{"id":1818,"date":"2024-05-26T13:36:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-26T17:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rihhof.com\/rireds.org\/?p=1818"},"modified":"2024-07-06T16:48:44","modified_gmt":"2024-07-06T20:48:44","slug":"the-long-and-lasting-legend-of-17-year-old-norm-desaulniers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rihhof.com\/rireds.org\/legends-and-lore\/the-long-and-lasting-legend-of-17-year-old-norm-desaulniers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Long and Lasting Legend of 17-Year-Old Norm Desaulniers"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s every sports-minded young person\u2019s dream to hit the home run that wins the game\u2026nail the shot that beats the buzzer\u2026score that sudden death goal. The ultimate thrill, however, as improbable as it might be, would be to someday \u201cplay in the bigs.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you grew up in Rhode Island in the early and mid century, the RI Reds were \u201cthe bigs\u201d, our state\u2019s professional and highly popular major sports team.<\/p>\n

For hockey players during that time, those dreams were always front and center because the place where the pros played, the RI Auditorium, was also the place you played in if you played high school or college hockey in Rhode Island.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>Such was the case for Norman Desaulniers.<\/p>\n

Norm was born and raised in a family of seven in the Fox Point section of Providence, not far from the Auditorium. Like so many other young hockey enthusiasts from the neighborhoods surrounding the Arena, Norm became a \u201crink rat\u201d, hanging around, doing odd jobs in exchange for ice time. Importantly, while sweeping popcorn and cigarette butts from the aisles, he sometimes got to witness Reds\u2019 practices and fell in love with the notion of becoming a goalie.<\/p>\n

A bright young man who skipped a grade in elementary school, Norm attended LaSalle Academy. And while he never played youth hockey or received formal training as a netminder, Norm was a natural in the position. By his senior year, the two-year starter for the Rams was the premier goaltender in the Interscholastic League and was a first team All-State selection. Still hanging around the Auditorium, he was applauded by the Reds\u2019 players, who by now had gotten to know him well.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>In the 1950\u2019s it was still rare for a hockey team to carry more than one goaltender and it just so happened that the Reds needed an occasional practice goalie as Norm\u2019s senior season finished. So between the pipes he went to face professional marksmanship for the first time, albeit in practice. He impressed Reds\u2019 coach Terry Reardon who arranged for Norm to attend games, providing him with a parking spot close to the building.<\/p>\n

No one really knows Reardon\u2019s motive for the gesture. One may certainly have been for Norm to be available if in the rare event a goaltender for either team was injured during a game, Norm would be available as a replacement. The 1952-53 season ended with no such incident.<\/p>\n

By the start of the following season, Pat Egan had replaced Reardon as player\/coach. Norm had graduated and taken a job as a full-time bank teller. But he still attended Reds games. On Armistice Day, November 11th<\/sup>, the defending AHL champions, the Cleveland Barons, were in town. Eight or so minutes into the game, Reds goaltender, Harvey Bennett, was struck in the eye with a deflected shot. Blood gushed and a 15-minute halt in play was called as team physician, Dr. James McKendry stitched Harvey up but then declared Bennett unable to continue.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>Newspaper accounts relate that owner Lou Pieri had suggested Chuck Scherza as a replacement. Egan even thought about donning the pads himself before he called for trainer George Army to summon just-turned-17-years-old Norm, who was still the Reds practice goalie. But first, Barons\u2019 coach Bun Cook had to give permission for young Norm to suit up because his addition would constitute a 16th<\/sup> Reds player, one over the official limit for a game. He graciously did so.<\/p>\n

Tom McDonough, the Reds\u2019 stick boy at the time was tasked by George to retrieve Norm\u2019s pads and equipment and handed him the keys to Norm\u2019s car. Tom recalled, \u201cIt was a cold night and the pads were frozen stiff. We had to pound them to soften them up.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorm was shaking like a leaf,\u201d he continued. \u201cHe came into the locker room with a small mouse under his eye from a stray stick he encountered in a pick-up game the night before. We thought it symbolic in a way. We told him it would be just like practice but with people in the stands \u2013 but just like practice.\u201d Needless to say, the trepidation continued.<\/p>\n

While it was a tough spot for Norm, it was also a difficult situation for the team. When play resumed with Norm in the nets, Reds beat writer Mike Thomas claimed in his news report of the game that the Reds, out of necessity, \u201cskated and checked as they probably never had before.\u201d Norm\u2019s confidence grew while making nine saves in the opening period and seeing how hard the team was working in front of him. The period ended with both teams scoreless.<\/p>\n

The holiday crowd was hushed when the Barons, shorthanded, pumped a 63-foot shot past Desaulniers early in the second. But jubilation reigned when the Reds responded with three tallies of their own in rapid succession against the Barons\u2019 netminder, Emile \u201cThe Cat\u201d Francis, to take a 3-1 lead into the third period. Again, Norm had stonewalled the Barons with nine saves.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>As expected, Cleveland grew more aggressive in the third period. Assisted for a time by a 4-3 manpower advantage, the Barons fired from everywhere trying to dent the net and Norm\u2019s confidence, but the kid stood tall. Then Zellio Toppazzini lit the lamp for a 4-1 lead and the Reds never looked back, winning 4-2. Norm finished with 28 sparking saves for the night.<\/p>\n

When the buzzer sounded, Harvey Bennett rose to cheer from the press box and the crowd gave young Norm \u201cone of the warmest ovations given any athlete in the Auditorium for years,\u201d Thomas reported. The players joined in and the kid was lost among his teammates, often being toppled by the players who were mobbing him.<\/p>\n

The following morning, Norm was back at his bank teller window smiling at the Providence Journal headline proclaiming him a \u201cHockey Hero\u201d. Associated Press news reports were carried in major cities and The Hockey News<\/em>featured his extraordinary fete across North America. He was an overnight celebrity.<\/p>\n

Buoyed by his experience and at the urging of Reds players, he would soon after take a leave of absence from his job for a tryout in Quebec with the legendary Citadelles of the Ontario Junior Hockey League.<\/p>\n

According to his youngest brother, Bob, Norm had missed out on a scholarship offer to play at St. Lawrence University and Canada was his next best option to keep his hockey dreams alive. His recollection was that because he had played professionally for that one Reds game, and perhaps even paid, he had unwittingly forfeited his chance to play collegiately.<\/p>\n

During his time in Quebec, Norm, struck by a shot, sustained a serious groin injury and soon returned home. He never full recovered but continued playing goal in the RI Amateur Hockey League for a time, helping the Cranston Nationals team to the league pennant the following year.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>Norm was later diagnosed with testicular cancer. According to Bob, family and doctors surmised it might have been related to his groin injury. Perhaps because of the type of cancer and the mores of the times, the specifics and location of the cancer was kept from the community and much of the family. After a long battle and just three years after his historic achievement, Norm sadly passed away at the tender age of 20. Several days later, at the next Reds game, a moment of silence was held in honor of the young man so many in the stands had witnessed the heroics of just three years earlier.<\/p>\n

In 1956, Norm\u2019s family, headed by oldest brother Roland, established the Norman Desaulniers Memorial Award<\/em> in conjunction with the RI Interscholastic League. For 10 years, the award was presented to the state\u2019s First Team All-State Goaltender at the RIIL coach\u2019s annual Awards Banquet.<\/p>\n

It is safe to say that at age 17, Norm Desaulniers had made it to \u201cthe bigs\u201d at an age and in a way that will long be remembered and spoken of.<\/p>\n

Fittingly, in step with the long tradition of outstanding goaltenders produced at LaSalle, of which Norm was one, the first Norman Desaulniers Memorial Award<\/em> went to Herb Simmons (below, 2nd from left) and would be followed by five other Ram netminders and others who are considered among the best ever produced in this great state of hockey.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

1957 – Herb Simmons, LaSalle<\/p>\n

1958 – Bob Bellemore, LaSalle<\/p>\n

1959 – Bob Bellemore, LaSalle<\/p>\n

1960 – Mike Sears, Hope<\/p>\n

1961 – Mike Sears, Hope<\/p>\n

1962 – Jack Ferreira, LaSalle<\/p>\n

1963 – Paul Breault, Burrillville<\/p>\n

1964 – Dave Cooney, LaSalle<\/p>\n

1965 – Frank Trudeau, Woonsocket<\/p>\n

1966 – Tim Regan, LaSalle<\/p>\n

By RIHHOF<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s every sports-minded young person\u2019s dream to hit the home […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legends-and-lore"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rihhof.com\/rireds.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rihhof.com\/rireds.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rihhof.com\/rireds.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rihhof.com\/rireds.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rihhof.com\/rireds.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1818"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rihhof.com\/rireds.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3585,"href":"https:\/\/rihhof.com\/rireds.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1818\/revisions\/3585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rihhof.com\/rireds.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rihhof.com\/rireds.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rihhof.com\/rireds.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rihhof.com\/rireds.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}