The First British NHL Draft Pick - The Tony Hand Story
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- On June 21st 1986, the Edmonton Oilers selected forward Tony Hand with the 252nd overall pick in the 12th round of the draft. Though he would never play in the NHL, the final pick of the draft would help put his country back on the hockey map and write his name in the hockey history books.
This is the story of the first British NHL draft pick...
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Their Gold Medal was won with a team of almost entirely Canadians.
More than 50% of the EIHL (the top league in the UK) is Canadian ex-pats.
Yes but it was England that stared playing in Canada
Untrue - some of the team were Canadian born yes, but if you as actually look at the Canadian roster for that tournament, they had some British born players on their team too. Due to the fact Canada was a populated British colony, this was common.
Cam rayner canada was no longer an official colony by 1936
@@camrayner7302 Wrong.. Just wrong.. Very wrong
He lived his dream not other people's. Respect
Nothing brings me more joy than the good word of the sport,
I hope Britain will produce strong hockey players which I know it will & can!
Ok, I'll admit some ignorance about this league. I've never heard of Tony Hand until I saw he was the top search on hockeydb and ended up here. Thanks for sharing, and definitely an excellent and noteworthy long career. As I researched more about the league he played in I thought "he surely must have lead the league in scoring almost every year." After checking his most dominant performances I stumbled upon the yearly leaders for those years. He was near the top, but how was he not the top scorer in 1986-87, or 88-89 and 93-94? Some guy had 180 goals in 56 games, but it wasn't Tony Hand. Fast forward to the standings and the top teams averaged 10 goals a game. Heck, the worst teams were averaging 5 goals. What size were the nets? Great career, but unfortunately we'll never know how it would have translated to a better league.
Maybe he should come back to Edmonton and try out as an assistant coach 🤔
Just subscribe to the man if you watch his videos
He’s literally the Gretzky of the uk
😂😂😂😂 Gretz would have 10 times the points he had in the NHL if he played in that league... It's an absolute joke this guy being compared to him 😂😂😂😂😂
@@mikelow4374 that wasn't my point
@@elicolton732 "the Gretzky of the UK" is a perfectly acceptable way of putting it. Most people with some degree of reading comprehension skills would see you are not suggesting in anyway that he is as good as Wayne Gretzky .... LOL, Mike you need to relax your passion is getting in the way. You are 100% correct but that's not what was said?
@@mikelow4374 You don't have to reply this to every comment. They're not making a relative comparison. I'm not even going to attempt to explain to you what that means. Too tired. But you're grossly misinterpreting that statement.
sucks that he didn't care about playing in a better league, even once he was in his 20's. oh well. some players would rather just stay at home and be the big fish in a small pond
It's incredibly hard leaving everything you have ever known, and move halfway around the world.
Man this guy lacked confidence.
Never knew a Scottish Wayne Gretzky existed.
I did tsn had this story a while back
Wasnt Mark MESSIER #11 - of British Origin too ?
@@holoholopainen1627 ummm is that special half the league is part British
@@holoholopainen1627 a huge portion of canada is part british it isnt anything special for someone to have british ancestry its only abnormal and special for a british born and trained player gets drafted like liam Kirk
@@lilwoodiewood3457 But Wayne was Polish - and People in Quebec are No British ! Even Canada speaks English - many has ROOTS SOMEWHERE Else !
I had no idea who Tony Hand was until today! Amazing video. Thank you!
Taco Jawa oh god I’m old if people haven’t heard of Mr Assist 😉
I'd never heard of this guy, either
I wonder what the alternate timeline where he accepts one of the NHL contracts looks like
Sather also says "At the training camp I could see that he had a great ability to read the ice and he was the smartest player there other than Wayne Gretzky. He skated well: his intelligence on the ice stood out. He was a real prospect." Makes you wonder.
he plays at most 10 games
50-60 points? for how long i can't say
@@blazin1397 - But only because of injury. He scored 65 goals in those 10 games. I lived in that timeline for a bit, it's super strange there. My dick was tiny.
@@d-rockanomaly9243 lol
Had the pleasure of sharing the ice with Tony, hes a real gentleman and one of the humblest people I've met
"Had to borrow a stick from enforcer Marty McSorley"
Was it a legal curve though?
it was probably a tree branch.
McSorley was just disposing of the evidence for multiple assaults.
I had a chuckle when i seen his stats. It kinda reminds me of Some of the top player's on EA Nhl 20 who boost their stats playing noobs.
Glen Sather knew more than you guys
I dare say Tony Hand ould have been very good, perhaps even great. It's unfortunate the NHL never saw Tony Hand. That kind of production speaks for itself. But hey there is always Steve Thomas, he was pretty good.
Some of the comments of 'beer league' and wouldn't work hard enough to cut in Canada aren't fair or accurate. Firstly, you don't get to play until 47 and keep in shape by not putting in the work. Think my second comment would be at the standard of league. In his early career, the league wasn't good, and the points stats are mad. But he was clearly the best player in the league, even with imported Canadians. Even in the late nineties where imports made up 90% of the league and was at a standard somewhere between ECHL & the IHL, he was still the best player. And this is with limited ice time and coaching in earlier years. I think he clearly had the talent to play in the NHL. Whether he would have 'made it', no one will ever know. But I certainly think he had the talent.
It's amazing to think that he came into the game as a scrawny 14-year old, let alone put in a 35-year pro career - not even Gordie Howe could amass that many pro seasons. I saw him in his early prime in the 80's when the Racers played in televised live games on BBC Grandstand, and later on in person when he suited up for the Dundee Stars, the Edinburgh Capitals and the Manchester Phoenix - although he was not as greatly appreciated by me at the time, as he did most of his best work against my Coventry Blaze.
So, in summary - Ovechkin: I am greatest goalscorer ever.
Gretzky: I scored more points than anyone in hockey history.
Tony Hand: Hold my Irn-Bru, plebs.
I mean if Gretzky was in the same league as hand he wouldn't have 2700+ points...
He would have 10 000 XD
@@Yomasi lol I like how he doesn't reply to amend, or acknowledge the massive hole in his comment :p
It’s a shame he didn’t follow the NA path for his career.
Having a British star in the NHL could have done wonders for the development of the sport here.
Please do a David longstaff episode. As a lifetime warriors fan it would mean a lot to me!
Wow! What a career. Thanks for bringing our attention to this overlooked and otherwise forgotten hockey legend.
Glen Sather was right. If he had committed to staying in North America, he could have been a star.
I was at this guys last ever game ☺️ Basingstoke bison vs Manchester Phoenix. Tony hand, what a legend
Playoff finals at Coventry right ?
Seems like he may have been able to make it to the NHL and perhaps stick around for a bit... Very hard telling though.
Ya, I've heard just because players have been prolific scorers in the minors, that doesn't mean they're going to score in the NHL. :(
I think he would have had plenty of success in the NHL if he could have developed. He was averaging over 2.5 ppg in the WHL as a 19 year old. He had the hands, he could skate and most importantly he has serious hockey sense. He was 5'10" 190lbs which was good enough size. It's a shame he didn't stick it out in NA. He's one of the biggest what ifs in NHL/ hockey history.
Everyone wants British hockey to step up. Problem is there's no schoolyard or street incentive to learn to play and light it up as a kid. You won't play games against other kids who are any good, because they all play football. Some kind of incentive for kids to play roller hockey would be a good start. Facilities etc. There's not much ice or freezing weather in the UK so the cost of providing rinks is too big.
Meh beer league ringers are a dime a dozen here in Canada!
Him not signing the Sather contracts was just plain stupid! I’d sacrifice a sibling, aunt or uncle for that kind of opportunity!
He didn't want to put in the work required to be in the NHL 😂😂 would rather be downing pints 😂😂 and he knew he would never be a big shit in NHL so he stayed in a total shitty league where he could look good😂😂
Exhaustion is part of playing hockey. These guys play an 82 game season and are used to being tired and beat up. Hand was small, so he was going to have to be tough to play in the NHL.
He was definitely too good to be playing in the UK, but so are thousands of other players.
The Brits would love ice hockey if they were exposed to it more. It's a sport that's right up their alley. Hopefully one day a country like Britain that has a 60 million plus population will come around when it come to ice hockey. Not everyone can play football or cricket.
I really think Tony Hand could have been 300+ goal, 500+ assist player. Had he developed in the WHL and then played a half year or full year in the AHL. He could have been a great player. British hockey would be much more advanced internationally had Hand had a better ability to think long term. Oh well.
My father played on Tony’s line with Bowen Bryan’s father as well… he said he was the nicest guy who just loved his country too much to leave. Great video!
I agree he sounds great and I admire people who love their. Although if he’d joined they NHL he would changed British Hockey completely knowing he had the ability to do it people would up to him as the best player ever and Hockey would be the biggest sport in Britain, if only.
That moment when team Kazakhstan is better than team Great Britain
Tony Hand is the official G.O.A.T in hockey history. He should be in the hockey hall of fame
woah woah let's not get carried away :p
Would he have made it in the NHL? As a native Montrealer and Canadiens fan, he sounds like the kind of player that would have fit right in with the team. Hard-working, humble, smart and "...sees the ice well, second smartest player in training camp" (after only Gretzky?!) and can score. Oh yeah, playing against the best of the best might not have resulted in the stunning numbers he put up in the UK, but Bob Gainey never won a scoring title yet Montreal would have 3 or 4 fewer Cups were it not for him. Build, head-smarts, natural hockey sense, good vision and hands puts him in the same (hypothetical) slot a Bob Gainey or Guy Carboneau, a Mario Lambert or Jean-Claude Tremblay might fill. Sounds like he wasn't an NHLer by choice, not lack of talent.
Considering he was "exhausted from the amount of training and press conference in Canada", I very much doubt it
Si c'est ce que Sather a dit, alors ce type était fou de refuser cette offre de contrat.
@@Yomasi I’d take him aside and tel him to man up and quit being a wimp. Mickey Mantle (the phenomenal NY Yankee legend) went through the same thing in his rookie year until his father had a “frank” man to man talk with him. I think Mr. Tony Hand needed his dad or older brother there to talk sense into him. OMG 😱 does this aggravate me!! Wasted talent.
Peter Lee, was a helluva player who hailed from Britain, played for the Pittsburgh Penguins when I was a kid in the early 80s
I always wondered if his stats were a mistake when I saw him in the original Eastside Hockey Manager game, but jesus the Gretzky comparisons are more than fair. I will say though the 2 point Tony should be 3 point Tony, more fitting
The Wayne Gretzky comparisons are absolutely ridiculous... LOL.... I mean Hand could have had a decent NHL career as a 2nd or 3rd line player, perhaps scoring 50-60 points a season... But comparing him to Wayne Gretzky is just loony.... Sure he's the "Wayne Gretzky of Britain" but the competition across the pond is really really terrible..... Several NHL players have played in Britain and they put up Tony Hand numbers - heck there is a game here on youtube where a 43-year-old Gary Unger scored 10 goals in a game....... I mean most junior teams in North America would crush any professional team from Britain... There is a reason why Britain doesn't compete against Canada, USA, Russia, Sweden, Finland etc in international play, lol....
So yea, was Hand NHL material? sure, but he was nothing close to being an NHL star....
Dude...the guy's statistics don't mean anything. He put up those numbers by playing in what was essentially a beer league. To determine how good this guy really was, all it would have taken is for him to play one single season of Major Junior in Canada. But like everything else, he turned that down. This guy didn't want to put in the work. He wanted to be the big fish in a small pond. He didn't want to put in the work. He wanted to be the local hero..playing in front of audiences that didn't understand what they were watching (talent-wise). It almost seems like if he wasn't offered a spot on the big league club, he wasn't interested. He turned down Jr. A, he turned down an AHL team..but he chose to play something like 36 games a year in the British league?????? Very odd. Maybe he realized that he didn't have a future playing in NHL and wanted to save himself the letdown. Who knows. But it boggles my mind. Imo, an athlete should always want to play their sport at the highest level possible. An athlete should want to know where they stand. They should want to know how good they truly are.
@@Swoop187OG187 that's just not true is it.. the best NHL player to play in the EIHL was probably Matt Beleskey who put up just over a point a game. How many other nations do you know that get two consecutive IIHF promotions. Give some other nations some respect and stop being a dickhead hockey snob
@@michaelr.4878 Sather also says "At the training camp I could see that he had a great ability to read the ice and he was the smartest player there other than Wayne Gretzky. He skated well: his intelligence on the ice stood out. He was a real prospect."
This is just fuckin ridiculous 😂😂😂😂 comparing to Gretzky 😂😂😂 I have never laughed so hard 😂😂😂😂 good for him.. 2-3 points per game... Gretz would have been 10-15 points per game in that shitty league 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Growing up in Edinburgh, I loved nothing more than watching Tony and his brother Paul playing for the Racers.
Most of the leagues Tony Hand played in no longer exist, except for the WHL.
Years in existence
WHL: The Western Hockey League (1966-Present)
BHL: The British Hockey League (1980-1996)
ISL: The Ice Hockey Superleague (1995-2003)
GBR/BNL: The British National League (1996-2005)
EPIHL: The English Premier Ice Hockey League (1998-2017)
EIHL: The Elite Ice Hockey League (2003-Present)
Steve Thomas was born in England.
Should Tony Hand be the only BHL player to ever be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, just so the BHL has representation? Tony Hand is their all-time leading scorer, although the league was made up mostly of players who couldn't make it into any better leagues. Slightly ahead of a common beer league.
Tony Hand played 14 seasons in the BHL and scored 921 goals in 484 games. He was the first British player to be drafted by an NHL team when he was picked by the Edmonton Oilers in 1986. He was picked in the 12th round, 252 and last overall. He played three games for the Victoria Cougars of the WHL. He returned to the UK, citing homesickness, and made a name for himself over there. He later became a head coach as well.
I felt so embarassed to be called out that I promptly subscribed
The British Wayne Gretzky.
And the british Jagr at the same time!
* Scottish
I think more brits should play ice hockey. I’d really like to see more of team GB in IIHF tier I games
Well, technically Great Britain was included in this years WC for the second year in the row. www.iihf.com/en/events/2020/wm/teams
I've always wanted to see a UK team against an NHL team. The UK team would get destroyed, I know, but it'd still be quite the spectacle. :D Don't think enough people care about hockey here, though. :( It's all football/soccer. :(
@@STEJTHEGREATEST Bruins came over a few years ago to play Giants which were made up of an EIHL all star team
@@jackblaze2015 Who won?????? :O
😂😂😂😂😂😂 that's some funny shit
sounds like me playing be a bro
I’ve seen you play you couldn’t hit a barn with a slap shot
real shame,he didnt stay there.. :( i think from oversea he would do much more for british hockey,than home... his stats in victoria talks itself :( anyway interesting story
Had he accepted the contract he might've been on the 1990 Stanley cup Oilers by then too
Crazy to think huh
Funny thing.... I been a hockey fantic since the 60's and I've never heard of him.
Nobody has.. In North America at least... Top player in UK is like being the 5000th best player in North America 😂😂😂
@@mikelow4374 yeah I did
@@mikelow4374 he was the Wayne Gretzky of BIHL but this is a third tier league. This guy could’ve easily have had a very good career in the NHL.
What a Moron.
he def could have sniffed at least a few nhl games back in that time had he stayed in north america
I wonder if they called the Nova Scotia Oilers the New Scotland Oilers to even further concise him to join the AHL, glad he’s happy and enjoying life though, but pretty sad he turned down an NHL career. Even if it was by accident.
The Hartford whalers could have used him.
He could have given them a Hand I'm sure.
Sorry I'll show myself out.
1994 world championships did not have the best players... the wc never has the best players
The British league is a joke....scoreless in 6 games when he played for GBR at the world championship. He would have been a 4th line NHL player at best.
Have another look at his stats while playing in Canada for the Victoria Cougars!
Seems like the dream to play for the Oilers was theirs but not his.
I don't know if he would have been a superstar in the NHL, but I think he could have played his whole career in the NHL and made some decent money if that is what he wanted.
Yes but he would have just been another decent player and he didn't want to put in the work required to be in the NHL 😂😂😂 he instead wanted to be a big shit in a small shitty league 😂😂
I never realized that British hockey teams had been around since the early 1900's
Ice hockey was invented by british people on a ice pond in canada
@@sammybeaver9130 well, that puts it all in a different perspective then
@@karlsmith2570 yeah, lots of people think it is a Canadian sport but no, it is 100% britsih. The canadians made the sport better
@@sammybeaver9130 apparently, I was amongst the numerous people that thought that hockey was created by Canadians or even Scandinavians
@@karlsmith2570 Scandinavian made ice skating, the british made the basics of ice hockey and the canadians made it what it is today
The Nova Scotia Oilers were AHL not JUNIOR!!!!!
I just want to say, instead of pointing out all the people who don't subscribe, maybe thank the people who do. Feels like I'm being shamed for not paying you on a free platform
He probably made the right choice. He would've realised quickly that he was one of thousands of players as good, or miles better than him, so he opted to be a big fish in small pond. Probably enjoyed his hockey more as a result. It has to be said, the goalies in the UK were the worst you've ever seen. And their hockey is pretty dumbed-down. But the crowds there love it. It's hilarious - because they even get excited when someone shoots the puck and hits the boards.
People will find this hard to believe, but British pro hockey was high quality, circa the early fifties, as there were plenty of transplanted Canadians, left over from the World War2 era... which likewise goes a long way toward explaining why Great Britain won the 1936 Olympic Gold Medal in Hockey...
PS: Was tempted to type 'ICE' Hockey, but stopped myself...
This guy hand was clearly clueless he signed with the Cougars?? He get’s a 1 year contract offer with Edmonton to play on their farm team Nova Scotia Oilers, the. He ops to play in the WHL (a JUNIOR TEAM?!?).
19th isn’t that bad, but team GB is as far as I know is the only team that is allowed pro players (only pro’s from the EIHL) not like born in America but dad is British, and plays in America
11:45 "...a tournament that features the best players that international hockey has to offer."
Well, World Championships in ice hockey are C-level tournaments. None of team get their best players to join. Top nations could build three or four better teams than they present at the games. NHL playoffs are ongoing at the same time, most of players not in the playoffs decide not to join to get their banger and bruised bodies back to shape or are in need of a surgery, and some want to avoid possible injuries and not hurting their contract negotiations.
Just compare rosters from Olympic Games (1996-2014) when NHL was participating to rosters from World Championships and you'll notice that they are totally different. Wayne Gretzky played in World Championships once, Mario Lemieux never did, Joe Sakic twice, Brett Hull once... you see the trend.
World Championships are like Eurovision Song Contest. Huge show but no big stars.
So he declined playing real hockey in the States so he could pad his stats in the UK......
Not sure if you'll end up seeing this but I wanted to ask what it's like to be a hockey fan from England? I'm Canadian so I just kinda grew up around it, it's just part of the culture. But what's it like being a fan in a country where the sport (presumably) isn't that popular? Is there anyone you're able to share your love for the sport with? How do you go about being able to watch games? I'd be interested in hearing how all that works for someone outside of North America.
Two Points Quite A Name Oilers N' Sather Knew Their Players !
Great Britain will never be know for anything in hockey other then 1936- 75% players born in canada smfh Dont even count 😂
Shouldn't you be saying British forward?
Tony Hand would've made it. He just didn't have the Canadian kid's dream of hoisting the Stanley Cup over his head. If Hand had a tiny bit of that dream all Canadian kids had, he would've stuck it out and lived the dream
And I doubt he could take the physicality of the NHL game
Hand was drafted last in the 12th round. His chances of playing a single game with the Oilers was slim.
what about Steve smith from Glasgow , who played for the oilers and won a Stanley cup
I realize you want to cateer to nhl fans. but I think this kind of a video about UK hockey is something that many would find interesting. Have you thought about doing videos on the different leagues in the UK and the teams? Always amazes me when people do not realize that there are multiple leagues
Enjoyed the video but sorry to point out the Murrayfield Racers logo used is the wrong one.
This is the logo of the new team not the racers team he famously played for .
The choice of being the best player in the shittiest league over being shitty player in the best league ...
That is sad that uk has olympic gold and finns dont have gold and we want the 1 ovr pick but every time there is some "generational talent" above
I need a Smirnoff jersey
I have one
Tony gave me one when I was 4
Do the last abnormal goalie mask
Probably Tim Thomas for the Bruins in 2012
Lest we forget about Alexandre Daigle.
Ok this guys jr career sounds like me playing nhl 20 be a pro on semi pro lol if not better
imagine hand and gretzky together. Sad about that what if.
skated with him and his brother when I was in Edinburgh trying out for the Royals ,
What a distinctive and interesting career he had. It makes me wonder what his career would have been had he been born and trained in Canada.
Sather also says "At the training camp I could see that he had a great ability to read the ice and he was the smartest player there other than Wayne Gretzky. He skated well: his intelligence on the ice stood out. He was a real prospect."
I thought it was my boy Liam Kirk
Great video. Nik Antropov, the first Kazakh born player to make the NHL would be a great video for the future.
You know Long time San Jose goalie Nabokov was born in Kazakh to.
Nobody cares about Antropov 😂😂.. There were players from there when still USSR
In my opinion Tony Hand is one of the biggest what it's in NHL history. It sure would have been interesting to see what he could have became playing with the likes of Gretzky, and Kurri.
Sather also says "At the training camp I could see that he had a great ability to read the ice and he was the smartest player there other than Wayne Gretzky. He skated well: his intelligence on the ice stood out. He was a real prospect."
Okay you need to do a video on Hand and his brothers attempt to be owners of the Edinburgh Capitals and the mayhem that caused
You mean the mayhem that led to the caps going under
@@elliotwilliams7421 As a Cardiff Devil fan that still makes me sad. According to the version of events I was told, he just did not have the clear financial backing that the league wanted. Some were concerned that he was going to do what happened previously where a owner over paid for talent and the team in question was in financial problems by mid season
Calgary won the cup in 89
The Swedish allsvenskan is the same as ahl only in Sweden since shl is the highest swedish League
Tony hand just signed for our local club as a coach
Steve stumpy Thomas great superstar from the UK
ruclips.net/video/zZVEYrIgp6c/видео.html
Ironically stumpy scored for Canada against Britain in 94. Definitely a few what ifs for GB.
Actually he was Canadian but just was born in the UK and grew up in Canada playing all his hockey in Canada so really not "from the uk" 😂😂
I just can't believe Tony Hand didn't stick it out in North America. Would have done wonders for Hockey in Scotland and beyond. Absolutely would have been a bonified NHLer ... who knows how good or great
He probably would have got hit once and quit running home for a pint 😂😂😂😂
What NHL and eihl team do u support
Scottish. He was Scottish. Just that.
As someone from Edmonton, when discussing Hand, the following is mentioned. Big fish small pound who then tried to be a guppier in the ocean. IT just did not work
Pond
Glen Sather rated him. And he knew hockey players. Hand just couldn't get over home sickness. Shame we'll never know, that Oilers team was still pretty awesome.
@E B 2nd time he turned the contract down he got more money back in GB. Plus the NHL in the 80s wasnt huge in Britain. Not every kid dreamt of the Stanley cup playing what is a very minor sport (sadly) in UK.
@@1bert719 He was too scared to work or get hit 😂😂😂😂 so play for pennies in a shitty league that was no better than a Canadian beer league without hitting 😂😂😂😂
80% of fuck all isn't much
What could've been
His stats are impressive and he probably could’ve carved out an NHL career but his inflated stats are definitely a result of being an elite player playing against questionable opponents.
Sather also says "At the training camp I could see that he had a great ability to read the ice and he was the smartest player there other than Wayne Gretzky. He skated well: his intelligence on the ice stood out. He was a real prospect."
He's not really...Brit, excuse me eangalishneshness umhemph
But I like your enthusiasm for the game at hand nonetheless.
Could you imagine if he actually played? Hockey would be a lot more popular in the country prolly.
He probably would have been hammered once and ran home crying faster than the Russians ran away from Philly 😂😂😂😂😂
As a Canadian expat living in the UK, I am somewhat starved for hockey. I didn't know there was a professional league in this country. Why is Belfast such a powerhouse?
Shows how good that league is 😂😂
Home of TITANIC !
I love the racers
He was home sick
I know tony hand
How about a "Whatever happened to.... Alexander Frolov?" or "Whatever happened to.... Ladislav Nagy?" or "Whatever happened to.... Alexei Morozov?"