Since July, 2013 we are posting at http://www.ericmodelsblog.com....We remain proud of our older stuff and hope you check it our here. For newer stuff (Offbeat, off the beaten path, overlooked and forgotten), though, he hope you visit us at Eric Model's Blog - again, it's at http://www.ericmodelsblog.com - THANKS !

Passing: Butch Bouchard (Globe and Mail-Canadian Press/Montreal Gazette)

From The Globe and Mail: Emile (Butch) Bouchard, a long time Montreal Canadiens captain and four-time Stanley Cup winner, died on April 14, 2012. He was 92. Friend and sports analyst Ron Fournier says Bouchard was surrounded by his family when he died. The defenceman scored 49 goals in 785 games during his 15-year NHL career, captaining the Habs for eight seasons before retiring in 1956. The Canadiens won the Stanley Cup four times while Bouchard was with the team, twice while he was captain. “He was one of the great captains in the history of the Canadiens,” Rejean Houle, the Habs alumni president, who played with the Canadiens in the 1970s and 80s, said in an interview Saturday. “It was a period where the team really became a dynasty.” http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/former-habs-captain-emile-bouchard-dies-at-92/article2402621/ Dave Stubbs on Butch Bouchard: http://www.faceoff.com/hockey/teams/montreal-canadiens/Bouchard+delicious+sense+humour/6462513/story.html Red Fisher remembers Butch Bouchard: http://www.faceoff.com/hockey/teams/montreal-canadiens/Fisher+Farewell+Butch/6462496/story.html

Red, White and Blue on Ice – Minnesota’s Elite Teams and Players of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s -

Minnesota, the State of Hockey, leads the nation in its devotion to Canada’s national game. Over 6400 players have played in the National Hockey League since its inception with the 1917-18 season. Minnesota outpaces Massachusetts and Michigan as the producer of American talent in the NHL. While much of that player development has taken place since the mid-1970s, the origins of this American hockey dominance can be traced to the 1890s. Minnesota was producing elite teams and players in the years before WWII.

Hockey historian Roger Godin tells this early story by taking readers through the seasons of five championship teams and one runner-up in both the minor league American Hockey Association (AHA) and the Central Hockey League (CHL) These teams were almost exclusively Minnesotan/American in the CHL and had a significant domestic content in the case of the AHA. Beyond the teams, Godin tells the stories of six elite Minnesota players, five of whom played in the NHL and who came out of this same time frame, 1926-42: forward Elwyn “Doc” Romnes, goaltender Mike Karakas, forward Carl “Cully” Dahlstrom, goaltender Hubert “Hub” Nelson, goaltender Frank Brimsek, and defenseman John Mariucci. It a story largely untold and fills a major void in the history of the great ice sport in the United States.

At: http://conversationsontheroad.podbus.com/?p=715

The Winnipeg Falcons

The sons of Icelandic immigrants and friends since boyhood, the Winnipeg Falcons were a superbly talented team of just eight players who brought home Canada’s first Olympic gold medal in hockey in 1920. But before they became world champions, the Falcons endured years of prejudice on and off the ice.

They also fought for their country and were heroes during the First World War.

Our guest in this edition of “Journeys into Hockey” is author and renowned hockey historian Eric Zweig, who brings to life the fascinating story of the little team that wouldn’t quit.

At: http://conversationsontheroad.podbus.com/?p=713

In Behind the Bench: A Biographical Directory of Professional Hockey Coaches Since 1904

Jeff Marcus goes all the way back to 1904, the date of the first openly professional hockey league, the International Hockey League.
He goes on to cover all the coaches in all of those early leagues including the Ontario Professional Hockey League, The Eastern Canada Hockey Association, the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, the Western Canada Hockey League and the National Hockey Association. Of course, that NHA would later be reformed into the National Hockey League.
Marcus moves away from all the obscure pro leagues that littered the 20th century but does focus on all WHA and NHL coaches, right up until the current day.


We speak with Jeff Marcus about some of the best known coaches, some of the longest standing coaches and some of the most obscure coaches.

At: http://conversationsontheroad.podbus.com/?p=709

Great Players of the Golden Era

The hockey stars of the 1950s and ’60s—Rocket Richard, Gordie Howe, Dave Keon, Bobby Hull, Jean Beliveau, Terry Sawchuk, Tim Horton, and others—were some of the most passionate players in National Hockey League history. These skillful and often colorful athletes played exhilarating hockey and were national heroes in a time when only six teams and fewer than 150 players battled for the Stanley Cup.


Hockey’s Original Six (Greystone Books) celebrates the most dynamic players and exciting moments of the era in more than 120 photographs from the legendary Harold Barkley Archives, including a number of never—or rarely seen—images. From 1942 until the early ’70s, Barkley was the Toronto Star’s leading sports photographer. He pioneered the use of electronic flash to capture stop-action hockey, and his dramatic work—both black and white and vibrant color—define the pre-expansion period.


Our guest is Mike Lionetti, hockey-historian, archivist and sports writers, who authors two essays in the book that compliment and provide context to the classic Barclay photos (Jean Béliveau—hockey legend and elder statesman—provides a personal and insightful foreword).


More about the guest: Mike Leonetti has written more than twenty-five books, including best-selling hockey titles such as Hockey Now, Maple Leaf Legends, Canadiens Legends, and Maple Leafs Top 100. He has also written several best-selling children’s picture books, including My Leafs Sweater, A Hero Named Howe, Number Four, Bobby Orr, and Wendel and the Great One. He owns an extensive archive of hockey photographs and memorabilia-including the Harold Barkley Archives-and is a walking encyclopedia of Maple Leafs trivia. He lives in Woodbridge, Ontario

At: http://conversationsontheroad.podbus.com/?p=699

The Big Train – Lionel Conacher, A Canadian Icon

Lionel Pretoria Conacher, (May 24, 1900 –May 26, 1954), nicknamed “The Big Train”, was a Canadian athlete and politician. Voted the country’s top athlete of the first half of the 20th century, he remains a Canadian icon half a century after his passing.


Conacher has been described by some as the Jim Thorpe of Canada. He won championships in numerous sports. His first passion was football; he was a member of the 1921 Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts. He was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team that won the International League championship in 1926.


In hockey, he won a Memorial Cup in 1920, and the Stanley Cup twice: with the Chicago Black Hawks in 1934 and the Montreal Maroons in 1935.


In addition, he won wrestling, boxing and lacrosse championships during his playing career.


Conacher retired as an athlete in 1937 to enter politics. He won election to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1937, and in 1949 won a seat in the House of Commons. Many of his political positions revolved around sports. He worked to eliminate corruption in boxing while serving as an MPP in Ontario, also serving as the chairman of the Ontario Athletic Commission. Additionally, he served a term as director of recreation and entertainment for the Royal Canadian Air Force. It was also on the sporting pitch that Conacher died: He suffered a heart attack during a softball game in 1954.

This week’s guest Rick Brignall has written of Lionel Conacher. He shares with us the story of his book – (Big Train: The Legendary Ironman of Sport, Lionel Conacher (Lorimer; 2009), and the story of Lionel Conacher

At: http://conversationsontheroad.podbus.com/?p=696