Hail Cesare!
Dec 27, 2006 4:59:10 GMT -5
Post by MC Habber on Dec 27, 2006 4:59:10 GMT -5
Author targets unsung hero
Story of former Montreal Canadiens’ Cesare Maniago told
By Sam Cooper
Black Press
Dec 22 2006
When Cesare Maniago played for the Montreal Canadiens in the 1960s, goalies wore no masks and had little but leg pads between their flesh and frozen rubber.
It was probably the most dangerous job in sports, and one player made the old-time goalies shiver like no other.
“When Bobby Hull crossed the blue line and wound up, I’d pray to God the shot misses me,” Maniago recalled with a laugh.
“When he hit you, you’d be black and blue.”
The Port Coquitlam resident is the subject of West Vancouver author Jason Farris’s new book Hail Cesare!, the story of an unsung hockey hero who the author says exemplifies the true grit of the NHL’s golden era.
Maniago played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal before winning the starting job for the expansion Minnesota North Stars in 1967-68 and eventually getting traded to the Vancouver Canucks in 1976. Farris went from having Maniago’s picture on his wall as a young fan in the ‘70s to taking a work sabbatical to fulfill his dream of writing a book on the journeyman goalie.
The 39-year-old author is CEO of a Vancouver bank and he applied the same exhaustive numerical research he’d put into analyzing a market into scouring Maniago’s statistics, yielding a new view of his career and minutia of a player’s life.
“You get a full picture of the era through looking in depth at one player,” Farris said. In fact, the author’s research was so exhaustive he uncovered mistakes in official NHL records, by accessing handwritten game reports at NHL head offices in Toronto.
“I was able to get Cesare one more win and one less loss without him having to face another shot,” Farris said.
Another big surprise for the author was the amount of injuries Maniago suffered and the rudimentary treatments of the day.
“You can see how barbaric some of the medical treatment was,” Farris said.
Maniago was there when Canadiens’ Jacques Plante became the first goalie to wear a mask. But Maniago was warned not to wear the mask by legendary manager Toe Blake, who thought it would diminish the fans’ connection to players.
“I was wearing it at practice, and he came up and said ‘If I were you I wouldn’t wear that,’” Maniago recalled.
“The managers were against masks and helmets, and looking back at how many head injuries players have had it just didn’t make sense.”
A few years after leaving Montreal, Maniago felt secure enough in his job to put on the mask, but Farris says the goalie has a funny take on his dangerous job.
“He would tell me, ‘My wife was the luckiest woman in the world, each week she was married to a different man because my face was always changing.’”
Farris said his strongest impression from writing the Maniago book is how close the players were and how much they loved the game.
“Cesare just really enjoyed the people he played with. They roomed together, the superstars were all part of the gang, and the families lived close.”
And Maniago says his favourite part of the book is the tales of his childhood hockey games in Trail, B.C.
“There was just a strong camaraderie among the neighbourhood kids,” Maniago said.
“I’ve never forgotten them and still get together with them and reminisce about our games.”
Hail Cesare! can be purchased at www.maniagohockeybook.com or by calling Farris at 604-803-4566.
Story of former Montreal Canadiens’ Cesare Maniago told
By Sam Cooper
Black Press
Dec 22 2006
When Cesare Maniago played for the Montreal Canadiens in the 1960s, goalies wore no masks and had little but leg pads between their flesh and frozen rubber.
It was probably the most dangerous job in sports, and one player made the old-time goalies shiver like no other.
“When Bobby Hull crossed the blue line and wound up, I’d pray to God the shot misses me,” Maniago recalled with a laugh.
“When he hit you, you’d be black and blue.”
The Port Coquitlam resident is the subject of West Vancouver author Jason Farris’s new book Hail Cesare!, the story of an unsung hockey hero who the author says exemplifies the true grit of the NHL’s golden era.
Maniago played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal before winning the starting job for the expansion Minnesota North Stars in 1967-68 and eventually getting traded to the Vancouver Canucks in 1976. Farris went from having Maniago’s picture on his wall as a young fan in the ‘70s to taking a work sabbatical to fulfill his dream of writing a book on the journeyman goalie.
The 39-year-old author is CEO of a Vancouver bank and he applied the same exhaustive numerical research he’d put into analyzing a market into scouring Maniago’s statistics, yielding a new view of his career and minutia of a player’s life.
“You get a full picture of the era through looking in depth at one player,” Farris said. In fact, the author’s research was so exhaustive he uncovered mistakes in official NHL records, by accessing handwritten game reports at NHL head offices in Toronto.
“I was able to get Cesare one more win and one less loss without him having to face another shot,” Farris said.
Another big surprise for the author was the amount of injuries Maniago suffered and the rudimentary treatments of the day.
“You can see how barbaric some of the medical treatment was,” Farris said.
Maniago was there when Canadiens’ Jacques Plante became the first goalie to wear a mask. But Maniago was warned not to wear the mask by legendary manager Toe Blake, who thought it would diminish the fans’ connection to players.
“I was wearing it at practice, and he came up and said ‘If I were you I wouldn’t wear that,’” Maniago recalled.
“The managers were against masks and helmets, and looking back at how many head injuries players have had it just didn’t make sense.”
A few years after leaving Montreal, Maniago felt secure enough in his job to put on the mask, but Farris says the goalie has a funny take on his dangerous job.
“He would tell me, ‘My wife was the luckiest woman in the world, each week she was married to a different man because my face was always changing.’”
Farris said his strongest impression from writing the Maniago book is how close the players were and how much they loved the game.
“Cesare just really enjoyed the people he played with. They roomed together, the superstars were all part of the gang, and the families lived close.”
And Maniago says his favourite part of the book is the tales of his childhood hockey games in Trail, B.C.
“There was just a strong camaraderie among the neighbourhood kids,” Maniago said.
“I’ve never forgotten them and still get together with them and reminisce about our games.”
Hail Cesare! can be purchased at www.maniagohockeybook.com or by calling Farris at 604-803-4566.