Boston Bruins Greatest Players
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Monday
Dunc Fisher
However what is often forgotten about in the recollection of this classic game is that just moments earlier the Rangers had a flurry of chances to score in the Red Wings end. The best chance was off of the stick of Dunc Fisher.
Dunc, a second year right winger, sped around an exhausted Black Jack Stewart and faced goalie Harry Lumley on a breakaway. Fisher had Lumley beaten on a low wrist shot, only to ring the puck off of the post.
Moments later, Babando scored for Detroit, giving them the win, and the Cup. They say hockey is a game of inches. Had Fisher's shot been an inch over he likely would have scored and he would be a hockey hero forever etched in hockey history. Instead he is virtually forgotten about by newer generations.
Fisher, a 5'7" 170lb right wing from Regina, Saskatchewan, made his NHL debut in the 1948 playoffs with the Rangers after spending the year with the Rangers AHL affiliate. He even picked up an assist in his in his first game. Fisher would play 2 1/2 seasons with the Rangers before being traded to Boston in exchange for Ed Harrison and Zellio Toppazzini. After a season and a half in Boston, Fisher wasn't producing offensively as the Bruins had hoped, and they demoted him to the minors where he would be an AHL All Star for the next 6 seasons. His excellence at the AHL level finally earned him a shot at the NHL again in 1958 when the Red Wings traded Don Poile and Hec Lalande to acquire the high scoring minor leaguer. Dunc however failed to scored in 8 appearances and finished his career in the minors.
In 275 NHL games Dunc Fisher scored 45 goals and 70 assists for 115 points. He appeared in 21 games scoring 4 goals and 8 points. He was at best an average player at the NHL level. He would have became a hockey legend had he not hit the post in that Stanley Cup Finals game 7. Alas, it was not meant to be, as Pete Babando became the hero. Read more...
Allen Pedersen
Allen was definitely not a scorer. He only scored 5 goals in 8 years. Four times he went scoreless the entire season. In fact he went a stretch of about 200 games without scoring a goal at one point. He never scored a single point in 64 playoff games.
So how could a guy who put up so little stick in the NHL for 428 games?
Pedersen was an intimidating stay at home defenseman. A willing shot blocker, Pedersen was at his best clearing the front of his net. Although not a bone crunching hitter, Pederen played a strong positional game based strictly on defensive posturing.
Pedersen's game was handcuffed by his skating ability. He was an awkward and slow skater, with little mobility. This hurt him even defensively as he couldn't wander even a step or two out of position to chase a loose puck or make a big hit, as more likely than not he would get burned.
Pedersen's game also was limited by his lack of self confidence. He seemed to always be down on himself, and this hurt Allen's development from a strictly one dimensional hockey player.
Drafter 105th overall by the Boston Bruins in 1983, Pedersen joined the B's three years later for the 1986-87 campaign. He stayed in Boston for 5 years before making a one year stop in Minnesota and another one year stop in Hartford. By 1993-94 Pedersen found himself playing for the Whaler's farm team and was released by year's end. He then turned to the IHL and played one year with the Atlanta Knights, where he continued the same style of play he always played - scoring 0 goals. Read more...
Saturday
Aut Erickson
Autry Erickson (yes, he was named after famous Christmas carol singer Gene Autry) was a steady defensive defenseman in the NHL back in the 1960s. He was far from flashy, but he was dependable.
After starring in junior with the Lethbridge Native Sons, Prince Albert Mintos and Regina Pats. He moved on to spend 226 games in the NHL, more than half with the Boston Bruins in two full season - 1959/60 and 1960/61.
But those were the days of the Original Six, and there was only about 36 jobs available for NHL defensemen. Even with two full seasons of NHL experience under his belt, Erickson would spend much of the 1960s in the minor leagues. He briefly reappeared with Chicago for a total of 34 games, and with Toronto for a single game.
Though he only played that one game with the Leafs, it was certainly a well timed game to play. Erickson filled in for game one of the 1967 Stanley Cup finals. Of course, that was the year the Leafs won the Stanley Cup. By playing in that single game Erickson earned his name's engraving on the Stanley Cup. Reportedly, Erickson only skated one third period shift, and also served a Toronto too many men on the ice penalty.
"It was nice to go to the west coast. It was kind of like a vacation with pay," Erickson said in Brad Kurtzberg's excellent book Shorthanded: The Untold Story of the Seals: Hockey's Most Colorful Team.
Erickson admitted that it was tough to play in Oakland. There were constant rumors that the team would move, and team morale was terrible as they did not win very many games.
After the inaugural season with the Seals, Erickson left the NHL on his own accord. The team had planned on his return, but Erickson jumped at the opportunity to join the Phoenix Roadrunners. Phoenix offered him a chance to play with a promise of a coaching job down the road. The aging Erickson was worried about his long term future. Like so many insecure hockey players of that era coaching seemed like an only option
Erickson would coach the Roadrunners for a couple of seasons before returning to the NHL for a short stints as assistant GM and assistant coach with the expansion New York Islanders. He soon left hockey to work for an airline company based in California.
Autry Erickson died on August 21st, 2010. He was 72 years old. Read more...
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