#48. PATRICK ROY
Roy is known for breaking Terry Sawchuk's record for most career wins ... and for talking to his goalposts a la Mark "The Bird" Fidrych and wandering well out of his net. In one game, he looked to be rushing the puck up past the Avs' blueline and it looked like Roy was one of the defensemen ...
#49. HARVEY "Busher" JACKSON
The legend about Jackson, which was started by Frank Selke, was that if he shot a puck from center ice, he would already be skating past the neutral zone before the puck hit the blueline. He ended up with the nickname "Busher" when he became an NHLer at 18 years of age and his team (Leafs) trainer suggested he be the stickboy.
#50. "Wild" BILL EZINICKI
My best guess is that he was named "Wild Bill" because his checks would leave opposing players looking like they had been thrown off a bronco or a brahma bull. To Ezinicki, checking was not just part of the game ... it was an artistic skill. He also had insurance in which he got paid $5 for every stitch he had.
#51. BOBBY SHEEHAN
Sheehan was said to have the uncanny (and frustrating) knack of missing on breakaways, despite his great speed down the ice. Once, he got tired of rush hour traffic in Edmonton and abandoned his rented car on a street in downtown Edmonton.
#52. CONN SMYTHE
Smythe was the one who gave the Toronto Maple Leafs their name ... before then, they were known as the St. Pats. He had the famous quote that "if you can't beat them in the alley, you can't beat them on the ice.".
#53. PETER MAHOVLICH
Peter is "The Big M's" brother ... and like many mischievous little brothers, found a way to stir up a little trouble. When he was with Montreal, Canadiens coach Scotty Bowman fined him for missing curfew. Mahovlich knew he'd miss curfew again ... so he paid Bowman an extra $100 in addition to the $100 he owed in advance for his next curfew infringement ...
#54. "Nefarious" DARIUS KASPARAITIS
I'm not sure what the "nefarious" moniker was for unless it was meant to make Kasparaitis' name sound like more of a disease than it already does ... . In his early days with the New York Islanders, he didn't understand what "No Parking" meant and hence, kept having his cars towed away.
#55. JOHN BROPHY
Brophy was a profane coach who, when asked how he dealt with minor league pugilist Bill Goldthorpe, whacked a player over the head with a stick.
#56. BRETT "The Golden Brett" HULL
Hull is known for socring goals during games and scoring points with the media, in the form of clever quips, before and after games. When he asked a repoter "How's it going?" and the reporter answered, "No complaints.", Hull said: "Want to hear some?".
More stories to come later ...