‘Hammer’ was old school, and not much has changed
I Twas Tuesday morning, and they were talking hockey as usual at Hammer’s Grill & Bar on College Avenue in Henderson, home of the best — and biggest — breaded pork tenderloin sandwich this side of the Indiana State Fair. (The wings are pretty tasty, too.)
The topic was this latest concussion suffered by Golden Knights goalie Marc-andre Fleury.
The Hammer himself was seated at a table in the defensive end of the grill and bar. On the walls over his broad shoulders were Golden Knights banners and placards and framed black-and-white photos of when he skated for teams such as the Peoria Rivermen, Flint Spirits, Rochester Americans, Erie Panthers, Medicine Hat Tigers and the Danville Dashers of the Continental League — a circuit so obscure that Hockeydb. com says his statistics aren’t available for the 1983-84 season.
But The Hammer doesn’t often speak of his goals and assists, anyway. One year inpeoria,whenhewas assessed only 140 penalty minutes, he finished with 21 and 35, respectively. So his hands might have been softer than he lets on.
He was asked about concussion protocol when he played.
He held up three fingers on his Hammering hand (left).
“The protocol was ‘How many fingers do you see?’
“Do a little more smelling salts and get back out there. (But) it’s good to have the testing stuff today. Guys go into a very dark place. I don’t have that. I’m lucky.”
Sometimes, though, Bob Fleming forgets where he puts his car keys.
CTE — three scary letters
His wife, Julie, whom Fleming met when he was hammering guys for Peoria, is always getting after him for leaving the water running. With old-time hockey players, a memory lapse — or worse — is often just the next shift away.
Since 2010, NHL enforcers such as Bob Probert, Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien, Wade Belak, Steve Montador and Todd Ewen have died before they were 50. Most of the deaths were attributed to depression brought on by head injuries and those dreaded three letters, CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy. More than 100 retired players have brought a class-action lawsuit against the NHL over brain injuries suffered while playing.
Bob Fleming, who at 56 is easygoing, belying how he skated, said his style wasn’t much different from those mentioned above. When he briefly was with the Buffalo Sabres, he fought Stu “The Grim Reaper” Grimson twice in the same preseason game at old Chicago Stadium, if that tells you anything.
“I was an enforcer. I also went out and hit pretty recklessly. When the fans would chant, ‘Hammer, Hammer,’ I took the cue. I was going to try to hurt (somebody) or hurt myself.
“Sometimes I did both.”
Don’t ask, don’t tell
Bob Fleming said he was diagnosed with only two concussions during his 12-year career but that he almost assuredly had more.
“In the old days, we didn’t tell the coach,” he said. “We didn’t know there was any (long-term) problem to that. Also, with the tough guys, youdon’twanttoadmitthat (the other guy) hit you hard enough to concuss you.”
Every team had an enforcer then, but they were expendable. Fleming said guys in the hockey hinterlands who played with a chip on their shoulder and a yen to instigate were always just one step away from a job in the Canadian oil fields.
Soyouwentbackout there. You didn’t want to let down your teammates.
The mindset has changed. Guys who only enforce have become dinosaurs in today’s NHL. Even the tough guys must be able to skate and pass the puck.
And yet the mindset hasn’t changed completely. Consider Fleury. He suffered his concussion in the second period against the Red
Wings when he was kneed in the head. Yet he returned forthethird,whenhewas blitzed for four goals.
He went back out there. Hedidn’twanttoletdown his teammates.
Now he’s on the injured reserve list.
Luck of the Canadian Irish
“I’ve been lucky,” Bob Fleming said with a Budweiser driver perched in his crease with the morning delivery. “I don’t know if it’s because I’m Canadian-irish and have a little thicker head or what.”
He told an anecdote about getting smashed across the forehead — apparently by accident this once — by a goalie wielding a goalie’s stick.thiswaswhenheskated without a helmet.
“I don’t remember hitting the boards,” Bob “The Hammer” Fleming said after he had blacked out, and the trainer came slip-sliding across the ice with ammonia inhalants.
He sort of remembers the game was in Milwaukee.
Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal. com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.