John "Goose" McCormack

Though long-necked Johnny "Goose" McCormack was a scoring sensation with the junior leagues with the St Michaels Majors and in the Ontario senior leagues with the Toronto Marlies, he was known as a defensive player extraordinaire at the NHL level.

McCormack had trouble breaking into a regular role with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was with the Leafs for 4 seasons, but only played regularly in two of those, and then he only played enough to score no more than 6 goals in a season.

In 1951, after earning a Stanley Cup with the Leafs, Toronto sold McCormack's hockey rights to Montreal. The story behind his departure from Toronto is interesting. He had schedule a marriage during the hockey season. He apparently got his girlfriend pregnant, thus making an off-season marriage impossible due to a lack of time. Leafs boss Conn Smythe was so enraged when he found out that he demoted McCormack to the minor leagues before eventually trading him to the Canadiens, never to play for the Leafs again.

He would go onto be a key defensive specialist in Montreal. In his first year he scored only twice, while in 1952-53 he only had one goal in 59 games. But he was a key player in the Stanley Cup finals as the Habs defeated the Red Wings. Habs coach Dick Irvin had Goose and Bert Olmstead on the ice any time the great Gordie Howe was out there. Their job was to shadow Howe, and never leave him unattended, even if the play was in deep in the opposite end from where Howe was. Goose and Olmstead did a great job as the Habs won the Cup.

Ironically, Goose was sent to the minors during the 1953-54 season. It was ironic because Goose had 5 goals for Montreal that season, 3 more than he scored in the previous two years with Montreal. He also had a career high 15 points in one season.

The Habs felt McCormack was replaceable in the summer of 1954, and exposed him in the Intra League draft. John was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks. He played one season with Chicago, scoring 5 goals and 12 points.

After just one season with Chicago, McCormack was included in a huge trade which saw himself, Dave Creighton, Gord Hollingworth and Jerry Toppazzini go to Detroit for Tony Leswick, Glen Skov, Johnny Wilson and Benny Woit. However McCormack never played with the Wings. He spent the 1955-56 season, his last in pro hockey, with the WHL's Edmonton Flyers.

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Montreal Canadiens Greatest Players

Ralph Backstrom Jean Beliveau Andre Binette Toe Blake Marcel Bonin Butch Bouchard Pierre Bouchard Benoit Brunet Guy Carbonneau Rick Chartraw Odie Cleghorn Sprague Cleghorn Bert Corbeau Yvan Cournoyer Russ Courtnall Nels Crutchfield Wilf Cude Floyd "Busher" Curry Kjell Dahlin Vincent Damphousse Eric Desjardins Ken Dryden Bill Durnan John Ferguson Johnny "Black Cat" Gagnon Bob Gainey Boom Boom Geoffrion Phil Goyette Leo Gravelle George Hainsworth Bad Joe Hall Kevin Haller Terry Harper Ted Harris Doug Harvey Denis Herron Bill Hicke Charlie Hodge Rejean Houle Doug Jarvis Tom Johnson Aurel Joliat Elmer Lach Guy Lafleur Newsy Lalonde Yvon Lambert Junior Langlois Jacques Laperriere Guy Lapointe Bunny Larocque Jack Laviolette Jacques Lemaire Claude Lemieux Pit Lepine Craig Ludwig Gilles Lupien

Frank Mahovlich Pete Mahovlich Phantom Joe Malone Sylvio Mantha Don Marshall John McCormack Mike McPhee Garry Monahan Eddie Mazur Dickie Moore Howie Morenz Pete Morin Ken Mosdell Kirk Muller Mats Naslund Chris Nilan Buddy O'Connor Bert Olmstead Steve Penney Didier Pitre Jacques Plante Skinner Poulin Andre Pronovost Claude Provost Jean Pusie Ken Reardon Henri Richard Maurice "Rocket" Richard Stephane Richer Doug Risebrough Larry Robinson Steve Rooney Bobby Rousseau Patrick Roy Martin Rucinsky Brian Savage Denis Savard Serge Savard Richard Sevigny Steve Shutt Babe Siebert Bobby Smith Petr Svoboda Jean Guy Talbot Gilles Tremblay J.C. Tremblay Mario Tremblay Pierre Turgeon Bob Turner Georges Vezina Ryan Walter Gump Worsley

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Eddie Mazur

This is Eddie Mazur's 1954-55 Parkhurst rookie card.

Nicknamed Spider, the gangling Mazur was a useful utility player, able to play both wings and on defense. In parts of six NHL seasons he mostly played on left wing, using his slick stick handling to keep a 3rd or 4th line role with the Montreal Canadiens and briefly with the Chicago Blackhawks late in his career.

Mazur's first NHL season was in 1953-54, but he was already a test NHL veteran even before playing in his first regular season game.

While playing with Victoria (PCHL/WHL) and Buffalo (AHL) in the minor leagues Mazur was called up by the Canadiens were called up for the Stanley Cup finals. In fact, he had scored four goals and six points in 14 playoff games, had played in three consecutive Stanley Cup winning games, won the 1953 Stanley Cup and therefore was included in the 1953 NHL All Star game, before playing in the regular season.

His favorite memory will always be the Stanley Cup win in 1953, where he set up the winning goal while playing with goal scorer Elmer Lach and the great Rocket Richard.

"I remember the play because I carried the puck down the left wing and backhanded it on the net. It went in behind and then Milt Schmidt tried to shoot it out and it went to Elmer and he scored. I didn't get an assist on it but I remember Dick (Coach Dick Irvin) thought I should have. That's when Rocket jumped on Elmer and broke his nose. I was standing right there."

That moment was definitely Mazur's dream come true.

"When I was in junior high school I was the sports editor of our school paper. I was a Canadiens fan and I wrote once how great it would be to play on a line with Elmer Lach and Maurice Richard. And four or five years later, I did. And I was on the ice with the two of them when we scored a Stanley Cup winning goal. Imagine that. Incredible."

Needless to say, it made for one of the more curious careers in NHL history. But the Winnipeg native finally stuck with the Habs in 1953-54. It would be his only full NHL season. He scored just 7 goals and 21 points, adding just three assists in 11 playoff games.

Mazur returned the next season, but an early season knee injury ended his season. He reappeared with Chicago for 15 games in 1956-57, but essentially became a minor league star for the remaining 9 years in his long hockey career.

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Steve Rooney

What would you do if you were a NHL rookie and had to play in a Stanley Cup playoff game or get married.

That was the exact situation Steve Rooney faced, making his wedding day is one day he'll never forget.

You see, a year earlier while still in school Rooney and his fiancee planned a wedding for April 1985. Obviously neither figured that Steve would be competing for the Stanley Cup after graduating from Providence College with his Business Management degree.

But that's exactly what he was doing. He joined the Canadiens upon the completion of the NCAA season, and impressed with 1 goal and some big hits in 3 regular season games.

Unexpectedly Rooney became a regular on the Habs playoffs roster, playing in 11 of 12 Montreal post-season games.

All of which was great, until the wedding coincided with a Montreal-Boston playoff tilt. Needless to say, the Rooneys had a difficult decision to make. Fortunately for Rooney the game just happened to be played in Boston.

The wedding was moved to the morning, and Rooney left the chapel almost immediately in order to help Montreal win the game and eliminate the Bruins. Rooney celebrated his big day by scoring a goal!

The 88th overall draft pick in 1981 was a quite the athlete growing up. He played high school football and baseball was a passion, not surprisingly since his father owned a bar near Fenway Park. But hockey and the Boston Bruins were his true love.

Rooney became a hockey legend at his Canton, Mass. high school. So much so that the school actually retired his jersey #16.

Rooney earned a full scholarship to Providence, where he played hockey and also majored in business management, fulfilling his scholastic commitments before turning pro. In doing so he led Providence to the championship game in 1985, bowing out to RPI.

Rooney immediately turned pro at the completion of the college season, joining the Montreal for the balance of the 1984-85 regular season, joining them for the playoff run.

Despite a good showing, Steve Rooney never really caught on in the NHL. He did play in part of five NHL seasons, joining Winnipeg in 1987 and New Jersey in 1989. He played in a total of 154 games. He scored 15 goals, 28 points and 496 penalty minutes.

In retirement he returned to the Boston area and became a sales executive for a Massachusetts broadband company.

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