Hec Fowler

This is Norman Fowler. He was better known by his nickname Hec, sometimes spelled Heck. The origins of the nickname remain unknown to me. Perhaps it was because he gave his opponents heck. He was a a brawling puck stopper, an early day Ron Hextall.

Born in Saskatoon in 1892, Fowler rose through the goaltending in the junior ranks in northern Saskatchewan city, earning praise and notice.

He turned his youthful passion into a career that took him to some unusual places. In 1916 he moved to Spokane, Washington to play for the Canaries of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. He would later play with the PCHA's Seattle Metropolitans and Victoria Aristocrats/Cougars.

When the Boston Bruins joined the National Hockey League in 1924, they acquired Fowler from Victoria to be the Bruins first goaltender.

The excitement soon faded for the Bruins and especially for Fowler. After seven games he was dumped. He had won just one of those games and allowed 42 goals.

There is even some suggestion that Fowler burned some bridges by admitting he was allowing extra goals against in hopes that the Bruins would go out and get some better players. Manager Art Ross opted to do just that, but named Fowler as their scapegoat and let him go.

Ross apparently even suspended and fined Fowler as much as $1,000. Fowler returned home but found a new team in the Edmonton Eskimos. Somehow though, Ross bound Fowler to a contract for just $1. In order to secure his release the Eskimos paid Fowler's $1000 fine.

Fowler took his $1 and framed it. He reportedly posted it on the walls of a printing shop he opened in Saskatoon after retiring from hockey.

Fowler would play two seasons in Edmonton before relocating to California to play for a team called Oakland Shieks! He was somewhat of a celebrity in the sunshine state, dubbed a "human blanket" for his puck stopping abilities.

I found one article from 1951 by Vern DeGeer of the Montreal Gazette which paints "Heck" Fowler as one of the most colorful hockey players ever. Here's the highlights:

• "Probably the roughest and toughest goaltender to hit major professional hockey in the last 35 years . . ."
• "Fowler was a physical culture fanatic with arms like a village smithy and legs hewed from steel."
• "He often participated in speed contests against Phil Taylor (formerly of the Ice Follies and Ice Capades) and Norman Faulkner, a prairie champion before losing a leg in the First World War."
• He was an avid baseball player, uniquely playing short stop like a goalie. "He played the position hockey-fashion, blocking grounders with his feet and shins, then making the pick-up for the throw."
• "During the summer months he used to get out on the sidewalk in front of his house and invite neighboring kids to fire pucks at his unprotected shins."
• He also was quite the amateur soccer goalie.
  

But it was his temper and physical play that set him apart from most goalies.

"Insisting that a goaltender's cage was his castle, Fowler wouldn't permit an opponent within a stick's length. Oldtimers who campaigned against him will tell you Fowler was the original wood-chopper. He delighted in laying on the lumber. If you got too close for a good belt with the hickory, he'd throw a punch.

"He served time in every penalty box within skating distance during his eventful professional career. In his campaigning days when a goalie was penalized no substitute was permitted to serve his sentence as is done today. He engaged in a dozen fist fights in the Coast League, several in the NHL and despite the burden of equipment, didn't lose many decisions. In a duel with the sticks, which was the favorite skull denting approach until the moderns encouraged a milder form of physical encounter, he could swing his heavier war club vigorously enough to fell one of California's famous Redwood trees. But he preferred his fists. Claimed he was always breaking sticks and his tough knuckles took the punishment easier."

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Harry "Yip" Foster

Yip Foster was hockey's original big man.

While nowadays it is not uncommon to see very tall hockey players even in the junior ranks, Yip Foster was a giant of a defenseman in the 1930s when he played at 6'6" tall and 200lbs. He must have been an intimidating sight for any opposing forward. The average size of players back then was below 6 feet tall and below 200lbs.

While today's NHL giants tend to be quite agile, I suspect Foster was not as nimble. He may have had passable foot skills, though, as he was was also a celebrated rugby player and noted footballer.

Despite his size he appears to have been far from the blue line monster we like to see from giants. In 83 career games over 4 seasons he only picked up 32 PIMs. He also scored just 3 goals and 2 assists in his NHL career.

He played for Boston, the New York Rangers and Detroit. There was some dispute over his playing rights. In September of 1927 the Rangers signed him, though Toronto claimed they already had the Guelph, Ontario native's rights. The matter was only settled when the Rangers agreed to send Eric Pettinger to the Leafs as compensation for the signing.

While Foster's NHL career was somewhat short, his life as a professional hockey player lasted all the way until 1947, spanning nearly 20 seasons.

He settled in Wayne, Michigan and worked with an aircraft company. He died on June 4th, 1978 at the age of 70 years old.

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Bill Speer

In the 1970s the Philadelphia Flyers had star player Bill Barber, but the Boston Bruins countered with Bill The Barber.

Stay-at-home defenseman Bill Speer was a barber by trade, learning from his father who cut hair for 42 years. In addition to his defensive zone responsibilities, he also cut teammates hair in the dressing room! Hence the nickname: "The Lindsay Clipper."

Born and raised in Lindsay, Ontario, he owned his own three-chair barber shop the corner of William and Kent even while playing in the NHL. "Frank Speer's Barber Shop" was originally his father's business.

Bill Speer may have been good with the shears, but he was also good on the ice. He was a standout junior player with St. Catherines. He spent a lot of time in the minor leagues as a pro, but he did play in 130 NHL contests with the Penguins and Bruins.

His best season was undoubtedly 1969-70 when he helped the Bruins capture the Stanley Cup. He even scored a goal in the playoffs. That was a rarity for Speer. He scored only 6 career NHL goals.

Speer continued to play pro hockey throughout the 1970s, mostly in the minors and late in his career with the WHA. He retired back to Lindsay in 1975.

He was 5'11" tall and played at well over 200lbs, once tipping the scales of 240lbs. His fitness level may have kept in the minors more than he should have been, as he was a solid blue line citizen with a good first pass. He also became a noted shot blocker.

Speer died far too young in February 1989. He was riding a snowmobile that fell through thin ice.

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Hago Harrington

Leland Kitteridge Harrington, universally known as Hago Harrington, may be better known nowadays for a Stoneham, MA miniature golf course named in his honor in 1950. But there was a time when Hago Harrington was the best hockey player in all of New England.

Born in Melrose, MA on August 13th, 1904. He became the high school hockey hero who later played for the amateur Boston Unicorns. By 1925 the left winger turned pro with the Boston Bruins, wearing number 15. Over the next two years he would participate in 48 games, scoring 8 goals and 10 points.

During those two seasons he also spent time with New Haven in the long defunct Can-Am League. He quickly became the centerpiece of an inter-league dispute that was not settled until 1928. Harrington really took a liking to New Haven and to the Can-Am League, and refused to go back to Boston when the Bruins called. He asserted that he had no contract with the Bruins and they had no right to relocate him.

This threatened a "hockey war" between the two leagues. It was later agreed that the Bruins did in fact own Harrington's playing rights, and to end the dispute the Bruins sold those rights to the Can-Am League. The only catch - they sold him to Providence rather than New Haven.

Harrington did not seem to mind the relocation to Rhode Island. He played 8 seasons for the Reds, interrupted only by a 24 game sojourn with the Montreal Canadiens, the Bruins' chief nemesis, in 1932-33.

Harrington retired in 1936, helping Providence capture Can-Am championships in 1930, 1932 and 1934. After retirement he became part of the management group of the Boston Garden. He also coached the Boston Olympics for over a decade.

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