Hockey's been good to Harper

Terry Harper is a five-time Stanley Cup winner living in Folsom. A veteran of 1,066 NHL games, Harper played just over half of those games with the Montreal Canadiens, winning the Stanley Cup five times in seven years from 1965 to 1971. At 83, Harper still plays hockey twice a week at Skatetown in Roseville, and loves the game as much as he always had. "I love to play," Harper said after a 90-minute session at Skatetown on Thursday afternoon. "Being from Saskatchewan, I grew up playing hockey. Back in those days, the Original Six teams had all the cities divided up. I grew up in Regina, and they were sponsored by Montreal and that's where I ended up playing. You could get out of it you moved, but otherwise that was the team you'd be playing for. Montreal sponsored the local Jr. team in Regina." Harper's first year with the Canadiens was a 22-year-old in 1962, joining a team that had just lost the Stanley Cup to the Blackhawks, having won the previous five seasons. The Maple Leafs won the next three Stanley Cups before the Canadiens got back on track, winning in 1965 and 1966, and then again in 1968 and 1969, before winning again in 1971, Harper's next-to-last season with the team. "It was a very exciting time, and I was very fortunate and lucky," Harper said. "Everything went well with me. To me, my teammates were a who's who of hockey, some of the best players who have ever played the game. Henri Richard was a super person and a super player. He was like me in that he played hard. I didn't get to play with Rocket Richard, (Maurice), he retired my first training camp. I played nine years with Jean Beliveau." For Harper, he was known as a defensive defenseman, who always was there for his teammates if they needed him. Harper was more concerned with plus-minus, the amount of goals scored for his team while he is on the ice minus the goals scored by the opposing team at even strength. "I got through some seasons without scoring a goal," Harper admitted. "I had a few seasons of more than 100 penalty minutes, but I wasn't known as a fighter or a guy who got a lot of penalties. We had a lot of little guys and when they got into something, you've got to get in there and help. I got involved always. That's what wins." While he wasn't known as a fighter, perhaps what the 6-1, 200-pound Harper is most known for other than winning five Stanley Cups is one altercation with Bob Pulford, while sharing the penalty box. On Oct. 30, 1963, a fight in the penalty box at Maple Leaf Gardens between Pulford of the Maple Leafs and Harper led to the creation of separate penalty boxes for teams 10 days later. Despite playing nine NHL seasons with contemporary Gordie Howe, Harper said he didn't recall any good memories playing against the all-time great. "No, not really," Harper said, "mainly because he was a right wing and I was a right defensemen and he was often on the other side of the ice. I played against left wingers like Bobby Hull. I swear I've got dents in my shins from him shooting the puck at me." After 10 seasons with the Canadiens, Harper moved on for three years with the Los Angeles Kings and then was traded to the Detroit Red Wings for four more years. He served as captain of both teams. "I don't know why they picked me," Harper said. "Maybe it was because I was a team player. Maybe it was because I stuck up for my teammates. It's an honor to be a captain, and all the guys were respectful, but I don't really think of it as being much different than a regular player on the team." Harper played parts of two more seasons, one with the St. Louis Blues and one with the Colorado Rockies, where he also coached, before retiring from hockey in 1981. "The Rockies were moving to New Jersey the following season and there was no way my family was going to leave Colorado," Harper said. Harper loves the game of hockey and gives back to the sport when he can. Briggs Orr, a teenage hockey player from El Dorado Hills and member of the Western Hockey League's Calgary Hitman and Harper are good friends and as a fellow right-handed defenseman, Harper has enjoyed giving him pointers along his development. "Briggs is very tall and skinny defensemen," Harper said. "In a lot of ways he's like I used to be except he's got way more skill than I had. He's got a bright future ahead of him." Harper said he watches more hockey during the playoffs than during the regular season. As for the Stanley Cup final, he said he enjoys watching both Vegas and Florida play because neither team has any superstars, they just get the puck to the front of the net and everyone goes after it hard. Harper wife of 60 years passed away four years ago. He lives alone in Folsom with his kids close by with his daughter also in Folsom, and two sons in West Sacramento and Stockton. "Life is good," Harper said. "I love the game of hockey. It's been very good to me."