My series about Toughest Penguins continues with an oldie but Baddie, originally published on Penguinpoop on January 3, 2012.
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In the annals of the history of Penguins, perhaps no player has cultivated a more frightening reputation, or earned a more colorful nickname than left wing Bob “Battleship” Kelly.
“Kelly was the man who took care of everyone,” former tripe teammate Rick Kehoe recalled. “He was our enforcer.”
Fighting was his stock on the market. Few players of his era did better. During a long, grinding six-seasons internship among the minors, his teammates called him ‘the smiling murderer’. I’ve always thought of him Clint Eastwood On skating. Strong, quiet … and oh so deadly.
As a 27-year-old rookie with St. Louis, Kelly made a few decisions about the reigning heavyweight champion of the NHL, Dave “de Hammer “Schultz. Word spread like an ongoing fire in the entire competition.
Desperate to muscle, the Penguins were given the 6’2 ”195-ponder from St. Louis on January 17, 1974, together with AB Demarco And colleague -Tour guy Steve Durbano. He received immediate folk hero -status in Pittsburgh when he hired the blues crack Barclay disorders In a large resorting competition after the trade.
As fate would have, the pens had previously visited Schultz’s wide street chops.
“You can play this interview in their dressing room,” Kelly boasted for the game. “I don’t care. I’m afraid of anyone.”
Encouraged by the protective presence of the battleship, the pens skated with a 5-3 victory over an unusually docile flyers team. It would be their last victory in the “City of Brotherly Shove” for 15 years.
Meanwhile, back in the ‘Burgh, Civic Arena Organist Vince LasCeid Was quickly taking advantage of Kelly’s growing popularity. He led a lively representation of “Anchors Aweigh” when the Rangy wing player stepped on the ice.
Unlike many of the heavyweights of today, Kelly was much more than a one -dimensional criminal. The former pick for the second round owned a hard blow and brought it to use well. Patrol the port side on a line with phenomenon Pierre LaroucheThe Fort William, Ontario, Native scored 27 goals in 1974-75 and 25 more the following season. During the fatal play-offs from 1975, Battleship was demonstrably the best player of the pens, who ran the club with five goals and eight points.
He was a remarkably rare hunter during his three-plus year in the ‘Burgh, not least because of his intimidating presence and reputation. With a wild shock of curly dark hair, a Fu Manchu mustache and penetrating blue eyes, Kelly Silent Menace seeped.
“I don’t go into a game looking for a fight because I no longer have to prove myself in the competition,” he explained. “But if the other team wants to get rough, I also get rough.”
Former teammate Harvey Bennett Marvel at the respect that opposing players Kelly offered.
“It’s like Kelly skates with a large glass dome around him,” Bennett told the Pittsburgh Press. “Nobody wants to touch him. He can stand in the fold and not be hit. He doesn’t get a cheap recordings.”
Occasionally an opposite Gunslinger would test him, with dubious results. Feisty Chicago defender Keith Magnuson The battleship involved in a toe-toe scrap and became incapacitated for work with a broken ankle for four weeks. A Kelly Uppercut eliminated the helmet of Toronto Battler Dave “Tiger” Williams And sent it up the air.
When asked by Beaver County Times columnist John Clayton To explain the reason for his fishing switch, Kelly shrugged and said: “I don’t know why I am such a good hunter. Maybe it’s because I hit harder than most boys.”
After two strong seasons with the Penguins, Kelly dropped to 10 goals in 1976-77. The robust winger signed a free-agent Deal with Chicago on August 17, 1977 and ended his stay in the Steel City.
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