Monday, November 3, 2008

The Top 17 Wendel Clark Moments

Wendel's gloves are off.
That means a man just died.

On November 22, Wendel Clark's #17 will be raised to the rafters as the team honours it's former captain and arguably the most popular player in franchise history.

In the lead up to that night, Down Goes Brown will feature a countdown of Wendel's greatest moments. We've gone through all the goals, hits and fights. Since the original plan of running a top 17,000 Wendel Moments series seems slightly over-ambitious, we've narrowed it down to a Top 17.

Today we kick off the list with a fitting first moment.


Wendel Moment #17 - The Leafs pick Clark first overall in the 1985 draft

The Leafs found themselves with the first overall pick in 1985 for the first and only time in the modern era. They narrowed their choices down to winger Craig Simpson and defenceman Wendel Clark.

The Leafs were no doubt leaning towards Simpson since this was the Ballard era and they screwed everything up, but luckily he publicly refused to play for the Leafs. So instead of being drafted by Toronto, living in the greatest city in the world and having a shot at becoming a hero to Leaf Nation, Simpson went second overall and played in Pittsburgh, Edmonton and Buffalo. Good call, Craig!

So instead the Leafs turned to Clark, a Kelvington farmboy who patrolled the blueline for the WHL's Saskatoon Blades. The scouting report on Clark was that he wasn't especially big and didn't skate well, but was a ferocious hitter with a laser wrist shot, an unmatched work ethic and a wicked-awesome mullet. Called a "throwback" by Blades fans, Clark seemed like the perfect choice to try to lead the Leafs out of the WAHL darkest days in franchise history.

The Leafs converted Clark to the wing, and set him loose on the NHL. The rest is history... and we'll be counting down the best of that history in the days leading up to November 22.




17 comments:

  1. Awesome. I can't wait.

    Craig Simpson - what a douche.

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  2. No offense, but Simpson has something Wendel never did ... unfortunately.

    I can't wait for the rest of the series on the most bad ass player ever to play in the NHL.

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  3. You had me at "Wendel".

    Sign me up for a subscription. Just goes to show you how wrong scouting reports can be. Report SHOULD have read:

    "When the boogeyman goes to sleep at night, he checks under the bed for Wendel Clark. If you can see Wendel Clark, he can see you. If you can't see Wendel Clark, you may be only seconds from death."

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  4. No offense, but Simpson has something Wendel never did ... unfortunately.

    An ugly sister?

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  5. No offense, but Simpson has something Wendel never did ... unfortunately.

    The ability to put HNiC viewers to sleep?

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  6. Great idea for a series. Looking forward to the rest of it.

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  7. Big Wendel fan but he's not the most popular Leaf ever.

    That would be Johnny Bower.

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  8. As an Oilers fan, I have to say I'm jealous. Not only of the plethora of cups the Leafs won before the invention of the steam engine, but because Wendel Clark is hard as fuck. Even to this day I'd still be scared to make eye contact with him, for fear that he'd punchasize my eye through the back of my skull, isn't that right former Edmonton Oiler and notable racist Marty McSorley?

    Gretzky may have a bazillion points, but he's got nothing on 17. How come there isn't a 40 foot tall gold statue of him outside the ACC? Shame on you Richard Peddie!

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  9. How come there isn't a 40 foot tall gold statue of him outside the ACC?

    In fairness, there were plans to build one, but other NHL teams refused to come to the ACC for fear of angering Giant Wendel so the project had to be cancelled.

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  10. Wow, can you imagine what sort of alternate future would have occurred if the Leafs had drafted Simpson instead of Clark? That's the sort of thing that makes me hope Doc Brown never finishes the flux capacitor.

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  11. Wow, can you imagine what sort of alternate future would have occurred if the Leafs had drafted Simpson instead of Clark?

    No kidding. That probably would have meant that Clark would have gone to the Penguins second overall.

    I mean, how would Mario Lemieux have reacted to not being the best player on his own team?

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  12. "I mean, how would Mario Lemieux have reacted to not being the best player on his own team?"

    He probably would have thrown his back out or something.

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  13. Love your take on all things Wendel! I grew up in Toronto (Pickering actually) and have many fond memories of the Leafs - my proudest moment might have been the last game of a season in which we missed the playoffs (1989 I think). The Gardens was as loud and raucous as ever! And we sucked! It was then that I realized where the core of my allegiance to Leaf Nation was - not with the Team / management / ownership at all - but with my fellow members of Leaf Nation. We the fans.

    Your number 1 Wendel moment is absolutely spot on. The moment is etched in my memory like no other. In my minds eye, McSorley delivers a vicious elbow, launching Gilmour into the air...Dougie's body hovers momentarily in space, horizontal to the ice, as all sound fades from the Gardens except for the scratching of metal on ice, followed by the hollow clattering of Wendel's lumber as it is released from his hands, then the thump, thump of his mits coming to rest, kicking off the chain reaction pop-pop-pop of Gardens' spring loaded seats returning to their closed position as thousands rise to their feet in an involuntary wave...and then the inevitable beatdown.

    At the time I was working in an office on the second floor at 33 Wood Street - the street that the Gardens backs onto. Above my office was the apartment building that Gilmour lived in at the time. I have been searching for a pic of the Toronto Star cover with McSorley's shiner, but so far no luck...

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  14. Yet another awesome comment.

    Re: the McSorley photo. I went as far as registering for the Star Photo Archive service in hopes of buying it, but they didn't have it. The site says that they don't have many of their sports photos available due to trademark/copyright issues.

    Somebody else mentioned the photo being in the Sun -- does anyone remember? I could have sworn it was from the Star, next to the "Bomber in Hangar, Awaiting Orders" headline.

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  15. guys, you know Wendy wore a moustache right? and stephane richer too. Just sayin.

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  16. Wow!!! That was great. One of the greatest ever. Thx to you very much.

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  17. Clark was tough, but face it Leaf homers....McSorely and the Kings kicked their ass in that '93 Conference Finals. One of the greatest series ever!

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