A playing career with the Canadians was already in the stars for Scotty Bowman in his youth. But one day in 1951, he suffered a fractured skull during a game between the Junior Canadian and the Trois-Rivières Reds.
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The Montrealers had a comfortable lead when Bowman escaped toward the Trois Rivières net. Defender Jean-Guy Talbot, who was chasing the little Canadian’s center player, opened his skull with a violent blow with his stick.
A 2008 Detroit Free Press article reported that a piece of skull was lying next to Bowman, who was unconscious on the ice. There were about thirty seconds left and Talbot, frustrated with the outcome of the game, had already received four minor penalties.
JOEL LEMAY/AGENCE QMI
Bowman was taken to the hospital, where doctors inserted a permanent metal plate into his head. Bowman returned to play the following season, but he was no longer the same player.
“Jean-Guy lost control of his emotions,” Bowman told journalist Mitch Albom, one of the best writers in the United States.
“He explained it to me in a long, emotional letter he sent me. I estimate this incident anticipated my coaching career by about fifteen years.”
Scotty Bowman and Claude Ruel in the 70s PHOTO ANDRE BONIN / LES ARCHIVES / LE JOURNAL DE MONTREAL
No hard feelings
Quebec hockey authorities at the time suspended Talbot for one year.
“I was called to a hearing to be questioned about my health,” Bowman said.
“I let them know I felt good and was ready to move on. After returning from his suspension, Jean-Guy turned professional with the Quebec Aces and went on to have a long career. [16 ans] in the National League [de hockey].”
Bowman never held a grudge against Talbot.
“These are things that happen in the heat of the moment,” he apologizes.
Bowman first told me this in an interview I conducted with him about 25 years ago. The best evidence is that in his first season on the St. Louis Blues bench, he asked his boss Lynn Patrick to take over for Talbot to strengthen his defensive brigade.
The Blues made it to the Stanley Cup Final three years in a row with Talbot in their ranks.
The years have not separated them.
“Jean-Guy calls me every year on my birthday,” Bowman admits.
This is called having a feeling of forgiveness.