Weekend Reading: Bobby and Dennis Hull

Dennis Hull had to play in the shadow of his big brother Bobby. The shadow is twice as dark in history's eyes, thanks to Bobby's Hall of Fame son Brett. In fact, Dennis, ever the comedian, has a great line where he declares himself as the Third Best Hull, but with the asterisk that he would actually have been the fourth had his sister been allowed to play.

Back in 1967 Bobby wrote a book called Hockey Is My Game. Here's what he had to say about Dennis, who was a relative new comer (no pun intended) to the team:

"No matter what anybody might think, it didn't do Dennis much good to have me ahead of him in the NHL. Then to make things worse for him, he came to the Hawks.

"Dennis is a product of the Hawks excellent system of farm clubs, and he came to us from St. Catherines. During the time he was plaiyng in the junior ranks, I had only a few chances to see how he was doing. I had nothing to do with his coming straight into the NHL from a Junior "A" team. The idea that Tommy Ivan would ask me what I thought of my brother's play, or how i would like to have on the team, is enough to make me chortle. Dennis got where he is on his own hook, and he's going a long way in the game."

"He still needs ice time. The more he's on the ice, the more chance he has to gain experience. In that he is no different from any other player. He is different in his determination and his strength. Dennis has the muscle power to send the puck along the ice fast enough to bury it in the boards. More ice time will give him more accuracy, and then watch out!"