News from April 1993

George Gardner- Guest Speaker
Summarized from PBFC newsletter

One of the original Vancouver Canucks, goaltender George Gardner (1970-1972) was the featured guest speaker at the March meeting of the Pavel Bure Fan Club.

• On his career ... I was a legend when I palyed, unfortunately it wasn't on the ice.
• On changing times ... When I played you couldn't go to university and play hockey, you could do one or the other. Now most players do both, so they have two things going for them.
• On early days ... When I broke in a goalie was expected to play 70 games. There were no back-ups. There were only 24 goalies in all of pro hockey including the NHL, the International League and the American League. Only one goalie every two years would make the NHL.
• On goalie masks ... Lots of goalies wore masks in practice but nobody wore them in games. One time Bobby Hull whistled a puck by my year and it shattered the glass behind me. It was scary. I was hit with an Yvon Courneyer shot once. It broke my nose, knocked out some teeth and deflected about 80 rows up into the crowd. Over the years, I collected 400 stitches in my face including 80 in my eye. But you never stopped the game back then, with only one goalie you patched him up and sent him back out there.
• On today's goalies ... Kirk McLean is the best goalie in the NHL today but I wish they would play him more, about eight games in a row to ready him for the play-offs. Grant Fuhr is on his way down. Patrick Roy is good but he's over-rated.
• On failing eyesight ... When my eyesight began to go I used to memorize eye charts. Finally I was forced to get contact lenses but I kept it a secret from coach Crozier. On one road trip I lost one of the lenses and played three games with only one eye.
• On favourite teams and players ... I grew up in Montreal where the Habs were gods and everyone hated the Leafs.
• On his career record ... I'm th eonly player to ever play in five leagues. The National, Central, Western, American and International Hockey Leagues. I once played three games in three days for three different cities in three different leagues; Memphis (CHL), Baltimore (AHL), and Montreal (NHL). That record will never be broken.