Monday, November 12, 2007

 

MacInnis

My warmest congratulations go out to Al MacInnis on his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame today. Al is one of the very few pro hockey players, past or present, who I have a personal anecdote about.

In the summer of 1987 (or possibly '88) I spent a lot of the summer playing golf at Bearspaw just NW of Calgary. My buddy Brett and I were about to tee off at noonish on some lazy weekday when the assistant pro told us to wait up for a couple minutes, he was going to send out a new member with us. No problem, we said (followed no doubt by some mumbling hoping that it wasn't some jackass who needed help finding his ball twice a hole).

Anyway, we sit tight briefly, and here comes Al Macinnis carrying his bag to the tee. ("Hi, I'm Al." "Hi, I'm Matt.") This is pretty exciting for a ~14 year old Flames fan, but by that point polite golf etiquette was about as ingrained in me as fight-or-flight, so I shut my mouth. Apart from that, I'm anxious to find out the same thing as anyone would in that situation: does he hit a golf ball as hard as he shoots a puck?

For the next 4 hours we had a very pleasant round. Nice weather, made some good shots, lots of those "he's just like a real person" moments that are surprising to 14-year-olds. He was playing a pretty good round, too. He was maybe 3 or 4 over on the 16th tee when he says something like, "It's a real pleasure to play with you guys. Usually I play with my friends and there's all sorts of gambling and trash talk... it's fun, but it sure isn't relaxing. This is the best round I've shot in my life."

For the rest of the summer, I saw MacInnis a couple of times a week or so at the course, and he unfailingly took a few seconds to say hello, ask how my game was going, and let me know about his (IIRC, it had taken a major turn for the good).

Chopper was an excellent defenseman for all the reasons you've read about today. He really did continue to round out for the entire length of his career, I think. Good passer, and just a hell of a smart player. Behind me on ESPN Classic right now is Game 6 of the 1989 SCF; in a few minutes, they're going to show him receiving the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe.

I'm going to check it out. I leave you with the Flames' PP success by season, starting with the earliest available on the NHL Stats Machine and ending with Al's final season with the Flames.

PP% (Rank)
1987/88: 28.4% (1st; 2nd = 25.4%)
1988/89: 25.1% (2nd)
1989/90: 27.7% (1st; 2nd = 23.6%)
1990/91: 23.7% (1st; 2nd = 23.6%)
1991/92: 21.0% (5th)
1992/93: 19.0% (14th)
1993/94: 21.2% (4th)

[P.S. No he didn't (hit a golf ball as hard as he shot the puck)]

Comments:

Behind me on ESPN Classic right now is Game 6 of the 1989 SCF; in a few minutes, they're going to show him receiving the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe.

Calgary won a Stanley Cup? Huh.
 


That's an awesome post Matt. Bill Simmons had a column about Tom Seaver pitching to him when he was preparing for his comeback - this is similar but with an offbeat twist.
 


That Stanley blueline for the Flames was sick. How they didn't win more Stanleys is, oh wait!
 


That Stanley blueline for the Flames was sick. How they didn't win more Stanleys is, oh wait!

Yeah, but it sure gave MacInnis a lot of time to work on his golf game :D

(Seriously, even though he was a Flame, most of my memories of him are as a Blue... fantastic player, and congrats.)
 


I keep forgetting that Andy was a Hartford Whalers fan back then and didn't really follow the playoffs.

MC, thanks. I forgot to add the part about how a month or so later, I played 9 holes with MacInnis, Theo Fleury, and Tom Forzani. Another day's tale I suppose.

That was a good blueline. Deep at fwd too. With 2:20 left in that game and a 1-goal lead, they had the 4th line out. I'm pretty sure that McCrimmon/Ramage was nominally the 3rd pair, but it might have been Macoun/Nattress.
 


(I should say, 2/3 of the 4th line. Brian MacLellan and Mark Hunter, no Fleury.)
 


And then Al said, "in the future, if thou continously sees Reghr trying to injure Hemsky, thou shall deny it."

I dunno, LT, I guess Cgy was playing in a tough division;)
 


Beauty comment Dennis. :)

That aside, congrats to MacInnis. Not too many Flames I could honestly say that about, but MacInnis is one (maybe he's been away from the Flames just long enough). Tremendous player, well deserved.

And great story Matt.
 


Great story Matt.

MacInnis is one of the greats for sure. Good for him.
 


Nice story, thanks for sharing it Matt.
 


Now can we retire his jersey? Preferably right in front of Vernon's.
 

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