Deceptive deke would baffle WHL goaltenders
Ray Ferraro was a smilin' sniper during his 108-goal season with the Brandon Wheat Kings in the 1983-84 season.
“He was the friendliest opponent I ever had,” former Winnipeg Warriors goalie Doug Lunney recalls.
“He would frequently give me feedback between whistles. I remember my goalie partner, Jamie Dubberley, saying the same thing,” he adds.
Jamie Reeve concurs.
“He was an anomaly at the time,” the former Regina Pats netminder remembers. “He's an athlete in a competitive situation and we're thinking, `What's up with this guy?' He was really positive and upbeat. He wasn't a guy who was cussing you out.
“He played hard, but he had a positive outlook on things for his team and the opposition. You don't come across that very often.”
Nor do you come across a season like Ferraro enjoyed in 1983-84.
His 108 goals remain a WHL single-season record — one that is almost certainly unbreakable.
“He was so offensively creative,” Lunney, who played for the Warriors in their final season before they moved to Moose Jaw, says from Winnipeg.
“He was the first guy I ever saw who had the confidence and patience to slam the brakes on in mid-deke on a breakaway, then slide the puck in an open net after the goalie overcommitted,” he added.
That tactic was not reserved for games against the Warriors.
“He was a pretty crafty guy and he was pretty innovative in terms of some of the moves he could make, especially in the breakaway format,” Reeve says from Saskatoon.
“He came in and he made a move on me and I actually slid right out of the net. It's the first and only time it ever happened to me.
“He deked me so bad and then he stopped. I slid right out of the net and he just slid the puck into the empty net.
“The next time, it was the same play, except he deked me the other way. This time, I didn't get quite as suckered, so I didn't slide as far. He still had a wide-open net, but he kind of relaxed. He just flicked it and I caught it, much to both of our surprise.
“So then the third time, I remember him getting a breakaway and I thought, `Here we go again. I know what he's doing.' So I just stacked the pads. I just laid down in the top of the crease. He just stopped and shot it into the top of the net.
“He came to a dead stop,” he continued.
“I'd never seen that before, ever.” Ferraro remembers it well. “He's got a good memory,” the 18year NHL veteran says of Reeve, “because that move was really effective.
“I'd go in as fast as I could and stop. Then the goalie would make a move and I would go blocker (side) or go over top of him.
“Well, it was a great move until I'd do it and a defenceman would just bury me in the back. That was probably about the last time that I did it. I used that move quite frequently.
“It was a great move until it wasn't. Then it was, `I don't think I'm going to do it anymore.' “
The move was the result of spontaneity, considering that the Wheat Kings' goalie at the time was the combustible Ron Hextall.
“Put it this way,” Ferraro says. “I wouldn't have practised it, because I wouldn't have dared try it against Hexie.”
Rival goaltenders had every right to feel hexed.
“When we played the Wheat Kings for the last time, we shook hands,” Lunney says, “and I sarcastically said, `I hope I never have to see you again!' “