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The Brothers Plager

By the time Barclay and Bob Plager joined the Blues in 1967 for their inaugural season, between them they had kicked around a dozen minor league cities leaving a trail of laughter and bruised bodies in their wake. It didn't take them long to reestablish their credentials as the zaniest guys in hockey - or at least in St. Louis - where they became part-time leaders and full-time court jesters.

Born in 1941 and the oldest of three hockey-playing brothers, Barclay Plager would later become captain of the Blues as he and brother Bob, younger by two years, anchored the club's defense in a style approaching mob violence. Even brother Billy, the youngest, would get into the act for a few seasons. The result was mayhem on the ice and off. "I like to keep the guys loose," said Bob. "I think it's part of my job."

Big Bob's mandate extended all the way up to Blues' president Sid Salomon III, who once awoke at the end of a team flight to discover that Bob had performed corrective surgery on his tie. Not to be outdone, Sid III later snipped off one leg of Bob's pants during a practice. Bob refused Salomon's offer to pay for the pants, but a week later he showed up at a fashionable party thrown by Sid III in the same abbreviated set of pants. Then, and only then, would he accept a check.

On ice, the Plagers' impact has been described as "Gang Warfare," a bruising brand of hockey that had its roots in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, where the boys first laced on skates. "When we were young," says Bob, "Barclay used to beat me up so I used to beat up Bill who'd go across the street and beat up our little cousin, all in the same day. In junior hockey we had one of the greatest fights they ever saw in the league."

A most turbulent match developed at the Spectrum in Philadelphia on the night of January 6, 1972, when Bob Plager and Phil Roberto led the Blues into the stands.

The brothers didn't make the jump from Kirkland Lake to St. Louis without a bit of assistance. Their father, Gus, was a promising hockey player himself until his career was cut short by an injury. Gus Plager then became a referee, as well as a coal miner like so many men in the town. You have to go underground to understand why the Plager boys took up skating. "We had two choices when we were growing up," said Bob. "Go into professional hockey or go into the mines."

When the Kirkland Lake mining industry took an economic nosedive, Gus Plager moved his family to Kapuskasing, where he became a steward with the Royal Canadian Legion as well as referee-in-chief of the Northern Ontario Hockey Association. But through Mama Edith Plager, who worked for ten years in the Kirkland Lake cafeteria, the boys kept in touch with their hometown friends who went on to the NHL - the Redmonds, Hillmans, Duffs, Backstroms, Paiements et al. "You'd see them coming back in those big cars and sharp clothes and you'd say to yourself, 'That's what I'm gonna come back with someday,'" Bob recalled.

Thanks to the coal mines the Plager boys nearly missed their chance to inject almost two decades of lunacy into hockey. When Barclay was 16, he was accidentally buried under a pile of coal only to be saved by another miner who heard his faint cries for help. His brother was less fortunate. Bob, at age 12, was crushed between two coal-cars and spent the next two years in and out of hospitals with a badly injured back. He couldn't skate, but Gus Plager steered his son out to the nets where Bob played goal until he was well enough to resume skating.

Billy, the youngest Plager, was spared such close calls. He played briefly with his brothers at St. Louis before moving on to Atlanta and then the Minnesota North Stars. All three Plagers began skating together, and scrapping, at an early age. "When we lived in Kirkland Lake, we had a big field behind the house," Gus Plager once recalled. "If the boys got into an argument, they'd go out back and fight. One would get the better of it and that would end it. I thought that was a good way of settling things."

Occasionally, the boys would overdo. One night when they were still playing junior hockey, Barclay, accidentally he claims, jammed his stick in Bob's mouth and Bob responded with his fists. "We went at it pretty good on the ice," Bob remembers, "but they broke it up. As we went into the penalty box he gave me a shove and we started fighting again. Then, after we were thrown out of the game, we continued to battle in the runway leading to the dressing rooms. But I got the best of him for the first time. Afterwards I met him in a restaurant across the street from the rink. I was sitting there eating when he walked in. We looked at each other and I didn't know what was going to happen. The whole Guelph team rushed into the place to see. Everyone figured we'd go at it again, but Barclay just looked me in the eye and said, 'Can you lend me five dollars?'"

Bob was given the job of coaching the Blues after Brian Sutter.

Bob, the most injury-prone of the Plager brothers, played briefly for the New York Rangers in the mid-sixties. And one year, shortly before the opening of training camp, he fell off a cliff in Kapuskasing, banging his ankles and various other parts of his anatomy. What was he doing there management wondered? "Running to get in shape," was Bob's explanation.

The New York front office soon became attuned to Bob's sense of humor. "One day," recalls Rangers' publicist John, Halligan, "he picked up a portable radio I had sitting on my desk. I thought he only wanted it for a few days at his hotel. When he returned the next week I asked him where it was. 'Oh,' he said, 'I just mailed it home to my mother.' The next week he picked up the instruction book that came with the radio. I suppose he sent that home, too."

Bob later parlayed a tall tale about his off-season activities into a near-court case. He said that he was a beer-taster in a Kapuskasing brewery. "I take sample sips to see if the beer is stale or not," he told reporters. Soon the Ontario Brewers Retail Association received offers from others wanting the same sinecure. The brewers group challenged the story, and threatened to take action. Actually, Bob just drove a beer truck.

Such shenanigans did not exactly endear Robert to the Rangers and soon he was traded to St. Louis while Barclay, also briefly Rangers property, never even played a game for the New Yorkers. "I remember signing Barclay when he was sixteen and I was working for the Canadiens," said Rangers scout Lou Passador. "Everybody laughed at us. He wasn't just a bad kid, he was terrible. They said we'd never be able to handle him."

By 1970 the goaltender's mask had become more acceptable. Ernie Wakely gets a little help during the 1970 playoffs with Boston.

The Blues were willing to try. In June 1967 they picked up Bob in a deal for defenseman Rod Seiling, who would return to the Blues for the 1976-77 season, and in November of that year Barclay came to St. Louis along with Red Berenson in a deal for Ron Stewart and Ron Atwell.

A year later, brother Billy, the youngest of the triumvirate, came to the Blues in a trade with the Rangers, and for a few years the three Plager boys were together on the same team. "They come to play," said Scotty Bowman, then Blues coach. "I don't have to worry about them being up for a game. And they're no trouble to sign. They come in, ask what they're worth and sign their contracts."

Added General Manager Lynn Patrick, "I've never seen guys like them. All they talk about is hitting. We can use it. They're nice kids though and that Bob is a quick one with a comeback."

Once when Bob missed the team plane after a game in New York, he told a furious Patrick that he'd never believe the reason for his absence. "Try me," said Patrick. "Well," said Plager. "I woke up in the hotel, looked at the clock, and it was 11:30. The plane had left at 11. I looked up at the ceiling, closed my eyes and said: 'Why me? Why does it always have to be me?' Lynn, I told you you'd never believe it. The ceiling opened up and a large hand came through, a finger pointing down at me. And then this loud voice said: 'Because I don 't like you.'"

John McKenzie [Boston] impales Barc's jersey with his stick as Andre "Moose" Dupont moves in.

One observer reported that Bob "punches like Sonny Liston but sometimes skates like him, too." Bob's response? "I skate better than Liston."

Billy moved on to Atlanta in the expansion draft of 1972. Bob and Barclay, however, continued to anchor the Blues' defense, although rarely paired together. Gradually, they became the team patriarchs as the Blues turned to younger players. "Playing with Barc is easy - I just ignore him," Bob once said with brotherly affection. "Whenever the other team scores a goal, Barc's always so mad that he starts screaming and cussing. You just can't pay any attention to him."

Typically, Bob lost none of his humility along the way. He scored a career-high four goals in 1971-72. "That's when Clarence Campbell outlawed my slapshot as being too dangerous," he said. "It's a $100 fine every time I use it." Of course the NHL President never really outlawed Bob's slapshot, though he might have urged Barclay to wear a nose protector.

While Bob seemed to be constantly suffering one injury after another, it was Barclay's proboscis that fared the worst. "My nose has been broken so many times there's danger that too much cartilage is going to spread under the eyes," Barclay once said matter-of-factly after his nose had been broken for the 12th time. "That could affect my sight."

By spring 1976, the Plager era appeared to be on the wane. Barclay was benched by coach Leo Boivin and resigned as Blues' captain, saying that his play was not up to those standards expected of a captain. "I was having a tough time and had enough things on my mind," he said. "I wasn't doing a good job as captain. Though I probably wouldn't have resigned if we'd been doing as well as we wanted. I was always proud to be captain. I thought about the resignation for a couple of weeks, and it was a tough decision, but I think it was the right decision." In the summer of 1976, Barclay was named coach of the Blues' new farm club in Kansas City.

Typically, Bob seemed unworried. "I'd like to stay in St. Louis, because this is where my home is," he said. "But if they traded me, I'd go wherever they sent me and I'd be an all-star for the next three or four years."

Barc's courageous battle with cancer stirred not only St. Louis and the team, but the entire league as well.

Barclay and Bob Plager had a profound impact on the birth of the St. Louis Blues. Rock solid on defense and among the fiercest competitors in all of hockey, the brothers Plager became local legends as coaches, scouts, humorist, friends and loyal ambassadors of hockey in the community.

As players, they lived for unity and team play. If someone tried to take advantage of a teammate, you could bet he'd have to answer to a Plager or two or three - brother Billy also played four seasons in St. Louis - before the game ended. "Once you've been around this game awhile, it became a part of you...it's in your blood," said Barclay, who spent his entire playing career - 614 games - with the Blues. He also served as assistant coach and coach before succumbing to cancer in 1989.

Number 5 in your program, Number 1 in your hearts was the self-proclaimed motto of Bob Plager. He came to the Blues from the New York Rangers in 1967 and spent 10 seasons on defense before turning to coaching and scouting. He started his 33rd season with the club in 2000, the longest continuous tenure of anyone in the organization.

The Plagers were universally loved by the hockey-crazed fans who filled the St. Louis Arena in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Their no-holds-barred play delighted fans, who sang "When the Blues Come Marching In" in those early years. The anthem inspired Barc, nicknamed "Barc the Spark."

Scotty Bowman, who coached the Blues in the late 60s and the early 70s, considered Barclay one of the game's premier physical players. In 1988, Bowman was asked to write a story for a hockey magazine titled "Scotty Bowman Creates the Ultimate All-Star." Bowman said of Barclay. "As far as I was concerned, nobody hit any harder than Barclay for his size and strength."

Barc, Bob And Al:

Teammates, Roommates, Brothers, Champions. These Three Former Defensemen Symbolize Everything The All-Star Game And The Blues Are About.

Twenty years ago they played integral roles in the baptism of the St. Louis Blues into the national Hockey League. The reunion sparks fond memories of the glory days of the Blues. Arbour, who has since established himself as a coaching legend during the New York Islanders' dynasty, admitted he's never felt like he did in those days at the St. Louis Arena. "I can't recall ever experiencing anything like it," says Arbour. "It's difficult to explain, the chill that went through me when we stepped onto the ice and heard the fans singing, 'When The Blues Go Marching In.' I've seen a lot since then. I've been involved in winning Stanley Cups. But there was something about those days, something charismatic. It was special."

The Plager brothers concur. "You'd hear the fans singing and hair on the back of your neck would stand up," says Barclay. "The fans and the players were one big family," recalls Bob Plager. "It was really a love affair." Arbour, the first captain of the Blues, was the finesse back liner. A gutty performer who wore glasses, Arbour was a premier shot blocker, poke checker and textbook defensive defenseman. Barclay was the mobile one, who moved the puck out of his own zone. An intelligent, talented defenseman, Barclay went on to write his own legacy, the team's heart and soul as player, assistant coach and coach of the Blues. Bob was the physical one who dazzled the crowd with teeth-gnashing body checks and his trademark-the hip check. "In those days, we were all defensive defensemen," says Bob. "Go back and look at the stats. None of us ever scored many goals or points. We played the game tough, and we took pride in our jobs."

Al Arbour played on and coached Stanley Cup Champions. He began his career behind the bench for the Blues and later became a four-time Stanley Cup-winning coach. But he still characterizes his days with the Blues as "something special."

Because the game has evolved into such an offensive show, it's difficult to understand the thrill of playing tight defensive hockey. But even today, when the quest for Lord Stanley's Cup reaches the final stretch, the focus is on airtight defense. "We did anything to protect the goaltender," says Bob. "The greatest time for us was the year we won the Vezina Trophy. Glenn Hall and Jacques Plante were in goal and we only allowed 157 goals. That record will probably never be broken. Winning the Vezina was the finest reward anyone could get." Plager remembers clearly the day the announcement was made. "Glenn and Jacques took us to the nearest Dairy Queen and said, 'The milkshakes are on us,'" says Bob with a laugh. "And we had a few milkshakes, too." Arbour remembers those days vividly. But the moment that will always stand out in his mind is the 1968 Stanley Cup Semifinals when the Blues defeated the Minnesota North Stars in a classic seventh game. "I'd have to say that was the biggest game we ever played when I was with the Blues," says Arbour, an original member of the Blues. "That's the game where Dickie Moore tied it all up late in the third period and Ron Schock won it after midnight in the second overtime. I'd have to say that's the game that put the icing on the franchise. That's where the love affair started."

Every time Arbour or the Plagers reminisce, they mention the impact of the fans, who packed the Arena to the rafters every night during the glory days. Some players say they don't hear the fans during a game because of the intense concentration. Bob Plager believes that's true in most buildings. But not in St. Louis. "We heard the fans," says Bob. "We'd hear them sing and cheer. They gave us a lift. I remember when Schockie scored that goal, he had to get dressed and go back onto the ice. The fans wouldn't leave until he came out for the encore. It was like when the Blues came from behind to beat Calgary in the 'Monday Night Miracle' game two years ago. The fans just stood and cheered for 15 minutes after the players left the ice."

Barclay, too, still has vivid memories of the dramatic finishing touch applied by Schock. "There were about three minutes to go and it was 0-0," says Barclay. "The North, Stars' Walt McKechnie had the puck in the corner and flipped a pass out front. I was there and tried to knock it down, but it went off the side of my glove right over Glenn Hall's shoulder and into our net. I went back to the bench and was in tears. I was sure I had cost us the series and a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals. When Dickie Moore scored, and then Ronnie Schock, I had to be the happiest guy in the place." The trip to the Stanley Cup Finals was the first of three in a row for Arbour, the Plagers and the Blues. While all three players were close friends, Arbour and Barc Plager had a special relationship. They were defense partners during Arbour's tenure as a player in St. Louis. Arbour was the steady veteran; Barclay the young, aggressive rookie.

Eleven years later, on March 9, 1978, Barclay experienced one of the highlights of his young coaching career when the Blues faced Arbour and the Islanders. At that time, the Islanders were building a team that would go on to capture four consecutive Stanley Cups. "I'm sure it will be an odd feeling going against Algie as the rival coach," Barclay said prior to the encounter. "The two of us played together for almost four years and usually were roomies on the road. We used to stay up and talk hockey all night. Now, I guess we'll find out whether I learned anything from him." When Barc replaced Leo Boivin as coach of the Blues midway through the 1977-78 season, it was pointed out that he had played for some of the best coaches in the history of hockey; men such as Eddie Shore, Fred Shero, Scotty Bowman and yes, Al Arbour. When asked whether he would pattern himself after any of those coaches, Plager said he hoped he had learned something from each of them. But it was interesting that the only former coach he mentioned specifically was Arbour. "I think you have to look at the way Al has gotten the most out of the talent available wherever he has been and I hope to be able to do the same thing," said Barclay. "Wherever Al has gone, he has been a winner. He played on a Stanley Cup team in Toronto, was traded to Chicago and played on a Stanley Cup team there. With the Blues he was in the Finals three times and now look at what he has done with the Islanders."

Barclay enjoys re-living the glory days and the time he spent with Arbour, particularly the days when the two were roommates on the road. "When I roomed with Al, I never went out," he says. "He'd bring along his teapot and two cups. We'd go up to the room, plug in the teapot and drink tea while we talked hockey all night." Their on-ice relationship was equally beneficial for both Plagers. To Barclay, Arbour was a steadying influence. To Bob, Arbour taught him the intricacies of blocking shots. "He was never out of position. I like to think that's the one thing I learned from him," says Barclay. "You have to play your position. He was such an inspiration to everyone on the team. How could you not go out there and give it everything you had when you looked over at this guy who seemed to have to struggle just to skate and see him, wearing glasses, going down to block shots?" Says Bob, "Al was uncanny at blocking shots. I knew how to block shots, but Al taught me a better way. He'd teach us how to do it and after games, we'd get undressed and you'd see bruises all over our bodies. We'd be black and blue."

Arbour downplays his role as a teacher when it came to blocking shots. "Bob was very good at blocking shots, but he was also one of the best body checkers. It's a lost art, the way he used to hit guys. He'd throw his hip into someone and they'd go flying." One of the few NHL players to wear glasses, Arbour's four seasons with the Blues concluded a 626-game NHL career. One of Arbour's favorite stories involved Bob during a game against the Los Angeles Kings. "I was in a fight with Ted Irvine in Los Angeles and my glasses came off," says Arbour. "Bobby was standing beside me saying, 'To the right, to the left' and directing me which way to throw a punch. He was always the character, always joking on the ice."

One of Barclay's greatest thrills was watching longtime friend Red Berenson score six goals against the Philadelphia Flyers on Nov. 7, 1968. "I've got the highlight record album at home from that year," says Barclay, "and even now, every time I hear that record, I get a thrill when I hear Dan Kelly describing those six goals. I can see those goals and I can remember the crowd in Philly cheering for Red. And I can remember the feeling, the twinge that went through my body just sitting on the bench and watching Red score those goals. It was beautiful to see."

by George Csolak; former hockey writer for the St. Louis Globe Democrat

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In the Bin: Reckless and Rude Stories from the Penalty Boxes of the NHL Hockey is best known for its bad boys, those players who spend as much time on the ice swinging punches as they do swinging their sticks. Some of the more notorious brawlers have spent large portions of their playing time confined In the Bin - doing time in the penalty box. Here is an inside look at the exciting, suspenseful, sometimes outrageous world of an NHL game - on the ice and in the sin bin.

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