AL SECORD: PART ONE ON HIS WAY TO THE 30/300 HOCKEY CLUB

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AL SECORD: PART ONE ON HIS WAY TO THE 30/300 CLUB

ԉ remember my fight with Dave Morissette,ԠAl Secord grumbles. ԗe had played in three consecutive nights. I had played about 25 minutes in each of those games [in the International Hockey League]. In this particular game, I was near the end of my shift and I had played a lot that night, too. Morissette was playing probably his second shift, so he was all fresh. I was stupid enough to fight him. The game was televised in Canada and after the game my dad gave me a call and wondered how the hell I was so stupid to fight Morissette.Ԡ ԉ told Morissette after our fight, җe're going again!Ҡ And he said, ҏK, fine.Ғ ԁt the end of the game, I challenged him but he wouldnӴ fight me.Ԡ Ԕhen, we played Morissette's team [the Minnesota Moose] a bit later and I told him at the face-off that I wanted to fight him. The puck went into their defensive zone and he went to pick up the puck from the corner. I hit him, my hands up, and he went down and the plexi-glass broke. I was standing right next to him and I told him, Ԍet's go!Ԡbut he just stood up and skated away.Ԡ ԉ was amazed at his behavior. He had promised me an opportunity to even the score." There had been unlimited opportunities two decades before. Secord describes junior hockey during the mid-1970s. ԗhen I was younger,Ԡhe explains, ԩt was very hard to gain a spot on a junior team. There were dozens of guys willing to fill every possible role. In fact, one year, there were probably around forty different guys wanting to make the team as an enforcer. There were a lot of brawls, even in intra-squad games or practices. Those were very wild fights.Ԡ "...my most memorable fights,Ԡhe continues, Էere against guys like Bennett Wolf [Kitchener Rangers and Toronto Marlboros], Charlie Luksa [Kitchener Rangers], Brad Marsh [London Knights] and my nemesis Rob Ramage [London Knights].Ԡ ԉ also remember a few fights where the crowd was involved," he smiles. "Those were great days,Ԡhe exudes. ԉ played a physical game in juniors and it was an advantage for me and my teammates. Because of my reputation, I got a little bit more room to operate on ice and it also created more room for my linesmates.Ԡ The 6ұ,Ԡ205 pound Secord paid the price for creating this room. One junior season he totaled 343 penalty minutes. But his FincupsҠteam (which homed in both Hamilton and St.-Catherines from 1975 until 1978.) won the Memorial Cup in 1976. And while he was carrying the cup and staying out of the sin bin, Secord scored 28 and 32 goals in two seasons and was drafted in the first round by Boston (18th overall) in 1976.

ԉ GOT A LITTLE BIT MORE ROOM TO OPERATE ON ICE AND IT ALSO CREATED MORE ROOM FOR MY LINESMATES.Ԡ

At the BruinsҠcamp, Secord was a duck in water. "My first professional training camp was insane,Ԡhe laughs. ԉt was the BruinsѠrookies versus the FlyerҠrookies. I fought four or five times in that game and I was exhausted. We had a few bench-clearing brawls in that game, too. And the next night, it was the same thing against the IslesҠrookies. I don't remember what their captain's name was, but he was running our guys and elbowing everyone, trying to hurt our players. I went to him and challenged him to a fight and I received an extra two-minute minor for some reason.Ԡ ԗhen his five-minute penalty expired, he left his bench like guys always do and I was supposed to sit my extra two minutes. But I didn't. I left my gloves and stick in the penalty box and fought the guy again.Ԡ Ԏaturally, I was thrown out of the game, but the IslesҠplayer didn't run anyone after that." ԛThen there was the riot in New York.] I remember that I hit Anders Hedberg of the Rangers over the boards and he came and used his stick on me. Well, he skated away so I went to the RangersҠbench and tried to challenge them, but to no avail.Ԡ ԁfter the period, Hedberg came up to me and started to whine about something, so I punched him. John Davidson came to his rescue and soon we had a small brawl.Ԡ

Ԑlayers were wondering, җhat's going on?Ҡsince they didn't see me punching Hedberg.Ԡ Ԕhen, Terry O'Reilly was hit by a spectator and O'Reilly went into the stands with Stan Jonathan. They caught the guy who had hit O'Reilly, but there were three brothers with their father and they all attacked our guys. While they had their own fight going, one guy tried to escape and was running up the stairs but Peter McNab caught him and pulled him down, right between the benches. I went and pummeled the guy while Mike Milbury was beating the guy with his own shoe.Ԡ ԓeven Bruins were sued for a million dollars each for compensation. Later on, the case folded somehow." During those days, the Bruins were stocked with tough guys such as O'Reilly, Jonathan, and John Wensink, so the redundant Secord was sent to the minors. "I played four games for Rochester, while scoring four goals and two assists and adding 40 penalty minutes,Ԡhe recalls. ԉ had one unbelievable fight when I was there. I can't remember who he was, but he needed only a few more minutes to break the AHL penalty minutes record. He wanted his record badly. He got it. And he got pummeled well, too." Finally, Secord was back in the Show and scored sixteen goals and seven assists in 71 games, along with 125 penalty minutes. Al the rookie fought the first of his many legendary battles against Willi Plett. "He looked down at me like I was a snotty rookie,ԠPlett shrugs. Ԉe obviously thought that I couldn't give him any kind of challenge. So, the game started and he gave me some slashes and was pushing me around, so I answered the bell and I dropped my gloves and so did he. I won that first fight and it really stunned Plett. Later on, I fought with him a lot, and I lost some and won some, but I think that I owned him because of the outcome of our first fight.Ԡ Not everyone appreciated Al's style of fighting, however. The New York Times wrote, Ԉe is strong, but too hot-tempered to be an effective fighter. Mean streak gets him into trouble. Has been charged with dirty tactics.Ԡ The following season, Secord played in 77 NHL games and scored 23 goals along with 16 assists and 170 penalty minutes.

AL SECORD, TIGER WILLIAMS AND RICK TOCKETT ARE THE THREE NHLERӓ TO FORM THE 30/300 CLUB.

Secord had arrived. But, not all of his hockey fights were strolls in the park. "Like everybody knows,Ԡhe grins, ԃlark Gillies was a player who didn't have to fight too often, because he was simply one of the best and toughest ever. We were playing a playoff series against the Isles and O'Reilly had fought with Gillies a few times. I thought I'd give O'Reilly a break and fight Gillies myself. I engaged in the fight by punching Gillies with my glove. When he dropped his gloves and I saw his fists, I got nervous. His fists were so unbelievably big, and he was a big guy, too. All I saw were his hands. He punched me twice and I went down." Al Secord went down again near the beginning of the following season. "I started my third season pretty badly (only three points and 42 penalty minutes to show in 18 games),Ԡhe admits, ԡnd I was a scratch quite often. Harry Sinden was also telling me how bad a player I was and he sent me down to Springfield.Ԡ Back in the American League, Secord tallied 3 goals, 5 assists along with 21 penalty minutes in eight games. Ԍuckily,Ԡhe says, Դhe BlackhawksҠscouts saw me and I was traded to Chicago later that year." In the Windy City, Secordӳ role changed. It was a deja vous back to junior where he had created more room for his lines mates and himself. And his BlackhawksҠlines mates were a future Hall of Famer - Denis Savard - and a legendary star, Steve Larmer. While creating room for these two, Al Secord scored 44 and 54 goals. This scoring qualified Secord for an exclusive fraternity. With Tiger Williams, he formed the 30/300 Club, and only Rick Tocchet would join these two enforcers with who would compile both 30 goals and 300 penalty minutes in a single season. That was back in the day, before things had changed. SIDEBAR

"I've met Willi Plett a few times and heӳ a fine gentleman. We hockey players take great pride in our professionalism. It's a job to us. What happens on the ice, stays there. I have an ok relationship with him, and we hold no grudges. I know, it might seem hard to understand to someone who doesn't watch hockey. It must be odd seeing two guys wanting to kill each other on the rink and later on the same night having a beer together and laughing and exchanging stories."
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