Fleming learned from Shero before scoring big goal in 1961 Cup Final

Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insight with readers each Wednesday.

This week Fischler delivers one of his favorite features, "Voices From the Past.” His subject is Reg Fleming, a lifetime utility player who became a hero on the 1961 Chicago Black Hawks Stanley Cup-winning team. 

Parts of the interview were taken from "Up From The Minor Leagues of Hockey" by Stan and Shirley Fischler and Stan's chats with Fleming when he played for the New York Rangers

In the early 1940's what was youth hockey like growing up in Montreal?

"There were leagues all over the place. When I was in the seventh grade, I got to play class hockey and church hockey which included fellows up to 17 and 18 years old. From the very beginning I was a centerman because I loved to carry the puck and forecheck. I liked the fact that the centerman was the one who controlled the game just like the quarterback in football. By the time I was a teenager I was playing hockey just about every day. I couldn't get enough of it and started thinking that maybe something could come of all this skating."

When did you realize that hockey was your passion?

"When I played in Park Extension -- a section of the city that had a Midget team -- I was getting good at the game, at least good enough to become a starting player. The important point was that Park Ex Midget hockey was affiliated with the Montreal Canadiens organization. It meant that at the age of 13 I was already a part of a National Hockey League team's system. The advantage I had came with the interscholastic games which were played at the Montreal Forum, the Canadiens' home. That's where NHL scouts could see me in action."

How exciting was it to skate on Forum ice?

"Very. I mean it was our home team's arena. Luckily, one day I managed to get a locker key and would get to the rink at 6:30 on Saturday mornings. That meant I had an hour and a half all by myself on Forum ice before our practices. I'd skate on that fresh ice all by myself just like a New York City kid going to Yankee Stadium and throwing the ball by himself from the pitcher's mound. I'd get the puck at one end and make a rush with my head down, all the way to the other end. I'd score a 'goal' and raise my arms. I thought that was just the greatest."

From left: Chicago Black Hawks’ Pierre Pilote, Reg Fleming, Stan Mikita and Elmer “Moose” Vasko during the 1961 Stanley Cup Final.

Who was your favorite NHL player?

"Dickie Moore. He would become Montreal's great left wing. He also was from Park Extension and played for Park Ex teams. So did another Park Ex kid, the great Canadiens defenseman Doug Harvey. I tried to model myself after Moore. He was aggressive, a team leader and just a fantastic man. He turned out to be one of the stars on the Canadiens team that won five straight Stanley Cups from 1956 to 1960. Dickie won two scoring championships and one of them when he had a broken hand. He was a terrific role model."

When did you know you could make the NHL?

"We were playing a very strong team, Catholic High, and one of their players stole the puck from me and made me look like a fool. I got good and mad. After that he took the puck in his own zone and started winding up, coming up ice. As he cut from the boards at center, I was coming up from the opposite wing. Well, I hit him with a good, hard, legal check and put him out, completely knocked him out. From there we went on to win our game. Turns out that the referee also was a
reporter. After the game, he came to me and said, 'In all my years, that's the hardest check I ever saw anyone put out or receive.' That stuck in my mind and I thought, 'If you want something enough you can do it '-- and I wanted that puck back!"

How was it when you were invited to join the Canadiens junior team?

"Not so good at the start. I was fourth center behind future NHL stars such as Henri Richard, Claude Provost and Phil Goyette. But I got good experience especially since I played defense for a while. Eventually the big move was getting an invitation to the big team at the Canadiens training camp although I knew I wasn't ready for the NHL. They sent me to their Shawinigan Falls minor league team and that proved to be a difference-maker, especially when we got Fred Shero behind the bench."

How did Shero help?

"It was all about our workouts. We'd both put on skates and get up a good sweat, just the two of us alone at the rink. Fred gave me pointers like how to stride better. He'd say, 'If you want to skate well, you have to move the way speed skaters turn and stride in a crouch.' Fred taught me how to strengthen my wrists and how to hold a stick. 'You should always have both hands on it,' he'd tell me 'or you will get tired right away.' And he egged me on to be aggressive. He also made a prediction about me that came true."

What was Shero’s prediction?

"We went to The Forum together one night to see Montreal play Chicago with Glenn Hall in the Black Hawks goal. Shero knew him from hockey clinics and after the game Fred introduced us. 'Glenn,' said Shero, 'one day this kid is going to be in the NHL, on the same club as you and he's going to help you out.' That sounded strange being that I was Canadiens' property. But it turned out that Shero was right on the button. I wound up being traded to Chicago in 1960. That summer I worked at a golf course with my idol Dickie Moore and he gave me advice about making the big team."

What did Moore tell you?

"Dickie said, 'It's the rookies you have to beat. Every time you get a chance, run into them, and knock them on their fannies, beat them to the puck, beat them checking, beat them any way you can, but beat them. Same for the veterans, hit them too. Let everyone know you're there.' That's what I did. I stuck it out at camp until the last day, holding my breath to see if I would make it. Then, the moment came when someone walked into the dressing room on the last day and posted a printed list and I was on it. As an NHL rookie, I played 66 games and scored four goals in the regular season. But the biggest goal of my life came in the 1961 Cup Final against the [Detroit] Red Wings. It was in Game 6 at Detroit and we were one win away from The Cup."

How did your big goal in the Stanley Cup Final come about?

"Coach Rudy Pilous liked to move me from forward to defense and back again and to kill penalties. We were sluggish in the first period and fell behind 1-0. Between periods, Rudy told us how much money was on the line if we won. Early in the second period we got hit with a penalty. That's when Pilous sent me out to keep them from making it 2-0. I was forechecking in their end and stole the puck from Len Lunde but lost it near the blue line. Then, I stole it again only this time I held on to it, moved in and shot it past their goalie, Hank Bassen. That tied it 1-1." 

What was most special about that goal?

"My goal turned the tide and our guys won it 5-1. It was Chicago's first Cup since 1938. And me, just a rookie, scoring my first playoff goal. When I picked up the newspapers the next day, I saw that the hockey writers wrote that my goal was the game-turner and, in a way, the Cup-turner."

Any other memories from scoring that goal?

"Yeah. I was the first one into our room after the game and I kept yelling, 'I GOT IT! I GOT IT! I GOT IT.'"