Hull of a guy

We don’t know Jack

“We don’t have a lot of time to thank everyone. But I would certainly be remised if I didn’t thank a few.” – Brett Hull

Brett Hull became the fourth former member of the Calgary Flames to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame when he was accorded the accolade in an electrifying ceremony on Monday evening in Toronto. Hull joined Al MacInnis, Grant Fuhr and Lanny McDonald as the only players who have worn the flaming “C” to receive hockey’s highest honor.

However, if you were unaware of the fact that it was the Flames who gave the Golden Brett his first opportunity to play professional hockey, you certainly wouldn’t have gained any of that knowledge from hearing or reading his acceptance speech.

Hull never once mentioned the Calgary Flames, or a single member of the organization, during his otherwise eloquent and emotive address. There was nary a nod to the scout who recommended the Flames take a chance on the chubby kid who could fill the net but played without will or power.

Hull pounded plenty of pucks past enemy goaltenders as a midget player but when no junior teams came calling, he quit the sport altogether. After two years on the sidelines, he returned to the game and collected 104 points with Penticton of the British Columbia Junior League as a 19-year-old. Not even the bus leagues were interested in his services.

The following year, Hull slipped, slapped and slugged 105 pucks into the opposition’s net. Still, the mention of his name raised only skeptical eyebrows.

But Jack Ferreira saw something only a wise old sage who had sat in drafty old hockey barns from Corner Brook to Chilliwack would recognize – raw talent. He convinced Calgary to select the overage and overweight kid with the Hockey Hall of Fame pedigree and the Flames followed his advice. They took Bobby’s boy in the sixth round of the 1984 Entry Draft, 116 places behind a kid from Laval, Quebec named Lemieux and 74 places ahead of another Quebec-bred sniper who would share the podium and the accolades with Hull on Monday evening – Luc Robitaille. Lucky Luc made certain that Alex Smart, the scout who saw in him what Ferreira saw in Hull, was given the proper respect and recognition.

It’s no secret that Hull’s career in Calgary was brief and that he clashed venomously with coach Terry Crisp, both in Moncton, where the Flames AHL farm team was based, and in the Stampede City when both were elevated to the NHL. And it’s true that Hull’s Hall of Fame career was molded in St. Louis, Dallas and Detroit, not in Calgary.

We all know how Brett’s journey ended. It would have been nice to see him acknowledge how it began.