The cursed #6

When you visit the TD Banknorth Garden, you see the numbers of the Bruins immortals hanging from the rafters, probably still caked with those stalactites of dust that gripped the ceiling of the old Boston Garden.

#2 - Eddie Shore
#3 - Lionel Hitchman
#4 - Bobby Orr
#5 - Aubrey "Dit" Clapper
#7 - Phil Esposito
#8 - Cam Neely
#9 - Johnny Bucyk
#15 - Milt Schmidt
#24 - Terry O'Reilly
#77 - Ray Bourque

But something odd is missing there. Where the hell is #6? You figure that the first nine numbers on this team would HAVE to be retired by now, right? Alright, the fact that there hasn't been a #1 retired is odd too (why NOT HOF'er Tiny Thompson?), but wearing a #1 on a team has a sort of stigma to it...perhaps an overt implication that you're the best player...so I can see why that number might be avoided. Either that, or a goalie sucked it up.

But why #6? You're going to tell me that throughout this team's storied history, there's never been a player donning numero seis that's worthy of having his number retired by the team? Happily, I recently discovered that The Internet Hockey Database now has jersey numbers logged on their website. Now I can finally go through the archives and scroll through the mediocrity associated with that number. So, tonight, let's you and I take a whirlwind tour of Bruins players past who have worn the cursed 6.

First, a disclaimer. I'm limited by the stats posted over the IHDB and not every season has jersey numbers listed. In fact, the jersey numbers for the Bruins don't even start until the 1929-30 season (which, actually, is pretty impressive itself) so some years I needed to make some assumptions. Sometimes they're easy and a player's jersey number is only listed once or twice, but he's on the team for a dozen years. But other times I was staring at large gaps with no idea as to who was wearing the dreaded jersey.

So, let's see who the culprits are...

1929-1934: Percy "Perk" Galbraith
1934-1936: Charlie Sands
1936-1937: Reginald "Hooley" Smith
1937-1939: Ray Getliffe
1939-1940: Unknown
1940-1950: Jack Crawford
1950-1951: Unknown
1951-1952: Walter "Gus" Kyle
1952-1957: Unknown
1957-1961: Bronco Horvarth
1961-1963: Unknown
1963-1972: Ted Green (famous for his Wayne Maki stick fight in which he fractured his skull and suffered brain damage)
1972-1973: Nick Beverley
1973-1978: Darryl Edestrand
1978-1982: Dick Redmond (thanks to an anonymous commenter!)
1982-1991: Gord Kluzak (the ultimate cursed player...almost a decade with that jersey and only 299 NHL games to show for it)
1991-1994: Glen Featherstone
1994-1996: Alexei Kasatonov (Russian legend who ended his career with the B's)
1996-1997: None
1997-2000: Joe Thornton (changed his jersey in 2000! Was he feeling the curse?)
2000-2001: None
2001-2002: Gord Murphy
2002-2004: Dan McGillis
2004-2005: Season canceled
2005-2007: Brad Stuart (thanks #4bobbyorr!)
2007: Dennis Wideman

So there you have it. At least since the "Percy" and "Reginald" years, they've toughened up a bit name-wise (Bronco). Funny how in the last couple of decades Sinden & company have WANTED someone to step up and claim that #6 for the rafters. Kluzak was taken 1st overall in 1982 and Thornton 1st overall in 1997. I'm sure it was no accident that both started out wearing #6.

Thornton would have been the closest to finally get that #6 up in the rafters, but a funny thing happened...he changed his jersey to #19 and his inability to meet management expectations got him shipped off to San Jose.