phil fuckin bourque

While waiting for saturday night hockey to once again provide some entertainment, I've taken to watching a couple of classic Penguins games. Last night I finished watching their game 6 shellacking of the North Stars which brought the team its first Stanley Cup.

One of the things that struck me the most (re: made me the most nostalgic) was not that the Pens had such a killer team (Mario, Coffey, Stevens, Francis, Mullen, Jagr, Murphy, Barrasso etc.) but rather the presence plumbers like Bob Errey and Phil Bourque.

A plumber is a hockey player who is not supposed to stand out save for their intensity and their general lack of touch around the net. This is not to say they don't ever get scoring chances. In fact, since these players are not known for their offensive prowess they often find themselves wide open. However, their on-ice responsibilities consist of mostly not allowing a goal while their superior teammates rest.

Now, Bob Errey actually played on Mario's line for awhile and Phil Bourque somehow found himself playing the point with Coffey on the powerplay so it could be argued that these two aren't the purest of plumbers. Nonetheless, I will try to make them serve my purpose.

While it only makes sense that the best players tend to be the most popular, I'd posit here that the older the fan gets, the more he appreciates the work of the plumber. As a child, Mario Lemieux was my idol. I'd make highlight reels of his goals, collect his cards and study his moves. For me, Mario was someone to aspire to be just as Sidney Crosby is for millions of kids nowadays. The kids are drawn to these players for their awesome ability and dominance that allows them to determine the outcome of the game.

As fans get older and realize that their dreams of becoming just like their childhood hero are depressingly untrue that, essentially, they've been lied to by who told them they can be whatever they want to be, the fan develops a markedly different approach to players.

This disillusionment has the older fans now crediting their childhood hero with what is called "god-given talent". While it is clear that no god exists, this sort of statement serves in part to justify their athletic failure since unlike Gretzky or Lemieux, God simply didn't give them the same talent. Indeed, they often go as far as to tell themselves that they "really never had a chance" to be the next Gretzky or Lemieux.

Now, it is obvious that very few players can ever approach Gretzky and Lemieux let alone be their become the next ones. Gretzky and Lemieux were Gretzky and Lemieux precisely because they were unlike everybody else. What is important here, however, is how this 'revelation' affects their allegiances.

As an older fan, they become more apprehensive to young up-and-comers (such as Crosby), denigrating him as a baby and the like. In reality, they are jealous of and threatened by the precocity of such players for it reminds them of their own 'god-given' inability. It should seem natural, therefore, that such fans find comfort in the plumbers' modest talent. They are rarely disappointed by the plumbers' failure to bury a chance since the plumber status serves, essentially, as a carte blanche. Nobody really expects the plumber to come up big and score the game-tying goal. As long as they chip in offensively and don't commit a defensive gaffe which leads to a goal against, their role is revered.

Thus, as I was watching Game 6, I was struck by the tenacity of a certain hunched-over #29. Sporting a broomball helmet (which the NHL subsequently banned for its lack of protection), the player in black and yellow flew down the rightwing boards and cut into towards the goalie on a partial breakaway. With a wide-open net and Jon Casey at his mercy, he calmly slid the puck along the ice right into the......goaltender's outstretched arms.

For those familiar with the Penguins 1991 Stanley Cup Video, Phil Bourque is by far the most interviewed Penguin. With a beautiful mullet and the requisite playoff facial hair, Bourque elaborates at length how he loves scoring empty net goals, claiming to love them "more than anyone else in the league." What a beauty!



I recently bought this card, his rookie.