He’d just been named one of game’s three stars, so he decided to show the fans some flair. He swiped the hat off an usher’s head, placed it on his own and hopped on the ice. He delivered a pretty pirouette. He hopped back off the ice, placed the hat back on the usher’s head and was gone. The crowd roared.
That was Eddie Shack, a player so charismatic and beloved that a song written about him once topped the Canadian pop music charts. He was known more for his trademark cowboy hat, bushy mustache and TV commercials than for his play. They called him ‘The Entertainer’ for a reason. The NHL had never seen a personality quite like his. It was a painful loss for the game when Shack, 83, passed away Sunday after a battle with cancer.
Shack’s early life trajectory wasn’t what most people call normal, and that was fitting for him. Growing up in Sudbury, Ont., he dropped out of school at a young age and spent much of his life functionally illiterate. He worked in a butcher shop until he tried out for the Ontario Hockey Association’s Guelph Biltmores. He quickly made an impact as a bruising power forward with a nose for the net. By his fifth and final season there, he averaged exactly two points per game.
Shack ended up signing with the New York Rangers and debuting for them in 1958-59. He spent the first few seasons of his career with them, but his stardom really ignited when he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs and quickly became a fan favorite as a third-line agitator.
Shack was underrated for what he accomplished on the ice. He was big for his day at 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds. He was a fast skater and a hard hitter. He finished second in the NHL in even-strength goals in 1965-66. He cracked the top 10 in game-winning goals five times. He won Stanley Cups with the Leafs in 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1967 and scored the Cup-winning goal in 1963. Shack bounced around later in his career with stops in Boston, Los Angeles, Buffalo and Pittsburgh and is one of nine players in NHL history to score 20 goals with five different teams.
“He was an impact guy,” said retired goaltender Eddie Johnston, who played with Shack for the Boston Bruins and the Leafs during Shack’s second stint with Toronto. “He was a big guy. Once in a while, we had him on the power play, and he would get right in front of the goalkeeper and screen him. He might give you the impression that he had a smile on his face, but he was very competitive. When he came to the bench, if you weren’t doing your job, he let you know we’ve got to pick it up.”
His lively personality made him a feisty competitor who started but finished plenty of on-ice altercations. He was unafraid to drop the gloves with mean customers such as Gordie Howe, whom Shacked famously knocked out twice. Shack’s big dressing-room presence also made him a momentum-changer for his teammates. Read More