s decided it was an ideal setting to prank Darcy Tucker after he was rattled by the tales.
Bryan McCabe, Tucker's roommate, did his part, stalling him long enough at curfew to allow Tom Fitzgerald and Ed Belfour to sneak into the room, the former under the bed, Belfour in a closet. They patiently waited until Tucker and McCabe were asleep, then Fitzgerald started pulling on the end of Tucker's covers to startle him, while Belfour began scratching inside the closet door.
“Darcy jumped up so high
he nearly wound up in the other bed with Bryan,” commentator Paul Hendrick, who was on the trip with Leafs TV, said with a laugh. “For someone who would dive into the bench in Ottawa to take on all their guys, he was petrified of ghost stories.”
CALLING HALL
GHOSTS
Toronto's Hockey Hall of Fame recently made an ESPN list of the most haunted sports venues in North America.
It's resident spirit is not a player, coach or executive, but a raven-haired female teller who worked there when the 135-year-old stained-glass Great Hall was still the Bank of Montreal's head office.
In 1953, for unknown reasons, 19-year-old “Dorothy” committed suicide with a gun in the second floor women's restroom. For years after, bank employees noticed lights going on and off, doors shutting and desks messed up, all in empty rooms.
Though the bank put in a second ladies' room to calm the staff after unknown voices emanated from the scene of the shooting, the 1993 arrival of the Hall collection didn't halt the activity. A young boy supposedly froze during a family tour of the artifacts, staring at a blank wall and whimpering “can't you see her?”
We checked with longtime Hall historian Kevin Shea.
“Visitors have a lot of time to look around the beautiful architecture and occasionally, I'll ask if they want to know a secret about the room. I roll out the legend of `Dorothy.' Everyone loves the story, but no one yet has been chased by her.”
CHILLY IN PHILLY
Long before the Flyers unveiled mascot Gritty (spoofed on SNL as “a Muppet designed by five-yearold kids whose parents were massacred in front of them”), Philly already had a foreboding year-round backdrop.
They practised across the New Jersey border in Voorhees, same last name of the demonic goalie-masked killer Jason of the Friday The 13th franchise. A nearby town was Haddonfield, whose favourite fictional son was slasher Michael Myers of Halloween movie fame.
In one of the Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror specials, the “jury of the damned” includes Lizzie Borden, Blackbeard, Richard Nixon — and the menacing starting lineup of the 1975-76 Broad Street Bullies.
LITTLE GOBLINS
Doug Gilmour was on 24/7 prank duty, and at Halloween, Leafs teammate Tie Domi was his favourite target. Gilmour would slip out of the Gardens to buy a giant pumpkin at the corner store, squeeze Domi's large No. 28 helmet over it and leave it in his stall when he came off the ice ... Since 1942, the Leafs have a record of 14-10 on Halloween with two ties. In the 1951 game at the Gardens, a male Toronto heckler got the fright of his life from the Rocket's red glare when Maurice Richard went after him at rinkside with stick poised to strike. Richard was reprimanded by league president Clarence Campbell.