THN Archive: Kings Star Bernie Nicholls Was a Hot Dog – and Elite NHL Scorer

In this THN Archive story from 40 years ago, L.A. star forward Nicholls was a legitimate superstar winger who would eventually score 70 goals in a single season – and while he was a colorful character on and off the ice, he was a bona fide needle-mover for the Kings.

Making the jump from major junior hockey to the NHL is no easy feat. But 40 years ago, THN profiled a youngster who made a colorful splash in his transition to the top league on the planet. His name is Bernie Nicholls, and he was a ton of fun to watch and to report on.

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In this story from THN’s Nov. 18, 1983 issue – Vol 37, Issue 8 – then-THN writer Bob McKenzie profiled Nicholls in a cover story that focused on his skills on the ice as a member of the Los Angeles Kings, as well as his impact off the ice. McKenzie noted Nicholls (a) lived in a $400,000 L.A. mansion; (b) was dating a Playboy Bunny; and (c) had a summer cottage in his home province of Ontario. And Nicholls didn’t shy away from any of the attention that ensued.

“More than anything else, I like to have a good time, whatever I’m doing. I’m never serious,” Nicholls told McKenzie. “Well, I’m serious when I’m playing, but I like to have fun in life. To me, that’s what it’s all about. I’m really very easy-going. Maybe a lot of people think I’m cocky, too cocky, I guess, because they don’t think I treat things seriously enough. But I’m just trying to have some fun in life and it’s not at somebody else’s expense. Some people say I’m a hot dog. I don’t think I am.”

Nicholls also made headlines in that 1983-84 season, posting 41 goals and 95 points in 78 games. However, he was just warming up as an NHL sniper: In the 1984-85 campaign, he generated 46 goals and 100 points – and in his career-best season on offense, he posted an incredible 70 goals and 150 points in 79 games. He remains one of only a few to score at least 70 goals in a single season and one of just six NHLers to ever put up 150 points.

That career-best season might have happened in part because it was icon Wayne Gretzky’s first year as a King, but even Gretzky scored fewer goals that season – 54 goals, in fact – than Nicholls did. And the people who worked with him accepted him for who he was.

“The thing about Bemie is that he’s always had a challenge, something to prove,” Bob Tindall, then-Boston’s scouting co-ordinator who was an assistant coach with the Ontario League’s Kingston Canadians while Nicholls played there. “He’s a real competitor. In Kingston, I wasn’t always sure he was much of a team player. Then when we lost out in the division finals in Bernie’s last year, he was bawling his eyes out. I was happy to see that. It showed me he cared about losing.”

Was Nicholls a hot dog? Well, sure he is. Or at least, he was.

“Of course, he is,” Tindall said. “Any guy who wears a full-length fur coat and acts the way he does when he scores a goal is a hot dog. But deep down, he’s just a real country boy. What you see is what you get with Bernie Nicholls.”

And that’s what made him a Kings legend.

Vol. 37, Issue 8, Nov. 18, 1983

By Bob McKenzie

Solving the riddle that is Bernie Nicholls is no easy assignment. Or is it?

Is he the good, old country boy with a heart of gold who hails from the tiny hamlet (population 100) of West Guilford, Ont?

Or is he the hotshot playboy from Los Angeles who lives in a $400,000 mansion in the hills of Southern California?

Or could the Los Angeles Kings’ center be one of the fastest-rising stars in the National Hockey League?

Or is he a flamboyant showoff — dare we say a hot dog — who puts as much energy into celebrating goals as he does scoring them?

Well, Bernie Nicholls is all those things, yet Bernie Nicholls is none of them. Confused? It’s not an unusual condition when you try to hang a label on this seemingly walking contradiction. Let it suffice to say that Bernie Nicholls is Bernie Nicholls.

“I don’t know if people really understand what I’m like,” says Nicholls, who never really changes as much as his environment does.

“More than anything else, I like to have a good time, whatever I’m doing. I’m never serious. Well, I’m serious when I’m playing, but I like to have fun in life. To me, that’s what it’s all about. I’m really very easy-going. Maybe a lot of people think I’m cocky, too cocky, I guess, because they don’t think I treat things seriously enough. But I’m just trying to have some fun in life and it’s not at somebody else’s expense. Some people say I’m a hot dog. I don’t think I am.”

But Bernie, how about:

• The full-length fur coat and fancy cowboy boots you wore in junior hockey while your teammates and opponents were still at the three-piece suit and white tube sock stage?
• The time, in your rookie season, when you went on national television and when asked what your goals for the season were, you said 50 was a nice, round number?
• The game last season when you and your line shut down the New York Islanders’ star duo of Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy and after it was over, you asked them both for their sticks?
• The Pumper-Nicholl, your goal-scoring ritual of punching the air with your glove and sometimes irritating your opponents?

If those don’t brand you as a hot dog with the works, then what does?

“Those things don’t make me a hot dog,” Nicholls reasons. “The reason I wore the fur coat in junior was simple — it was a good deal. I got a $4,000 coat for $1,000. It was cold in Kingston. Why not wear a fur coat? I like to be warm.

“And sure, I said I’d like to score 50 goals. Who wouldn’t? You’ve got to shoot for something and I like to think that I can get 50.”

But Bernie, wasn’t it a little precocious to ask for Trottier’s and Bossy’s stick right after you’d done a job on them?

“Bryan Trottier has always been my favorite hockey player. Up until I was drafted by the Kings, the Islanders were my favorite team. It was my first game against them and I really was thrilled to get their sticks.

“And I don’t understand why people make a big deal out of the way I celebrate a goal. Hey, I’m happy. It feels good to score a goal and that’s my way of showing it. I don’t see why people should be offended by it. I’m not trying to rub it in or anything. Really, I’m just happy.”

Nicholls has reason to be happy these days. Centering a line between nifty little winger Jim Fox and the towering Scott MacLellan, Nicholls has been the Kings’ dominant player so far this season. In his first 15 games, the 22-year-old has 12 goals and 14 assists and has shown that, barring injuries or a complete breakdown, he could pot 40 or 50 this season.

The only reason for hesitancy in proclaiming Nicholls’ arrival as a top-flight offensive power in the NHL is that a year ago, he was struck down with a knee injury just when he was on a similar roll. In his first 19 games last season, he had 16 goals and eight assists, but after the injury — suffered in Detroit when Willie Huber hit him — he lost his effectiveness and struggled for the remainder of the season, finishing with 28 goals and 22 assists.

“What I’m really pleased with,” says Kings’ coach Don Perry, “is that I think he matured an awful lot in the off season. He was criticized by a number of people for having a big head and it seems that this year, right from the start of training camp, he’s been working hard and he’s been our most consistent player to date.

“He’s taken over as a leader on this team. I think he’s capable of hanging in there and becoming one of the better players in the NHL for a lot of years, as long as he keeps a good, solid head on his shoulders. He’s got the ability, he’s got the hockey sense and he isn’t afraid of anyone. He’s got all the ingredients.”

Nicholls’ teammates must think so, too. In practice, when Nicholls scores on a line rush, his mates will bang their sticks on the ice and chant “Franchise, Franchise,” all of which makes him smile sheepishly and look half-embarrassed, which is no mean feat in itself.

During a recent game-day practice, after a particularly nifty move by Nicholls, veteran winger Charlie Simmer fell to his knees, extended both his arms over his head and started bowing at Nicholl’s feet, all the while chanting “Franchise.”

“By throwing that up to him in a joking way,” Perry says of the chanting and theatrics, “the guys are saying, ’Don’t go getting a big head.’”

“Terry Ruskowski, who I’m pretty close to, started that whole thing,” says Nicholls. “The other guys heard it and now they like to jap me about it. I guess it’s because I got off to such a good start.”

It’s also because it’s partially true. Marcel Dionne, the real franchise in Los Angeles can’t go on forever, although he isn’t showing any signs of slowing up yet. When Dionne is ready to retire, it will likely be Nicholls who assumes the mantle of leadership, on and off the ice.

“I’ve worked hard this season to be more of a team player,” he says. “It’s just that I wake up every morning and feel so good that I want everybody to feel that way. So at practice, I try to be a bit of a leader, to get things going and liven things up a little.”

It’s not as if Nicholls was one of those players who was clearly destined to become a star in the NHL. Of course, it was always his aim and that’s why he left his home in West Guilford when he was 15 years old. He went to Toronto and tried out for the North York Rangers Tier Two team, but was cut and played his midget season with the Woodbridge Junior Bs. The following season, he tried out for the Kingston Canadians of the Ontario Hockey League, but was cut and assigned to North York. As an 18-year-old, he played his first major junior season, scoring 36 goals and 43 assists and was subsequently drafted 73rd overall by the Kings in 1980.

He made the Kings look good when, in his last year of major junior, he scored 63 goals and 89 assists. But he reported to the Kings’ training camp out of shape and was demoted to New Haven, where he scored 41 goals in 55 games before being promoted. In 22 games with the Kings, he had 14 goals and 18 assists and helped lead Los Angeles to a preliminary round playoff upset of the Edmonton Oilers.

“The thing about Bemie is that he’s always had a challenge, something to prove,” says Bob Tindall, the Boston Bruins’ scouting coordinator who was also an assistant coach in Kingston while Nicholls was there. “When he was cut from North York, he was determined to bounce back. When he was cut by Kingston, he had something to prove.

“Then when he was sent to New Haven, it was a challenge to get back to the NHL. After things went bad for him last season, he’s out to prove he can do it this season. I suspect that once those tests and challenges are gone, then Bemie will impose his own challenges. That’s why he says he’ll score 50 goals, because by saying it, he feels as though he has to do it.

“He’s a real competitor. In Kingston, I wasn’t always sure he was much of a team player. Then when we lost out in the division finals in Bernie’s last year, he was bawling his eyes out. I was happy to see that. It showed me he cared about losing.”

Tindall also remembers the other side of Nicholls.

“Is he a hot dog?” Tindall asks rhetorically. “Of course, he is. Any guy who wears a full-length fur coat and acts the way he does when he scores a goal is a hot dog. But deep down, he’s just a real Country boy. What you see is what you get with Bernie Nicholls.”

But the folks in Los Angeles see him driving a flashy car, a beautiful girl on his arm and living in a $400,000 mansion in the hills, which is owned by California jockey Kenny Black. Life in the fast lane, as the saying goes.

“Sure,” says Nicholls, who has always had a reputation as quite the ladies’ man, “I like to take advantage of all the things you can do in Los Angeles. It’s a great city. You don’t get smothered by fans or anything, unless you’re black and seven feet tall and can play basketball. But you have to be careful not to go too far because hockey is your No. 1 responsibility.”

And as for living in the mansion with his jockey friend, it is not all that it seems. “It’s a really great family atmosphere there,” Nicholls says. “Kenny’s mother and sister live there too so it’s like a second family to me.”

It would be safe to say that no NHL player undergoes such a drastic change in environments as Nicholls does once the season is over. In one fell swoop, he goes from the glitz of L.A. to the rural charm of Haliburton, a summer cottage resort area a couple of hours drive north of Toronto.

“I don’t think I could ever live in the city all year,” says Nicholls, an accomplished baseball player who enjoys hunting, fishing, trapping and playing golf with his family and friends. “I’ll always be a country boy and that’s where I’ll retire.”

David Branch, who is the commissioner of the Ontario Hockey League, sees Nicholls in that environment each summer because he has a cottage less than a mile from the Nicholls’ home. Branch says that Nicholls is a warm, caring individual with a strong sense of family.

“I remember, and it had to be 10 years ago, I was working for the Ontario Hockey Association,” Branch says. “I was at our cottage and a skinny kid came knocking on my door. He had heard that I had some hockey posters and he wanted to know if he could have some.

“That was the first time I met Bernie Nicholls. I gave him some posters of Brad Park, Orland Kurtenbach and Brad Seiwood. Since then, I’ve gotten to know the whole family.

“To me, it’s very hard to visualize Bernie Nicholls as flamboyant. He’s so genuine, so much so that it sometimes gets him into trouble. He’s so open, he doesn’t hide his feelings and he says exactly what he’s thinking.

“Really, it must be a helluva thing to go from Los Angeles to West Guilford and keep your wits about you. I mean. West Guilford is really small and out of the way. It’s only a few stores and a few houses, but it’s nice because everyone’s so down to earth.

“Last summer, Bernie brought a girlfriend home with him. She’s a Playboy bunny from California. You’d think that would be a big deal up there, but I think she was more wide-eyed about being there than any of the folks were about seeing her.

“As far as I’m concerned, Bernie really doesn’t change at all. He’s the same. I think the whole thing about what kind of guy he is has to do with what he says and how he means it as opposed to how other people interpret it.”

Which is why Bernie Nicholls is a good, old country boy, a West Coast hotshot, a star hockey player and a flamboyant showboat and why he, under certain circumstances, isn’t any of those things. Bernie Nicholls is just Bernie Nicholls. He stays the same — it’s his world around him that changes. So fast, in fact, you don’t have time to hang a label on him.

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