The First British NHL Draft Pick - The Tony Hand Story
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- čas přidán 24. 06. 2020
- On June 21st 1986, the Edmonton Oilers selected forward Tony Hand with the 252nd overall pick in the 12th round of the draft. Though he would never play in the NHL, the final pick of the draft would help put his country back on the hockey map and write his name in the hockey history books.
This is the story of the first British NHL draft pick...
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Had the pleasure of sharing the ice with Tony, hes a real gentleman and one of the humblest people I've met
Their Gold Medal was won with a team of almost entirely Canadians.
More than 50% of the EIHL (the top league in the UK) is Canadian ex-pats.
Yes but it was England that stared playing in Canada
Untrue - some of the team were Canadian born yes, but if you as actually look at the Canadian roster for that tournament, they had some British born players on their team too. Due to the fact Canada was a populated British colony, this was common.
Cam rayner canada was no longer an official colony by 1936
@@camrayner7302 Wrong.. Just wrong.. Very wrong
I had no idea who Tony Hand was until today! Amazing video. Thank you!
Taco Jawa oh god I’m old if people haven’t heard of Mr Assist 😉
I'd never heard of this guy, either
I wonder what the alternate timeline where he accepts one of the NHL contracts looks like
Sather also says "At the training camp I could see that he had a great ability to read the ice and he was the smartest player there other than Wayne Gretzky. He skated well: his intelligence on the ice stood out. He was a real prospect." Makes you wonder.
he plays at most 10 games
50-60 points? for how long i can't say
@@blazin1397 - But only because of injury. He scored 65 goals in those 10 games. I lived in that timeline for a bit, it's super strange there. My dick was tiny.
@@d-rockanomaly9243 lol
Never knew a Scottish Wayne Gretzky existed.
I did tsn had this story a while back
Wasnt Mark MESSIER #11 - of British Origin too ?
@@holoholopainen1627 ummm is that special half the league is part British
@@holoholopainen1627 a huge portion of canada is part british it isnt anything special for someone to have british ancestry its only abnormal and special for a british born and trained player gets drafted like liam Kirk
@@lilwoodiewood3457 But Wayne was Polish - and People in Quebec are No British ! Even Canada speaks English - many has ROOTS SOMEWHERE Else !
I was at this guys last ever game ☺️ Basingstoke bison vs Manchester Phoenix. Tony hand, what a legend
Playoff finals at Coventry right ?
Growing up in Edinburgh, I loved nothing more than watching Tony and his brother Paul playing for the Racers.
My father played on Tony’s line with Bowen Bryan’s father as well… he said he was the nicest guy who just loved his country too much to leave. Great video!
I agree he sounds great and I admire people who love their. Although if he’d joined they NHL he would changed British Hockey completely knowing he had the ability to do it people would up to him as the best player ever and Hockey would be the biggest sport in Britain, if only.
I had a chuckle when i seen his stats. It kinda reminds me of Some of the top player's on EA Nhl 20 who boost their stats playing noobs.
Glen Sather knew more than you guys
"Had to borrow a stick from enforcer Marty McSorley"
Was it a legal curve though?
it was probably a tree branch.
McSorley was just disposing of the evidence for multiple assaults.
Tony Hand is the official G.O.A.T in hockey history. He should be in the hockey hall of fame
woah woah let's not get carried away :p
He lived his dream not other people's. Respect
I dare say Tony Hand ould have been very good, perhaps even great. It's unfortunate the NHL never saw Tony Hand. That kind of production speaks for itself. But hey there is always Steve Thomas, he was pretty good.
Wow! What a career. Thanks for bringing our attention to this overlooked and otherwise forgotten hockey legend.
Glen Sather was right. If he had committed to staying in North America, he could have been a star.
Exhaustion is part of playing hockey. These guys play an 82 game season and are used to being tired and beat up. Hand was small, so he was going to have to be tough to play in the NHL.
He was definitely too good to be playing in the UK, but so are thousands of other players.
Peter Lee, was a helluva player who hailed from Britain, played for the Pittsburgh Penguins when I was a kid in the early 80s
This was great, thank you. I have such respect for people who take time and effort to tell the stories of their heroes to others. I am so glad to have heard about this remarkable team player's decisions and wisdom. Communities are wonderful, warm and extremely important. The world needs this example, not for the decisions, but for the values. Thank you so much!
It's amazing to think that he came into the game as a scrawny 14-year old, let alone put in a 35-year pro career - not even Gordie Howe could amass that many pro seasons. I saw him in his early prime in the 80's when the Racers played in televised live games on BBC Grandstand, and later on in person when he suited up for the Dundee Stars, the Edinburgh Capitals and the Manchester Phoenix - although he was not as greatly appreciated by me at the time, as he did most of his best work against my Coventry Blaze.
So, in summary - Ovechkin: I am greatest goalscorer ever.
Gretzky: I scored more points than anyone in hockey history.
Tony Hand: Hold my Irn-Bru, plebs.
I mean if Gretzky was in the same league as hand he wouldn't have 2700+ points...
He would have 10 000 XD
@@Yomasi lol I like how he doesn't reply to amend, or acknowledge the massive hole in his comment :p
It’s a shame he didn’t follow the NA path for his career.
Having a British star in the NHL could have done wonders for the development of the sport here.
I'm from Edmonton Alberta, born and raised, and having family in Scotland got me truly excited to know about this WOW!!!
Please do a David longstaff episode. As a lifetime warriors fan it would mean a lot to me!
I get to meet him today and getting trained by him today as well so excited 😆
Great video
Waste of time 😂
Amazing story
Sir:
Your documentary about Mister Hand is very good!
Scotland has many other high-quality ice hockey players because of Mr Hand's exciting exploits.
He would've been excellent at Victoria and made millions!
Funny thing.... I been a hockey fantic since the 60's and I've never heard of him.
Nobody has.. In North America at least... Top player in UK is like being the 5000th best player in North America 😂😂😂
@@mikelow4374 yeah I did
@@mikelow4374 he was the Wayne Gretzky of BIHL but this is a third tier league. This guy could’ve easily have had a very good career in the NHL.
What a Moron.
Seems like he may have been able to make it to the NHL and perhaps stick around for a bit... Very hard telling though.
Ya, I've heard just because players have been prolific scorers in the minors, that doesn't mean they're going to score in the NHL. :(
I think he would have had plenty of success in the NHL if he could have developed. He was averaging over 2.5 ppg in the WHL as a 19 year old. He had the hands, he could skate and most importantly he has serious hockey sense. He was 5'10" 190lbs which was good enough size. It's a shame he didn't stick it out in NA. He's one of the biggest what ifs in NHL/ hockey history.
I always wondered if his stats were a mistake when I saw him in the original Eastside Hockey Manager game, but jesus the Gretzky comparisons are more than fair. I will say though the 2 point Tony should be 3 point Tony, more fitting
The Wayne Gretzky comparisons are absolutely ridiculous... LOL.... I mean Hand could have had a decent NHL career as a 2nd or 3rd line player, perhaps scoring 50-60 points a season... But comparing him to Wayne Gretzky is just loony.... Sure he's the "Wayne Gretzky of Britain" but the competition across the pond is really really terrible..... Several NHL players have played in Britain and they put up Tony Hand numbers - heck there is a game here on youtube where a 43-year-old Gary Unger scored 10 goals in a game....... I mean most junior teams in North America would crush any professional team from Britain... There is a reason why Britain doesn't compete against Canada, USA, Russia, Sweden, Finland etc in international play, lol....
So yea, was Hand NHL material? sure, but he was nothing close to being an NHL star....
Dude...the guy's statistics don't mean anything. He put up those numbers by playing in what was essentially a beer league. To determine how good this guy really was, all it would have taken is for him to play one single season of Major Junior in Canada. But like everything else, he turned that down. This guy didn't want to put in the work. He wanted to be the big fish in a small pond. He didn't want to put in the work. He wanted to be the local hero..playing in front of audiences that didn't understand what they were watching (talent-wise). It almost seems like if he wasn't offered a spot on the big league club, he wasn't interested. He turned down Jr. A, he turned down an AHL team..but he chose to play something like 36 games a year in the British league?????? Very odd. Maybe he realized that he didn't have a future playing in NHL and wanted to save himself the letdown. Who knows. But it boggles my mind. Imo, an athlete should always want to play their sport at the highest level possible. An athlete should want to know where they stand. They should want to know how good they truly are.
@@Swoop187OG187 that's just not true is it.. the best NHL player to play in the EIHL was probably Matt Beleskey who put up just over a point a game. How many other nations do you know that get two consecutive IIHF promotions. Give some other nations some respect and stop being a dickhead hockey snob
@@michaelr.4878 Sather also says "At the training camp I could see that he had a great ability to read the ice and he was the smartest player there other than Wayne Gretzky. He skated well: his intelligence on the ice stood out. He was a real prospect."
This is just fuckin ridiculous 😂😂😂😂 comparing to Gretzky 😂😂😂 I have never laughed so hard 😂😂😂😂 good for him.. 2-3 points per game... Gretz would have been 10-15 points per game in that shitty league 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Great video. Nik Antropov, the first Kazakh born player to make the NHL would be a great video for the future.
You know Long time San Jose goalie Nabokov was born in Kazakh to.
Nobody cares about Antropov 😂😂.. There were players from there when still USSR
Ok, I'll admit some ignorance about this league. I've never heard of Tony Hand until I saw he was the top search on hockeydb and ended up here. Thanks for sharing, and definitely an excellent and noteworthy long career. As I researched more about the league he played in I thought "he surely must have lead the league in scoring almost every year." After checking his most dominant performances I stumbled upon the yearly leaders for those years. He was near the top, but how was he not the top scorer in 1986-87, or 88-89 and 93-94? Some guy had 180 goals in 56 games, but it wasn't Tony Hand. Fast forward to the standings and the top teams averaged 10 goals a game. Heck, the worst teams were averaging 5 goals. What size were the nets? Great career, but unfortunately we'll never know how it would have translated to a better league.
Some of the comments of 'beer league' and wouldn't work hard enough to cut in Canada aren't fair or accurate. Firstly, you don't get to play until 47 and keep in shape by not putting in the work. Think my second comment would be at the standard of league. In his early career, the league wasn't good, and the points stats are mad. But he was clearly the best player in the league, even with imported Canadians. Even in the late nineties where imports made up 90% of the league and was at a standard somewhere between ECHL & the IHL, he was still the best player. And this is with limited ice time and coaching in earlier years. I think he clearly had the talent to play in the NHL. Whether he would have 'made it', no one will ever know. But I certainly think he had the talent.
What a distinctive and interesting career he had. It makes me wonder what his career would have been had he been born and trained in Canada.
Sather also says "At the training camp I could see that he had a great ability to read the ice and he was the smartest player there other than Wayne Gretzky. He skated well: his intelligence on the ice stood out. He was a real prospect."
Let's go odd man Rush
tony hand was excellent. I saw him a lot of times playing in the "heineken" sponsored era in British ice hockey in the 80s and 90s. I supported whitley, and tony hand played for murrayfield. saw him in a lot of games against us. he was unbelievably good, head and shoulders above both the British players, and mainly Canadian imports that play here. Great goalscorer, assists and vision for the game. murrayfield were pretty much guaranteed to be in the top two with him in thr line up. a comparison is he was far better than the ex NHL players that played I'm great Britain. Great to watch, even playing against my team. who knows if he would have made it in the NHL, hard to say. but he was great to watch, and an unbelievably talented player. hats off to tony
skated with him and his brother when I was in Edinburgh trying out for the Royals ,
My mother's cousin played in the British pro league back in the fifties... scored 8 goals in one game (a feat which put him in the Guiness book of World Records) and 89 for the season (also a record, old record was 61)...Paisley Pirates? Fife Flyers?? can't recall who he played for, but one of those 2, I think... The Russians heard about him and invited him behind the iron curtain to teach them hockey, an offer he accepted... Glen Nott (sp?) did a full page story about him, back in the 80's, which appeared in the Hamilton Spectator, entitled, 'The Wizard of Europe'... According to Nott, he scored 12 goals in one game, playing the full 60 minutes, suiting up for East Germany vs CCCP... He was drafted by Boston (Edit: he attended Bruins training camp, not sure if they had an actual draft back then?), again according to Nott, scoring 9goals in 5 exhibition games as an 18 year old, but he was a Lloyd Percival disciple, who believed in crazy things like puck possession, circling back with the puck, wingers crossing... all revolutionary stuff for its time...because of this maverick streak, the Bruins tried to send him to Springfield, to teach the kid a lesson...but he refused to play for a team coached by Eddie Shore (hockey's captain Bligh), instead bolting across the pond... wound up playing in continental Europe, leaning 7 different languages and making more money than most NHLers, at the time... coached in WC and OG, if memory serves, for Italy and Austria...not sure, if he was a head coach, or assistant? Also employed, at one point, as a scout for the WHA's Calgary Cowboys (think it was?), plus MLB's Philadelphia Phillies, in the off-season, as he also had a keen eye for baseball talent
PS: His name was Harold Schooley, from 'the Hammer', attended Cathedral High School, if memory serves
I remember when he tried out for the Oilers in those two training camps in the 80s. It was a big deal in Edmonton. The pre-season games were never televised but you could hear them on the radio. Hand actually had the opportunity to play on the same shift as Gretzky.. He stuck around for the duration of both training camps, which was impressive considering the hall-of-fame talent on those great Oiler teams. It’s a shame we didn’t get see him play unless you attended the games. I’m hoping there is some footage somewhere of those NHL pre-season games he was involved in.
The Greatest Oiler ever - Not to play !
Tony hand just signed for our local club as a coach
I never realized that British hockey teams had been around since the early 1900's
Ice hockey was invented by british people on a ice pond in canada
@@sammybeaver9130 well, that puts it all in a different perspective then
@@karlsmith2570 yeah, lots of people think it is a Canadian sport but no, it is 100% britsih. The canadians made the sport better
@@sammybeaver9130 apparently, I was amongst the numerous people that thought that hockey was created by Canadians or even Scandinavians
@@karlsmith2570 Scandinavian made ice skating, the british made the basics of ice hockey and the canadians made it what it is today
Yeah! Those were the days.
I went to a Nottingham Panthers game what a snooze fest was like going to tea with the Queen so much polite clapping. Went to a game in Nuremberg Germany too that was a rocking incredible night they know how to put on a show!
I think more brits should play ice hockey. I’d really like to see more of team GB in IIHF tier I games
Well, technically Great Britain was included in this years WC for the second year in the row. www.iihf.com/en/events/2020/wm/teams
I've always wanted to see a UK team against an NHL team. The UK team would get destroyed, I know, but it'd still be quite the spectacle. :D Don't think enough people care about hockey here, though. :( It's all football/soccer. :(
@@STEJTHEGREATEST Bruins came over a few years ago to play Giants which were made up of an EIHL all star team
@@jackblaze2015 Who won?????? :O
😂😂😂😂😂😂 that's some funny shit
Hodge and Nolan are 2 UK born players who grew up in Canada and had long NHL careers. And there is a Australian called Walker
For players from countries like GB, Hungary, Japan the NHL is open nowadays, if they are good enough. In the 70s even Germans were not considered good enough.
And the national team of GB has the chance to prolongue their stay in the top division this may
Enjoyed the video but sorry to point out the Murrayfield Racers logo used is the wrong one.
This is the logo of the new team not the racers team he famously played for .
The Brits would love ice hockey if they were exposed to it more. It's a sport that's right up their alley. Hopefully one day a country like Britain that has a 60 million plus population will come around when it come to ice hockey. Not everyone can play football or cricket.
I really think Tony Hand could have been 300+ goal, 500+ assist player. Had he developed in the WHL and then played a half year or full year in the AHL. He could have been a great player. British hockey would be much more advanced internationally had Hand had a better ability to think long term. Oh well.
In my opinion Tony Hand is one of the biggest what it's in NHL history. It sure would have been interesting to see what he could have became playing with the likes of Gretzky, and Kurri.
Sather also says "At the training camp I could see that he had a great ability to read the ice and he was the smartest player there other than Wayne Gretzky. He skated well: his intelligence on the ice stood out. He was a real prospect."
A Scottish M.P. went to University of Prince Edward Island with me and was a very good I've Hockey player.
He told me in Charlottetown that Mister Hand was easily a naturally gifted player.
Imagine if Mr Hand had have been raised in Nova Scotia instead of Scotand? It stands to reason that he would have been twice as good.
Most of the leagues Tony Hand played in no longer exist, except for the WHL.
Years in existence
WHL: The Western Hockey League (1966-Present)
BHL: The British Hockey League (1980-1996)
ISL: The Ice Hockey Superleague (1995-2003)
GBR/BNL: The British National League (1996-2005)
EPIHL: The English Premier Ice Hockey League (1998-2017)
EIHL: The Elite Ice Hockey League (2003-Present)
I don't know if he would have been a superstar in the NHL, but I think he could have played his whole career in the NHL and made some decent money if that is what he wanted.
Yes but he would have just been another decent player and he didn't want to put in the work required to be in the NHL 😂😂😂 he instead wanted to be a big shit in a small shitty league 😂😂
I had never heard of this guy before, so I looked up his hockey DB.... he’s the british Wayne Gretzky. His numbers are insane.
He's Wayne Gretzkyshire VIi
He was for real
I just can't believe Tony Hand didn't stick it out in North America. Would have done wonders for Hockey in Scotland and beyond. Absolutely would have been a bonified NHLer ... who knows how good or great
He probably would have got hit once and quit running home for a pint 😂😂😂😂
Would he have made it in the NHL? As a native Montrealer and Canadiens fan, he sounds like the kind of player that would have fit right in with the team. Hard-working, humble, smart and "...sees the ice well, second smartest player in training camp" (after only Gretzky?!) and can score. Oh yeah, playing against the best of the best might not have resulted in the stunning numbers he put up in the UK, but Bob Gainey never won a scoring title yet Montreal would have 3 or 4 fewer Cups were it not for him. Build, head-smarts, natural hockey sense, good vision and hands puts him in the same (hypothetical) slot a Bob Gainey or Guy Carboneau, a Mario Lambert or Jean-Claude Tremblay might fill. Sounds like he wasn't an NHLer by choice, not lack of talent.
Considering he was "exhausted from the amount of training and press conference in Canada", I very much doubt it
Si c'est ce que Sather a dit, alors ce type était fou de refuser cette offre de contrat.
@@Yomasi I’d take him aside and tel him to man up and quit being a wimp. Mickey Mantle (the phenomenal NY Yankee legend) went through the same thing in his rookie year until his father had a “frank” man to man talk with him. I think Mr. Tony Hand needed his dad or older brother there to talk sense into him. OMG 😱 does this aggravate me!! Wasted talent.
Everyone wants British hockey to step up. Problem is there's no schoolyard or street incentive to learn to play and light it up as a kid. You won't play games against other kids who are any good, because they all play football. Some kind of incentive for kids to play roller hockey would be a good start. Facilities etc. There's not much ice or freezing weather in the UK so the cost of providing rinks is too big.
Steve Thomas was born in England.
You should do a video on British D man, Neil Liddiard. He started his career at the age of 15 in the BD1 with hometown club the Swindon Wildcats. He’s played in the following leagues:
BD1 (4 season - 1993-96)
EPIHL (13 seasons - 1996-97 then 2005-2017)
ED1 (1 season 1996/97)
BNL (8 seasons 1997-2005)
NIHL D1 South (2 season 2017-19)
NIHL National (1 season 2019/20 Ongoing)
He is currently 42 years old and has re signed for hometown club Swindon Wildcats for the 2020/21 NIHL National season. In 29 season he has won 21 cups. His three latest cups being in 2018/19 with the Swindon Wildcats were he won the Autumn and National Cup. And then in 2019/20 were he won the NIHL D1 South League.
Here’s his ELITE PROSPECT page link: www.eliteprospects.com/player/39550/neil-liddiard
I have a couple of British Ice Hockey players you can do vids on if you’d be interested in. Some ain’t all Brits but have played here for a number off years, such as Cardiff Devils import legend Max Birbraer(now re-classed Brit) and British goalie Stevie Lyle.
I was a big Oilers fan in the 80's and never heard of this guy Tony Hand. Or maybe they mentioned it on the local Edmonton news in those days and I forgot. Well...if the NHL had the teams, the money, the agents, and the press coverage in '86 that it has now, I'll bet that the young Mr. Hand (ALOHA!) would have at least taken a chance with life in, oh, Las Vegas or Tampa Bay or Anaheim or any other such fabulous HOCKEY HOTSPOT.... that offered him a job as stick boy.
Gary hunger saw the potential in tony hand and that's why he recommended him to the oilers and I truly believe he could have made a career in the show ....the greatest one to never play in the nhl ,having said that it was a privilege watching him play over here in the UK for over 20 years and matching the top imports and outclassed most if not all of them
The British Wayne Gretzky.
And the british Jagr at the same time!
* Scottish
I felt so embarassed to be called out that I promptly subscribed
real shame,he didnt stay there.. :( i think from oversea he would do much more for british hockey,than home... his stats in victoria talks itself :( anyway interesting story
Not sure if you'll end up seeing this but I wanted to ask what it's like to be a hockey fan from England? I'm Canadian so I just kinda grew up around it, it's just part of the culture. But what's it like being a fan in a country where the sport (presumably) isn't that popular? Is there anyone you're able to share your love for the sport with? How do you go about being able to watch games? I'd be interested in hearing how all that works for someone outside of North America.
Nothing brings me more joy than the good word of the sport,
I hope Britain will produce strong hockey players which I know it will & can!
As a Canadian expat living in the UK, I am somewhat starved for hockey. I didn't know there was a professional league in this country. Why is Belfast such a powerhouse?
Shows how good that league is 😂😂
Home of TITANIC !
I'm interested to see how '03 Born Alex Graham does in the 2021 Draft. Kid lit up the NIHL as a 16/17 year old. Playing pro hockey at his age is already impressive, but to be a top player in a pro league is damn incredible. Also did really well at the U20s as a 17 year old, granted it was the D2A division, but still. Could be a nice late round gem if he's developed properly
Only if he gets a decent haircut
Sure.. But you do realize that league is in the same level as a beer league in Canada right???
@@mikelow4374 well thats just flat out wrong. Its not the best league in the world but its still probably around the level of the SPHL. And if you had a 16 year old lighting up the SPHL people would definitely take notice. Plus he's playing in the EIHL in his draft year, like I said he could be late round gem, maybe someone who gets taken in the 7th round just to see if he pans out. I'm not saying he's going to be an all-star, just saying he has plenty of potential
Hand was drafted last in the 12th round. His chances of playing a single game with the Oilers was slim.
Should Tony Hand be the only BHL player to ever be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, just so the BHL has representation? Tony Hand is their all-time leading scorer, although the league was made up mostly of players who couldn't make it into any better leagues. Slightly ahead of a common beer league.
Tony Hand played 14 seasons in the BHL and scored 921 goals in 484 games. He was the first British player to be drafted by an NHL team when he was picked by the Edmonton Oilers in 1986. He was picked in the 12th round, 252 and last overall. He played three games for the Victoria Cougars of the WHL. He returned to the UK, citing homesickness, and made a name for himself over there. He later became a head coach as well.
As someone from Edmonton, when discussing Hand, the following is mentioned. Big fish small pound who then tried to be a guppier in the ocean. IT just did not work
Pond
Glen Sather rated him. And he knew hockey players. Hand just couldn't get over home sickness. Shame we'll never know, that Oilers team was still pretty awesome.
@E B 2nd time he turned the contract down he got more money back in GB. Plus the NHL in the 80s wasnt huge in Britain. Not every kid dreamt of the Stanley cup playing what is a very minor sport (sadly) in UK.
@@1bert719 He was too scared to work or get hit 😂😂😂😂 so play for pennies in a shitty league that was no better than a Canadian beer league without hitting 😂😂😂😂
Anyone that had the pleasure of seeing Tony and Rick Fera playing together will remember how clinical he was.
Anyone who’s not aware of this Google their stats
People will find this hard to believe, but British pro hockey was high quality, circa the early fifties, as there were plenty of transplanted Canadians, left over from the World War2 era... which likewise goes a long way toward explaining why Great Britain won the 1936 Olympic Gold Medal in Hockey...
PS: Was tempted to type 'ICE' Hockey, but stopped myself...
Nice
2:02 Wow that's two days before I was born. 😱
What NHL and eihl team do u support
Had he accepted the contract he might've been on the 1990 Stanley cup Oilers by then too
Crazy to think huh
I love the racers
Steve stumpy Thomas great superstar from the UK
czcams.com/video/zZVEYrIgp6c/video.html
Ironically stumpy scored for Canada against Britain in 94. Definitely a few what ifs for GB.
Actually he was Canadian but just was born in the UK and grew up in Canada playing all his hockey in Canada so really not "from the uk" 😂😂
Imagine being the racers coach and all you would have to say before a game is “pass it it tony” and boom 6 points a game
davey philips also went to the echl or ahl for a bit
This guy literally carried every team he wished
You know nothing about hockey, what a ridiculous statement
His stats are impressive and he probably could’ve carved out an NHL career but his inflated stats are definitely a result of being an elite player playing against questionable opponents.
Sather also says "At the training camp I could see that he had a great ability to read the ice and he was the smartest player there other than Wayne Gretzky. He skated well: his intelligence on the ice stood out. He was a real prospect."
what about Steve smith from Glasgow , who played for the oilers and won a Stanley cup
I wonder if they called the Nova Scotia Oilers the New Scotland Oilers to even further concise him to join the AHL, glad he’s happy and enjoying life though, but pretty sad he turned down an NHL career. Even if it was by accident.
Those 80s/90s contracts weren’t nearly as much then as now. It’s not like he passed up millions. He made a good living playing a game and didn’t have to leave home. Not a bad decision. He might’ve made the NHL and been great but he also could’ve been wrecked by those monsters in the league and been done playing altogether in his early 20s.
Imagine him accepting the first Oilers contract and potentially making the first team roster and winning a Stanley cup.
Idiot to not sign.. I guess he just didn't want to put the work in that is required in Canada to be a pro hockey player 😂😂
@@mikelow4374 I think your making some big assumptions. Some crazy comments here for sure (comparing him to Gretzky for crying out loud) but respect the man for what he chose to do. No one knows why he passed up the Oiler opportunities but him. I love my country / family so much I'm not sure if given the opportunity to go to another I would do it? Especially if the money it appears at that time was comparable for him?
I need a Smirnoff jersey
I have one
Tony gave me one when I was 4
Tony Hand would've made it. He just didn't have the Canadian kid's dream of hoisting the Stanley Cup over his head. If Hand had a tiny bit of that dream all Canadian kids had, he would've stuck it out and lived the dream
And I doubt he could take the physicality of the NHL game
Okay you need to do a video on Hand and his brothers attempt to be owners of the Edinburgh Capitals and the mayhem that caused
You mean the mayhem that led to the caps going under
@@elliotwilliams7421 As a Cardiff Devil fan that still makes me sad. According to the version of events I was told, he just did not have the clear financial backing that the league wanted. Some were concerned that he was going to do what happened previously where a owner over paid for talent and the team in question was in financial problems by mid season
sounds like me playing be a bro
I’ve seen you play you couldn’t hit a barn with a slap shot
Even though Mike Hammond, another British player, was born in Brighton, he actually played junior A hockey in western Canada, playing in the BCHL for the Victoria Grizzlies, Cowichan Valley Capitals, and Salmon Arm Silverbacks. However, I remember him most from after that, when he decided to head east to go to university, playing four seasons for the Lakehead Thunderwolves, scoring 130 points in 111 OUA regular season games. Hopefully he'll be back on team Great Britain for the next IIHF World Championships, whenever that is. For the coming 2020-2021 season, he's slated to play for HKM Zvolen in the Slovakian league, after spending last year in DEL2.
Lest we forget about Alexandre Daigle.
Steve Thomas . Maybe do one on him.
Tony ✋ awesome career . What could of he done in the NHL we'll never know.
It seems like there is always one who has to be the predecessor. Hopefully he inspires another young Brit to make the NHL.
Sadly, we will never know if he could've done it on a wet, windy Tuesday night in Edmonton.
11:04 Those gloves look like Robocop's hands!!!!!
I thought it was my boy Liam Kirk
I realize you want to cateer to nhl fans. but I think this kind of a video about UK hockey is something that many would find interesting. Have you thought about doing videos on the different leagues in the UK and the teams? Always amazes me when people do not realize that there are multiple leagues
I think he woulda made it eventually, UK hockey isn’t even comparable to the NHL, but i feel like he woulda bounced around, got a couple points and been out of the leauge due to underperformance. He got bad timing too, as the NHL was just starting to look at more college/junior players instead of 18 year olds right out of HS and those playing up in pro leauges
Seems like the dream to play for the Oilers was theirs but not his.
Tony Hand in this video actually looks like Wayne Gretzky's younger brother Glen Gretzky to me.
02:25 This is how I perceived the Canucks modern logo after they got rid of the classic black/yellow skate logo. Jus terrible xD
football fans think 1966 is the best year ever cos of the world cup win but we all know the best year ever was when we won the gold in hockey in 193... never mind