[News] Bob Johnson's legacy lives on 25 years later

[Dion]

He helped players become everyday NHLers, stars and Hall of Famers.The notebooks. The nose-pulling. The energy that seemed to come off him like heat from an outdoor cooker.

Those analogies: The mountains to climb and golf courses to tame. The irrepressible zest for life. That 7-point plan to beat the unbeatable Oilers in '86. The 10 temperature changes from the time he hopped out of bed one morning to the time he reached the Saddledome.

And the motto that's survived him: "It's a great day for hockey."

"Twenty-five years? Really?'' reflects Badger's assistant at the time, Bob Murdoch, who'd go on to coach the Winnipeg Jets and Chicago Blackhawks and win a Jack Adams Trophy in 1990.

"I remember he'd come into the coaches room in the morning and go:

'Great day for hockey! These people here in Calgary, they're unbelievable. They recognize you and they want to talk hockey.'

"Well, you took a step back from Bob. He had a Flames' cap on. A Flames' jacket on. Flames' pants on. Flames running shoes on.

"He was a walking billboard for the Calgary Flames. And he was so pleased people would recognize him. Well, he practically had a string of neon lights across his body that blinked CALGARY FLAMES on and off.

"He was gone by '89 but he certainly left his fingerprints on a big chunk of that Cup-winning team,'' says defenceman Al MacInnis, now, of course, a VP with the St. Louis Blues.

"At that stage of our careers, the young guys - Gary Suter, myself, Jamie Macoun, Robs, Otts - could not have had a better, more positive, influence.

"We all owe him so much.

"He changed the culture of the entire organization. He brought conditioning in. He brought nutrition in.

"Change is the hardest thing to institute or to accept. And Badger was a true innovator.

"I mean, people used to make fun of him because he wrote notes on the bench. Can you believe that? What coach today doesn't write notes on the bench?

"His hockey knowledge was SO ahead of the time. He used a left-winger lock against the Oilers. Well, 10 years later, we've got everyone taking credit for inventing it! And Badger was happy to tell us he'd taken it from the Czechoslovakian national team.

"He justified it by explaining that most of our goals came from the right side - Mully, Lanny, Hakan Loob - while all our checkers, the Colin Pattersons and Jim Peplinskis, were over on the left.

"And it worked.

"Well, 10 or 12 years later, I'm watching games on TV and I hear people taking credit for the left-wing lock, and I'm like: 'Are you kidding me?'

"Some of the stuff he tried didn't work. Do you remember the band in the corner of the rink? No? The University marching band, like they had at college games? He wanted to instill that rah-rah college atmosphere into the Saddledome.

"That lasted about two nights."

Once, some guy off the street showed up with equipment, said he played hockey, and asked Johnson if he could try out. Badger said sure. Showed him where to change.

"So we get out for practice,'' recalls Murdoch, both amused and amazed, "and he says to me 'Oh, Bob, by the way, there's a guy over there. Keep him out of the way, but I told him he could come and skate and try out for the Flames.'

"We didn't know the guy's name; he had no insurance.

"I mean, cripes, the guy could've been a murderer."

"I've never met a coach, or played for a coach, that loved the power play the way he did,'' recalls MacInnis.

"This was back in the day when hardly anybody practiced it. We would spend 45 minutes to an hour on special teams. Every day.

"That's how we were going to beat Edmonton; he'd tell us. If we could stay with 'em 5-on-5, we'd beat them on the special teams.

"If you look at our power play percentage the years he coached that team … pretty impressive.

"We'd have really competitive specialty teams drills in practices. I remember he'd call Gary (Suter) and I 'The Big Boys.' So when the power play was sputtering and we were waiting our turn, he'd say: "Ah, I've seen enough. Bring on the Big Boys! Bring on the Big Boys!'

"He had those crazy facial expressions. And he'd be crossing his arms over his head.

"But hockey-wise he was ahead of his time. Way ahead."

Sheehy was a project of Johnson's. One of those lunch-bucket, role players - his role being to bait Wayne Gretzky and throw the Great One off his game.

"Best advice I ever had,'' says Sheehy, "came from Badger. He pulls me aside one day, sits me down and says: 'Sheehy, do you know you're just like an actor in a Broadway play?'

"I'm sitting on the edge of my seat, you know, soaking this all up, getting a pep talk. "OK, coach. All right, coach. I'm an actor in a Broadway play.'

"And he says: 'Actors have to give the public a good performance right, Sheehy? They've got to ENTERTAIN people.'

"I'm like: 'Yeah, coach. Yeah, they do.'

"He goes: 'And you know what happens, Sheehy, when actors can't act?'
"I say: 'What, coach?'

"He goes: 'We bring in new actors! Now, Sheehy, get out there and act! Entertain those people!'"

https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/bob-...er/c-284102700

[Reggie Dunlop]

Ran into him once at the downtown Hudsons Bay in the Men's Tie Department. Quite a nice chat. Can't remember what the particulars were that we discussed (probably prospects), but he was very gracious.

[killer_carlson]

That's a great article by George Johnson. Wow. One of the best i've read in a long time.

[FanIn80]

"He came into the room once time,'' recalled Gary Suter, who'd grown up in Madison, Wisc., idolizing the Badgers and the Badger,"and asks me: 'How ya feelin', Suter? On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you feel?' So I say: 'A 10, coach!' Then he goes over, punches (Joel) Otto in the shoulder and says: 'And how about you, Otto? How do you feel him?' Well, Joel, of course, tells him: 'I'm an 11, coach!'

"So he turns around, glares at me and yells: 'So Suter, what the hell's the matter with YOU?!'"

Brilliant!

[JohnnyO]

Oh to have a power play half as good as that today.

Bombs from the point via Chopper and Suter

Dyke, Otto or Roberts in front taking lumber to the back and screening the goalie.

And all the talent on the wings to feed the point or gobble up rebounds.

[the2bears]

Originally Posted by JohnnyO

Oh to have a power play half as good as that today.

Bombs from the point via Chopper and Suter

Dyke, Otto or Roberts in front taking lumber to the back and screening the goalie.

And all the talent on the wings to feed the point or gobble up rebounds.

Nope. Not good.

[Puppet Guy]

Badger was a real visionary. I remember the story about how he had all 220 pounds of Neil Sheehy take ballet one summer to improve his balance.

[cam_wmh]

During a playoff series against Gretzky, Kurri and Co., Johnson outfitted a third-string goalie in an Oiler jersey

Anyone got the details behind this story?

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

Anyone got the details behind this story?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...article791631/

[cam_wmh]

ahahaha that's awesome

[Calgary4LIfe]

Best coach this team ever had. He (along with Fletcher) turned this organization around so beautifully, and were able to beat the Oilers who were the greatest team at the time (and the only time that team was ever not no good). He made the players believe in themselves and motivated them, while coming up with the best game-plans.

This team's issues since Johnson left has always been an inability to find a proper coach - outside of Darryl Sutter for a few seasons - and it has always been the Achilles heel of this team, even more than the lack of a #1 center for a decade.

Most of all, he always seemed to come across as this genuine and honest human being. I became a huge fan of the Penguins the instant he went there. I loved Lemieux at the time, and Joe Mullen going there certainly helped, but I became a fan simply because of Badger Bob.