This edition of my Scoop's History and Trivia is made up of six sets of images of players all of whom spent time in the NHL game at one time or another, but who also have something else more particularly in common with each other in their pro hockey careers. It may be something that happened in a single game, some sort of unusual tangentially related official -- or unofficial -- record, a group of one time teammates who have gone on to other interesting positions in the game, or have some "numerical" or other relationship. These six groups of images are followed by a set of six “Sherlockian Riddles” each one which relates to one of the groups of pictured players. Your challenge is to identify the players in each group, and then to associate each group with one of the riddles and determine from that what the connection is among those players.

Keep an open mind -- and have fun!!





"Alpha & Omega"

D) A winner in just 1... but never a sniff after 734


While left winger Chris Hayes (above left) never played in a regular season NHL game during his pro hockey career, he nonetheless did dress for a single playoff contest for the Boston Bruins in the 1972 Stanley Cup Finals, a series which Boston won over the New York Rangers. As Hayes' lone NHL appearance came in the championship series, however, it qualified him to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup thus also making Hayes the only player ever to achieve that honor based on just a single career NHL game. Hayes had come to the Bruins as a free agent in 1972 after three years with the OHL Oshawa Generals (1964-67) where he was a teammate of Bobby Orr and won a Memorial Cup in 1966, and another four years (1967-71) of college hockey at Layola College in Montreal. As a 25-year old rookie pro, Hayes played with the Bruins' CHL Oklahoma City Blazers farm team in 1971-72, but when that club was knocked out of the play-offs he was called up to the Bruins as a spare player and thus got his chance at Stanley cup glory. Although Hayes remained in Boston the next season, but did so by playing for the AHL Boston Braves and saw no action with the Bruins. After one more full pro season spent with the CHL Albuquerque Six-Guns in 1973-74, Hayes missed the entire following season because of injuries which eventually forced his retirement after playing in just four games with the NAHL Mohawk Valley Comets in 1975-76.

Center Guy Charron (above right), on the other hand, not only never got his name on the Stanley Cup during his decade playing in the NHL, he never even appeared in a single playoff game. With the exception of a hand full of games with the Montreal Canadiens between 1969 and 1971, Charron had the "misfortune" of spending his entire NHL career between 1971 and 1981 with three then woeful clubs -- the Detroit Red Wings, Kansas City Scouts, and Washington Capitals -- none of which ever qualified for the post season while Charron played for them. A five-time 25+ goal scorer who also collect seventy or more points in four consecutive seasons (71 with Kansas City in 1975-76, and 82, 73, and 70 with Washington from 1976 to 1979), Charron notched 221 goals and 309 assists while also leading his team in scoring three times.

When Charron retired as a player in 1981 with 734 regular season NHL games to his credit, that also set a record for most games played without ever appearing in a Stanley Cup playoff contest. A coach since 1990, Charron is now an assistant coach with the NHL Florida Panthers.





"Now 'talkers' all"

F) Mizar, Dubhe, Alioth, Alkaid, Erik, and Fan590


These four players were all teamates with the 1987-88 Calder Cup champion AHL Hershey Bears, a team which under current Ottawa Senators' head coach John Paddock won an even fifty regular season games that season before sweeping to a Calder Cup title with a perfect 12-0 post season record. All four now make their living by talking about hockey -- one to hockey fans as a broadcaster, and the other three to players as head coaches.

Clockwise from the upper left are left winger Nick Kypreos, center Don Nachbaur, defenseman Mike Stothers, and fellow defenseman John Stevens. Kypreos -- who went on to win a Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers in 1994 -- is now a broadcaster in his native Toronto on Fan590 as well as between periods on NHL game telecasts on Rogers Sportsnet. Don Nachbaur, a tough as nails pivot, collected 467 PIMs in his 223 career NHL games with the Hartford Whalers and Philadelphia Flyers between 1979 and 1990 before finishing his playing career in Austria with Graz EC for four seasons (1990-94). After six years as head coach of the WHL Seattle Thunderbirds and two as an assistant coach with the AHL Philadelphia Phantoms, Nachbaur is now in his fifth season as head coach of the WHL Tri-City Americans.

Defenseman Mike Stothers, a 1st round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1980, spent the majority of his dozen year playing career as a fistic blueliner in the AHL although he also appeared in 30 games in the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs. After six seasons as an assistant coach in the AHL with Hershey and Philadelphia, and another two with the NHL Flyers, Stothers spent three seasons as the head coach of the OHL Owen Sound Attack before taking over behind the bench of the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins in 2007, the top farm club of the Detroit Red Wings. Fellow blueliner John Stevens not only won a Calder Cup with the Bears in 1988, but then won two more as a player with the Springfield Indians in 1991 and has captain of the Philadelphia Phantoms in 1998. Stevens hoisted the Calder Cup for a fourth time in 2005 as head coach of the Phantoms, a team which he coached for six seasons, before he replaced Ken Hitchcock as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers -- the same team that drafted him in 1984 -- a month into the 2006-07 season.

As for the riddle, Mizar, Dubhe, Alioth, and Alkaid are all stars in the constellation "Ursa Major" ("The Great Bear"), a hint to these four playing together in Hershey, while "Erik" is the real name of the "Phantom" in the the 1909 French novel "Le Fantôme de l’Opéra" by Gaston Leroux on which the Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical "The Phantom of the Opera" is based. Stevens, Stothers, and Nachbaur were all assistant coaches of the AHL Philadelphia Phantoms at one time or another, while Stevens also served the club as its first Captain as well as later as its Head Coach for six seasons.





"Each also left -- and came back -- more than once"

E) "228" has proved to be an all but unbeatable record number for one, while for more than three decades "5" has for another.


Left Wing Craig Berube (left) appeared in 1,054 regular season and 89 playoff games in the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames, Washington Capitals, and New York Islanders during his 18-year pro playing career during which he not only collected a total of 3,300 penalty minutes, but when he retired he also held the "unofficial" record for the most fighting major penalties -- 228 -- of any player in the history of the league.

Al Hill (right), also a left winger, set his unique record -- which has now stood for 31 years -- in just one NHL game -- his first. Early on the snowy morning on February 14, 1977, Hill, a rookie free agent whom the Flyers had signed from the Victoria Cougars, was fast asleep in Springfield, MA, where he was playing for the AHL Springfield Indians, the Flyers' then farm club, after a long bus ride back from a road game in Rochester, NY, when he was awakened by a phone call from Springfield based Flyer scout Walt Atanas telling him that he was being called up to Philadelphia to play that night in a game against the St. Louis Blues. A fierce blizzard raging in Philadelphia almost prevented Hill from arriving at the Spectrum in time for his first NHL game -- and it also kept the normally packed stands only sparsely filled as the two clubs took to the ice for what would soon prove to be an historic night.

When referee Bruce Hood dropped the puck to start the game Hill was surprised to find himself on the ice as well as one of the Flyers' starting forwards. "I didn't even know his name," coach Fred Shero said afterwards, "so i figured I might as well start him." (Freddie "The Fog" was famous for such tortured logic.) Just thirty-six seconds later, however, Hill brought the still small crowd to their feet when he took a feed from Bob Kelly and Terry Murray and beat Blues' netminder Yves Belanger for his first career NHL goal. Hill got his second goal less than eleven minutes later when he scored at 11:33, and then collected his first NHL assist on Reggie Leach's 23rd goal of the the season at the 17:00 mark.

Hill completed his "Gordie Howe Hat Trick" at the 5:55 mark of the second period with a fight with the Blues' Bob MacMillan, and then added a second assist on the evening at 14:19 of the middle frame on a goal by Mel Bridgman. At the 0:57 mark of the third period Hill collected a third assist on a goal by Bob Clarke to give him a remarkable five points on the night and sole possession of the NHL record for the most points by a player in his first game in the league! By the time Hill collected that fifth point that night the stands were also full of fans many of whom were also at their first NHL game as the Flyers had announced on the riadionearly in the game that because so many ticket holders had not been able to get there because of the snow that the doors were open to anyone who lived nearby who wanted to come. Thousands of South Philadelphia residents who had never been able to get into the always sold out Spectrum responded and trudged by foot down Broad Street and filled the building to capacity to catch the end of Hill's record setting feat!

As might well be expected, Hill's remarkable debut performance caused quite a sensation and earned him an extension of his emergency callup. Hill played in eight more games for the Flyers that season, but the magic of that debut game did not return as he notched only one more assist in them before being returned to Springfield to finish out the season in the AHL.

Berube and Hill both returned to the Flyers' organization "more than once" after their original stints with the club as players in various other capacities, and both are key members of the organization today with Berube serving as head coach of the Philadelphia Phantoms and Hill as a long time pro scout for the Flyers.





"Shared kudos"

A) Anitak, Alnilam, Mintaka, and a one of a kind night in the "Triple Cities"


Tony McKegney and Bill Riley of the Hershey Bears and Mike Marson of the Binghamton Dusters were the three stars of a game played between the two AHL clubs at the Broome County Arena in Binghamton, NY, on April 1, 1979 -- the only time to my knowledge that all three stars in an professional hockey game were Black.

As for the riddle, Anitak, Alnilam, Mintaka are 3 stars on the "belt" of the constellation Orion. The "Triple Cities" is a colloquial phrase used by people in the Southern Tier region of New York State to refer to the agglomeration created by the cities of Binghamton, Endicott, and Johnson City. The Triple Cities area is also sometimes called the "Greater Binghamton Area" as the city of Binghamton is the largest and most prominent of the three.





"Never to be forgotten"

C) Each brought honor to their single digit


Hall of Fame defenseman Doug Harvey (left), seen here late in his playing career as a member of the AHL Baltimore Clippers in 1965, had his #2 retired by the Montreal Canadiens. Blueliner Al Hamilton (right), pictured above as a member of the AHL Buffalo Bisons in 1967, was the first player to have his number (#3) retired by the Edmonton Oilers based entirely on his seven years of service with the club during the seven seasons it was a member of the World Hockey Association from that league's inception in 1972 until the Oilers became one of the four WHA clubs that joined the NHL in 1979 when the WHA dissolved. (Of the four -- Edmonton, Winnipeg, Hartford, and Quebec -- the Oilers are also the only one still playing in its original WHA city.)





"Sweet, sweet, sweet!"

B) Argentum followed these noble nabobs to the shadow of the "Big Shack"


Left wing Boyd Kane (left) won a Calder Cup with the Philadelphia Phantoms in 2005, then had the silver (aka "argentum") trophy "follow" him to the Hershey Bears with whom he won it again in the next Spring of 2006. Likewise defenseman Dave Fenyves (right) won his first Calder Cup with the Rochester Americans in 1987 and again with Hershey in 1988.

Kane, who is again back playing with Phantoms, and the now retired Fenyves would rightly also be considered as "nabobs" (n. Chief, leader, governor, captain [Hindi nawb, nabb, from Arabic nuwwb, pl. of n'ib, deputy, active participle of nba, to represent; see nwb in Semitic roots.]) as each also served as Captain of both the first team with which they won the Calder Cup, and then did the same for the Bears as the on-ice leader of that club when each won the AHL playoff crown again there the following season.

The "Big Shack" in the riddle is the local nickname of the famous Hotel Hershey, a glorious resort hotel which, since it was built in 1933, has been located atop Pratt's Hill in Hershey overlooking both Hersheypark Arena and the GIANT Center, the home arenas of the Bears from 1936 to 2002 (HPA) and since 2002 (GC).




"The Big Shack"

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