The StatsMan

By Monika Moravan

Peter Zezel’s trade from the Philadelphia Flyers to the St. Louis Blues on November 29^th, 1988 lit up the Flyers switchboard with irate calls from heartbroken teenage girls.

That heartache was nothing compared to what people from all walks of life, hockey fans or not, felt when they heard that Peter Zezel died on May 26^th, 2009.  Zezel turned 44 just a month earlier. He was taken far too young, a victim of complications from surgery to improve his haemolytic anaemia, a rare blood disorder that nearly killed him in 2001.

Prednisone, one of the medications Zezel took to control the illness, caused massive weight gain – 60 pounds in the first six months. That would be a blow to any athlete but Zezel was undeterred; he still laced ‘em up participating in charity games and recreational hockey.

Zezel could have very easily spent every game night at the Air Canada Centre watching his beloved childhood team, the Toronto Maple Leafs and hobnobbing with hockey’s elite.

Instead, he spent most evenings at local rinks, be it coaching for the Don Mills Flyers, the organization where he played minor hockey, or simply taking in a game and helping out kids and parents with advice. He also scouted, focussing on intangibles such as hockey heart and work ethic.

Zezel’s death stoked the fire of long cooled memories. Many comments from Flyers fans recalled how they would wait in snow or rain outside the old Spectrum by the team bus, knowing Zezel never turned down autograph requests.

Team bus? Outside? How things have changed. As hockey’s old barns made room for more modern, concrete and steel sports silos, they built in barriers between players and fans.

The team bus goes deep into the arena bowels, where only media and clean-up crew have access. There is no throng of adoring fans, aside from the lucky few who have connections. After hitting the showers and slipping into their suits, players walk down a concrete hallway, boarding charter coaches, slipping away beyond the sight of most fans.

More and more autographs are the by-products of paid appearances, with seemingly fewer by chance. Some collectors are of the mindset that players who sign anywhere and everywhere devalue the product.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Right now the NHL needs more players who understand the personal value of an autograph is more important than resale prices on the collectibles market.

Peter Zezel knew that and lived it. R.I.P.