Sheldon Kannegiesser

This is Sheldon Kannegeisser. He was a journeyman defenseman in the 1970s, playing with Pittsburgh, New York Rangers, most notably Los Angeles and then in Vancouver. He was a serviceable defender, eating up minutes reliably and clearing the zone with heady passes and clean play.

Best known for his alphabet soup surname, Kannegeisser was a bit of a different bird, at least in NHL circles. He was a very devoted Christian. The only thing he read on road trips as much as the bible might have been the Wall Street Journal. He studied economics, but also studied dehydrated foods. He even experimented with hypnotism, claiming the practice increased his peripheral vision.

Kannegeisser retired back in 1978, and has spent the past 30 years or so living in California as an entrepreneur and businnessman, and raising his two sons Brett and Jameson. He also has been working on the motivational speaking circuit.

It was during his guest speaker appearances that Kannegiesser realized just how much people loved to hear stories of hockey in the 1970s. He got the idea of compiling the stories and putting them into a book.

His book is now a reality. Warriors of Winter is a great title, but it is the subtitle that hints at the book's uniqueness: Rhymes of a Blueliner Balladeer. Kannegeisser took the time to take his stories and write them as poems.

Hockey stories are perennial," Kannegiesser said in a recent interview with the North Bay Nugget. And every hockey player you talk to has 10 or 20 hilarious stories. I found I could take those and put them to rhyme and rhythm. The key thing about the majority of these stories is they're all true. And I just made them fun."

Kannegiesser writes about many topics, from hockey fights to life on the road, to his personal relationships with the likes of Bobby Orr, Tim Horton, Gordie Howe and Dave 'Tiger' Williams. He event revisits the 1972 Summit Series with 8 poems, one devoted to each game.

The book has just been published but is not available in bookstores. It can be purchased online at warriorsofwinter.com, as well as at book signings and speaking engagements. A sample chapter about Tim Horton, titled Donuts, is available at the North Bay Nugget website.

Update: Kannegiesser also completed the following interview with HockeyBookReviews.com.

Steve Duchesne

This is Steve Duchesne, pictured in his 1988-89 OPC rookie hockey card.

Steve Duchesne was an excellent offensive catalyst from the blue line. He was an excellent power play quarterback, with his hard, low shot which he somehow usually got through traffic; and his crisp and sudden passes combined his ability to read the breakdowns in the defensive coverage.

Duchesne's best years were with Wayne Gretzky's Los Angeles Kings in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was the Kings' version of Paul Coffey, Gretzky's old running mate in Edmonton. He was an exceptionally mobile skater who never shied away from joining the attack or cheating into the slot.

He put up some great numbers in LA, averaging 22 goals and 66 points in Gretzky's first three years. Even in Duchesne's first two seasons prior to 99's arrival he was starting to push 20 goals and 60 points. It was quite surprising that Edmonton did not insist on Duchesne coming north as part of the Wayne Gretzky trade.

Not bad for a defenseman no one wanted back at the NHL draft table. A bit of a late bloomer, Duchesne was passed over by every team in two NHL drafts, signing with the Kings organization as a free agent filler for the farm team. Two years later he was running the Kings power play and named to the NHL All-Rookie team.

Like most offensive defensemen, Duchesne's defensive game was never as good as his offensive game. He did not use his skating as well defensively, likely because he did not dissect the oncoming attack as quickly as he could when his team was on the offense. He was at times guilty of making bad gambles and looking bad in doing so.

He did not make breakout passes as well as Coffey (then again, very few ever have), preferring to rush the puck out of the zone. He was of average size, yet he was never likely to engage in physical battles. Opposing teams knew to dump the puck into his corner and hit him early and often, and he likely would be less effective in that game.

Regardless, he was an exciting defenseman who provided the necessary offensive presence any Wayne Gretzky-led team needed. Despite his popularity in Los Angeles though, he was traded to Philadelphia in 1991. The impatient Kings moved Duchesne and Steve Kasper to the Flyers for bruising defenseman Jeff Chychrun and a fellow named Jari Kurri. In giving up Duchesne the Kings paid dearly for Gretzky's old side kick. The hope was the two would come together like in their old glory days back with the Oilers, but it was never really rekindled.

Duchesne went on to play a strong season in Philadelphia (18 goals, 56 points) before he was moved again for another superstar. Duchesne was sent back to his home province as a key part of Philadelphia's monster package to acquired teen phenom Eric Lindros. The package also included Peter Forsberg, Kerry Huffman, Mike Ricci, Ron Hextall, Philadelphia's 1st round choice (Jocelyn Thibault) in 1993 Entry Draft, $15,000,000 and future considerations which turned into Chris Simon and another draft choice.

Despite being back home in Quebec Duchesne would find himself on the move again rather quickly, this time as the result of a contract dispute. After just one season he was on his way to St. Louis.

Duchesne definitely got a reputation as a vagabond player. Perhaps teams only realized how good Duchesne was after they let him go. After all, after two seasons in St. Louis he was off to Ottawa for two years (really sparking the lowly Sens), only to go back to the Blues for1 year, before splitting another season back in LA and back in Philadelphia.

He finished his career with three seasons in Detroit, providing a veteran presence although his offense had all but dried up. Duchesne retired after the Wings won the Stanley Cup in 2002.

In 1113 NHL games Steve Duchesne scored 227 goals, 525 assists and 752 points. He was an upper-echelon offensive defenseman, though never an all star or Norris trophy contender. He was a fun defenseman to watch, especially on the power play.

Not bad for a player who was never drafted.

Howie Hughes

Did you know that Howie Hughes scored the first Los Angeles Kings goal in the Fabulous Forum at 7:30 of the 1st period on January 11, 1968 vs. St.Louis?


Howie was one of those guys who had to fight for every minute of his ice time in the NHL. At only 5´9" he was considered to be too small for the NHL and it wasn't until the expansion in 1967-68 that he got his chance to prove himself in the NHL.

"Size shouldn't matter" Howie once said "only what you do or don't do. I know I did pretty well. Most of my career, it didn't get me anywhere. Why didn't I get more of a chance ? was it because of my size ? I don't know. I didn't make the decisions and I never complained. I just did the best I could."

Howie played his junior hockey for his hometown team, St.Boniface Canadians between 1955-59. He was picked up by the Winnipeg Braves for the 1959 playoffs and won the Memorial Cup with them. In his first pro season 1959-60 Howie scored 79 points (35+44) in 68 games for St.Paul (IHL) and won the championship with them.

Howie was clearly too good for the IHL and went on to play in the much stronger WHL. There he played for Winnipeg Warriors, Seattle Totems and Vancouver Canucks between 1960-63. During the 1963-64 season he played for St. Paul Rangers of the CHL, collecting 64 points in 66 games. He then racked up another three strong seasons in the WHL for the Vancouver Canucks (50 and 72 points) under tough coach Bert Olmstead who he called the most influential person in his life and Seattle Totems (71 points).

During that last season with Seattle (66-67) Howie made the 2nd WHL All-Star team and led the Totems to the championship. He also was the leading scorer in the playoffs where he had most goals (6) and points (11)

Los Angeles Kings liked what they saw in Howie and GM Larry Regan chose him in the 9th round of the expansion draft. Regan's own scouting report said: "Howie is an excellent two-way player, and is outstanding as a penalty killer."

Finally at the age of 28 Howie got his chance in the NHL. Although Howie played in every game, he was used sparingly by the coach Red Kelly and played mainly as a spare or penalty killer. In his first season with the Kings he scored 23 points (9+14) in 74 games and scored two more goals in the playoffs.

Howie at that time had a simple explanation. " I don't know any other way to play than full out. That's what I'm getting paid to do. Even when you're playing regularly, you're only on the ice a minute or two at a time, so why not give it all you've got? And when you're only getting a few minutes a game, you have to make the most of them. If being versatile and being able to produce in short shifts helps me keep a job up here, that's fine, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to play regularly and didn't think I was good enough. I love hockey and have few regrets, but I've had a frustrating career." Howie said.

The 1968-69 season proved to be Howie's finest in the NHL. He got 30 points (16+14) in 73 games and saw more ice time. Then in 1969-70 he only played 21 games for LA.

Vitali Yachmenev

A lot of people got really excited about Vitali Yachmenev back in the 1995-96 season. The 59th overall draft pick by the LA Kings in 1994, Yachmenev spent much of his rookie season playing on Wayne Gretzky's right wing, and looking good in doing so.

It was probably the best and the worst thing that could happen to the young Russian from Chelyabinsk. He played well along side The Great One, and picked up 19 goals and 53 points that season.

But that raised expectations for the youngster, who would not be able to put up good numbers once Gretzky was traded to St. Louis towards the end of that season, and in the following two campaigns.

Though his stock plummeted, Yachmenev landed on his skates with the expansion Nashville Predators in 1998-99.

Yachmenev played 4 years in Nashville. For a sniper, he did not put up any memorable numbers, never scoring more than 16 goals in those seasons. In fact, in his last NHL season he scored just five times.

But he was an intelligent hockey player with good hockey sense. He was trusted on the penalty kill and he was a reliable defensive winger, willing to take hits on the wall to get the puck out of the zone.

He was a bit of a cult hero in Nashville. He was a quick player, not a speedy player, and brought energy to each game that fans and teammates appreciated.

In the summer of 2003 Yachmenev returned to Russia where he continued to play hockey for many years.