Hockey Den: The Premier Hockey Card and Memorabilia Destination
Visit us at www.hockeyden.net and get details on how YOU could be our winner of a 2010 SIDNEY CROSBY TEAM CANADA OLYMPICS JERSEY!!! Contest runs from now until February 14, 2010, so enter now and often!!! Capture The Passion with HockeyDen.net!!
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EDIT: Go here and listen to today's podcast for a great look into the new NHL season on the Dean Blundell Show. Guests include Elliot Friedman of CBC Sports and a variety of Toronto street people...(LISTENER DISCRETION ADVISED!! A fantastic listen though!!)
”Who Knew?” #4: Ron Hextall
To quote Don Cherry, “This is only time I’ve seen the goalie as the enforcer on the team!”. Who else could he be talking about than Ronnie Hextall! If I could choose any goalie to backstop my team it would be the 86-87 season Hextall as he epitomizes the type of player I love as a forward but you rarely see in goal: Skilled with the puck, good skater, tough enough to handle his own battles and willing to have the back of his teammates. Could he have turned it down from “11” at times? Sure, and it probably would have served him better to have done so. At the same time would it have been the same Hextall without playing right at the edge like he did? Probably not. All I can say is that I loved watching this guy play, especially in that rookie year where as far as I’m concerned he put together one of the best and under-recognized seasons in the history of the league at his position. Ladies and gentlemen: Ron Hextall!
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- Born May 3, 1964 in Brandon, MB
- He was drafted 119th overall in 1982 by the Philidelphia Flyers
- Playing height and weight: 6ft 3in, 205pds
- Ron was a third generation NHL player. He is the grandson of Hall-of-Famer Bryan Hextall, the son of former NHL player Bryan Hextall Jr. and nephew of former NHL player Dennis Hextall.
- Bryan Hextall Sr. played 11 seasons with the New York Rangers and won the scoring title in 1941-42
- Ron Hextall's son Brett was drafted by Phoenix (159th overall) in the 2008 draft. Should Brett ever play in a big league game the Hextalls would become the first four generations family to play in the NHL.
- Ron Hextall won the Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award in 1986 as the top rookie of the American Hockey League, while playing for the Hershey Bears.
- Hextall and Jacques Plante are viewed as goaltending revolutionaries for their regular playing of the puck outside the goal. Hextall was a master with this, handling the puck better than some skaters! So confident in his puckhandling abilities were his teammates that they would oftentimes treat him as a third defenseman when setting up the breakout from their own zone.
- Hextall was surprised to make the Flyers opening day roster for the 86-87 season. The Flyers had Bob Froese, the previous season’s runner up for the Vezina Trophy, and veteran goalie Chico Resch on hand, so why would he make it? The reason: Coach Mike Keenan “played a bit of a hunch” and started with the rookie.
- Hextall is one of only two goaltenders (Henrik Lundqvist being the other), to record at least 30 wins in their first three NHL seasons (1986–1989).
- In his rookie year, Hextall won the Vezina Trophy, was named a First Team All-Star, was named to the NHL All-Rookie Team and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as a member of the losing team! He finished second in Calder Trophy voting behind Luc Robitaille. He should have won it in my opinion given how much more difficult it is for a goalie to turn in that type of season, although if you’re going to be a runner up to anyone I guess being behind the highest scoring left winger in league history isn’t too bad!
- Gretzky had this to say about Ron during his rookie year: "Hextall is probably the best goaltender I've ever played against in the NHL. Just when you think you'll bombard him, he comes up with the big saves. We always seem to get a 2-0 lead, then he tightens up, plays really well and doesn't give us anything." A pretty good complement from the best to play the game.
- Of course, Hextall will always be best remembered for the rough stuff. On January 24, 1987, he fought and bested New Jersey Devils goaltender Alain Chevrier during a bench-clearing brawl.
Then comes the Kent Nilsson slash during the 1987 Stanley Cup Finals. Can’t condone this one, on neither did the league, handing Hextall an eight-game suspension for the start of the 1987-88 season.
This one if my fav though! Game 6 of the 1989 Wales Conference Finals. Hextall leaves the crease and runs Chris Chelios into the boards in retaliation for Chelios' illegal (but unpenalized) hit on his teammate Brian Propp that left him with a concussion. Hextall received a five-minute major and a match penalty, and was suspended for the first 12 games of the 1989–90 season.
Just for fun, here are some other assorted Hextall momentrs:
- Shooting a puck at Jovonovski
- Scrapping with Potvin (Better scrap than most forwards!)
- Hextall and Pearson:
- Hextall hits Sandstrom
- Needless to say the man has accumulated some penalties! In fact, he has the record for most penalty minutes by a goaltender in a season (113 in 1988–89) and in a career (584 minutes in the regular season and 115 minutes in the playoffs).
- Hextall was also invited to Team Canada's camp for the 1987 Canada Cup. During a practice session he slashed Sylvain Turgeon's arm because Hextall felt he was too close to his goal. The slash fractured Turgeon's forearm and he missed the tournament. Ooops….
- Penalties, fights and slashes aside, Hextall is also known for being the first goalie in NHL history to shoot on net and score a goal, something he actually did twice! The first, on December 8, 1987, was in the regular season in a game against the Boston Bruins:
- Hextall scored his second goal on April 11, 1989 against the Washington Capitals, this time in the playoffs. It was also the first unassisted goal by a goalie and the first scored shorthanded:
- Hextall was also involved a two pretty significant trades. In the first, occurring on June 30th 1992, he was traded to the Quebec Nordiques along with Peter Forsberg, Chris Simon, Mike Ricci, Kerry Huffman, Steve Duchesne, a 1st round selection (Jocelyn Thibault) in 1993, a 1st round selection (later traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, later traded to the Washington Capitals - Nolan Baumgartner) in 1994, and $15,000,000 cash for……..Eric Lindros.
- Almost a year later to the day, Hextall was moved by the Nordiques (with first-round pick in 1993 entry draft (LW Todd Bertuzzi)) to the New York Islanders for G Mark Fitzpatrick and first-round draft pick in the 1993 draft (C Adam Deadmarsh).
In June 2006, the Los Angeles Kings named Hextall as Assistant General Manager. In addition, Hextall will serve as the General Manager of the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League, the Kings’ primary affiliate.
- Ron Hextall’s cousin is Leah Hextall, a sports news anchor from Winnipeg who has filled in on TSN from time to time.
How’s that for a piece of info that will have absolutely zero impact on your life?
And finally, ending on a cheesy note, two commercials with the man himself…
The voting is over and we’re down to the final 2 of Round 1, the winner of which will be outr first entry into the 16 clip tournament starting in May 2010 with the start of the NHL playoffs! Here’s how the semis shook down:
Match 1
Wendel Clark on Bruce Bell (1986-87 Regular Season)
VS
Darcy Tucker on Sami Kappinen (2004 Playoffs)
WINNER: TIED!!! Oh man, you guys are killing me with ties when it comes to this Wendel clip!! Coin flip between Wendel and Tucker, and the winner is….Wendel on Bell
Match 2
Niklas Kronwall on Martin Havlat (2009 Playoffs)
VS
Milan Lucic on Mike Van Ryn (2008-09 Regular Season)
WINNER: Kronwall on Havlat in a close one. Either one would have been a worthy winner!
So the final for Round 1 shapes up like this:
Finals:
Wendel Clark on Bruce Bell (1986-87 Regular Season)
VS
Niklas Kronwall on Martin Havlat (2009 Playoffs)
Remember, you determine who will be around in the 16 clip finals in April so vote for the winner in the comments section and have your say!
Remember to visit us at www.hockeyden.net and get details on how YOU could be our winner of a 2010 SIDNEY CROSBY TEAM CANADA OLYMPICS JERSEY!!! Contest runs from now until February 14, 2010, so enter now and often!!! Capture The Passion with HockeyDen.net!!
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