David Ward - The Lost 10 Point Night: Searching for My Hockey Hero . . . Jim Harrison

Gregg Sheppard, who played with Junkin in Oklahoma City and Cheevers in Boston, tells this story differently the classy Cheevers pulled himself from the game, (correctly) speculating that it was the popular Junkins one and only opportunity to log NHL playing time.

Source: The Hockey News. With thanks to sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/hockey_summary_project.

Boston was playing the St. Louis Blues in the first game of the Stanley Cup final. Bruins won the Cup seven days later on Bobby Orrs iconic goal, but my most vivid memory is from that first game Blues goalie Jacques Plante suffered a concussion when a Fred Stanfield shot, deflected by Phil Esposito, hit Plante in the face, shattering his mask. Fifteen days later, Plante was traded to Harrisons Leafs.

Veteran defenceman Bob Baun was acquired from St. Louis, for Brit Selby, on November 13, 1970, in a trade that stabilized the young defence, resulting in a considerably improved team and an eventual playoff spot.

HARRISON, Jim

James David Max C R. 5'11", 185 lbs. b. Bonnyville, Alberta, 7/9/1947

WCJHL First All-Star Team (1968) . Traded to Toronto by Boston for Wayne Carleton, Dec. 10, 1969. Selected by Calgary-Cleveland (WHA) in 1972 WHA General Player Draft, Feb. 12, 1972. WHA rights traded to Alberta (WHA) by Cleveland (WHA) for cash, May 1972. Traded to Cleveland (WHA) by Edmonton (WHA) for Ron Buchanan, Oct. 14, 1974. Rights traded to Chicago by Toronto for Chicagos second-round choice (Bob Gladney) in 1977 Amateur Draft, Sept. 28, 1976. Traded to Edmonton by Chicago for future considerations, Sept. 24, 1979.

Jims birth certificate actually reads, Jimmy David.

* lead league

for an image of the above chart.

THE LOST

10 POINT

NIGHT

SEARCHING

FOR

MY

HOCKEY

HERO

***

JIM

HARRISON

BY

DAVID

WARD

ECW

For my brother

Lets pretend, a voice suggested, that were one of those Frank Capra movies.

How do we do that?

You know. Here we are, up in the heavens, looking down.

Right. And all you see on the screen is a bunch of nebulae and assorted twinklies.

Exactly.

With violins, another voice suggested.

Do they like this sort of stuff?

Some do, some dont.

Okay. Here we go. Look down. Look away down there. Look at the town of Falconbridge, Ontario, population, thirteen thousand.

Thirteen thousand and one if we count him.

There he is. Staring right back at us, coincidentally.

Is it he with whom we are going to fuck around?

Well, came a voice, considering, hes doing a pretty crackerjack job of fucking around with himself. Were going to help him.

Whats he got? Marital problems? Financial difficulties? Mental anguishes? Emotional instability? Physical abnormalities and/or diseases?

Hes got all sorts of general problems. Were here for something specific.

Like what, for instance?

You guys ever hear of a game called hockey?

Paul Quarrington,

Loganin Overtime

INTRODUCTION

This book is based on two premises.

One, I like sportswriter Stephen Brunt. I like him a lot on radio, television, and in print. I like the way he sees the world in a cultural context. I like that he employs his sensibilities by simply describing circumstances and asking basic questions. Stephen practices sportswriting like its a subtly subversive science rather than an undertaking best suited for blunt tools.