Episode 7

Soul of a Nation

Biographies

René Lecavalier

Before Foster Hewitt became the voice of hockey on English television, René Lecavalier captivated audiences in French Canada. The voice of the Montreal Canadiens for more than 30 years, Lecavalier called play-by-play for Canada's first televised hockey game, helping viewers of the French-language Radio-Canada follow "la rondelle" as Maurice Richard's Canadiens took on Gordie Howe's Red Wings at the Montreal Forum on October 11, 1952.

A man of wide-ranging interests, Lecavalier's reach went beyond sports announcing as he lent his talents to cultural and comedy programs on Radio-Canada. But it was his work in hockey that made him a star in Quebec.

As the first voice of the francophone version of Hockey Night in Canada, Lecavalier had trouble walking the streets of Montreal without being stopped by adoring fans. Fellow broadcasters were equally admiring - many borrowed from Lecavalier's colourful storytelling style, which laid the foundation for the French hockey language and can still be heard in the francophone play-by-play voices of today.

René Lecavalier, CBC Design Library

Derek Sanderson

On the strength of his hard-hitting play and hard-partying lifestyle, Derek Sanderson became hockey's most famous bad boy of the 1970s.

After winning a Memorial Cup with his hometown Niagara Falls Flyers, Sanderson joined the Boston Bruins full time in 1968. Playing alongside Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito, he captured the Calder Trophy as the NHL's best rookie and, combining a soft scoring touch with a bruising tenacity, earned a reputation as one of the game's top two-way players.

His set-up of Bobby Orr's famous Stanley Cup-winning goal in 1970 earned Sanderson a measure of celebrity, but he was better known for his flamboyant behaviour off the ice. "Turk," as he was known, looked every bit the superstar in his trademark silver Rolls Royce, diamond-encrusted jewelry and mink coat. Seemingly always in the company of beautiful women, Sanderson was a mainstay in gossip columns and a frequent talk-show guest.

In 1972 Sanderson parlayed his star power into a $2.6 million contract with the Philadelphia Blazers of the upstart World Hockey Association. The deal was at the time the richest ever awarded to an athlete, but Sanderson failed to live up to his billing on the ice and quickly returned to the Bruins, who then shipped him to the New York Rangers.

Years of alcohol and drug abuse caught up with Sanderson during his second stint in the NHL as he bounced around to several teams before retiring in 1978. With his body ravaged and his fortune depleted by years of hard living, Sanderson entered rehab to deal with his substance abuse and begin an improbable transition. One of hockey's all-time most notorious playboys is now an investment specialist in Boston, offering athletes advice on how to manage their money.

Derek Sanderson, Hockey Hall Of Fame

Wild Bill Hunter

Befitting the Old West outlaw conjured by his nickname, William Dickenson "Wild Bill" Hunter wasn't afraid to gamble on bringing pro hockey to some rough and unsettled territory.

By the time he won the 1966 Memorial Cup as owner, general manager and coach of the Edmonton Oil Kings, Hunter had grown weary of western Canada's splintered junior system. In response he united the region's disparate provincial associations to form the Western Canadian Hockey League, which eventually earned the right to send a representative to the Memorial Cup tournament before changing its name to the Western Hockey League.

Hunter achieved international fame a few years later when, rebuffed by the NHL in his efforts to bring a team to Edmonton, he set his sights on a new professional league. Along with American promoters Gary Davidson and Dennis Murphy, Hunter helped launch the rebel World Hockey Association in 1972 and assumed control of the Alberta Oilers, which he renamed the Edmonton Oilers the following season. The WHA went belly-up after seven years, but Hunter had shown big-time hockey could work in small Canadian cities, convincing the NHL to grant admission to Edmonton, Winnipeg and Quebec City after the WHA folded.

Hunter hatched perhaps his wildest scheme in 1982 when he offered to buy the financially struggling St. Louis Blues and move them to his hometown of Saskatoon. The proposal raised eyebrows as few thought an NHL team could survive in such a small, economically depressed city. Though Hunter secured commitments for an 18,000-seat arena and 18,000 season tickets, the "Saskatchewan Blues" never got off the ground as the NHL's board of governors blocked the deal.

Wild Bill Hunter, Hockey Hall Of Fame