He still has his pre game nap and a pre game meal. He warms up on the arena concourse in anticipation of the competition to come—the “puck toss” a novel participation event for fans. This guy is deadly serious about giving his best effort with the intention of winning every time he takes his spot in the stands. If there were a hall of fame for puck tossers, he would be in it. He won the Grizzlies puck toss 28 times in 32 games during 2006. So dominant was he, the other fans booed him. “Ban Barlow” echoed through Bear Mountain Arena. The next summer he had a life-changing heart attack, surviving thanks to the quick work of two off duty firemen. His spirit and the recuperative loving care of wife Marilyn got him back tossing pucks a year later and the crowd cheered his return from the dead. And he just keeps winning!
Between periods at Grizzlies games, Bob Barlow likes to wander the concourse at Bear Mountain chatting with cronies and giving his NHL hockey card to adults and kids he encounters. He relishes relating the goal—scored six seconds into his first shift as a 34-year-old rookie with the Minnesota North Stars. To this day, Bob’s first goal remains the NHL’s fastest for a rookie. Because of short-term memory loss related to his heart attack, you may hear about the goal more than once!
Growing up in the Hamilton area of Ontario; Bob, his brother, and friends played hockey on a frozen slough dotted with trees. As Barlow tells it, “The trees were the defence men, and we passed and skated around and between them. Heaven help you if you had your head down at the wrong time—those trees did not move.”
He started his career with the junior Barrie Flyers where he played with Don Cherry – and would play with Cherry on two other teams during his career. Barlow remembers Cherry as a great teammate and is very proud of and happy for him and for what he has achieved after a tough minor league career.
Very much a journeyman professional, Barlow played on 14 teams during a career of over 20 years. Of local interest, at the midpoint of his career, he was a member of the Western Hockey League champion Victoria Maple Leafs. It is the last professional team in Victoria to win a championship. After 15 years, he finally got his chance to play in “the show” and made his mark rather quickly. As he told his coach in Minneapolis after his six-second goal, “What’s so hard about this league?”
After a very good year in the NHL he was not getting a lot of ice time. At this point in his career, he asked to be moved to the WHL, to the Phoenix Roadrunners, a team in last place when he arrived. Soon after, while driving to a game, a teammate asked, “how badly will we get beat tonight?” Bob stopped the car and threatened to drop the guy off on the freeway. He has never been a ‘quitter’ and he wasn’t going to accept a ‘quitter’. Phoenix scraped into the playoffs and ultimately won the WHL championship. He just wants to win, and he was willing to carry his mates along with him.
His advice to young people: “Never give up on your dreams, if you work hard good things will happen.” When sticktuitiveness is added to dictionaries, one will find a picture of a smiling Bob Barlow below the definition.
Bob isn’t the only athlete in the family. His wife, Marilyn, is no athletic slouch. She was a Canadian gold medal figure skater in her youth and was the Canadian figure skating coach of the year in 2004. Her competition included the coach of World Champion Kurt Browning.
Currently Marilyn and Bob are on a mission to have the 65-66 Victoria Maple Leafs inducted into the local Hall of Fame representing the last professional team to win a championship for the city. As Marilyn suggests, they want to do it while the guys are still alive.
Rick Pepper rickpepper@shaw.ca
