Jim Bartlett

I want you to think back to when Rocket Richard was infamously suspended for the balance of the 1954-55 season and playoffs. Upon his incarceration, who did the Montreal Canadiens call up from the minor leagues to take his spot on the roster?

The answer is Jim "Rocky" Bartlett, a 5'9" 165lb mighty mite from Verdun Quebec.

Bartlett's stay in Montreal was short, just two regular season contests and 2 more in the playoffs. He did not score a point, and was drafted by the New York Rangers in something called the Intra-League draft later that summer.

Although he spent most of the next three seasons in the minor leagues, the move to the Rangers organization was a good one for Bartlett. By 1958-59 he enjoyed his first of three full seasons in the NHL, two with the Rangers and a third with Boston. He scored 34 goals and 57 points in 191 career NHL games. A willing fighter, he was a fan favorite in New York along side partner in crime Eddie Shack. The pugilistic duo was dubbed "Nuts and Bolts."

By 1961 he was back in the minor leagues, playing with the Providence Reds and then the Baltimore Clippers until 1973. He was somewhat of an AHL legend, famously playing on the "B" line in Providence with Stan Baluik and Pierre Brillant. He almost lost an eye though in 1963, thanks to an errant stick. Bartlett obviously returned.

Bartlett would one day go on to work as a chauffeur for none other than New York Yankee's owner George Steinbrenner.

"I don't have any problems with him," Bartlett says. "He's a little gruff with people who work for him. He can be a little harsh with them, but with me, it's no problem. I just say it the way it is and that's it. "Sometimes he'll get in the car and he'll tell me, `I'm not in the mood for talking.' I'll say, `Well, I'm going to tell you my story anyway.' When I'm done, he wants to talk and he's asking me questions about what I told him."

Bartlett thanks his hockey career for landing him the driving job, a position he held for 20 years.

"When he found out I used to be a hockey player, that's when one thing led to another."

Bartlett became Steinbrenner's unofficial hockey tutor when his company bought into the New Jersey Devils. Bartlett had to explain the game to him.

"He'd take me up to the box with him. I had to show him everything. Why did the whistle blow when the puck went across the red line. That's a two-line pass. What about when the whistle blew when it was touched up. That's icing. When he has other people in his box, he'll say to them, `Anything you want to know about the game, just ask Jimmy."

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Oscar Asmundson

"And the Oscar for best lighting technician goes to . . . Oscar Asmundson!"

Okay, so former NHL player Oscar "Ossie" Asmundson never won an Oscar award, but there was a time where perhaps he dreamed of just such an honour. After retiring from hockey he moved to Hollywood and became a lighting technician on the sets of movies and television shows.

The 5'11" 170 forward from Red Deer, Alberta firs made a name for himself playing on Canada's west coast in Victoria and Vancouver before heading to New York to play for a little known team called the Bronx Tigers of the little known league called the Can-Am League. Asmundson's strong play in the Bronx helped him move to classier digs in Manhattan as he joined the NHL's New York Rangers in 1932-33, just in time to help the Rangers win the Stanley Cup!

A low scoring, defensive minded winger, Asmundson played one more year with the Rangers before he became a hockey vagabond. He would mostly play in the minor leagues, most notably with the Cleveland Barons, but he also saw brief NHL action with the Detroit Red Wings, St. Louis Eagles, New York Americans and Montreal Canadiens.

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Oscar Aubuchon

A 5'10" 175lb left winger from St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, Ossie Aubuchon was a noted player with various Montreal teams in the Montreal junior leagues of the 1930s. But he would first rise to fame in Great Britain of all places.

After Britain knocked off Canada at the 1936 Olympics and won the gold medal, hockey was at an all time high in England. Many Canadian players were invited to come play in the British League. Ossie Aubuchon took up the offer and played two seasons with the Brighton, Tigers.

Aubuchon returned to North America upon the starting of World War II. He would play professionally in the minor leagues, bouncing around from Pittsburgh to Cleveland to New Haen and most notably with Providence, all of the AHL.

Oscar was bought from the Providence Reds in 1943 to fill in for the depleted Boston Bruins roster, thanks to leaves of absences on the war front. He played three games in 1942-42, scoring 3 goals even! But Oscar will be best remembered as the player who wore #15 in Milt Schmidt absence.

Sold to the Rangers early in the 43-44 season he tallied a respectable 15 goals for the Rangers in his only full NHL season.

As NHLers began returning from the War, Aubuchon found himself back in the minor leagues, bouncing around again from Buffalo to Hersey to St. Louis. He had enough by 1946, and opted to return home to Quebec where he continued playing in the local senior leagues.

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Lloyd Ailsby

When I started researching this particular player, I ashamedly admit I had never heard of him or his birthplace. I quickly became intrigued.

Lloyed Ailsby was born on May 11, 1917 in little known Lac Pelletier in Saskatchewan. He would go to a long professional career, from 1936 to 1958 as a vagabond defenseman. He played in New York (EHL) and Philly (AHL), Ottawa (QSHL) and Seattle (WHL), amongst other places, but he was best known for his all star campaigns with the St. Paul Saints of the USHL in the late 1940s.

Despite his long, long tenure on the professional scene, Ailsby only managed to appear in three NHL contests, all with the New York Rangers in 1951. It was Christmas week, and he even had to play on Christmas day. He probably did not mind too much though. After 15 years in the minors, he was happy just to be in the show.

Ailsby would unfailingly return to the minors the next week, playing and also coach parts of the next eight campaigns.

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Clint Albright

They nicknamed the studious Clint Albright "The Professor" for good reason. He loved text books as much as he loved hockey.

In his youth Albright was quite the hockey legend in his hometown of Winnipeg. He went all the way to major junior with the Winnipeg Monarchs, twice playing for the Memorial Cup and winning the famous trophy in 1946.

While he likely could have made the jump to the professionals that next season, Albright opted to stay home and enroll in classes at the University of Manitoba. He would also play for the school team and for the Winnipeg Flyers of the local senior circuit. The Flyers even challenged for the Allan Cup that year.

Albright, who wore glasses when he played, was convinced to turn professional in 1948. He played in 59 games with the New York Rangers, scoring a respectable 14 goals and 19 assists. He quietly seemed to have earned a spot in the tough days of the Original Six.

That's when Albright walked away from it all. Instead of returning to Manhattan for more big league hockey, he returned to the University of Winnipeg to finish his engineering degree. He briefly played some semi-pro hockey in St. Paul in the 1951, but otherwise he dedicated himself to his career as a mechanical engineer for Cominco. His 34 year career with the company saw him live in Trail and Kimberly, BC and Calgary Alberta.

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Mike Allison

Many players split their hockey careers between the NHL and the minor leagues. Mike Allison's NHL career was split between the NHL and the doctor's offices. A left winger who also was spotted at both right wing and center ice, Mike suffered through serious knee injuries early in his career which altered his effectiveness at the NHL level.

Mike was drafted by the New York Rangers 35th overall in 1980, coming off of an outstanding 71 assist, 95 point season with the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL. The 6', 200 pounder from Fort Frances, Ontario made the immediate jump to the NHL in 1980-81 and made a promising contribution in year one, scoring 26 goals and 38 assists for 64 points. He even scored his first goal on his first shot in his first game. In his second game he scored a hat trick!

However those totals would all prove to be career highs as serious knee injuries limited his playing time and playing style for the rest of his career.

Mike remained in the Rangers organization for the next 5 years despite repeated ankle and serious knee injuries. In those 5 years he played in 48, 39, 45, 31 and 28 games respectively. Mike's promising offensive contributions were all but wiped out due to the injuries. Even when he was healthy enough to play his knees hobbled his skating style so badly that he had to reinvent his game. Instead of being a scorer like he was in his earlier days, Mike became a mucker and grinder. His anticipation skills allowed him to be very good defensively and excelled as a penalty killer.

A very proud man, Allison was also highly regarded as an excellent team man, bringing infectious enthusiasm and heart both on and off the ice. And Mike only knew how to play the game one way - full out - and he continued to play that way despite the injuries. His reckless abandon only contributed to further injuries.

Mike was traded to Toronto in exchange for Walt Poddubny on August 18, 1986. That season Mike played a full season for the first time since his promising rookie season 6 years earlier. However by this time Mike had reinvented himself as a grinder and penalty killer. Allison played in 71 games and scored 7 goals and 23 points. He also had a nice playoff for a surprising Leaf team in the spring of '86. He scored 3 goals and 8 points in 13 post season contests, all of which was gravy compared to his invaluable hustle and specialty team's play.

Mike started the 1987-88 season with the Leafs but after a slow start (0 goals in 15 games) was traded to Los Angeles in exchange for Sean McKenna on December 14, 1987. It proved to be a good Christmas gift for Allison. He was in LA for Wayne Gretzky's first year with the Kings. It was an exciting time to be a member of the Kings, with all the hoopla surrounding Gretzky. Mike actually found himself playing with Wayne at times! He even scored 16 goals and 28 points in just 37 games with the Kings. If that were calculated over a full 80 game schedule, Mike would have posted career highs in those categories.

Mike played almost 3 years in Los Angeles but never played in more than 55 games. His bad knees combined with a nagging groin injury forced him to sit out more than he wished to. He also rarely got to play with Wayne in subsequent seasons, as the Kings acquired more skilled depth, which allowed Mike to concentrate on a supporting role which he was more suited for anyways.

Allison retired scoring 102 goals and 166 assists in 499 NHL games. He added 9 goals and 17 assists for 26 points in 82 playoff contests, but never was able to sip from Lord Stanley's Cup. He was an excellent team man with lots of desire and heart. His excellent and attitude and work ethic made him a valuable asset.

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Walt Atanas

It was none other than the legendary Eddie Shore who discovered Walt "Ants" Atanas. He was a star scorer with his hometown Hamilton Whizzers in the early 1940s. After scoring a league leading 37 goals in 23 games in the OHA, Shore signed the right winger to his AHL team in Buffalo.

Atanas stepped in nicely into Buffalo, using his great speed and shot to help the Bisons win the AHL championship. With 6 goals and 13 points in 9 playoff games Atanas was now on the radar of all NHL teams, too.

It was the New York Rangers that were able to secure Atanas' release from Buffalo, via the inter-league draft. With the Rangers' roster depleted by World War II commitments, Atanas stepped in nicely in 1944-45 and score 13 goals and 21 points in 49 games.

Oddly, Walt Atanas would never play hockey in the NHL after that season again.

The Rangers were looking to make wholesale changes after missing the playoffs. With most of the players returning from their various war commitments Atanas was demoted to the Minor Leagues. After first reporting to the Cleveland Barons of the AHL he soon joined the Minneapolis Millers of the USHL. After struggling the first two years in Minny he found his scoring touch and enjoyed several seasons in Minny.

Atanas continued to play until 1957, making stops in Buffalo, Victoria, Vancouver, Springfield, Syracuse and North Bay. But he didn't hang up his skates when he left the ice as a player. He remained active as an on-ice official. He even served as a NHL linesman in 1961-62.

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