from Amazon
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Pee-Wee Hockey
If you want to watch a pure sporting event, then this is for you. You just need to get to Quebec City. Canada’s version of the Little League World Series:
Dionne, who sits fifth all-time in NHL scoring, remembers receiving his own hockey card and signing autographs for fans as a pre-teen during the 1962, ‘63 and ‘64 tournaments. The hype was incredible, recalled Dionne, who squared off against fellow stars Lafleur and Gilbert Perreault. “As a young man, just coming out there and seeing the place sold out - it was unbelievable,” the 57-year-old Hall of Famer said in an interview from his sports marketing business in Niagara Falls, Ont. “It had a huge impact as far as exposure at the time. I received my first letter from the Montreal Canadiens at the age of 12.”
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Monique Lortie has lodged players in her home for the last 46 years. One former guest, in particular, has made her perhaps the most famous peewee hockey guardian. Dubbed “Mama Gretzky” by fellow volunteers, Lortie gave the young phenom a place to stay back in 1974. She also put up two of his brothers at later tournaments. Lortie remembers the swarms of journalists who flooded the city during Gretzky’s year. She said dozens knocked on her front door, hoping to chat with the little guy. “He was not very big,” Lortie said of Gretzky. “But he was very disciplined, very serious.”
I’m shocked that pre-teens had their own hockey cards in 1964, much less that fans back then would actually have bought them. I thought that basically there was Parkhurst and Topps, and that was it. Unlike today ...