puckstruck
the culture of hockey, and vice-versa
notes + sources
puckstruck sources
[p. 141] a slight sneer mantled joliat's lean bronze face
[p. 278] snubbing morenz
[p. 87] how to hook-check
[p. 327] like an orc chieftain
[p. 254] michael cusack
[p. 322] dave dryden
all (hockey) roads lead to peterborough
books for troubled times
gretzky's tears
gump worsley's pineapple squares
his name is orr
under review: no pink tea
oh, dear
the secret to hockey gold
wet rice and hockey
wheel, knife, sher-wood, in that order
blow hard
goalie masquerade
habs 24/7
hockey smokers: dit clapper
hockey smokers: cal gardner
hockey coaches in hospital beds: tommy ivan
hockey fashions: rod gilbert + bob nevin
hp@h: assist to béliveau
hp[in]hb: moose vasko
hockey players in hospital beds: terry sawchuk
leapin' lou
panoramic protection
smoothy smith
the great, once
the thin man
a bunch of pukes
a red-hot bout with the grim reaper
are you afraid of anything?
billy burch took his skates to bed
detests helmets
it can do much harm
one slug
our best sticks were made of rock elm
the five truths of shovelling
the hot refresher
twenty-four ways of looking at guy lafleur
captaining the bruins, 1924—48: the adjusted list
jack walker, hook-check artist (can get a little tiresome)
November 29, 2018 November 29, 2020 / puckstruck
Sultan of Swish: Jack Walker, at the ready, in Seattle Metropolitans' stripes, circa 1917.
If you want to talk hook-checks, as you well might, the man you need to know about is Jack Walker, born on this date in 1888, when it was a Tuesday, in Silver Mountain, Ontario, up on the Lakehead, not far from what was then Port Arthur — modern-day Thunder Bay. He died in 1950, aged 61.
If he's not now a household name, he was in his day, a century or so ago. Three times teams he skated for won the Stanley Cup: the Toronto Blueshirts in 1914, the Seattle Metropolitans in 1917, and the Victoria Cougars in 1925. Mostly Walker played on the west coast, in the PCHA; his NHL career was a slender one, lasting 80 regular-season games over two seasons in the mid-1920s when he joined the Detroit Cougars.
Walker did ascend to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1960, which is to say he was voted in. Hard to know from here how much of the case for his place in the pantheon has to do with the hook-check, but as a hook-check enthusiast I'm going to err on the side of a lot.
I wrote about the hook-check in my 2014 book Puckstruck— also over here, where I did some explaining about definitions and techniques. While Frank Nighbor is sometimes credited with having been the first to ply it on a regular and efficient basis, it seems clear that Walker was in fact the progenitor, and that when Nighbor joined Port Arthur in 1911, the Pembroke Peach learned if from him. Nighbor said as much himself, later on, sort of, talking about Walker's poke-check, which is related but different, though they're often conflated, even by the Hall-of-Famers who used them to best effect.
You don't see much mention of hook-checking in accounts of that earliest Cup, but by 1917, Walker's name was synonymous with it. Hook check star is an epithet you'll see in the weeks leading up to the championship series. That came in March, when the NHL's Montreal Canadiens travelled west to play for all the hockey marbles with a roster that featured Georges Vézina, Harry Mummery, Newsy Lalonde, and Didier Pitre.
Lining up Hap Holmes, Cully Wilson, and Frank Foyston, Seattle prevailed in four games, with Montreal's only victory coming in the opening game. The score therein, 8-4, doesn't exactly have the ring of a defensive struggle, but Walker was said to have stood out. This from the wire report in The Ottawa Citizen:
In purely defensive play, Jack Walker, with his clever hook-check, was [sic] the Seattle's star. Walker took the puck away from the best stick handlers the Flying Frenchmen could produce as easily [as] taking off his hat and it was his work that spilled most of the offensive hopes of the Canadiens.
It was apparently contagious: all the Mets were hooking the second game. After Seattle won that one 6-1, The Vancouver Sun's Royal Brougham opened his dispatch this way:
"Beaten by the Hookcheck," might be an appropriate title of tonight's struggle because it was the clever of this bit of hockey strategy combined with sheer speed and aggressiveness that put the Mets on an even basis with the invaders for the Stanley Cup.
"Every time," he continued, "a visiting forward got the puck and ankled up the ice, swish, some local skater would slide along and hook the elusive pill from the Canadiens stick leaving the duped player bewildered."
Seattle won the third game by a score of 4-1. It was the same story. "Jack worked his old hook-check so well and so frequently," was the word in Vancouver's Daily World, "that he checked the very life out of the Frenchmen's offence."
Going into what was the final game, Royal Brougham was already handing out laurels. "If Seattle wins the Stanley Cup, the glory should go to Jack Walker, the hook-check artist of the Metropolitans who, during the last two games has practically stopped every Frenchmen's rush."
Seattle went out in style, taking the decisive game and the Cup with a 9-1 win. Let's leave the Daily World to give the man his due, if that's what this does:
Jack Walker's work has been an outstanding feature of the entire series, and Jack was up to all his tricks last night. He kept the hook-checking working with such monotonous regularity that it almost got tiresome, and he finally succeeded in making one of his shots good and broke through for a goal.
hook-check, Seattle
Cully Wilson, Didier Pitre, Frank Foyston, Frank Nighbor, Georges Vézina, Hap Holmes, hook-check, Jack Walker, Newsy Lalonde, Port Arthur, Seattle Metropolitans
← buddy maracle, in 1931: swept through everybody to leave cude helpless with a wicked shot
a more up-to-date building could hardly be imagined: on this day in 1924, the montreal forum made its debut →
From Greystone Books. Available in bookstores in Canada and the United States. 2014 Hockey Book of the Year, as per www.hockeybookreviews.com. "Funny, smart, unlike any hockey book I've read," Dave Bidini has said; "Joycean," Charles Foran called it. "It's rare to find a book that makes me proud to be Canadian," is what Michael Winter wrote: "A funny, myth-busting, life-loving read."
1972 Ace Bailey advertising Art Ross Aurele Joliat Bill Cook Black Hawks Bobby Hull Bobby Orr books Boston Bruins Canadiens captains Carey Price Charlie Conacher Chicago Ching Johnson Clarence Campbell coaches concussions Conn Smythe debris defencemen Detroit Dick Irvin Sr. Dit Clapper Don Cherry Eddie Shore Edmonton Elmer Lach Frank Boucher Frank Calder Frank Mahovlich Frank Nighbor George Hainsworth Georges Vézina Glenn Hall goaltenders Gordie Howe Gump Worsley Hap Day head trauma hockey art Hockey Hall of Fame hospital Howie Morenz Jack Adams Jacques Plante Jean Béliveau Ken Dryden King Clancy Lester Patrick Lorne Chabot Lynn Patrick Madison Square Garden Maple Leaf Gardens Maple Leafs Maroons masks Maurice Richard Max Bentley Milt Schmidt Montreal Montreal Forum Nels Stewart Newsy Lalonde New York Americans New York Rangers Olympics Ottawa ouch outdoors Paul Henderson Philadelphia Phil Esposito pond hockey Red Dutton Red Kelly referees Rocket Richard Saskatchewan Sidney Crosby Sprague Cleghorn Stan Fischler Stanley Cup Stephen Harper stitches Syl Apps Ted Lindsay Teeder Kennedy Terry Sawchuk Tiny Thompson Toe Blake Tommy Gorman Turk Broda wartime Wayne Gretzky WHA Winnipeg
archives Select Month January 2021 (11) December 2020 (25) November 2020 (29) October 2020 (25) September 2020 (21) August 2020 (15) July 2020 (16) June 2020 (9) May 2020 (24) April 2020 (29) March 2020 (27) February 2020 (31) January 2020 (19) December 2019 (18) November 2019 (18) October 2019 (19) September 2019 (14) August 2019 (8) July 2019 (3) June 2019 (21) May 2019 (17) April 2019 (14) March 2019 (25) February 2019 (20) January 2019 (22) December 2018 (26) November 2018 (16) October 2018 (15) September 2018 (14) June 2018 (10) May 2018 (12) April 2018 (16) March 2018 (21) February 2018 (29) January 2018 (27) December 2017 (29) November 2017 (23) October 2017 (19) September 2017 (18) August 2017 (3) July 2017 (7) June 2017 (9) May 2017 (5) April 2017 (17) March 2017 (7) February 2017 (15) January 2017 (17) December 2016 (7) November 2016 (12) October 2016 (17) September 2016 (13) August 2016 (4) July 2016 (6) June 2016 (10) May 2016 (7) April 2016 (15) March 2016 (19) February 2016 (16) January 2016 (15) December 2015 (18) November 2015 (14) October 2015 (13) September 2015 (15) August 2015 (8) July 2015 (3) June 2015 (17) May 2015 (20) April 2015 (19) March 2015 (10) February 2015 (17) January 2015 (18) December 2014 (20) November 2014 (12) October 2014 (23) September 2014 (10) August 2014 (3) June 2014 (5) May 2014 (25) April 2014 (16) March 2014 (16) February 2014 (10) January 2014 (5) December 2013 (12) November 2013 (9) October 2013 (24) September 2013 (7) May 2013 (1) April 2013 (8) March 2013 (12) February 2013 (19) January 2013 (6) November 2012 (1) October 2012 (4) September 2012 (3) June 2012 (5) May 2012 (14) April 2012 (10) March 2012 (11) February 2012 (12) January 2012 (16) December 2011 (9) November 2011 (13) October 2011 (8)
Thankful that I never
played against
in an NHL playoff series;
I probably would have had to break his hand.
I would not have wanted to injure Gretzky, mind you;
I loved the guy.
I never touched him on the ice
in a regular season game.
I had too much respect
for how he played
and how he carried himself.
But I can say without question
I would have tried to hurt him
if we had been matched up
in the playoffs.
In my mind,
there are no friends
in a playoff series
I'm not talking about
elbowing someone in the head
or going after someone's knees.
I'm talking about a strategic slash.
To me, slashing someone's hand or breaking someone's fingers was nothing.
It was part of the game.
Broken hands heal.
Fingers heal.
The pain that comes from losing does not.
• from Overtime (2014) by Chris Chelios with Kevin Allen; excerpted, edited, and poemized.
"The first thing the student of Darwin learns is that what evolves does not necessarily improve — a truth that might just as well be sensed by considering the modern history of jazz or ice hockey."
• Adam Gopnik
busher the kid January 17, 2021
duke keats takes the wheel January 16, 2021
lapses in the legacy: tallying up boston's neglected captains January 13, 2021
hooley hoorah January 7, 2021
scrape-scape January 6, 2021