The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
It's been two decades since Flin Flon's most famous son, Bobby Clarke, laced up his skates for the Philadelphia Flyers, but he continues to show why he might still be the feistiest man in pro hockey. This past Friday, the 55-year-old former Flin Flon Bomber, now GM of the Flyers, had to be restrained from approaching Ottawa Senators coach Jacques Martin following an emotional loss in Philadelphia. "I would not have hit him. I am not that stupid," Clarke later told reporters. "But I would have confronted him." Clarke, who had earlier called Martin a "gutless puke," was angered by the Ottawa coach's decision to play enforcer Chris Neil in the final two minutes of the game. Neil went after the Flyers' Radovan Somik, an unassuming winger. The post-game restraint was the latest bit of controversy in a career that's been filled with the stuff. Nothing new for a man who has been called everything from "the most hated man in hockey" to simply a "mean little man." In this latest episode, Clarke made headlines for an action he took, but it's usually his words that send him splashing into a vat of hot water. Here are some of the more memorable Clarke quotes spanning from his playing days with the Flyers in the 1970s to his current career as the club's GM. On an opponent facing the Flyers during his playing days: "They always try to play with our minds. But that won't work with our club. We've got 20 guys without brains." See 'Quotable' P.# Con't from P.# On rumours: "I've discovered that the less I say, the more rumours I start." On his club's toughness: "We take the shortest route to the puck and arrive in ill humor." On former Flyer Eric Lindros sitting out a year: "If you're a hockey player and you get a chance to play, you go play. You only have so many games in your career, and if you love playing hockey, you love being part of a team and going to the rink, how can you sit for a whole ***damn year?" On criticism over not trading Lindros to Toronto: "I don't give a s**t about the Toronto Maple Leafs." Still on Lindros: "We couldn't make a deal with Toronto, and the teams we could make a deal with, he wouldn't go to. Maybe both of us ran out of teams for him to go to." On any wishes he had for Lindros after the centre was finally dealt: "He hurt this organization. I could care less about him." On his feistiness: "I've been a competitor all my life. I was taught to fight back. If I see things and hear things that I know aren't right, my natural instinct is to fight back. But it can get you deeper in trouble. Even when I try to behave, my temper gets the better of me." On the Flin Flon Bombers: "The Bombers were the reason that players like Reggie Leach and myself became NHL players. We had a strong work ethic and desire. We owe that to Flin Flon and the Bombers." On the future of Canadian NHL teams: "Canadian teams should not be called 'small market' Canadian teams. The Canadian teams have trouble because of the value of the Canadian dollar and no other reason. Canada has great hockey fans who follow the NHL closely. We certainly don't want to lose NHL Canadian teams." On NHL hockey now compared to his playing days: "It would be foolish for us to believe that hockey now is not better than 20 years ago and won't be better 20 years from today. The game of hockey is much better. It is faster, harder and the players are in much better condition. The puck is shot much harder now." On the Russian teams of the 1970s: "The Russians are the dirtiest players I've ever seen."
