REGINA -- Gump Worsley used a quick sense of humour to ease the pain of a decade of bombardment, then got the last laugh when he proved himself one of the greatest clutch goaltenders in National Hockey League history.
Short and pudgy, he guarded the net with spectacular inelegance, kicking away pucks with splits that a gymnast would envy if it weren't for the puffy cheeks and five o'clock shadow on his face. Quickly rising to slide, fling or roll his body in front of another shot, he did not make his body big as in the manner of today's netminders, instead compressing himself into a ball of flesh and leather and timing his movements to smother the puck.
Lorne John Worsley spent a decade as the underrated backstop of the woebegone New York Rangers before a change of scenery in the 1960s revealed his true value. Until then, he liked to say, the only thing worse than a being a goalie was "being the javelin catcher on a track team."
In 1963, he was acquired by the Canadiens and everything changed.
"People realized how good he was after he was traded to Montreal," said Emile Francis, long-time goalie, coach, hockey executive and, for three autumns when both were Rangers property, Mr. Worsley's training-camp roommate. "He believed in keeping his body in front of the puck and, if he couldn't see the puck, in getting down. He didn't have a great glove hand but he had great concentration. And he stopped a million shots, believe me."
Actually, it was 26,694 shots. But for the first 10 years of his 21-season career, most games felt like a million-shot barrage.
"He was a terrific goaltender," former Minnesota North Stars teammate, Lou Nanne, told Canadian Press. "If I could pick any goalie to win a big game, it would be Gump.
"He had a lot of personality and really showed the human side of the game. He didn't look like an athlete and smoked like a chimney between periods, but he was terrific when he put the pads on."
"Gump," so nicknamed in his youth because his hair stood up like the cartoon character Andy Gump, grew up in what is politely called the working-class Montreal district of Point St. Charles. He eluded the Canadiens' vast farm system by playing junior hockey for the Rangers-sponsored Verdun Cyclones, turned professional in 1949 and logged successive outstanding seasons with New York's farm teams: the New York Rovers (Eastern Hockey League), St. Paul Saints (U.S. Hockey League) and Saskatoon Quakers (Western Hockey League). In Saskatoon, he took a summer job as a hotel bartender and performed so well at centre half for the Saskatoon Legion soccer team that he played for the Saskatchewan All-Stars against the touring Tottenham Hotspur club from England.
Mr. Worsley received his first NHL duty when veteran Rangers goaltender Chuck Rayner suffered a serious knee injury early in the 1952-53 season. Bravely holding the fort behind a weak defence, Mr. Worsley registered a tolerable 3.06 goals-against average (GAA) and earned the Calder Trophy as the NHL's outstanding rookie. Meanwhile, Johnny Bower was named the American Hockey League's all-star goalie with the Cleveland Barons, and Mr. Francis did likewise with WHL's Vancouver Canucks; the Rangers owned a trio of stalwart netminders, all of whom felt pretty good about themselves.
"So they moved all three of us," Mr. Francis says. "Gump to Vancouver, me to Cleveland, and Johnny Bower to New York. That was the Rangers' way of saying, 'You think you were so good? Don't come in here asking for a raise!' "
While Mr. Worsley spent 1953-54 winning WHL all-star honours, Mr. Bower yielded a 2.60 GAA while playing the entire 70-game schedule for New York -- which obviously would have merited a raise, so naturally Mr. Bower was shipped out to Vancouver and Mr. Worsley was brought back to Broadway just as the Rangers began to reap the benefits of a bumper crop of young talent led by right-winger Andy Bathgate of Winnipeg.
108