Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Shoots and Scores by Bathroom Readers’ Institute Page B

president and when the Board of Governors would not allow Eagleson, the association executive-director, to address their meeting, Pulford, accompanied by veteran players Norm Ullman, Bob Nevin, Eddie Johnston, Harry Howell, and J.C. Tremblay, told the owners they had formed an association and the owners agreed to recognize it.
    A SCANDALOUS SEND-OFF
    Eagleson remained as the NHLPA’s main man until the 1990s, negotiating several agreements that improved the players’ conditions and benefits. He was replaced as executive director by Bob Goodenow, then Eagleson was convicted with theft and fraud involving association affairs. While his players’ association time ended in disgrace, he did negotiate important gains for the players.
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    â€œCall them pros, call them mercenaries—but in fact they are just grown-up kids who have learned on the frozen creek or flooded corner lot that hockey is the greatest thrill of all.”
    â€”Lester Patrick, defenceman, coach and a founding member
of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association

THE REAL MILLIONAIRES
    The Ottawa Valley town of Renfrew once had the highest paid team with the most stars in hockey: the Millionaires.
    T he first decade of the 20th century was a great time to be a hockey player. Teams that paid players to play—the term “professional” was used sparingly—popped up across Canada with no structured administration to supervise the various circuits. As a result, players could sell themselves to the highest bidder and, for a few seasons, many did precisely that: sometimes changing teams in midseason or signing on for an important series.
    DESPERATELY SEEKING CYCLONE
    Fred “Cyclone” Taylor was an extremely fast, highly skilled attacker who was eagerly sought by several teams. “It was the best time to be a player because we could jump all over the country, going where the money was the best,” said Taylor in a 1973 interview when he was 89 years old. “It wasn’t like a later time, starting in the 1920s, when one team could tie up your professional rights for life. We knew we were lucky but we also knew that it wouldn’t last. The costs of a competitive team were much more than the income produced by the small arenas. We players tried to get all we could before the owners got sick of losing money.”
    A SPENDING SPREE OF SILVER
    The battle for playing talent was a mild one compared to the personal rivalries between team owners, including several very wealthy men who enjoyed sport as a diversion from their money-making businesses. M.J. O’Brien was a silver magnate, regarded as a “dapper dandy” right down to his pearl-buttoned spats. His son, J. Ambrose, talked his father into backing the Upper Ottawa Valley League, featuring teams in the silver-mining town of Cobalt; Pembroke; and Renfrew, the dairy town an hour north of Ottawa where O’Brien’s team, the Creamery Kings, won five consecutive championships.
    SICK OF HOCKEY? TRY LIVING IN MONTREAL IN 1910
    The Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association had turned into the Canadian Hockey Association to squeeze out Sam Lichtenheim, who feuded with the other owners over gate receipts. The O’Briens, hoping for a shot at winning the Stanley Cup, applied for membership in the new league. When they were turned down, they found a strong ally in Lichtenheim. Together they formed the National Hockey Association and when it was obvious that the money behind the new venture gave it the edge, the NHA and the CHA merged. The new circuit had six teams: Ottawa, the Montreal Shamrocks, Montreal Wanderers, Renfrew, and the mining towns of Haileybury and Cobalt. J. Ambrose’s idea to add one more club representing French Montreal, known as the Canadiens, received the backing of the other two Montreal clubs. Thus, the NHA opened the 1910 season with seven teams.
    LOOT LURES LUMBER BARONS
    Because the O’Briens wanted their Renfrew club to