Hank Bassen

This red-haired goalie was never a regular in the NHL. He was a utility goalie who did his backup job very well. Being a back-up is one of the most difficult roles in hockey but Hank filled that role admirably. He even got the tag "Mr.Emergency" because of the way he was called in for duty. Unfortunately for Hank he played on NHL teams with great goaltenders. In Chicago he was stuck behind Al Rollins and in Detroit it was Terry Sawchuk (and later Roger Crozier).

"My career started as a back-up goalie and it seemed, more-or-less, to stay that way, Bassen recalled. "I did have some pretty illustrious partners and that had something to do with it. "

Hank was never the No.1 goalie in the NHL but he had a long and successful minor league career that saw him play in the AHL (Buffalo, Springfield, Pittsburgh), WHL (Calgary, Seattle, Vancouver, Edmonton), EPHL (Sudbury) and CHL (Cincinnati). Hank played his junior hockey back home in Calgary for the Calgary Buffaloes and later on for Medicine Hat Tigers

Hank's playing style was unorthodox which didn't always sit well with his trainers. When Hank played for the legendary Eddie Shore in Springfield in 1958-59, he was wandering too much out of his position and flopping to the ice. So ol' Eddie Shore tied a rope around Hank's neck and the crossbar so that Hank wouldn't flop to the ice and wander out of his crease without getting strangled. Eddie however might have had some impact on Hank who was the WHL MVP, best goalie and a first team All-Star in 1960 when he led the league in several categories.

Hank made his NHL debut in 1954 with Chicago.

"Al Rollins got injured and Chicago called me up from Buffalo of the AHL" Hank said, " I'll never forget that flight to Chicago. To this day, I've never been more excited about anything."

He won that first start against the Bruins but was soon sent back to the minors again. In 1957 Hank was traded to Detroit in a five player deal which included Hall of famers Glenn Hall and Ted Lindsay.

Hank never won the Stanley Cup but remembered when his Detroit lost to Chicago in the 1961 Cup finals. Hank was in goal for Detroit in game six of the finals that Chicago won 5-1.

"I allowed a couple of soft goals that night but Chicago really wanted to win the Cup badly. We (Detroit) had been champions on a number of occasions in the previous decade but Chicago hadn't won the Cup for more than 20 years. As a result, they were really flying in that series and deserved to come out on top," Hank said.

In 1965-66 Hank backed up Roger Crozier in Detroit. In the 1966 Stanley Cup finals against Montreal he played in game four when Crozier wrenched his knee. Bassen allowed goals from Ralph Backstrom and Jean Beliveau as the Canadiens won 2-1 at the Olympia. He might not have won the Stanley Cup but he won the Calder Cup (AHL) with Pittsburgh Hornets in 1967. Hank played one more season in the NHL when he got picked up by the expansion Pittsburgh Penguins in 1967.

After the 1967-68 season Hank retired to operate an excavating business in Calgary. He also managed the junior Calgary Wranglers between 1984-86 before going on to become a sales representative for a printing firm.

The Bassen family showed up in the NHL again in 1985 when Hank's son Bob emerged in the league. Bob went on to play 14 seasons in the NHL between 1985-99.

Special thanks to Patrick Houda.

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Glenn Merkosky

Glenn Merkosky is one of those guys who never really got the NHL chance he deserved. For various reasons he was often overlooked, despite amassing one of the better AHL careers in history.

Glenn is the Adirondack Red Wings' all-time leader for both regular season and playoffs in goals, assists and points. He is the 10th-leading goal-scorer, and 22nd-leading overall scorer, in AHL history. The two-time winner of the Fred Hunt Trophy, the AHL's version of the Lady Byng, is the only player to have his jersey number (15) retired by the Wings.

Curiously, Glenn was never drafted by an NHL team. He did sign with the Hartford Whalers organization in the summer of 1980, one year after playing his overage year of junior hockey. "Merk" put in a couple of solid years with the Whalers AHL affiliate in Binghampton, and even earned a 7 game cup of NHL tea in 1981-82, but was released in the summer of 1982.

The Edmonton Alberta native singed on with the New Jersey Devils for the next three years. He did play in 39 NHL games, accomplishing little. He chipped in with 5 goals and 10 assists. But he did put in 3 solid years with the Devils farm teams

The Detroit Red Wings signed "Merk" in the summer of 1985. The Wings were looking for a solid minor league player to help their kids on the farm team, and never really gave Glenn an opportunity to play at the NHL level. That was unfortunate as Merkosky really matured with the Wings farm team in Adirondack, and became a great AHL level player.

For the next 6 years Glenn was an incredible player in Adirondack. He rewrote the team's record book, and even led the whole leage in goal scoring with 54 tallies in 1986-87. Despite this, Glenn only got into 20 NHL games over the 6 years.

Glenn was a complete player who did everything well, but nothing particularly outstandingly. He had a big heart, and a goal scorers touch. He was perhaps a tad small and a tad slow at the NHL level. Also affecting his chances at NHL employment was Detroits investment in other, younger players. Glenn wasn't as skilled as first overall draft pick Joe Murphy. He didn't have the size and strength of Adirondack teammate Adam Graves. And he didn't crash and bang as noticeably as Randy McKay.

Had he played in the waterdown 30 team NHL 10 years after his prime, Glenn would have enjoyed a few seasons in the NHL.

Glenn went on to become a long time scout for the Red Wings.

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Dean Morton

Dean Morton became the second player in NHL history to score a goal in his only NHL appearance. Rolly Huard of the 1930 Toronto Maple Leafs was the first.

Morton was a defensive d-man if there ever was one. He only scored 4 goals in 202 AHL and IHL games, though did pop in 6 in the the lowly Colonial Hockey League. He was a physical force both in junior and minor pro but wasn't a great skater and was a replaceable commodity, thus explaining his short career.

Drafted 148th overall from the Ontario Hockey League by Detroit in 1986. He turned pro a couple of seasons later, spending two years with the AHL's Adirondack Red Wings. In the 1989-90 season Morton got his only shot at NHL action, and made the most of it by scoring a goal.

His goal-a-NHL-game pace didn't impress many people apparently. He would spend the next three seasons bouncing around with 6 teams in 3 leagues before hanging up the skates in 1993.

Morton would return to the NHL as a referee in 2000.

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Max McNab

Max McNab was often called the nicest guy in all of professional hockey - a title he was quite deserving of.
However, despite being a promising prospect, Max never was able to make it to the big time, at least as a player.

A product of Watson, Saskatchewan, McNab was brought up in the Detroit Red Wings organization, and was being groomed as the heir apparant center to Sid Abel - the aging center on the famed Production Line with Ted Lindsay and Gordie Howe.

McNab was on his way to showing he was ready for the big time in 1947-48 when he led the entire USHL in goal scoring with 44 goals in the same amount of games. That same season he got his first audition in the NHL, scoring 2 goals and 2 assists in 12 games.

The following season Max was given most of the season to earn a big league job, but failed to impress. He scored 10 goals and 13 assists in 51 uninspiring games.  He played just well enough to continue to toil in a 4th line role in 1949-50, when he played in 65 games, but picked up just 4 goals and 4 assists.

McNab was demoted to the minors following that season, only to reappear as an emergency injury replacement in the 1951 playoffs. After a season with the Indianapolis Capitals of the AHL, his career looked to be all but over when a bulging disc in his back forced him to miss the entire 1951-52 season. McNab however recovered fully and resettled out west, playing in the Vancouver suburbs with New Westminister Royals from 1952 through 1959

After his playing days were over, McNab became a highly respected hockey executive. He helped to make San Diego a hot though small hockey hotbed. He briefly served as the president of the old Central Hockey League before retuning to the NHL as the expansion Washington Capitals as the general manager.

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John Sorrell

Johnny Sorrell was a lanky left winger with the Detroit Falcons/Red Wings and New York Americans during the 1930s and early 1940s. Standing nearly 6 feet tall but weighing just 155 lbs, John was instantly nicknamed Long John.

Born in Chesterville Ontario on January 16, 1906, Sorrell's hockey career began in the Can-pro league in 1927 with the Quebec Beavers. In 1928 he moved on to play with the Windsor Bulldogs. He was technically the property of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens. The Habs moved Sorrell to the London Panthers of the IAHL for the 1929-30 season.

The mild mannered Sorrell exploded with the Panthers, leading the entire IAHL with 31 goals in just 42 games. Instantly, every NHL team was interested in Sorrell's services.

It was the Detroit Falcons (later renamed Red Wings) who won the Sorrell sweepstakes when they traded Herbie Stuart to London on February 8, 1930. For the next 7 1/2 seasons Sorrell was a key contributor to the Detroit franchises' success. Part of that success included back to back Stanley Cup championships in 1936 & 1937. That first Stanley Cup championship was Sorrell's career highlite. He scored 7 points in as many games to help his team realize the dream of hoisting the Stanley Cup.

A skilled player with good skating ability, Sorrell twice led the Wings in goal scoring. This was quite an accomplishment considering his teammates included the great Ebbie Goodfellow, Syd Howe and Mud Bruneteau.

As his production hinted of slowing down, Sorrell was traded to the NY Americans in 1938 in exchange for Hap Emms. Sorrell played 3 1/2 seasons in New york and a couple more in the minor leagues before turning to the world of coaching in Indianapolis.

John was also a heck of a baseball player. In the hockey off season he played semi-professional baseball.

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Lefty Wilson

Ross "Lefty" Wilson was the long time equipment trainer of the Detroit Red Wings. However when he first started he also served as the team's practice goalie, and since team's only carried one goal at the time, he also served as an emergency replacement if a team's goalie got hurt!


Wilson was a capable backstopper in junior hockey, but he had a less than memorable professional career. He was signed by the Wings in 1944 and reported to the Wings farm team in Omaha where he'd also serve as the assistant trainer, a job he took only to make sure he got to play in Omaha.


Red Wings boss Jack Adams pretty much summed up Wilson's career on the ice in this quote - "As a goaltender, he makes a pretty good trainer."


Wilson eventually was promoted to the Red Wings to serve as the equipment trainer as well as practice netminder. He quickly made a name for himself as the loudest man in hockey, as he loved to yell words of encouragement to his players, not to mention some less than kind words to the referees.


As mentioned earlier, Lefty would also serve as the emergency replacement goalie if one of the team's goalies got hurt. This happened on three occasions.


The first was on October 10, 1953 when he replaced the legendary Terry Sawchuk, who hurt his kneecap. Wilson stepped in and never surrendered a goal in 16 minutes of play.


On January 22, 1956, the Maple Leafs Harry Lumley had to leave a game against the Wings and Lefty had to dress up for the Leafs, and face his usual comrades. Much to the excitement of the crowd, Wilson shut down his own team in 13 minutes of action. On one rush he picked the net off of its moorings and turned the net around facing the boards so that the wings couldn't score on him! The referees of course were not amused, but Lefty would claim it was an accident. The NHL had to change the rule after that incident.


On December 29, 1957, Wilson dressed for the Boston Bruins as their starting goalie Don Simmons pulled out of the game just 8 minutes in. Wilson played brilliantly for the final 52 minutes, surrendering his only NHL goal against en route to tying the team that gave him his pay checks.


For a trainer, his goaltending stats are quite remarkable. Just one goal against in 85 minutes of action gave him a career GAA of 0.71! He is also almost assuredly the only man in NHL history to play in just three NHL games, each of which were played with a different team.

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