Grant Fuhr
Page 19
Fuhr was a member of two Canada Cup teams in 1984 and 1987, the latter a signature performance for Grant as he backstopped Team Canada to victory in a tournament many consider to have featured the finest hockey ever played. [credit: Paul Bereswill/Hockey Hall of Fame]
Grant Fuhr makes a save during Game 4 of the 1988 Stanley Cup Finals against Boston (which was actually game 5, as a power failure at Boston Garden caused the previous game to be suspended and replayed). Edmonton swept Boston for their third Stanley Cup, and Grant became the first NHL goaltender to win 16 games in a single playoff year. [credit: Paul Bereswill/Hockey Hall of Fame]
Along with the Canada Cup that preceded the season and the Stanley Cup that ended it, Grant was also awarded the 1987-88 Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goaltender, voted on by the league’s general managers. [credit: Doug MacLellan/Hockey Hall of Fame]
Grant with his hand on the Stanley Cup, the most coveted trophy in professional sports. The 1988 Stanley Cup was the Oilers’ last with Wayne Gretzky. [credit: Paul Bereswill/Hockey Hall of Fame]
Prior to the 1991 season, Grant was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, whose legendary goalies Johnny Bower and Terry Sawchuk had been role models for Fuhr. [credit: Doug MacLellan/Hockey Hall of Fame]
In 1993, former Oilers head coach-turned-Buffalo general manager John Muckler traded for Fuhr. As a member of the Sabres, Grant would share the net with another future hall of famer, Dominik Hasek. [credit: Chris Relke/Hockey Hall of Fame]
Fuhr was briefly reunited with Wayne Gretzky in 1995 as a member of the Los Angeles Kings—a team Grant had known well since “The Miracle on Manchester.” But Grant’s Oilers had the overall edge against the Kings in the playoffs. [credit: Doug MacLellan/Hockey Hall of Fame]
Grant and Gretzky reunited a second time in St. Louis, where Fuhr signed as a free agent in the 1995 off-season. This photo was taken later at Wayne Gretzky’s fantasy camp, and was the last time Grant ever played. [credit: courtesy of the author]
Fuhr ended his playing career in an unlikely place: Calgary, home of his longtime rivals, the Flames. There he was a mentor and inspiration to Fred Brathwaite and Jarome Iginla. [credit: Ronald C. Modra/Sports Imagery/Getty Images]
5 rings for 5 Stanley Cup Championships: in 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988 and 1990. [credit: Gerry Thomas]
Grant with his son RJ and daughter Kendyl.
Grant Fuhr was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003, his first year of eligibility. [credit: Dave Sandford/Hockey Hall of Fame]
Grant Fuhr with his family on induction weekend. [credit: Dave Sandford/Hockey Hall of Fame]
For Grant, golf wasn’t just a distraction for the off-season—it was a passion just like hockey. He continues to play scratch golf in tournaments like this one in Lake Tahoe. [credit: courtesy of the author]
Grant Fuhr with his old teammate Marty McSorley, with whom he played in Edmonton and Los Angeles. [credit: courtesy of the author]
Grant Fuhr with his daughter Kendyl, Matt Pendergast and Mark Messier. [credit: courtesy of the author]
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I have a lot of people to thank for making this book possible so here it goes.
First and foremost, I want to thank my parents for making me the person I am and for the chance to grow up and be successful at what I wanted to be; for their belief in me, and for making it all possible through their own sacrifice. Second of all, my kids, for it is you who made a huge sacrifice by me not being there as much as you would have liked—and for the time that we missed that every parent should have with their children. Next I want to thank all the management, players and coaches I’ve had. You are as close to family as it gets without being family, and I owe a lot of the person I am to your love and support. I want to thank one of my best friends and my accountant, Brian Farrell: you have been with me through thick and thin, and it is with your help that I have learned the harder parts of life. Barry Rimmer has been my best friend every step of the way, and everyone should be so lucky as to have a best friend like this. I don’t even know how to thank you enough—you have been the one rock in my life. I want to thank all my aunts and uncles as well: I could not have been adopted into a better family. To my lovely wife-to-be Lisa Cavanaugh, thank you, as it’s been your love and support that has allowed me to comfortable enough in my own skin to finish this book. You loved me as a person before you ever had any idea what I ever did in life. Lastly I want to thank all my fans, for it is you who allowed me to live my dream, and supported me through good, bad and ugly.
I am truly the luckiest man in the world to have had so much love and support. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.
Bruce Dowbiggin
Thank you to Paul Taunton for his vigilant editing on the manuscript and Linda Pruessen for the copy edit. Thanks to Evan Dowbiggin for his excellent research and fact checking.
I would like to thank his agent Jake Elwell of Harold Ober Associates for his diligent work in bringing the project to life over several years of hard work. As always, thanks to Meredith, Evan, Rhys and Clare for their support.
SELECTED REFERENCES
Chaput, John. “Shupe Unhappy Fuhr’s Practice Makes Near-Perfect.” Canadian Press, December 20, 1980.
“Cougars Continue Comeback But It’s No Surprise to Them.” Canadian Press, May 1, 1981.
DelNagro, Mike. “The Lord of the Rinks.” Sports Illustrated, February 15, 1982.
Dowbiggin, Bruce. Of Ice and Men: The Craft of Hockey. Toronto: Macfarlane Walter & Ross, 1998.
Dryden, Ken. The Game. Toronto: John Wiley & Sons, 1983.
Elliott, Helene. “His Career Was Saved by Leaving the Kings.” Los Angeles Times, December 10, 1995.
Falla, Jack. “The Oilers Were the Spoilers.” Sports Illustrated, May 28, 1984.
“Fuhr Tries to Pick Up Pieces.” Edmonton Sun, October 1, 1990.
Greenberg, Jay. “A Happy Return Goalie Grant Fuhr Picks Up Where He Left Off.” Sports Illustrated, March 4, 1991.
Gzowski, Peter. The Game of Our Lives. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1982.
Hunt, Jim. The Men in the Nets. Chicago: Follett Publishing Company, 1967.
Johnson, George. “Fuhr’s Career Concern: Winning.” ESPN.com, November 3, 2003, http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?id=1650401.
Kelley, Jim. “Fuhr Not Ready to Concede Starting Job.” Buffalo News, March 23, 1994.
Keteyian, Armen. “The Joyless End to a Joyride.” Sports Illustrated, May 12, 1986.
McMillan, Tom. “Gretzky Leads Canada to Tie with Soviets.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 7, 1987.
Murphy, Austin. “Old Faithful.” Sports Illustrated, February 19, 1996.
——. “Party Time in Edmonton.” Sports Illustrated, June 8, 1987.
Panaccio, Tim. “Another Breakthrough for Grant Fuhr.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 8, 2003.
Rosa, Francis. “Fuhr Is an Ace.” Boston Globe, May 21, 1987.
——. “Fuhr the Next One to Be Fit for Kings?” Boston Globe, January 29, 1989.
Sassone, Tim. “Numerous NHL Camps Plagued by a Long List of Notable Absentees.” Daily Herald, September 10, 1999.
Scher, Jon. “Twin Peaks.” Sports Illustrated, May 5, 1993.
Taylor, Jim. http://www.drjimtaylor.com/3.0/consulting/prime-sport/.
“Tiger Goes Against the Grain.” Associated Press, March 26, 2000.
Wiley, Ralph. “The Puck Stops Here.” Sports Illustrated, January 11, 1988.
Wolff, Jana. Secret Thoughts of an Adoptive Mother. Honolulu: Vista Communications, 2010.
GRANT FUHR was the Hall of Fame goaltender for the Edmonton Oilers, and the first black superstar in the National Hockey League. He is now a role model and fundraiser for charity, inspiring young goalies around the world. Fuhr is a scratch golfer who participates in numerous celebrity golf events for charity throughout the year. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta.
BRUCE DOWBIGGIN has covered hockey for the CBC (where he won two Gemini awards a
s Canada’s top sportscaster), the Calgary Herald, and The Globe and Mail; and is the author of several bestselling hockey books. He lives in Calgary, Alberta.