Thursday, November 01, 2007

Hockey's most mysterious puck




The fable goes that Pat Stapleton collected the winning puck of the 72 Super Series, that famous black rubber disk that Paul Henderson put behind Vladislav Tretiak to regain hockey glory for Canada.

What he did with that puck? Well that's where fable moves to fiction, Stapleton has never really said where the puck ended up after game eight of the most hotly contested hockey series ever played by a Canadian team.

Stories have come and stories have faded all revolving around the puck, a piece of history that seems to live a fascinating life some 35 years on. A plain black puck, stamped with Czechoslovakia, non-descript but none the less, a piece of rubber that continues to rank as one of hockey's greatest mysteries.

The Globe and Mail added to the lore on Wednesday, with a Canadian Press piece on their website about Ken and Bev Vivian of Fenelon Falls. They are an Ontario a couple who think that they may be the ones with the famed puck. Safely placed in a freezer bag, and secured in a safe, waiting for its rightful place in hockey history.

The saga of the puck is an interesting tale, full of intrigue and maybe even a little deception for the current holders of the puck. While you kind of hope that indeed that black puck in the Ziploc bag in a safe is the one and only, some of the anecdotal information about this puck gives you the thought that maybe this isn’t the one.

It is the ultimate of where is it’s.

Legend seeks out one single puck, with so many possible stories. Only Pat Stapleton has the real story and over the last thirty five years he hasn’t done much talking, perhaps enjoying the attention that this puck commands oh so many years on ...

Time to add one more name to the growing list of legend, another addition that allows the mystery to continue...

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