THIS week’s contribution to the readers marks the commencement of Year 25 of my Net Shots column that has run weekly in The Chronicle-Journal, dating back to October of 1997.
While the long-standing adage of time flying by does not necessarily come into play here, it’s definitely been a humbling personal achievement that is truly mind-numbing.
From recognizing winners of the Stanley Cup to looking back at the multitude of championship clubs and stellar individual accomplishments that citizens of the city and northwestern Ontario have produced, this has definitely been a fulfilling exercise.
Add in providing a historic and current look at the successes of so many of those players, coaches, teams, executives and builders for over these two-plus decades has just further instilled my continued belief that Thunder Bay can certainly boast being the all-time premier hockey community in Canada, and perhaps world wide.
Thanks to all the contributors, over the years, who passed along tidbits of information, or suggested storylines to have a look at.
Also, much appreciation to everyone for following along.
Off we go with Year 25.
MILESTONES AWAIT: The 2021-22 National Hockey League season begins Tuesday evening and a number of local products will be in pursuit of a significant accomplishment that are close to being attained.
Detroit Red Wings defenceman Marc Staal requires just 52 more games played to reach the 1,000-plateau in his NHL career.
In the historical annals of the league, only 354 skaters have appeared in 1,000, or more, match-ups.
Of that group, four hail from Thunder Bay or northwestern Ontario.
Topping the table among the local contingent is the legendary Alex Delvecchio.
The former Detroit Red Wings great appeared in 1,550 contests, which ranks him 16th in NHL history.
After him is Eric Staal, who has made 1,293 appearances over the course of his significant career that boasts a Stanley Cup win with the Carolina Hurricanes as well as winning gold for Canada at the Winter Olympics and World Hockey Championships.
He shares 66th in NHL games played.
Like Delvecchio, another Hockey Hall of Fame honouree, Chris Pronger, also cracks this impressive list, having skated in 1,167 games as part of his illustrious career, the 138th-most of all-time.
Currently rounding out the region’s 1,000-game club, is Carolina’s Jordan Staal. He’ll enter the season with 1,014 outings to his credit.
The Carolina captain also needs just five assists to tie Pat Verbeek (211) for eighth place on the franchise’s all-time list in helpers.
Staal’s older brother Eric is second in total assists with the Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers franchise with 453.
ANOTHER MARK NEARS: Meanwhile, Arizona Coyotes goaltender Carter Hutton will begin his year just six wins shy of 100 in his time in the NHL.
There have only been four others, who hailed from the region, to have hit the century mark in victories.
They include Wayne Stephenson (146); Matt Murray (127); Murray Bannerman (116) and Bruce Gamble (111).
Murray may very well surpass Stephenson’s record for wins among locals who played in the NHL in 2021-22. The Ottawa Senators stopper needs 20 more triumphs to do so.
Of the 828 goalkeepers that have manned the nets in the NHL over the decades, only 190 have won 100, or more, games.
SHUTOUT NUMBERS: Hutton and Murray are close to moving up the local chart involving NHL shutouts.
With 13 apiece, they each require just one blanking to move into a share of second all-time among those who called the Lakehead home.
In doing so, they would join Stephenson in second spot as he had 14 in his days in the league.
Gamble leads Thunder Bay’s NHL shutout list with 22.