GOALIE DEFIED ODDS TO STAR FOR THE CANADIENS, CANUCKS
Two-time Vezina winner mourned after death at age of 82, Greg Douglas writes.
Charlie Hodge was introduced to the art of goaltending as a toddler growing up in Lachine, Que., when his father — a Scottish immigrant and welder by trade — pieced together a makeshift net and shot tennis balls at him by the hour.
Little did anyone know at the time that the name Charlie Hodge would become part of the Montreal Canadiens’ storied history by having his name inscribed on the Stanley Cup six times and the Vezina Trophy twice.
At five-foot-six and 150 pounds, Hodge defied all odds by surviving a 14-year National Hockey League career that included stopping pucks in Montreal, Oakland and Vancouver. His ongoing battle with heart-related issues claimed Charlie’s life at age 82 on April 15 with his wife Sheila and three sons — John, Jim and Jason — at his side at home in Aldergrove.
“During his backup days to Jacques Plante in Montreal in the 1960s, Dad had a lot of people looking after him, including the manager Mr. Frank Selke,” John, the eldest of the three Hodge boys, said Friday. “They kept encouraging him to bide his time and keep confident that the No. 1 job would be his one day. Dad’s career high point was winning the Vezina on his own in 196364.”
The Oakland Seals claimed Hodge from Montreal in the 1967 NHL expansion draft. He was later selected by Canucks general manager Bud Poile when Vancouver entered the league in 1970. The city wasn’t new to Hodge, who had played in 13 games with the WHL Canucks during their 1968-69 championship season.
Hodge shared Vancouver’s NHL goaltending chores with Dunc Wilson and George Gardner in 1970-71, finishing with a record of 15-13-5, with 13 of those 15 wins coming at the Pacific Coliseum. Longtime Canucks’ play-by-play man Jim Robson, a walking hockey encyclopedia, points to two games in particular where Hodge contributed in no small way to the main storyline.
“Charlie was in goal for the Canucks’ first NHL win, 5-3 over the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Coliseum on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 11, 1970,” Robson says. “He only had to stop 16 shots as the Canucks built up a 5-0 lead on goals by Orland Kurtenbach, Danny Johnson, Andre Boudrias and two from Wayne Maki. The sellout crowd of 15,542 went crazy.”
Robson was just getting warmed up: “Charlie’s most memorable Canucks win may have been on Feb. 16 when he beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins 5-4 at the Coliseum. Rosaire Paiement scored his third goal in the last minute on Gerry Cheevers. Charlie stopped 29 shots in that one. Again, the crowd went nuts.”
The very mention of that 1970-71 collection of expansion expendables brings back fond memories for John Hodge. “I can clearly recall a lot of the players lived in the Garden Apartments in North Vancouver,” he says. “Pat Quinn, Mike Corrigan, Murray Hall … it was a close-knit family atmosphere.”
In later years, when Hodge was scouting for the Winnipeg Jets, Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning, he would spend countless hours monitoring junior prospects back at his Pacific Coliseum haunt, home of the Vancouver Giants. His popularity was measured by the fact Giants’ owner Ron Toigo reserved Charlie’s favourite seat for him on a season-long basis with his name inscribed on a bronze plate.
The popularity of Charles Edward Hodge, the Little Goaltender Who Could, will again be acknowledged next Friday, April 29 at noon at Westwinds Community Church, 6331 176th St. in Cloverdale.