The Sweet Life Down Pat

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The Sweet Life Down Pat

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The sweet life down Pat

At 70, former NHLer and Summit Series participant Pat Stapleton says ‘I do nothing and I’m getting really good at it.’

By STEVE GREEN, The London Free Press

MT. BRYDGES - The phone rings and Pat Stapleton gets up from his kitchen table to answer it.

“Hockey heaven, St. Peter here.”

He may have sold the farm 10 years ago, but thankfully the man they call Whitey is nowhere close to buying it as his insight and sense of humour over a nearly two-hour conversation vividly showed.

Now 70, the former Chicago Blackhawks defenceman and Team Canada ’72 Summit Series member — he has the famous puck Paul Henderson scored the series-winning goal with, but more on that later — has settled into a quiet life north of here with his wife of close to 51 years, Jacqueline.

“I’ve found my niche, actually,” he said. “I do nothing and I’m getting really good at it. I confuse activity now with results and I’m masterfully inactive.

“I do miss certain aspects of space and the cattle,” he said of the beef and cash crop farming he did until 2000, at one point up to 800 acres. “I liked the openness, being able to plant crops and watch them grow. And on a farm, you don’t have to go to work, it’s all around you. But then I tell people, I never worked a day in my life because I’ve always done what I loved to do.”

He was on the advisory board of the junior B Strathroy Rockets, for whom his three sons — Mike, now an assistant coach with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch; Tom, who works in Sweden for a firm that manufactures truck-washing equipment; and Chris, who’s a tour manager for the Barenaked Ladies — all played. Now, though, he’s “just a fan and a spectator.”

“I still go to some games, but not always in Strathroy. I’ll go to London or Sarnia to see young players I have a connection with.”

He gets most of his hockey fill from Rockets radio broadcasts, TV, the Internet and The London Free Press, but he has also maintained some personal contact to the game with younger people.

“We’ve got a young man who goes to church with us, Danny Pierce, and we go to his games on occasion,” Stapleton said, adding he also does some on-ice work with a midget girls’ team in Ilderton. “They’ve got some pretty good athletes. I’m impressed with their ability to grasp and understand and apply.”

And it’s clear he’s not a forgotten man to hockey fans. Once or twice a week, he said, he gets something in the mail to sign. In this case, three of his 1965-66 hockey cards in mint condition — or exceedingly good reproductions — from a woman in Dunmore, Penn., near Scranton. She even encloses $1 US to cover the return postage.

Inevitably, the Summit Series is brought up. He sees a few of his fellow Team Canada teammates from time to time and has chatted with Russian goaltending legend Vladislav Tretiak the past two seasons when the CHL-Russia series has come to the John Labatt Centre. Alexey Kotchekov, who was the stickboy for the 1972 Soviet team and is now team leader for the Russian national under-20 team, even showed him some pictures from that memorable series 38 years ago.

“The feelings we felt then — elation, dejection — we’ve never really discussed,” he said. “But a lot of people today still have a vivid memory of it probably because they got off school to watch it rather than the event itself.”

As for a certain round black disc?

It was the source of speculation for years as to whether or not he actually had The Puck, but Stapleton finally came clean a couple of years ago when he used it for a ceremonial faceoff for a game two years ago involving the Sarnia Legionnaires, the junior B team he once played for, and the St. Thomas Stars.

With the 40th anniversary of the Summit Series looming in 2012, the puck’s final destination may become clearer.

“A lot of us have talked about it and I would hope it ends up where people can see it and touch it,” Stapleton said. “It’s just a puck, but if you’re going to have a piece of history, it’s not a bad piece to have.”

--- --- ---

Whitey on

Canada-Russia rivalry: "It's great to see them still compete. I don't know if the word is change or grow, but we've seen the evolution of the game. You see everything now; back in 1972, we didn't have that kind of coverage or awareness."

Respect for opposition: "If there's one thing people tend to forget, it's that the No. 1 law of competitive team sports is that the other team can make great plays too. Today, it seems it's more like, 'Our team played poorly,' instead of realizing they come to play too and there's only one puck."

Blackhawks finally winning the Stanley Cup: "It gives us bragging rights for a while. We're in a community that's pretty much pro-Leaf . . . what I was more amazed with was the parade (in Chicago). It was an incredible show of fan support."

On losing two Cup finals with Chicago: "I'm not one to live in the past. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift. You realize it was a competitive event and sometimes you have to say they were better than us."

Secret to good health: "Cod liver oil," he said, bringing out a bottle and a fairly large tablespoon. "Two of these helpings every morning. You've gotta be tough, man."

Secret to a 50-plus-year marriage: "Cod liver oil."

Donald Fehr as NHLPA head: "I don't know whether it's been a lack of communication or if it's been like herding cats, as someone once said, but (hockey players) are all independent guys. You have to be independent thinkers to play at this level. The secret will be whether he can communicate with all the different styles and maybe his (baseball) background will allow him that luxury."
Queen of the GOJHL

Sometimes you just have to straighten your crown and remind them who they're dealing with.
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