by Barry Stagg
January 1997
NEWFOUNDLAND NHL'ers PAST AND PRESENT
That uncertain cycle of Newfoundland hockey players in the National Hockey League is coming back around to full again with a number of promising young players already skating on NHL rinks and with highly rated prospects waiting in the wings. The most bountiful days for Newfoundlanders and professional hockey came in the seventies when Grand Falls contributed Don Howse and Tony White to the National Hockey League and Terry Ryan (Sr) to the World Hockey Association. At the same time Corner Brook produced goaltender Doug Grant and defenceman Joe Lundrigan. St. John's defenceman Brian Gibbons toiled in the W.H.A. and Clarenville's highly touted Bob Gladney emerged from the minor leagues for a brief cup of coffee in the N.H.L. at the turn of the decade. All of these gentlemen tramped the path broken by Harbour Grace forward Alex Faulkner in the early sixties with Toronto and Detroit. Faulkner was the only Newfoundlander ever to play in the original six N.H.L.
Now St. John's defenceman John Slaney puts in a regular shift with Larry Robinson's Los Angeles Kings while Deer Lake's Darren Langdon has a pugilistic role with the New York Rangers. Of course personifying the second generation of Newfoundland N.H.L.'ers is Terry Ryan (Jr) who at this point is still on the Montreal Canadien's roster but who has been struggling through some chronic injuries.
Young Ryan is probably the most interesting character among the present crop of Newfoundlanders for some fairly obvious reasons. His father Terry Ryan of Grand Falls was an all around athlete there and had a standout junior career in the Ontario Hockey Association in Hamilton before doing a tour of duty with the Minnesota Fighting Saints in the W.H.A. Since Terry Ryan the elder was fully familiar with the tactics required to rise to the top of hockey's profession he and his wife moved themselves and young Terry, then aged fifteen, out to British Columbia so that the young fellow could pursue an accelerated junior hockey career. It paid off when Ryan was the first round pick of the Canadiens two drafts ago.
Character, gumption and family knowhow are all factors that guide this burly young man in his quest for stardom. At this point it behooves me to point out that the Ryan family has its roots in St. Mary's Bay, Newfoundland where according to my legal colleague Noel Daley, some of the more useful subtleties of the game were passed along to the Ryans on the local ponds.
The most intriguing story for Newfoundland hockey this year is forward Dan Cleary of Riverhead, Conception Bay who skates as the star forward and captain of the Belleville Bulls. Cleary was projected as a likely first overall pick when he burst onto the junior hockey scene as a sixteen year old. This year he has encountered some basic problems with gravity and he will have to work hard to maintain even his first round status. As junior hockey approaches mid-season Cleary has overcome his earlier attempts to defy the laws of centrifugal force. He has dropped the excess poundage that slowed him down in the early going. Cleary now has to live up to the hype of his early junior career that warranted his recruitment into the fold of player-agent Mike Barnett. Barnett represents the cream of the crop of the monied set in the N.H.L. including hockey's pre-eminent player Wayne Gretzky.
Cleary will have a chance to prove his continuing worth if he can make the national junior team. He is still on the tryout roster despite an indifferent performance at the summer training camp.
Hopefully Clearly will realize that the shallow adulation that comes with junior stardom will not take him very far if his physical conditioning and attitude cause N.H.L. teams to downgrade his status. Of course young Daniel would not be the first junior phenom to go into supernova stage before ever drawing a professional pay cheque. Plenty of rink attendants around the country can testify to the fleeting fame and even more ephemeral income that go with a junior career that does not translate into National Hockey League employment.
Here is hoping that young Daniel can do us all proud and join the ranks of some rather good Newfoundland athletes and characters who have persevered and made a go of the National Hockey League. Riverhead's Cleary could do worse than to follow the example of Harbour Grace's Alex Faulkner every time he goes out for a shift in this all important season.
Until next month be proud, be prosperous.