• They Call Me Killer: A Must Read for any Hockey Fan (or anyone else, for that matter)

  Filed under Ontario Hockey League
  Feb 11
  

  On my recent sunshine vacation to Rancho Luna in Cuba, I took just one book with me, thinking it would take me the whole week to read it. They Call Me Killer: Tales from Junior Hockey’s Legendary Hall-of-Fame Coach is not a particularly long book but with an all-inclusive beer tap, I didn’t plan on reading much.

  I was done the book by lunch on the second day. They Call Me Killer is a collection of stories by the great Brian Kilrea, with the help of James Duthie. I simply couldn’t put the book down. Several times, I caught the attention of other vacationers by laughing out loud. Many other times, my sunglasses hid the tears welling up my eyes.

  This is not a chronological history of Kilrea’s life. From one chapter to the next, the reader can travel several decades into the past or future, only to be hurdled in the other direction in the chapter following that. There is a little of Brian’s early life. Quite a bit about his playing career and especially about his days with Eddie Shore and the Springfield Indians. There is a ton of stories about his coaching days with the Ottawa 67′s.

  With a foreward by Don Cherry, Duthie does a great job of colour commentator throughout, providing back-story to Brian’s stories. Duthie also provides blurbs from the players that Kilrea has coached and developed in the 67′s organization, as well as, from other greats in the world of hockey. One theme that seems to pop up again and again is that people would knock down walls for Kilrea after all he’s done for them.

  Another common theme amongst every player that has ever played for Brian is his “You have three choices…” line. Former player after former player has his own version of the three choices. Basically, you have three choices – 1. Do it the way I say. 2. F%&@ off. 3. F%&@ off.

  Every hockey coach should buy this book simply for Chapter 7. Kilrea goes over his simple four commandments that guided his teams through four decades of OHL hockey.

  1. Move the puck!
  2. Pass outside the opposing player’s stick.
  3. Go to the net!
  4. Defensemen – own the corners and the front of the net!

  Pretty simple stuff (with obviously more detail in the book) but really, it’s a simple game.

  What makes a true hero

  When you read this book, you will realize just how respected Brian Kilrea is and how much he did for so many aspiring hockey players. What makes Killer a true hero is after you have read the book and look at the back cover to read this: All of Brian Kilrea’s proceeds from this book will be donated to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. Yes, that first word was ‘All’ not ‘a portion’. Simply amazing and simply heroic.

  When I bought the book, I planned to do this article at OHL Alumni Central and put up the Amazon.ca advertising. After reading what was said on the back of this book, I can not make money from it. For every time someone clicks the Amazon link (in this article or in the column on the right) and buys They Call Me Killer, I will also donate all the proceeds to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. I do need money to pay for hosting, internet access, software, etc. but not off someone who’s not making a red cent off his own book.

   

  A little about Brian Kilrea:

  Brian played OHA junior hockey in 1954-55 with the Hamilton Tiger Cubs (the present day Erie Otters). His NHL career consisted of a single game with the Detroit Red Wings in 1957-58 and 25 games with the Los Angeles Kings in 1967-68. He will forever be remembered in Los Angeles as the man who scored the first ever goal for the Kings. He played over 600 games in the AHL, mostly with the Springfield Indians.

  Kilrea coached the 67′s, with a couple of breaks, between 1974-75 and 2008-09. He took the better part of two seasons off to be the assistant coach of the New York Islanders in the 1980′s. He took a year off in the 1990′s for health reasons.

  They Call Me Killer – Table of Contents

  1. They call me…Gig?
  2. Cigars, Anne Murray and Polar Bears
  3. Somewhere there’s a hero
  4. One Minute between legends
  5. A chance on Lance
  6. Life in hell with Eddie Shore
  7. Move the puck! (and Killer’s other hockey commandments)
  8. Ralph
  9. Grapes and me
  10. Stopping Mario (the first Memorial Cup)
  11. The boys on the bus
  12. Long nights on Long Island
  13. You got three options!
  14. Did I tell you the one about…?
  15. The call to the Hall
  16. Winger for life
  17. Eyewitness to a killer
  18. Time to go

   

   
  Tagged as: brian kilrea, hockey hall of fame, los angeles kings, memorial cup, ottawa 67s, springfield indians, they call me killer
  
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