Read an Excerpt
Chasing the Dream
Life in the American Hockey League
By Ted Starkey ECW PRESS
Copyright © 2016 Ted Starkey
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-77090-914-4
CHAPTER 1
THE SLAP SHOT LEGACY
When many people think of the minor leagues, they think of the iconic film that hit the silver screen on February 25, 1977. The story of Reggie Dunlop (played by Paul Newman), an aging player and coach who is trying to lead a hapless hockey team to victory (and rein in the sparring Hanson brothers), has long resonated with hockey lovers. Nearly 40 years later, Slap Shot is part of the game's lexicon, a cult classic that fans around the world regularly quote. Clips from the movie are still staples at arenas around the globe, and what was originally issued as a VHS tape has been reissued several times on DVD to introduce younger generations to the movie.
The tale of the Charlestown Chiefs, a team playing in the Federal League, is in fact fictional — it's a loose adaptation of the actual North American Hockey League that played from 1973 to 1977. The NAHL played in several cities AHL clubs call home today — Syracuse, Utica and Binghamton — and not surprisingly, two of the rinks used in the filming of the motion picture are now home to American League teams.
The Chiefs were based on Johnstown's NAHL club, the Jets, and the city's Cambria County War Memorial Arena served as the filming location for Chiefs home games. But several memorable scenes were shot in Syracuse's Oncenter War Memorial Arena and Utica's Memorial Auditorium, now the homes for the AHL's Crunch and Comets, respectively.
To this day, taking a walk around both buildings offers glimpses of film history. War Memorial Arena in Syracuse played the home of the Hyannisport Presidents. The arena was the setting for the legendary scene in which a set of keys thrown from the stands at Jeff Hanson after a Charlestown goal sparks the Hanson brothers to climb into the stands to fight the crowd. Jeff Hanson was played by Johnstown Jets player Jeff Carlson, who wasn't exactly a popular player with fans of the NAHL's Syracuse Blazers. In the movie, this real-life villain in Syracuse was established as Hyannisport's Public Enemy No. 1 and placed under arrest.
While the War Memorial has had many modern touches added to its early '50s frame since America's bicentennial summer — the red scoreboard with the movie marquee–type lettering shown in the film, for instance, has been replaced with a modern video board — you can still easily see the arena's open stage at one end where, in the film, the Chiefs rush into the stands. And under those seats — now blue instead of the red in the film — in the hallway leading to the Crunch locker room from the ice, there's a blue door. There isn't anything seemingly remarkable about this door, it's simply decorated with the words "SYRACUSE CRUNCH HOCKEY CLUB" in white letters with the team's logo. But if you've seen Slap Shot, you know this door. And you've seen the room behind the door, too. This door is the same one Paul Newman answered when the cops came knocking, and it leads to what was once the Chiefs' yellow-tiled locker room.
The black rotary phone where Newman's character, Reg Dunlop, called sportswriter Dickie Dunn is long gone, and the minimalist blue benches have been replaced with a modern hockey locker room remodeled for the Crunch, featuring wooden lockers for each of the players, with blue carpet featuring the team's logo and blue paint with silver trim adorning the room.
But the door remains, the film's "NO ADMITTANCE" replaced with metal trim and the AHL team's logo.
Sitting high above the rink in the press box one night, Crunch broadcaster Dan D'Uva said he always points the famous doorway out to new players and visitors.
"My line is, 'You've seen Slap Shot, right?'
"'Oh yeah,' they say.
"'Remember Paul Newman? See this door? This is the door where the cops come to get the Hanson brothers. See this hallway right here? This is where Paul Newman goes to pick up the phone. This is our locker room — where the Hanson brothers are arrested after climbing into the stands.'"
The team embraces the film's history in the building. "Historically, it's the first movie we watch on our first road trip of the year," said Jim Sarosy, the Crunch's chief operating officer. They show the locker room to recruits and tell them: this is where you're going to dress all year. "It's an iconic movie for hockey, and it has that cool factor."
Part of the film was also shot in the arena's press box, up a flight of very steep stairs and literally hanging above the crowd. It's where actor Paul Dooley, playing Hyannisport's announcer, uttered the now-famous lines: "The fans are standing up to them. The security guards are standing up to them. The peanut vendors are standing up to them. And by God, if I could get down there, I'd be standing up to them."
Lehigh Valley Phantoms broadcaster Bob Rotruck thinks of that scene whenever he visits. "I think I'm almost in the exact same spot where that announcer is," he said.
D'Uva said the club found a connection with a famous Syracuse alum who spent time broadcasting the team's games after finding film from the Blazers era and a microphone manufactured in 1973. "Bob Costas very may have well used that microphone to broadcast the Blazers championship the next year. More and more you get to know the connections. The announcers in the film are as much a part of it as the players. And there are some broadcasters in the American Hockey League who would fit perfectly in the film."
The Crunch even raised a No. 7 Chiefs banner after Newman's death in 2008, keeping it in the arena's rafters for a season. "After the news about Paul Newman's death, we raised a banner in honor to him for the role he played and being part of that movie. It's something as an organization we embrace for sure," said Sarosy.
An hour's drive east of Syracuse, Utica's Memorial Auditorium, then the home of the NAHL's Mohawk Valley Comets, played Peterborough's home where, in the film, the Chiefs get into a pre-game brawl with the Patriots.
"The Aud," as the building is known locally, was blue with red and yellow trim back then, featuring white banners hanging from the roof to the walls and from the ceiling over the stage at one end of the ice. The building now follows the blue-and-green color scheme used by the current occupants, the AHL's Comets — based on its NHL parent club, Vancouver — and the plain banners have been replaced with advertisements. Sitting in the arena today, it's easy to see the circular seating pattern from the movie, despite the building's modernization.
The skaters used in the film were mostly drawn from the Johnstown Jets, Syracuse Blazers and other NAHL teams, but there's also one who turned into a prominent NHL figure.
Bruce Boudreau, now coaching in the NHL after spending years in the American League as a player and coach, makes a brief appearance. A much younger Boudreau, with a full head of hair, can be seen in the film's opening minutes, wearing a No. 7 green Presidents jersey. Boudreau is first seen screening Charlestown net-minder Denis Lemieux in the movie's first game sequence, then later celebrating Hyannisport's first goal, carrying the puck behind the net, scoring the Presidents' second goal and skating in front of the cage on the third tally.
Boudreau played for Johnstown just before the movie's filming, and the apartment he shared with Dave Hanson served as the model for Reggie Dunlop's home, reportedly because it was messy — exactly what the producers were looking for.
John Walton, who spent time with Boudreau as Hershey's broadcaster, said the coach would make sure everyone saw his cameo appearances during the team's bus trips. "I can say that I've been on a bus with Bruce when Slap Shot goes on. And in the old days of VHS tapes, he'd pause it and say 'Look, here's me. I'm right there.' That's an experience — once."
Manchester Monarchs broadcaster Ken Cail, who spent time with then-coach Boudreau riding the bus from 2001 to 2004, recalled the same story. "We've seen Slap Shot a number of times because he's in the movie. ... That's probably his all-time favorite movie, for sure."
The game of hockey has changed a great deal since Slap Shot was in the theaters, but as broadcaster Bob Rotruck says, there's something iconic about the film. "It's goofy. The mix of personalities in the film, I think that's what is always going to be true with a minor-league sports team — I've been around minor-league baseball as well — you have this different combining of characters all together. That never changes," he said. "The fighting is not the same as what it once was, but you still have some. I don't know if you have guys put bounties on other guys' heads anymore or things of that nature, but you go back to the guys that lived that stuff in the 1970s and they'll tell you, 'Yeah, that was pretty much [how it] went, as crazy as that stuff sounds.'"
Joe Beninati, a television broadcaster for the Capitals, well remembers the wild style of play in his AHL days. "If you're referring to the shenanigans on the ice, there [were] some terrific line brawls. I did the American Hockey League from 1989 to 1993, and in that window, there were some incredibly tough games. The thing is, you were playing a rival 10 times a season, maybe a dozen times. Just think about the hatred, the animosity that would build up. So, you had some terrific nights where there were tons upon tons of penalty minutes."
Beninati also recalled a moment in 1988 when a now-prominent NHL analyst and former Mariners coach went into the crowd during an AHL game after the organist played a not-so-flattering tune whenever Mariners player Steve Tsujiura was hit or took a penalty. "I was a studio host when Mike Milbury went into the crowd at Palais des Sports in Sherbrooke [Quebec]. He was trying to get to an organist who had just irritated the you-know-what out of him. I remember our announcer at the time was Scott Wykoff, and he said, 'Mike Milbury is headed into the crowd.' I said, 'What, Scott, what?' I remember it like it was today."
A common thread throughout Slap Shot is the bus, and for most AHL players — particularly in the Eastern Conference — for better or for worse, the bus is still a big part of life at this level.
Beninati jokingly said he wanted to recreate one of the movie's famous bus scenes. "There was never anyone who took a sledgehammer to the bus to say, 'Make it look mean.' But there were times when I wanted to hit the bus because I didn't want to be on it."
Walton said watching the film on the team bus was an experience: "There's a certain feel when you watch Slap Shot on a bus. I've probably seen Slap Shot on a bus at least 50 times. Back in the day when you needed the entertainment and you didn't always have it readily available, Slap Shot was a go-to."
But he said that in the modern American Hockey League, the players' attitudes are more professional, as they chase the dream of a National Hockey League roster spot. "It's not Slap Shot anymore. I saw a transitional period when I was in Cincinnati [in the 1990s] with games against Kentucky where sometimes it was just a fight night and craziness, and I saw plenty of that," Walton said. "By the time I got to Hershey [in 2002] — not that you couldn't have the wild rivalry games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on occasion — but what the modern game is today, a lot of draft picks have a chance to make it to the NHL, and there's more mutual respect among players.
"From the college game to the AHL to [the NHL], there's a businesslike attitude. It's a career; it's a livelihood. I think in the 1970s, for guys in the minors it was something to do, and not have to do another job. It's not that way anymore. It's a very professional atmosphere, and it continues to be more so. It doesn't mean you don't earn [a spot in the NHL] with the 3-in-3s and the other stuff that you don't have to do [in the NHL], but I don't think it's as much [like the movie] as the people think."
Sarosy, who joined the Crunch in 1995, agreed that there have been changes in how the game is played. "I remember the early years. It was a little bit like what I think people would think the movies were like. Win or lose, hooting and hollering, watching movies, having fun, and it's changed throughout the years. Personally, I think it's the amount of money that is available to these athletes. And the players who come here now — with all due respect to those who came before — from day one, they're chiseled and in phenomenal shape. It's basically become a year-round occupation for them, because they have such a short window earning-wise."
While Slap Shot featured players at the end of their careers, most of today's AHL players are just beginning theirs. "You have some guys who are 20 years old, and it's like a high school kid going off to college. When the season's over, you're going back home," said D'Uva. "The players who come here, they're doing it not only because they love the sport but [because they] have a legitimate chance at reaching the National Hockey League. In Slap Shot, they're playing to get by. They're playing because they can, and someone will give them a check to do it, and there's few scouts."
In the movie, they talk about scouts, but can you imagine any of the guys in Slap Shot getting to the NHL? "It doesn't feel that close. This is close. This is a heartbeat or a sprained ankle away from the NHL," D'Uva said, adding that the AHL is no longer the traveling circus portrayed in the movie. "It's a legitimate developmental league where winning is a premium and almost any player in an American League game could play in the NHL. It's the consistency and ability to adapt between those who get there and those stuck here, but anyone in this league would be serviceable for a game or two in the NHL. I don't think you'd be able to say that about the minor league teams in Slap Shot."
Dave Starman, who was a Baltimore Skipjacks radio analyst in the early 1990s, said the game has changed with roster spots at stake. "I think everyone thinks the minor leagues are still Slap Shot, and it is the furthest thing from that. This is not a culture where players are going out every night and getting hammered, because it's a different world now," said Starman. "Teams are investing millions of dollars in these athletes, and they're assets. These players know there is huge money to be made at the next level, as opposed to years ago where there was just good money to be made at the next level. A lot of these kids know if they stick with it, that eventually they're going to find their spot."
One aspect of AHL life that is still similar to the movie is the tightness of the group. The compressed schedule and travel required in the modern American Hockey League means the players need to be around each other and often form stronger bonds than their NHL counterparts.
In the National Hockey League, there's more free time available for players, who normally just come to practices, morning skates and games, and when traveling, it's a ride to the airport and a charter flight to their road games. With the minimum salary being $575,000 for an NHL player during the 2015–16 season, players can afford to live on their own. And, usually being a bit older, NHL players are more likely to have a spouse and family than those starting out their careers in the minors, and more commitments outside the rink.
But in the American Hockey League, players are generally a few years out of junior or college, and with a minimum salary of $44,000 in 2015–16, you're more likely to need a roommate to get by. Even for those who make the top-end salaries in the AHL — players not on one-way NHL contracts, who are spending time in the league and are paid the same amount in either league — earnings max out around $400,000 per year.
Troy Brouwer, who started his career in the AHL, smiled when asked about his time there. "For me, I lived in a house with four guys, and it was a pretty much a mess. Nobody cooked, nobody cleaned, and it was pretty much what you'd think a fraternity would be like," Brouwer said. "We played video games, drank a few beers here and there, and were generally just enjoying ourselves. We were all just 21, 22, 23 years old, living on our own for the first time, and trying to get by."
Steve Oleksy, Brouwer's former NHL teammate, agreed. "When you wake up, you're at the rink with these guys, you eat together, you live together, you're around each other 24 [hours]."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Chasing the Dream by Ted Starkey. Copyright © 2016 Ted Starkey. Excerpted by permission of ECW PRESS.
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