Hockey Confidential by Bob Mckenzie Page A

that was a good one, too. [
He grins.
]
    Young John: Look it up on YouTube. It was on ESPN. Buffalo against Portland. He went through three guys and made, like, eight fakes. It was an incredible goal, one of the best I’ve ever seen.
    A few stand out for me. There was a minor hockey game, they were checking me all game. I got hauled down on a breakaway. Laying on my back, I somehow shot it, the goalie was down and I just sort of chipped it over him. The other one I think of, it was my first goal in the OHL, against Kingston. We were shorthanded—I’m not sure why a 15-year-old was on the ice, killing a penalty, in his first OHL game. [
He laughs.
] I just let a snap shot go from top of circle, one of the best shots I’ve ever taken. It went far side, top corner. I don’t normally shoot it like that.
    BM: What about your most important goal?
    Uncle John: It was 1992 [Tavares’s rookie season in the NLL], Buffalo versus Philly at the Spectrum—a great game, sudden-death overtime, sold-out crowd. The atmosphere was unreal. It was a broken play. Philly’s goaltenders were Dallas Eliuk and Dwight Maetche, who I played with in Vancouver. Dwight was a great goalie, I really respected him, and I never say a goalie is good, but he was good. In practice, he would never let me score. I hated that. So Dwight got into the game and I didn’t want to shoot on him—he was in my head a bit. So there’s a broken play and the ball comes to me in overtime, and I decide I’m going to take a backhand [over the shoulder]—and I don’t take a lot of backhands. I see the top corner open and I take the shot. It went straight into the ground and between Dwight’s legs and in. [
He laughs.
] Nice shot. But it won the NLL championship.
    Young John: For me, it’s probably the [2009] World Junior Championship. It was New Year’s Eve, we’re down 3–0, like that, against the Americans. I scored three goals, but it was the second goal that was the big one. I drove wide, shot it into the top corner. That goal really turned things around for us in that game and the tournament. But I would have to say the shootout goal I scored against Russia in the semifinals that year was really important, too. We all remember the [miraculous tying goal by Jordan Eberle], but I knew I couldn’t miss on the shootout. What I remember is I didn’t hear anything—
nothing
—when I skated in on the goalie, and the place was going crazy, but that’s the most focused I’ve ever been on a shot. I almost lost the puck, but the goalie went down and I scored.
    BM: This may be repetitive, because you’ve talked about a lot of goals already, but what about, for any reason you see fit, the most memorable goal you’ve scored?
    Uncle John: That would be the game-winning goal in the Founders Cup Junior B championship or the 1992 NLL [overtime game-winning goal] against Philly.
    Young John: For me, that would be when I broke Wayne Gretzky’s record for most goals by a 16-year-old in the OHL. I tried to pass the puck to Cal Clutterbuck on the back door, Logan Couture went down to block it, the puck went off his skate and back to me. The goalie anticipated the pass, went down, and I shot it low blocker. I didn’t even celebrate the goal; I just went and got the puck. The guys gave me a hard time about that one.
    BM: How about this one: the most vindictive, suck-on-that, in-your-face goal you scored?
    Uncle John: I don’t have one like that.
    Young John: Oh, I do. There were tons in minor hockey. Kids would follow me and slash me and stick me and I’d score and be so pumped . . .
    Uncle John: Yeah, I probably have a few like that, but not one I remember any more than another. I’d be in Peterborough or Boston, and I’m tired, and some guy is yipping at me from the bench, saying, “You’re too old,” and I’m thinking, “You don’t really want