Pouzar was a man of few words, and those in a broken English which had an endearing way of getting straight to the point, usually with a twinkle in his eye. During one celebrated incident he got stitched up between shifts without bothering with a local anaesthetic, rationalizing: "Me married. No need good looks!"

Read more from Bruce McCurdy on the vastly underrated Jaroslav Pouzar, once described by Wayne Gretzky as "the physically strongest player I ever played with..." and what he meant to the Oilers' dynasty.

This will kick off a periodic series by Bruce, looking back at hockey history, and more specifically Oiler history, through eyes that are normally fixed on the sky.