Hockey has always lent well to scary lore, particularly in its earlier eras, because the sport was so rooted in violence. If you read up on some of the atrocities committed by the likes of Eddie Shore and Sprague Cleghorn on the ice back in the day, you\u2019ll shudder. And many of the most fearsome personalities often earned monikers befitting their presences.<\/p>\n
In honor of Halloween, then, let\u2019s peruse some of the sport\u2019s all-time most frightening nicknames. Many come from enforcers, who historically scare the daylights out of their opponents like few others, but there are alternative ways to petrify other teams, from killing them with scoring ability to laying out punishing hits to proving unsolvable between the pipes.<\/p>\n
The key for evaluating each nickname is: pretend you\u2019ve never faced the player and, in the dressing room before the game, your teammate tells you, \u201cOh no, we\u2019re up against [nickname] tonight.\u201d How that makes you feel will help you rate the scary factor.<\/p>\n
20. Ted Lindsay: Terrible Ted<\/p>\n
A Hall of Famer, a nine-time All-Star, a four-time Stanley Cup champ and a pioneer for player rights, Lindsay played much bigger than his 5-foot-8, 163-pound frame. If you faced Terrible Ted, it meant getting run over by one of fiercest competitors of his day.<\/p>\n
19. Shayne Gostisbehere: Ghost Bear<\/p>\n
Unlike Lindsay, the puck-moving blueliner Ghost Bear, or Ghost, plays a slick finesse game and doesn\u2019t scare opponents with his style or demeanor. But there\u2019s no way we can exclude a Ghost from a spooky nickname list. \u2018Ghost\u2019 was always part of Gostisbehere\u2019s nickname, but, according to a scout who told me the story, the \u2018Bear\u2019 was added because the scout had trouble saying \u2018Gostisbehere\u2019 and simply wanted to relay the excitement over \u2018this Ghost Bear kid\u2019 to the Philadelphia Flyers<\/a> front office when they it had eyes on him.<\/p>\n 18. Bernie Geoffrion: Boom Boom<\/p>\n Context matters. Geoffrion\u2019s peak years as a Montreal Canadiens<\/a> sniper came in the 1950s and early 1960s, when goalies didn\u2019t yet wear masks before Jacques Plante\u2019s innovation in 1959. As one of the slapshot\u2019s original innovators, \u2018Boom Boom\u2019 struck fear into goalies with his howitzer.<\/p>\n 17. Ivan Irwin: Ivan the Terrible<\/p>\n He only played 155 games in the NHL between 1952-53 and 1957-58, but Irwin made an impression. He was an imposing figure for his day at 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds. Anyone who crossed the New York Rangers <\/a>blueline and drove to the net was going to feel it with Irwin on the ice.<\/p>\n 16. Guy Lafleur: Le Demon Blond<\/p>\n The legendary superstar is better known as \u2018The Flower.\u2019 But some of the game\u2019s true institutions earn multiple nicknames. With his long blond locks flapping in the breeze while he skated around his opposition and racked up 100-point seasons, the \u2018Le Demon Blond\u2019 nickname adequately summed up how frightening it was for rivals to face him. Lafleur won three consecutive Art Ross trophies between 1975-76 and 1977-78 during the peak of Montreal\u2019s last dynasty.<\/p>\n 15. Dave Semenko: Cement Head<\/p>\n My hands hurt even saying the nickname out loud. Semenko, the Edmonton Oilers\u2019<\/a> famed enforcer and Wayne Gretzky\u2019s personal protector during their 1980s dynasty, was feared for his fists. He even battled Muhammad Ali in a charity boxing match. The Cement Head nickname worked for anyone who struggled to say his last name, or even for opposing fans who wanted to taunt him, but it also conjured the image of a rock-solid teammate and someone whom it would hurt to tangle with. Who wants to punch a cement head?<\/p>\n 14. Brady Tkachuk: Chucky<\/p>\n The horror movie icon Chuky, voiced by Brad Dourif, is a tiny, evil, doll. The hulking Brady Tkachuk isn\u2019t Chucky-like in his stature. But personality wise? The Ottawa Senators<\/a> captain is gleefully mischievous wreaking havoc on the ice. He absolutely captures the spirt of the doll. His nickname is a play on his last name rather than a direct homage to Child\u2019s Play, but it happens to fit perfectly.<\/p>\n 13. Pat Verbeek: The Little Ball of Hate<\/p>\n Only one player in NHL history has at least 500 goals, 1,000 points and 2,500 penalty minutes: Verbeek. Young fans know him now as the Anaheim Ducks<\/a> GM, but Verbeek was a menace of a player who mixed aggression and goal-scoring like few in his generation. He did so at 5-foot-9 and 192 pounds, hence the moniker.<\/p>\n 12. Jerry Korab: King Kong<\/p>\n Korab was a behemoth on the blueline, most prominently on a Buffalo Sabres<\/a> team that reached the 1974-75 Stanley Cup final. But the \u2018King Kong\u2019 nickname almost made him feel 20 percent bigger than his 6-foot-3, 220-pound frame. What attacker wanted to try and get around King Kong in the O-zone?<\/p>\n 11. Terry O\u2019Reilly: Taz<\/p>\n Few nicknames in hockey history have suited a player better than \u2018Taz\u2019 for O\u2019Reilly. Wild, chaotic and unpredictable, O\u2019Reilly was a Tasmanian Devil on ice, an emotional leader who would do anything to protect his Boston Bruins<\/a> teammates. He was the enforcer who could do anything at any given moment and kept opponents guessing. He was also underrated as a scorer; he once had a 90-point season, albeit it came in 1977-78 as the NHL was trending toward its peak offensive era.<\/p>\n 10. Gary Simmons: Cobra<\/p>\n In his first NHL start, Simmons recorded a shutout, and a reporter compared his stellar performance to a slithering snake on the ice. Boom, a nickname was born, and Simmons later immortalized it by donning a mask with the Cobra artwork.<\/p>\n 9. Dave Schultz: The Hammer<\/p>\n It\u2019s one thing to be a feared enforcer. It\u2019s another to be the scariest guy on the Broad Street Bullies. He was \u201cnicknamed the Hammer because of the way I bounced my fist off the enemy\u2019s head,\u201d he once wrote<\/a>. No wonder the Philadelphia Flyers<\/a>\u2018 opponents frequently came down with the Spectrum Flu in the 1970s.<\/p>\n 8. Billy Smith: Hatchet Man<\/p>\n So many of the scariest villains brandish trademark weapons, from Freddy Krueger\u2019s gardening glove to Jason Voorhees\u2019 machete. Billy Smith, netminder for the New York Islanders<\/a> 1980s dynasty, swung his stick (or sometimes his blocker) at anyone who breathed too close to his crease. You paid a toll if you wanted to pass.<\/p>\n 7. Ken Morrow: Wolf Man<\/p>\n Morrow was a towering presence on the Isles\u2019 dynastic blueline \u2013 not to mention the 1980 USA Miracle on Ice Olympic squad \u2013\u00a0but his nickname didn\u2019t reflect his play style. The classy Morrow was no killer out there. But he did grow one of the best beards in the game, wolf-like indeed.<\/p>\n 6. Don Murdoch: Murder<\/p>\n Murdoch exploded onto the NHL scene like no rookie we\u2019ve ever seen, scoring eight goals in his first four career games, including five in his fourth contest. He was considered \u201cmurder around the net\u201d<\/a> and finished second in the 1976-77 Calder Trophy vote, but drug problems, including a cocaine-possession arrest, derailed his career.<\/p>\n 5. Curtis Joseph: CuJo<\/p>\n