“With a voice which would be a credit to an Exhibition barker,” the Lethbridge Herald noted, “the diminutive sergeant-major snapped his orders and about 40 cadets wheeled on a dime.”Īs a junior player with the Lethbridge Native Sons, he played wing on what became the highest-scoring line in all of junior hockey in the 1947-48 season. The early introduction to hockey came without formal instruction and he would display a choppy skating technique, owing more to running than gliding, throughout his career.Īs a cadet, 14-year-old Eddie earned a favourable write-up in Alberta newspapers for the stentorian tones with which he shouted instructions to non-commissioned officers training at Camp Sarcee, near Calgary, in 1943. One of five children born to Mary and George Dorohoy, he learned to play shinny on Seven Persons Creek near his home at Medicine Hat, Alta. As a coach of a sixth-place junior team in Winnipeg, he summed up his predicament by describing his lineup to a reporter: “I got a Doughnut Line, which has no centre, and a Helicopter Line, which has no wings.” The passing seasons failed to moderate his barbed comments. This not so subtle critique of the coach’s judgment led to his demotion to the minors, where he would spend the following 16 seasons, never again to enjoy a spot on an National Hockey League roster. When Canadiens coach Dick Irvin, Sr., chewed him out for not scoring any points, the rookie explained his predicament by saying, “I’ve been trying to score from too sharp an angle - the end of the bench.” Dorohoy replied, “you weren’t as good as I am.” “When I was a rookie I didn’t have so much to say,” 33-year-old veteran Murph Chamberlain told the brash newcomer.

He was aged 19 when he broke in with the Montreal Canadiens, displaying a cockiness not appreciated by older teammates. Of a tightwad owner he said, “Coley Hall is so cheap he wouldn’t give you the sleeves off his vest.” Of tough-minded coach Bert Olmstead, he once said, “If Olmstead was Santa Claus, there wouldn’t be any Christmas.” (He was also dubbed The Pistol, about which more shortly.) This was reflected in nicknames bestowed on him by teammates, who called him The Brat and The Great Gabbo.

Of all the attributes Eddie Dorohoy brought to the rink - a scoring touch, a pugnacious disposition, a keen desire to win - the one for which he gained his reputation was a quick tongue.

Ice Warriors by Jon C. Stott