It's September 1991. I was barely a 17 years old, and, in my own not-so-humble teenage estimation, a hockey expert.
I was anxiously awaiting news about Team Canada's roster for my favorite international tournament of all time, the Canada Cup. Boy was I ever excited about this Canada Cup. Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier and company were going to go back to war against the Soviets, just like 4 years prior in 1987.
Most of the training camp the media was fixating on Eric Lindros, the junior superstar who would be making his debut against the best of the NHL. I know I eagerly awaited the phenom's debut.But when the final Team Canada roster was announced and the whole hockey world was talking about Lindros, I was scurrying to find out about another Eric - Eric Desjardins.
Who the heck was he? How could I not know anything about him? What kind of a hockey expert was I, anyways? | Full Eric Desjardins Biography |
From then on Eric Desjardins became a favorite of mine. The Canada Cups were always a favorite. I loved those old Canada Cup tournaments. Some of the greatest hockey games ever played came in those tourneys. Septembers to Remember, as I termed in The Hockey News back in 2004.
A few years back Patrick Houda and myself wrote an encyclopedic history of the tournament and it's evolution. Every once in a while someone will mention how much they enjoyed the book, titled The World Cup Of Hockey.
That always surprises me, because I see the book only as the incredible struggle with the publisher. I see it for all the typos because it never got a proper copy edit done. I see it as a waste of what it could have been. What it should have been.
The whole experience was a real disappointment, but I continued to write. And now, as Greatest Hockey Legends.com enters it's third season in operation, I'm hoping for bigger and better things than ever. I think that's why I like Greatest Hockey Legends.com so much. Because I control the whole operation. I never did like handing over my beloved projects to publishers who could not possibly share the passion for it.
We're somewhere near 1000 hockey legends profile, with Eric Desjardins being one of the newest. I'm working harder than ever at being the Hockey History Blogger, and hockey book reviewer. We're all going to have a great 2008-09 season.
P.S. Special Thanks is owed to Patrick Hoffman at MVN for plugging my work last Friday.
1 comment:
Too bad for Wayne Gretzky and the world of hockey that Gary Suter played on the US team. The Canada Cups were amazing hockey (especially the famous "99/66" -- in my opinion next and neck with 1972 for the best series ever played: so far...).
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