Earlier this week on HHS, I wrote a tribute article about Ken Dryden. I noted that Dryden’s brother, Dave, was my teammate during my brief time with the Edmonton Oilers (in their WHA days). In response, someone on Facebook asked me about my “career” as an Oiler.
Sure thing. It won’t take much time. I was only there for two games.
Three players, one Oilers roster spot
In 1976-77, I played on a contract with the Binghamton Dusters. However, I received a WHA tryout invitation from the Oilers. Former Boston Bruns coach Bep Guidolin coached Edmonton at the time. A few years later, I briefly played for Guidolin again, this time with the AHL’s Philadelphia Firebirds.
I didn’t have to ask why the Oilers contacted me. It wasn’t for my dazzling puck skills. They wanted an enforcer.
The Oilers told me it was an audition. I completed against Frank Beaton and Ted Scharf for one roster spot. I wasn’t a fool. What chance did this American college kid really have? Not much. Even so, I had to try. A puncher’s chance, right?
The WHA at the time was the NHL’s rival league. I loved Bingo and found a regular role with the Dusters that season. Even so, this was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down.
Don’t Blink,Cat
Bep dressed me for a game against the Calgary Cowboys. I skated in the warmup. After the rendition of O Canada, I sat on the bench. I remained there for the entire first period. For the duration of the second period, I was still there. But in that third period, man….. nevermind… I was still on the bench. That’s right. I didn’t skate a single shift.
Bep said I wasn’t needed that night. There was never a situation then called for it.
Well, then. The next time I dressed was a game against the Minnesota Fighting Saints. I did get to play is this game, sort of.
This time around, I got a whopping two shifts. I played about a whole minute of ice time. Oh, but I skated one of those shifts with left winger Glen Sather as a linemate. Slats was in the final season of his playing career and about to embark on a Hall of Fame career as a coach and executive.
The Oilers sent me home after that. Audition over. It was ever-so-worthwhile to travel all that way. I guess I had a couple bad warmups or something. By the way, not long therafter, Sather took over as Oilers coach. A legacy that lasted a lifetime.
My Oilers career? Well, to quote Eric Idle in The Rules, it was a legend that lasted a lunchtime. Less actually. I don’t think I could eat an Edmonton-style donair in a minute. Maybe I was hungry.
Beaton and Scharf had more of a reputation than me and I was the dark horse in the race. Beaton ended up winning the job. He played in 68 games and compiled 274 penalty minutes for the Oilers that year. I would see both of these guys again but not as teammates.
An act of kindness
Kidding aside, I spent about a week with the Oilers. I received one penalty while with Edmonton for elbowing Craig Patrick in the head. The elbow was accidental — I went for a body check, missed and clipped him with my elbow.
It was the right call, though, and I went to the box without complaint. I was a little disgusted with myself, though. The job I wanted meant playing physically not carelessly. I was there to take off someone else with me. Meanwhile, the last thing I could afford was to leaving my team shorthanded.
I needed transportation to head back east. Veteran goalie Dave Dryden kindly offered to take me. He and his wife drove me to the Edmonton Airport the day I left. Dave and I worked together again years later when I was a ref and he was on the equipment committee for the NHL. He was a nice man, as classy and cerebral as his more famous brother. Sadly, we lost Dave a few years ago, too.
Paul Stewart is the only American-born person to be both a player and referee in the National Hockey League. He was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018. Stewart’s autobiography, entitled Ya Wanna Go, was also published in 2018.
