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Dog.’ The moniker came dur- the ice with the puck and Con- ing a game in San Diego when nie swung his stick and broke the public-address announcer, it over my arm. I dropped the THE 38-YEAR seated between the puck back to the teammate be- boxes, proclaimed, “Two min- hind me, and he was so afraid utes for delay of game to ‘Mad of Connie that he didn’t touch Dog’ Madigan.” An irate Ma- the puck.” OLD ROOKIE digan swung his stick and cut Tom McVie was both a team- the microphone wires, and the mate and an opponent of Ma- Madigan was a force in the minor leagues for 15 seasons nickname stuck. “There were digan’s in the WHL. “There before finally getting a crack at the NHL BY SAL BARRY some wild characters that came were other tough guys around, out of that Western League, and but I don’t know if there was ORNELIUS ‘CONNIE’ Ma- caster told me after a he was one of them,” said Gary anyone tougher than he was,” digan didn’t raise many game that I was the oldest NHL Sabourin, who played with McVie said. “Playing against eyebrows when he made rookie,” said Madigan, now 84. Madigan on the Blues during him wasn’t much fun. When I his NHL debut on Feb. 6, “I told him it should have been the ’72-73 season and roomed used to go in the front of the C1973, with the St. Louis Blues. a long time ago.” with him at training camp the net against Madigan, it was The team was so beset by inju- Don Cherry, who played with following fall. “Connie was his like backing into an airplane ries that 12 defensemen suited and against Madigan in the mi- own man, just a strange dude.” propeller.” up for them that season. nors, added: “Connie should Cherry, who was Madigan’s At one time or another, Ma- However, the have gotten his chance when partner on defense with the digan was the property of the 38-year-old Ma- he was in his 20s or early 30s. WHL’s Spokane Comets in , Toronto digan set a record He would have been a lot better. 1962-63, added: “We got a lot Maple Leafs, Black that night that But a lot of guys were like him of room out there because of Hawks and , but still stands: he and never got a .” his reputation. You had a lot of he didn’t crack the NHL with was the oldest rookie to play in Madigan was a standout de- time to move the puck. He was any of those teams the NHL. And with today’s game fenseman in the old Western a good skater, and there was – due to injuries or personality being all about speed, it’s a safe League – most notably with the nobody tougher. I liked playing bet that distinction will never Portland Buckaroos – when it with him.” good team guy, but sometimes I be surpassed. was a professional circuit on Playing against Madigan was hadconflicts a little with trouble coaches. with “I coach was a- Back then, Madigan didn’t par with the AHL. Early on, he a different story. “Years later, es,” Madigan said. know he was setting a record. established himself as some- he was playing for Portland After the Bruins demoted one not to be messed with, and I was playing for Vancou- Madigan to the AHL’s Provi-

a shot in the NHL. “Blues broad- earning the nickname ‘Mad ver,” Cherry said. “I came down dence Reds in 1964, he and SCOTT PETTERSON He was just happy to finally get

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BUCKAROO BANZAI Louis. “And you know what? He Madigan was a fan favorite with the played pretty damn well, too. Portland Buckaroos for a dozen years. He’d been around the game He still resides in Oregon. long enough. He knew how to

play in the NHL.” play.Madigan He was played so happy in 20 to gamesfinally Reds coach-GM Fern Flaman that season, collecting three as- couldn’t agree on a salary, so sists and 25 penalty minutes. Madigan was traded to Port- land. There, Madigan blos- there weren’t too many times somed into one of the best de- I“They was challenged,” knew I could said fight, Madi so- fensemen in the WHL. He was gan, whose only NHL bout was against Real Lemieux of the Los times, a second-team all-star Angeles Kings. threenamed times a first-team and the all-star league’s five best defenseman in 1965-66. games in the playoffs and stayed But he became a victim of his Madigan played another five own success – too good of a game, when he and Stan Mikita player for the Buckaroos to sell tradedout of the slashing sin bin penalties. until his “Ifinal hit or trade to an NHL team. - That changed midway digan said. “He didn’t like that. through 1972-73, when the Tenhim andminutes knocked later, him Mikita flat,” gave Ma WHL was on its last legs. The me a tap and nicked me over Bucks traded Madigan’s rights the eyebrow. Just a little cut. No to the Blues for a minor-league big deal. If you hit somebody, player and cash, but Madigan’s you’re going to get hit back.”

reminded me about the tickets BETTER LATE THAN NEVER and asked me to be a part of Madigan finally got a hockey card, Slap Shot.” nearly four decades after his debut, with Panini’s 2011-12 Certified set. then 42, appears as Syracuse Bulldogs’In the 1977 tough film, guy Madigan, Ross ‘Mad by Dog’ Madison, memorably giv- in the fall of 1973, but at almost booing Charlestown fans before 39, it was an uphill battle, and brawlinging a one-finger with the saluteChiefs toin the his NHL career was over just as fast as it started. However, Pat- stint as the NHL’s oldest rook- ONE-FINGER WONDER Strangely enough, it was his rick signed Madigan to a three- ie almost didn’t happen. The Madigan will be familiar to many fans: bitfilm’s part final in act.Slap Shot that led to year deal before assigning him Blues wanted him to report he also played ‘Mad Dog’ in Slap Shot, Madigan getting a rookie trad- to the WHL’s San Diego Gulls. to its WHL team in Denver to in which he flips off Chiefs’ fans. ing card nearly 40 years after Midway through 1973-74, Ma- serve as a player-coach. Madi- his NHL debut. Card company digan was traded back home gan had no interest in that, but Panini planned on making a to the Portland Buckaroos to McVie happened to be visiting small set of cards featuring ac- when Blues president Lynn Pat- During those same playoffs tors from Slap Shot and con- resides in Portland today, and rick called Madigan’s house and in 1973, he gave a pair of Blues’ tracted Madigan for the use of isfinish a regular out his spectator contract. at He Win still- McVie talked Patrick into giving tickets to Ned Dowd – a minor- his photo and to sign several terhawks games. Madigan’s ‘Mad Dog’ a chance. league player that he knew from hundred cards. The Slap Shot NHL career lasted just over two Patrick agreed to give Ma- a prior training camp – and his card set never happened, but months, and it was a long time sister Nancy Dowd. Yes, the Madigan had a card picturing ago, but he still appreciates the Blues, and he performed same Nancy Dowd who wrote him with the Blues issued in every moment of it. “I want to sodigan well a five-daythat he tryoutwas signed with Slap Shot. Three years later, she thank the late Lynn Patrick and for the rest of the season. “He phoned Madigan to repay him set, with the back detailing his the St. Louis Blues for taking still had the heart to play the for his kindness. “I thought it shortthe 2011-12 NHL career. Panini Certified me into the NHL at 38,” he said. game,” said Floyd Thomson, was a prank, so I hung up,” Ma- And short it was. Madigan “I had a great time when I was

SCOTT PETTERSON Madigan’s teammate in St. digan said. “She called back and was invited to the Blues’ camp there, and I’ll never forget it.”

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