Canada has lost a hockey icon
With the passing of Howie Meeker on Nov. 8 at age 97, Canada has lost a hockey icon.
Howie Meeker was a predecessor to Don Cherry as a commentator on Hockey Night in Canada. However, Howie Meeker was the antithesis of Don Cherry.
Unlike Don Cherry, who played only one game in the NHL, Howie Meeker had a stellar NHL career. In 1947, Howie Meeker was awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's Rookie of the Year. He scored 27 goals and had 18 assists in his rookie season which was a remarkable achievement in the Original Six era. Howie Meeker played on four Stanley Cup winning teams with the Toronto Maple Leafs in his nine year NHL career.
In 1951, while playing with Toronto Maple Leafs, Howie Meeker was elected in a byelection as a Progressive Conservative member of Parliament. (He did not seek re-election in the 1953 federal election.)
Prior to the 1972 Summit Series, Howie Meeker was one of very few Canadians who expressed concern for Team Canada's chances of beating the Soviet Union in the eight-game series.
For years prior to the series, Howie Meeker had studied the Soviets and other European teams and was impressed with their skills.
His opinions and concerns fell on the deaf ears of Canada's hockey establishment.
Howie Meeker began his career as an analyst with Hockey Night in Canada after the 1972 Summit Series.
For the next decade, he was noted for explaining plays in great detail and had no hesitancy in criticizing players for making fundamental errors.
Howie Meeker believed that hockey in Canada at the minor hockey and junior levels was suffering from poor instruction and coaching in the fundamentals of the game — skating, passing, shooting and positional play. He ran hockey schools and had a television series featuring young players being taught basic hockey skills. He also became a prolific writer on hockey fundamentals.
In 1977, I accepted a teaching position at Souris Regional High School. I was also the coach of the Hockey Spartans. Prior to my first season as coach, I went to the Bookmark at the Confederation Court Mall and purchased "Howie Meeker's Hockey Basics". The book was one of the few books available for hockey coaches on how to run a practice and teach skills.
The book helped me immensely and is considered one of the best books ever written for hockey coaches and players.
In 1980, the SRHS Hockey Spartans won the P.E.I. School Athletic Association Hockey Championship with me behind the bench.
On behalf of a generation of hockey players and coaches, thank you Howie Meeker.
John A. McMillan coached the Souris Regional Hockey Spartans from 1977-1981 before attending law school and being called to the P.E.I. bar. He retired as a Crown Attorney in July 2015 and lives in Charlottetown.