| Former Oiler Ales Hemsky reflects [message #819247] |
Thu, 09 March 2023 15:29  |
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 Rocksteady
Messages: 478
Registered: March 2007
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Ales Hemsky talks of his time in Edmonton, the 2006 playoffs, a great story or two about Georges and the Patrik Stefan empty net fiasco!
He also reflects on life after hockey and some really eye opening stuff on him as a person and as a in a player Edmonton, Ottawa, Dallas and Montreal. Brave story.
https://www.bezfrazi.cz/stories/ales-hemsky/the-meaning-of-l ife
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The very definition of insanity is doing the exact same thing expecting different results.
Generally Disappointed.
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 MJ
Messages: 241
Registered: November 1997
Location: Victoria
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Wow. Awesome story. Nice find! Thanks for sharing!
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smyth260
Messages: 945
Registered: November 2007
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Lots in there. Concussions are brutal man, and it's clearly having some lifelong effects on him.
As a kid who played hockey, I always would have wanted mine to play. But the more stories you hear, the more I think I should guide them to safer physical activity.
I found this a pretty interesting reflection:
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I’ll never forget how Kevin, who won six Stanley Cups as a player, called me into his room before my first playoff. We sat down and talked for an hour about what was to come so I'd be ready. It was as if he was talking to his son. He didn't try to force something on me; to tell me that they expected goals from me when they drafted me in the first round. He told me because he cared about me playing my best game. He cared about me feeling good.
I know that’s how he worked with everyone on the club. He was a good leader.
When you read the news about how bad things were with the Oilers, you thought, 'Those people have no idea what it’s really like.'
I should have left anyway. Five years before I left. I should have done it like Ryan Smyth, who just decided to go and left. I could have. The options were there, but I told myself I couldn’t do this to them. I was grateful to all of them for helping me in the beginning and making me happy. It was my first club. I didn’t know anything else.
To be such a good guy in the NHL is not a good thing. Not when you’re playing a lot of games which don’t really matter and you know that you need something else.
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He speaks really fondly of Lowe and MacTavish, but in the same breath says he should have got outta there. I feel bad for the guy, taking all that abuse over the years and not getting to play much playoff hockey.
Clean house or bust
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inverno76
Messages: 2117
Registered: September 2005
Location: Prince Albert, Saskatchew...
2 Cups
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Hemmer is in my top 5 favourite Oilers and I am old enough to be around for the glory days. A lot of fans called him soft, but no one put more of himself on the line in dangerous spots on the ice than Ales.
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g2k
Messages: 2662
Registered: January 2003
Location: The Hood
2 Cups
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| inverno76 wrote on Thu, 09 March 2023 17:52 |
Hemmer is in my top 5 favourite Oilers and I am old enough to be around for the glory days. A lot of fans called him soft, but no one put more of himself on the line in dangerous spots on the ice than Ales.
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Dude was absolutely fearless.
#firebob #screwitjustselltheteam #ownerisacreep
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NZ Oiler Fan
Messages: 880
Registered: October 2006
Location: Kensington, PEI
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Wow, what an amazing story! I had no idea about his personal struggles. I'm glad he got the help that he needed.
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Suomalainen
Messages: 670
Registered: May 2002
Location: Boulder, CO
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Bump - a friend of mine sent me this interview with Regehr, and he mentions why he went after Hemsky so hard all the time https://youtu.be/TW94qnlAK_A?t=2851
Basically, one uncalled cross-check to the throat got him fired up from then on. Sounds like he didn't have the Gordie Howe "ok, we're even" switch.
97.
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smyth260
Messages: 945
Registered: November 2007
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Hemsky should have kept getting his stick up.
He took a beating from that guy, any montage you watch is just multiple occasions of Regehr getting away with murder.
Clean house or bust
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