MONDAY COMMENTARY – BOOK REVIEW: JERRY “TEABAG” HACK

(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary at 9:50 am and 5:20 pm on Cat Country 98 FM)

SOMETIMES IT’S MIND-BOGGLING HOW THINGS FIT TOGETHER.

A FLEDGLING GOALIE, AND AUTHOR, FROM VANCOUVER SENT ME HIS BOOK FOR REVIEW AND ASKED IF I’D HAVE HIM ON THE ROD PEDERSEN SHOW.

HIS NAME IS JERRY HACK AND HIS NICKNAME IS “TEABAG”.

I’M SURE SEVERAL OF YOUR EARS PERKED UP JUST NOW, BUT IT TOOK AWHILE FOR MINE TO DO THE SAME

THE TITLE OF THE BOOK IS “MEMOIR OF A HOCKEY NOBODY” WITH THE SUB-TITLE “THEY SAID I COULDN’T MAKE THE NHL, SO I WENT OUT AND PROVED THEM RIGHT!”

I’D BEEN PECKING AWAY AT THE BOOK OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS, READING A CHAPTER HERE AND THERE, WONDERING WHY I’D BE INTERESTED IN A BOOK ABOUT A SELF-TAUGHT GOALIE ON THE WEST COAST WHO CAME UP THROUGH FLOOR HOCKEY AND NEVER PLAYED COMPETITIVELY ON ICE TILL AGE 18?

THAT IS UNTIL SUNDAY WHEN I STUMBLED UPON CHAPTER 12, ENTITLED “GAME-CHANGER”.

IT WAS ALL ABOUT TEABAG ANSWERING AN AD IN THE VANCOUVER PROVINCE NEWSPAPER FROM THE ASSINIBOIA SOUTHERN REBELS, WHO WERE LOOKING FOR A GOALTENDER IN THE MID-1980S.

AND THERE, MIRACULOUSLY, BEGAN THE STORY OF HOW JERRY HACK BACKSTOPPED THE SOUTHERN REBELS TO A LEAGUE TITLE IN THE OLD SOUTH CENTRAL SENIOR LEAGUE.

OF COURSE IF YOU AREN’T FROM HERE, YOU WOULDN’T GET. AND YOU CERTAINLY WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND HOW THIS LEAGUE QUALIFIED AS “MINOR PRO”.

JERRY’S STORIES WERE FASCINATING AND OF COURSE THEY INCLUDED THE NAMES OF JIM MISENER, SCOTT WRAY, KEVIN CARVER, MIKE BLOSKI AND OTHER AREA SENIOR HOCKEY LEGENDS. THE DETAIL WAS ASTOUNDING, RIGHT DOWN TO DARREN BOBYCK’S WHITE SKATES AS HE STARRED FOR THE MILESTONE FLYERS.

I WAS AT THOSE GAMES, WATCHING TEABAG AND I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW IT.

THE BOOK ALSO EXPLAINS, BETTER THAN ANYWHERE ELSE I’VE SEEN, THE DECLINE IN POPULARITY OF SENIOR HOCKEY IN THIS PROVINCE, AND SEVERAL OTHER GREAT HOCKEY STORIES. JERRY POINTED OUT THERE WEREN’T NEARLY AS MANY SEMI-PRO LEAGUES AND TEAMS AT THAT TIME, SO THOSE GUYS PLAYED HERE AND MADE A WAGE TO DO IT.

SO I READ IT, AND IT GETS TWO THUMBS UP, AND IT MAKES ME PROUD TO SAY IT ON ASSINIBOIA RADIO.

JERRY “TEABAG” HACK’S MEMOIR OF A HOCKEY NOBODY. ORDER IT TODAY!

THAT’S TODAY’S ROD PEDERSEN COMMENTARY ON CAT COUNTRY 98.