About a month ago in an NHL exhibition game, Lane MacDermid of Sauble Beach scored for the Boston Bruins.
Shortly thereafter, I ran into MacDermid’s father, Paul, himself a former NHL’er who scored 116 times in a lengthy NHL career, and I asked, would you keep the puck if your first NHL goal came in the preseason.
The answer was ” no “, but very quickly the elder MacDermid, who truthfully seldom speaks publicly about his NHL nostalgia, recounted how his first NHL goal was with the Hartford Whalers in the early 80’s
MacDermid admitted he fought hard to keep from breaking into an ear to ear smile and also related how the magic of the moment was heightened when NHL legend Dave Keon of the Whalers fished the puck out of the net and presented it as a first goal milestone.
No more than a week after that recollection and conversation, a new book from Mike Brophy titled, ” My First NHL Goal ” arrived on my desk.
Mike Brophy sought out 50 former and current NHL’ers, some superstars, some stars and some guys you might never of heard of and asked what they remembered about their first career NHL goal.
The memories where like snowflakes, whether it was Howe, or Gretzky or Crosby, or players like Perlini, Morton and Stepan, each first NHL goal was different, individual and special for a variety of factors.
The common denominator that Brophy found though was the first NHL goal, regardless who was speaking, carried huge meaning, a sense of accomplishment at the highest level and a sense that yes, indeed, the scorer truly belonged in the NHL
” My First NHL Goal “, by Mike Brophy
I’m Fred Wallace