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AL IAFRATEHe's now second |
Hockey notes
Big blast from the past
Chara's record shot wasn't hard for Iafrate
All these years later, when Al Iafrate's name comes up, everyone first thinks of his formidable shot.
"Just the way it is, I guess," said the former Bruins defenseman, reached last week while on the road for work in Columbus, Ohio. "I understand it . . . people think all I could do was shoot hard. Me, I want to believe I was the full package, that people think, 'Hey, this guy could play!' Truth is, my game was that I could skate. But then the shot thing happened, and that kind of etched it in stone."
Until last weekend, Iafrate, now 42, owned the NHL's hardest shot, a 105.2-mile-per-hour bomb he unleashed with an old-time wooden stick in the 1993 skills competition during All-Star weekend at the Montreal Forum. A member of the Washington Capitals in those days, "Wild Thing" was only 26 and in full flight as one of the game's most awesome forces, a 6-foot-3-inch, 235-pound, wide-bodied burner with what looked like a bioengineered stride and that made-by-
Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara, a physical marvel himself, deleted Iafrate's shot from the record book in last weekend's skills competition, also in Montreal, and again during All-Star festivities. Big Z, with his new-age, lightweight stick in hand, put the hammer down on a 105.4-m.p.h. blast.
"A lot of people the last few days have asked me if I'm sad," said Iafrate, who these days works for Warrior, the sporting goods manufacturer, aiding in the sale, design, and production of hockey sticks. "And you know what, I'm really not. To me, it's surprising that it lasted this long, and on a personal note, hey, it was a chapter in my life, and to see a guy like Chara get up there and do it, that's great, man.
"Obviously, he's a great hockey player and he wanted to break the record. You could see that, he wanted it. And what's better than to see a guy who's committed to doing something actually go out there and do it? It's great, what he did. It's great to see a guy accomplish something. He is the undisputed flamethrower of the NHL."
A little more than a year after setting the record, Iafrate was dealt to Boston at the March '94 trade deadline, with Joe Juneau going to the Capitals. Had he not arrived with a badly damaged knee, Iafrate could have been the missing piece to the Bruins getting back to the Stanley Cup finals and possibly enough to have helped them clinch a championship. But he only played 12 games that season, along with 13 more in the playoffs (including a magnificent performance in the series win over the Canadiens), and he didn't suit up again in the NHL until after the Bruins dealt him to San Jose for rugged winger Jeff Odgers in June 1996. The Planet's orbit around the Hub was painful and short-lived.
"For about 10 years there, it was me and Al MacInnis," said Iafrate, noting how the two hard-shooting backliners led the league in power shooting in their day. "We were both that echelon above, you know, always in that 102-105 [m.p.h.] range. Today, it's guys like [Shea] Weber [in Nashville], [Sheldon] Souray [in Edmonton], and Chara. Same as it was when I played . . . a lot of guys shot hard, but we shot the hardest. Now there's Chara and those guys. Hey, if you're a marketing guy in the NHL, it's perfect, right?"
Iafrate, the No. 4 overall pick by Toronto in the 1984 draft, lives today in Livonia, Mich., where he grew up prior to cracking the NHL as an 18-year-old with the Maple Leafs. His 14-year-old son, Max, plays elite amateur hockey for the "Honeybaked" team (former club of the Bruins' Matt Hunwick) in the Detroit area. The junior Iafrate likely will be in the Hub this summer to play for a Hockey Night in Boston club.
"I don't play anymore . . . if I played, I'd want to be out there against the guys we saw in Montreal . . . otherwise it's like a bottle rocket for me, no fun," said Iafrate. "I'd rather watch Max now. He's a big righthanded defenseman who can shoot fire and skate like the wind. How far he goes, who knows? He's got the whole toolbox. At 14 everyone wants it, but then you reach that level where everyone is big and everyone is strong and everyone is fast, and then it becomes how bad do you really want it?"
One last question for Iafrate: Had he been handed one of those lightweight sticks in his prime, at 26, with all the lights burning bright in Montreal, what might he have clocked for a shot?
"Great question, and my humble opinion is . . . I'm not sure," he said. "Is it 104, 105, 106? No way of knowing. When you're shooting up there, when you're in that 99.9 percentile, I think it's hard to get, say, a 5-10 percent change. You are probably looking at more like a 0.5 or 1.0 percent change. So to think I could go out and drive it up to 108-110? Humbly speaking, I think it would have been tough. Right now, Zdeno Chara is the king of the world, man. He set the record and that's cool. I'm not going to stand here and say that I could fast-track backward and shoot it any harder. I'll take the No. 2 hard shot ever recorded in the All-Star Game, and that's good for me."
If you want answers, go straight to the top
A few thoughts from Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs, in for a visit Tuesday night with the Capitals playing on Causeway Street:On the NHL Players Association's recent decision not to break the collective bargaining agreement, guaranteeing labor peace through at least 2010-11:
"It seemed the only intelligent thing they should do, and they haven't necessarily done the smartest things right along. There are a lot of things I don't like about [the CBA], but for us and the league, it's the right paradigm."
On what he doesn't like about the CBA:
"It's expensive. It's hard to live with . . . it's a lot of money [to the players] and it's hard to make these businesses successful with what is left for [owners]. I am not in a position to talk too specifically, otherwise I get in trouble. But for the Bruins, it's very expensive to live with . . . we have one of the highest payrolls in the league. Last year, we had the third-highest payroll in the league, and this year it is much the same story. Yes, my revenues are up [with the team's success], but my payroll is very high."
On fighting in the NHL, again a hot issue after the recent death of amateur player Don Sanderson in Ontario:
"I think fighting is part of the game. The goon-type fighting is not, but fighting is part of why people enjoy hockey. I am comfortable with it. Hey, it gets annoying out there, and sometimes people let loose."
On why the three building lots around the Garden remain undeveloped:
"In the last six, seven years, we've had at least a half-dozen deals we've pursued, and for whatever reason it hasn't come to pass. The environment right now is not good."
On rumors of the Bruins looking for a new practice facility:
"Wilmington is our practice facility for the foreseeable future . . . but we are exploring options."
On the Phoenix Coyotes' reported financial woes:
"I think teams in our league are going to stay put, and that Phoenix is going to stay in Phoenix. People forget that it took 100 years to build up the following our clubs have in Montreal, Boston, and Toronto. Phoenix has a population of around 5 million, and we have to give them time to build their following. They are also challenged with football, basketball, and baseball. I'm sure if they won the Stanley Cup they would sell out for years into the future."
On potential expansion, or a franchise shift, possibly to Hartford:
"I haven't heard anything about expansion. One day I'd love to see Houston and Seattle - big markets - in the league."
On his company's interest in casino gambling in the state:
"I'd be very interested. But I think a lot of people are in front of me on that."
On the Olympics and the NHL's involvement in future Games:
"It hasn't worked out [from a marketing standpoint]." Added son Charlie Jacobs: "We have not seen the uptick." Jeremy Jacobs: "I'm not going for it."
On his potential ownership one day of the NFL's Buffalo Bills:
"I can't, I've got the Bruins, and that would be a conflict. I could see a group [owning the Bills] and I could see having a role in that."
Etc.
Dollar diplomacy
In a recent letter to members, players' union boss Paul Kelly informed the rank and file that their escrow payments will be monitored, paycheck to paycheck, for the remainder of the regular season. The escrow was set prior to this season at 13.5 percent. Now it's at 22.5 percent, taken out of the most recent payroll checks. The union is trying to safeguard against a potential shortfall, which would leave it in need of collecting funds from members to pay the league, a recovery process that could prove messy. The union hopes to leave the rate at 22.5 percent for each of the four remaining checks, but it could be dialed higher or lower, based on how gross revenues look the rest of the way.Emery: Hat's off
Somewhat disturbing video clip from Russia, where ex-Senators goalie Ray Emery is employed by Atlant Mytishchi. The clip shows a team trainer politely, somewhat timidly, offering Emery a ballcap near the bench, where Emery presumably was going to spend the game as the backup. After a brief staredown, Emery proceeds to pummel the trainer, who, according to some reports, was attempting to help fulfill a sponsorship obligation that required the backup goalie to wear the sponsor's ballcap. Meanwhile, Emery, labeled a malcontent last season with the Senators, recently had his record up to 20-6-0 with Atlant Mytishchi.Wing's man
Henrik Zetterberg's 12-year/$73 million deal with Detroit, signed last week, very much resembles Vincent Lecavalier's 11-year/$85 million pact that also begins next season. Lecavalier gets the bulk of his money over eight years. Zetterberg will receive all but $5.35 million of his dough over nine years (an average of $7.512 million those years). And if they want to buy him out after nine seasons, the Red Wings can part company for a minimal cap hit ($600,000) over six years. Now all the Winged Wheels have to do is figure how to keep Johan Franzen and Marian Hossa, not to mention Mikael Samuelsson, already with $47.3 million committed for next season.Loose pucks
Bill Zito, agent for Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, was in Boston this weekend. Neither Zito nor Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli says they are close to a new pact for Thomas, destined to be an unrestricted free agent five months from today . . . The NHL has done a feasibility study on Fenway Park and Gillette Stadium as possible venues for a Jan. 1 outdoor game . . . Had to laugh when Sheldon Souray noted to Versus reporter Bob Harwood that he takes grief from Stars goalie Marty Turco about having the audacity to fire a slap shot in an All-Star Game. In other words, the All-Star Game has been reduced to no checking and no hard shooting. What we have here, folks, is professional ringette. Can't somebody please save these people from themselves? Keep All-Star weekend. Bring the stars in for the skills competition, corporate gladhanding, schmoozing, etc. But don't let them foist ringette on us. Far better to stage a regular-season outdoor game in the All-Star city of choice, make the stars available to media and corporate sponsors, and let the old-timers/legends play an indoor game. The whole thing should be a hockey celebration, not some weak-tea imitation of the NHL. The current All-Star Game only serves to convince nonbelievers to stay away, way away.Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at dupont@globe.com; material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.
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