In some sad news, the hockey world learned that ‘Long’ John Henderson, goaltender for the Bruins passed away on Friday at the age of 91 after battling an illness.
The former Bruins goaltender, who played for the team from 1954-1956 was incredibly only nine years younger than the franchise he played for, with the Bruins coming into the league 100 years ago. The NHL announced the passing of Henderson on X:
Although he only played 46 games in his NHL career, Henderson managed a 15-14-16 record (ties were still tallied back in that era), a 2.58 GAA, and .857 SV%, and was also credited with five shutouts. Nicknamed ‘Long’ due to his massive 6’5 frame, he spent most of his career outside of the NHL but helped Canada to a gold medal during the 1958 World Championship in Norway.
His stature at the time was amongst some of the tallest players and led to Henderson needing to adapt to his length. During training camp with the Maple Leafs, Henderson was quoted as saying:
«I tried to play stand-up at camp but I couldn’t do it, I was (terrible). I skated off the ice, went into the dressing room, cut the tape off with a knife then went out and started playing well, like I knew I could.”
The tape he refers to is the tape that GM Hap Day made goaltenders use to play stand-up; something Henderson couldn’t do and made a strong case to his coach about:
«(General manager) Hap Day realized what I’d done, called me over to the boards and asked who’d given me permission to cut the tape off. I told him, I did. I tried it your way, I can’t adjust to it. I have to crouch. You liked me enough to bring me here, why change me?’
After that, Henderson was shipped off to the Bruins where he spent his NHL career. Henderson can hold one claim to fame, being able to stop notorious goal scorer Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard; only allowing two goals in seven games, someone even the most seasoned goalies at the time had a problem with.
Henderson may have never had a long NHL career, but to his friends, family, and former teammates he was a humble and gracious teammate, thankful for the opportunities throughout his career.
