Freddie P's Blog

August 16, 2007 @ 10:26

Certain things happen along the way that make you realize how time flies, and one of those things happened yesterday.

Former Montreal Canadiens general manager Sam Pollock died just a few months short of his 82nd birthday, ironically on the same day my dad turned 82.

Wow, where did that time go?

It's hard to believe that my dad can be 82, and it's hard to believe that it was 30 years ago that Sam Pollock was in the midst of ruining a decade for me, while he was roughly the same age I am right now.

I was a little late getting into professional sports. I played hockey, baseball and touch football when I was a kid, but I really didn't get into watching the Leafs and Argos until 1968 - yes, the year "after" the Leafs won their last Stanley Cup.

Once I got interested I latched right onto it and didn't miss a game of either team.

Unfortunately being a Leaf fan post 1967 was excruciating and it was only made worse by Sam Pollock. Pollock as general manager of the Habs was light-years ahead of other GM's in the league, and while the Leafs bungled their way through the 70's, the Habs became a handsome dynasty.

And it was all because of Sam. Pollock had figured out the entry draft way before anyone else, and his dumping of has-been veterans on bottom feeding teams in exchange for their draft picks is now legendary.

The most notable was May of 1970 when he sent Ernie Hicke and a first-round choice to Oakland for Francois Lacombe and the Seals' first-rounder. He was putting the Habs in position to draft Guy Lafleur, who at the time was dominating junior hockey with the Quebec Remparts.

The following season, when it appeared Los Angeles may finish last and claim the top pick, Pollock sent veteran Ralph Backstrom to the Kings who then leap-frogged Oakland allowing Montreal to claim Lafleur first overall in 1971.

That was Sam Pollock and his wizardry led to six Stanley Cups for the Habs in the 1970's, including an excruciating four between 1976 and 1979.

As a Leaf fan it was horrible. I developed such a hate-on for the Habs through pure jealousy, that it bordered on unhealthy. I got sick of watching them win while my beloved Maple Leafs floundered under the ownership of Harold Ballard.

The only highlight for me, and it was extremely infrequent, was when the Leafs would rise up and beat the Habs from time to time - like a typical Leaf fan that was like the Stanley Cup to me.

In 1978, when the Leafs miraculously beat the New York Islanders in the quarter-finals, lifting the spirit of all Leaf fans, it was Pollocks mighty Habs who put things in perspective by crushing the Leafs in four straight games in the semi-finals.

Yes, the 1970's could have been perfect for me. I graduated from high school and college, I met my wife, I got engaged and I started my radio career.

But perfection was prevented by the Montreal Canadiens. That aggravating hockey team and all those bloody Stanley Cups - and Sam Pollock was mostly responsible.