A Long chapter of London Rangers history has come to an end.  Tom the Goalie Wills is leaving these shores to become a die hard New York Rangers fan. Becoming  a Rangers fan will come naturally  to Tom, he is used to years of futility both being now a former Leafs fan and a player for the IHI/London Rangers both of whom  are well dressed and good looking, in a burly sort of way, bunch of has beens and never weres.

It has been years since TW came in to play for the  IHI, 17 years I reckon.  Well my memory is no longer what it used to be so I say it is too long to remember.  I remember him as a chubby, smart ass kid. Tom has been in fact a very cerebral kind of goalie, a change from the previous couple we had. They were neither very memorable for their goaltending nor that sharp.  Tom would get under player’s skin, so to speak:  f.ck with your minds!, he used to say.  This certainly worked a treat on me. But his on ice antics were memorable –  I have been fortunate to witness him stonewalling the overwhelming Finns in a 1-1 draw in those early years in Marianske Lazne. The same team went on to the finals that year.  They simply couldn’t believe how a bunch of misfits could stifle these smooth skating and passing Finns. Much like the current NY Rangers the goalkeeper gave us instant cred, we suddenly had a shot at winning every  game. And that is no mean feat, especially since  we had plenty of guys who could self implode at any given moment…  Roger, and
…. Roger and  Ted Brezina and Art Rubin……..and hmmmm I guess, yours truly.

Talking about cerebral, TW is a very money savvy guy, given his accounting background paired with the very wholesome Canadian upbringing. He knew how to spend pennies wisely:
Buy a suit or maybe a car, or plan a wedding. We all can learn from this guy.

Few people know but Tom was also part owner of the defunct pro franchise London Racers. You would be right in thinking that  he couldn’t be  the guy designing those fab hockey shirts we could hardly afford, NO, he was the clever guy telling Roger and I that we were Skint. Roger and I were all heart, Tom was all about hard facts!

While working a full time job as a fund manager Tommy played full time hockey in his UK pro come back  –  first for the Haringay Racers and then  later on when he was traded for a bag of pucks  to the hallowed West London power house the  Slough Jets franchise.  Their fans still ask for autographs anytime he happens to venture anywhere near Heathrow Airport!

His official UK life time winning record wasn’t much to write home about, but he was a consummate Playoff performer, When team he played for actually managed to get into the playoffs. The numbers  really only tell half the story. You need to understand that Roger Black and Steve Fullan were playing D!

2000-01  Haringey Greyhounds  EPIHL 13 6.75 .849 |
2001-02  Haringey Greyhounds  EPIHL 8 7.94 .870 |
2002-03  Haringey Racers  EPIHL 33 7.41 .855 |
2003-04  Slough Jets  EPIHL 3 3.33 .884 |                               Playoffs 2 4.00 .884
2004-05  Slough Jets  EPIHL 28 3.50 .891 |                            Playoffs 7 2.15 .932
2005-06  Slough Jets  EPIHL 1 11.84 .667 |

Willsy’s legacy: can’t think of many really. Other than knowing never to invest into hockey. I am certainly a much thriftier guy after many  years of interaction with Tom. But the London Rangers battle cry:  Goon’m!  is vintage Tom’s and Rangers will stick with it  for as long as the club exists.

The last time two of the original six teams squared up in a battle for Lord Stanley’s Cup was 1979.
It was the Rangers and the Canadiens.
The first game of that final in Montreal was  incidintaly the first NHL game I saw  – live.

In 1979 – As a young buck during the Swiss off-season I was touring North America following the play offs.
From NYC where I saw the series decider between the Rangers and the Islanders. The euphoria in the Big Apple was electrifying. I watched the game in an Irish bar on Lexington Avenue, as if I needed any more prodding to become a life long Rangers fan, that celebration did it for me.
The Habs/Bruins series continued and so I was heading north towards Boston.  As I drove past the old Yankees stadium in the Bronx I remember the light billboard outside:  Well done Shero’s Heroes!  Get the Cup!
Once the Habs took care of the Bruins I  game or two later I made short term plans to travel to Montreal, a Stanley Cup pilgrimage for this young Czech Swiss convert.

Of course I went to see the Forum  to soak in  some of the aura. I remember vividly – it was a Sunday morning and the game was to take place in the late afternoon. It must have been 10 or 11 am when all of a sudden the ticket office door opened and with fresh tickets for sale. I got my Golden Ticket! To this date I am failing to comprehend that. I was way up in the nosebleeds. I remember seeing the old boxy TV screens overhead to watch replays.

At the time I played for the Geneva Servette team in the Swiss League and it was already in the news that Jacques Lemaire was going to finish his NHL career and move to Switzerland and play for the small market team of Sierre. His buddy Jacques Plante, was living nearby and I guess he set it up for Jacques Lemaire. So I knew going into this game than come fall I would need to play against Jacques Lemaire.

I must have been the only Rangers fan in the building that day. Rangers won that game, what a night!
I still have the programme from that game, HoF line ups:

Habs

6 Pierre Mondou
8 Doug Risebrough
21 Doug Jarvis
25 Jacques Lemaire
28 Pierre Larouche
10 Guy Lafleur
11 Yvon Lambert
12 Yvan Cournoyer (Captain)
14 Mario Tremblay
15 Rejean Houle
20 Cam Connor
22 Steve Shutt
23 Bob Gainey
30 Pat Hughes
31 Mark Napier
3Brian Engblom
5 Guy Lapointe
17 Rod Langway
18 Serge Savard (Acting Captain)†
19 Larry Robinson
24 Gilles Lupien
27 Rick Chartraw
29 Ken Dryden
1 Michel Bunny Larocque

Rangers

6 Tim Bothwell D
30 John Davidson G 25 6-3 205 -/L 5 February 27, 1953 20-12-5, 3.52 GAA
23 Lucien DeBlois RW
2 Andre Dore D
10 Ron Duguay C
77 Phil Esposito C
3 Dave Farrish D
22 Nick Fotiu LW
4 Ron Greschner D
15 Anders Hedberg
16 Pat Hickey LW 25
17 Eddie Johnstone
26 Dave Maloney D
12 Don Maloney LW
25 Mario Marois D
27 Mike McEwen D
14 Don Murdoch RW
11 Ulf Nilsson C 28  injured in final
31 Doug Soetaert G
19 Dean Talafous RW
18 Walt Tkaczuk C
5 Carol Vadnais D
8 Steve Vickers LW 27

Tonight the Series starts and I am torn. I don’t particularly care for the Bruins, but they have Jags and I would like to see Jags get one more. He deserves it.

What a story book career.

So you ask how did it go with Jacques Lemaire that following season. Well, I was meant to shut him down away from home and I failed. We had a coincidental minor.

I blew the ice re-entry as I was in awe of lemaire, I missed my clue. Then during the return game at home  we won and I was killing penalties against  him…

Go Hawks!