Hi this is Fred Wallace with ” Off the Wire “, brought to you by Auto Logic…..the Logical Choice !
Standing in the baggage pickup area at the Las Vegas airport, a guy approached and said, ‘ that’s an old hat ‘……I was wearing my Owen Sound Platers throwback cap.
The young man proceeded to tell me he played in the Ontario Hockey League; for Kitchener, no less…he said he was Norm Dezainde.
I remember Norm Dezainde, especially from the 1994 playoffs when he scored 6 times in the first three games of the Rangers-Platers series.
Ironically, no matter how many times Norm Dezainde scored it was in a losing cause.
As we talked, I also recalled that he would have been a part of what I call ” The Spitzig Game “.
In spite of Norm Dezainde’s scoring, Owen Sound held a 3 games to none lead, and led game 4 on March 25th, 3-2 with a minute to play when Wayne Primeau was penalized.
Tim Spitzig of the Rangers scored on the power play with 6 seconds remaining to keep Kitchener alive.
Then 7 minutes into overtime, Spitzig scored to win it.
The next night, back in Owen Sound for Game 5, Spitzig had a hat trick for Kitchener, but like Norm Dezainde, it wasn’t enough as the Platers won 5-4 and eliminated Kitchener from the playoffs.
Norm Dezainde…….
I’m Fred Wallace