Hall of Famer Tom Barrasso leads the Sabres to a franchise record this week 40 years ago
Written for the Hockey News by Bob McKenzie on January 27, 1984
It was the day before the 1983 National Hockey League entry draft and a group of reporters and scouts were idling away a few moments in a Montreal hotel lobby, discussing what would unfold the next day. The name of Tom Barrasso, the New England high school goalie, came up and drew an instant reaction.
“You should see the kid handle a puck,” said one scout.
“Aggressive,” said another scout. “This kid loves to mix it up.”
“Size,” said yet another, “1 really like his size.”
“Well, that’s just great,” said a reporter. “You guys mentioned everything except stopping the puck. He is a goalie, isn’t he?”
Seven months later, the question need not be asked.
Tom Barrasso, 18, who was the fifth player taken in the entry draft, is the Buffalo Sabres’ No. 1 goalie. He has played in 24 games and sports a 2.89 goals-against average with a 16-52 record. His goals-against average is third-best in the league, behind the Boston Bruin duo of Doug Keans and Pete Peeters.
Making the jump from high school hockey to the NHL appears not to have fazed the Stow, MA, native, who, along with Detroit Red Wing rookie center Steve Yzerman, is a leading candidate for the Calder Trophy.
Tom Barrasso is not shy. But if you have read or heard anything about this young man, that’s no secret. Tom Barrasso leads the league in being called cocky. If you thought his real name was Cocky Tom Barrasso, you’re forgiven since that is how it often appears in newspaper and magazine articles. And there have been plenty of those. Tom Barrasso is a good story. He’s a good interview and besides all that, he gives reporters a chance to write the lead paragraph that says, “Tom Barrasso is a great goalie. If you don’t think so, just ask him.”
Wayne Gretzky notwithstanding, the rangy New Englander may be the best story of the 1983-84 hockey season. After all, how often does an 18-year-old goalie jump directly from high school hockey to the NHL and make a big splash when he arrives?
As cocky or as confident as he may appear, even he’s shocked by his rapid rise.
“Oh, yeah,” he said genuinely, when asked about it, “I didn’t think I’d be this successful so quickly. My goal-against average is one of the best in the league. I didn’t expect that. I rate some consideration for all-star voting. I didn’t expect that. I knew I had the ability to play here, but I wasn’t sure the Sabre organization would give me the chance so soon. But (Sabre general manager and coach) Scotty (Bowman) stuck his neck out for me and I had a good training camp. It’s all taken off since then. To be honest, 1 thought it might take a little longer.”
But don’t ever think for a moment that Barrasso was unsure of whether he had what it takes to make it as a front-line pro. Just ask his father, Tom Sr.
“He’s got two things going for him,” said Tom Sr. of his son. “First, he’s got the moves. He’s always had them. From the time he was seven years old, you could see that he had the moves, and the talent to be a good goalie. Second, he’s got confidence. Some people call it cockiness. I don’t know what you call it, all I know is that you better have it if you’re going to be the best. And that’s what Tom wants to be—the best.”
Perhaps it is Barrasso’s burning desire to be No. 1 that rubs some people the wrong way. The most famous Barrasso story that made the rounds before he did was that the players on the U.S. Olympic team cheered when they learned Barrasso was quitting to pursue a professional career.
Barrasso is asked about it but shrugs it off.
“I didn’t want to be there (with the Olympic team) and it showed,” Barrasso said. “It showed in the way I practised and it showed in the way I dealt with the people there. Some of them took it personally, as well as they should. I suppose. The fact is that I wanted to play pro hockey.
“Now, if someone suggested my teammates in Buffalo didn’t like me. I really resent that. I don’t see myself as being tough to get along with. I don’t mind being called cocky. 1 don’t mind answering any questions a reporter has for me.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Anybody can call me anything they want. It just doesn’t concern me. The only thing that matters to me is myself, my family, and the 20 guys in this locker room.”
Barrasso is at ease with his status as a star rookie in the NHL. It is other people, he says, who have difficulty accepting it. Specifically, he says that being a standout at high school and subsequently being drafted in the first round of the NHL have caused a lot of people to be jealous of him.
“Well, let me put it this way,” he said, “I never park my car where I can’t see it. That was even before the draft. I came out from school once and someone had stuck an icepick through my tire. Sometimes, it would be someone using a key to scrape the paint on the side of my car.”
Tom Sr. says his son’s success in hockey has broken up what he thought was a close friendship.
“I had a very close friend who just stopped talking to me after the draft,” Tom Sr. said. “His boy wasn’t drafted as high as Tom and I guess that bothered him. We used to be very close and now he won’t even talk to me. It’s unfortunate. People think being successful changes you. It doesn’t, at least not as much as being envious or jealous does. I know I’m still the same guy I was, but I can’t say the same for some of the people we’ve known for years who don’t act the same way towards us.”
What is there about Tom Barrasso that these people don’t like?
“I’ll tell you what it is,” Tom Jr. said emphatically. “They don’t like what 1 stand for. I set out to make the Olympic team. 1 made it. I didn’t want to play for the Olympic team. I quit. I wanted to play for the Buffalo Sabres. 1 did. It’s kind of like I’ve got the world in my hands. I’m only 18 and I’ve done everything I’ve set out to do. I think people have a tough time dealing with that.
“I’m not going to apologize for my success. No one has ever given me anything that I haven’t earned.”
Much of Barrasso’s confidence comes from his close-knit family. Because Barrasso is mature far beyond his years, you forget that he is only 18 and away from home for the first time. As a result, his phone bill is of astronomical proportions.
“I probably talk to my family at least every other day,” he said. “The first phone bill was $276. The phone company called me in mid-December and told me my bill was already up to $368.1 haven’t got that one in yet. I’m afraid to open it.”
Of course, Barrasso can afford such luxuries. He collected a signing bonus well in excess of $100,000 and he’s making about $75,000 a year now, excluding bonus clauses. A $25,000 Porsche is just one outward sign of his new-found wealth.
“Everything has gone great for me,” he said. “I enjoy playing in Buffalo and I think the people of Buffalo enjoy having me play here.
“Things have been so good that I couldn’t really pick out one or two highlights. Anyway, I don’t think like that. For whatever reason, 1 recall the bad things. Like a loss at home to Hartford. That was my worst game this year and that’s my most vivid memory of the season so far.”
One of the most nerve-wracking moments for the young goalie came in late November when he made his debut at the Boston Garden in front of family and friends.
“I think he was a little confused by the entire experience,” said Tom Sr. “He thought, coming back home and all, he might get a pretty good reception from the fans at the Garden.
“He didn’t (and the Sabres lost to the Bruins 5-2) and I think that took him a couple of weeks to get over.” “I didn’t expect to get a standing ovation,” Tom Jr. said, “but I didn’t expect to get booed off the ice either. Oh well, now I know. I’ll be that much more prepared the next time 1 go there. That’s what it’s all about. I’m still learning my way around the league.”
In the meantime, he’s looked like anything but a rookie. He’s exhibited a grace under pressure that would make Hemingway envious. At times, due to his lanky frame and stand-up style, he reminds one of Ken Dryden. And when you realize he’s only 18—he won’t be 19 until March—and he played last season against New England school boys, it strikes you what an achievement he’s made this season—not at all, unlike the one that Sabre teammate Phil Housley made in his rookie campaign a year ago.
“Guys like Phil and me,” Barrasso said, “we’re different from average 18 or 19-year-olds. We know exactly where we want to be and exactly what we want to do with our lives. We don’t take all this lightly. We’re very serious about hockey as a career. We aren’t here just for the fun of it. We’re professionals.”
LATEST THN BUFFALO STORIES
First Half Report Card – Forwards