1968 – David Burns

I was 14 at the time. We used to go to the Hamilton College Hockey games whenever possible, especially as my dad, Nick Burns, was an alumnus. During the week, school nights, we would listen to the Hamilton College radio station for the broadcast of the evening games. On a very cold night—my memory tells me about 15 below zero in the rink—playing Army, one of our favorite players, Greg Batt, Jr. (a Clintonian), took a slap shot from the blue line. No one in college hockey really wanted to get in front of Greg’s slap shot. Needless to say the shot hit the post and the puck “broke”! Several pieces, as I remember. Some delay of the game ensued, as part of the puck went into the net. As I recall, more than half stayed out of the net, so unfortunately no goal. I had never heard of this type of thing happening before nor since. Greg had the hardest slap shot ever, in my opinion. I can’t remember who won, but I’ll go with Hamilton College.

– David Burns