McKenney was ever a gentleman
Only Bruins fans with AARP cards well in hand will remember seeing slick center Don McKenney suit up for the Black and Gold during his eight-plus seasons in Boston (1954-63). Leo Labine and Real Chevrefils were his wingers for a number of those seasons.
For those who recall his playing days, or his many years coaching hockey at Northeastern, McKenney was ever the gentleman, his pleasant demeanor as smooth as his trademark skating stride.
“Really a beautiful skater,” recalled Eddie Sandford, 94, a fixture in the Bruins’ lineup when McKenney arrived in Boston as a rookie in 1954. “He skated better than anybody else. He had that great stride. A couple of steps and, boy, he’d be flying down the ice.”
McKenney, who also captained the Bruins for his final two seasons in Boston, died Dec. 19. He was 88.
Derek Sanderson, 76, had just begun his junior career in Ontario with the Niagara Falls Flyers when McKenney was nearing the end of his tour with the Bruins.
“But I remember always watching him on TV Saturday night when the Bruins played the Leafs,” recalled Sanderson. “Great skater. Smooth. Overall game, if you’re comparing, he was Jean Ratelle. Same kind of player. He didn’t have Ratty’s numbers, but Ratty had much better wingers over the course of his career. And McKenney could fly.”
Sanderson and McKenney were signed by the same Bruins scout, Harold Cotton, in the years before the draft. The Bruins were able to claim and sign Sanderson, McKenney, and other prospects, particularly across Ontario, because they sponsored the amateur teams that had those players on their rosters.
Defenseman Fernie Flaman and McKenney formed a lifetime friendship during their years with the Bruins. McKenney became the Bruins’ captain after Flaman’s long tour with the “C,” and he also followed Flaman to Northeastern, where he was his old pal’s assistant for a dozen seasons before succeeding Flaman as the Huskies’ bench boss for a two-year tour that began with the 1989-90 season.
Joe Bertagna, the former commissioner of Hockey East, held the same job for years with the ECAC, with the Flaman-McKenney Huskies then among the many Boston-area schools under the conference’s jurisdiction.
“Two very different guys as players,” noted Bertagna, reflecting on the Flaman-McKenney friendship and working relationship. “Fernie was this tough, hard Original Six defenseman. Not that you would have known that from just talking to him. And Don was this skilled, smooth-skating center, and one with some touch. He repeatedly scored 20 goals or more when that was a real benchmark.”
Never during McKenney’s two years as Northeastern’s head coach, said Bertagna, were there issues with the coach’s bench behavior or team play — items that too often require a commissioner’s attention.
“Everyone will use the word ‘gentleman’ when they describe Don McKenney,” added Bertagna. “He was so quiet. I mean, if you put him in a lineup and said, ‘Guess what this man did for a living,’ someone would say, you know, accountant or priest before they came to hockey player.”
In 798 NHL games, McKenney finished with 237 goals and 582 points, numbers all the more impressive when considering the Bruins’ many lean seasons during his years in Boston.
In February 1963, during his second season as captain, he was dealt to the Rangers, along with Dick Meissner, for left winger Dean Prentice, whose scoring touch didn’t make the trip to Boston from Broadway.
McKenney, flipped from the Rangers to the Maple Leafs one year after the Prentice swap, won the Stanley Cup with the Maple Leafs in 1964. He delivered 12 points in 12 playoff games for that iteration of Punch Imlach’s championship Leafs.
McKenney and Sandford remained pals throughout the decades and Sandford, along with son, Mike, attended his wake Thursday in Norton. Mike Sandford was a defenseman on the FlamanMcKenney-coached Northeastern teams of the late ’70s.
“Wish I could have skated like that myself,” said Sandford, musing over his old pal’s fast, seemingly effortless stride.
“But I couldn’t even come close to it.”