Miscellaneous
Jimmy and Johnny get right into it over beers and wings at the cozy corner table at Georgy Porgies’ Grill & Bar with former NHLer Paul Lawless. Lawless grew up in Scarborough and went on to play over 17 seasons of professional hockey and now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. In the first of a four part series Lawless shares countless amazing and amusing stories from his days as a player. 0:00 Paul Lawless starts things off with talk of the outdoor rink at Cedarbrook Park where he and others like Jimmy Gems would skate and learn to play hockey. 1:30 Paul jokes that his mother wanted to play hockey because it WAS dangerous. 3:00 Barry Beck was a big mean guy. Scott Stevens was toughest, cleanest player Paul played against. 4:30 Slapshot from Moe Mantha his Paul in the face. 7:00 Paul has had some dental work done. 9:00 Ron Francis’ eye injury. 11:00 Paul, a good friend of Coyotes’ coach Rick Tocchet, was there in Arizona when Leafs’ president Brendan Shanahan flew in, fired Babcock and liberated Tyson Barrie and the rest of the Leafs. 13:00 Coach Quennville says you need everything going your way to win the Cup. 14:00 Why Craig Berube was able to lead the Blues to the Cup because the players loved him. It’s a simple game. 15:00 Players loved playing for Quennville. Mike Keenan. Getting Flyer-ized. 17:00 Pat Croce, now an owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, was head fitness trainer for the Flyers and got Paul into shape. 20:00 Getting benched at the hometown Maple Leaf Gardens by Mike Keenan. The intimidation factor. 23:00 Paul loves that Tyson Barrie stood up for his rights and that the Leafs stood up for the player. Babcock wasn’t getting the best out of his players. 26:00 Mark Howe took so much pride in his game. 27:00 Gretzky didn’t look like a good skater but was. “These guys are special people.” 28:00 Paul was Borje Salming as a kid when playing road hockey. Salming took Paul under his wing in Toronto. 30:00 Playing in Boston Garden. End of Paul Lawless 1/4