Why No NHL for Hockey Legend Tony Hand?
Esteban Mosciski
2025-04-21 06:41:49
Count answers: 3
He could make more money playing in the UK league compared to the Juniors here. He took his gear and went home. Think he came home because he was homesick. He was a pretty quiet lad from a Council scheme so was a huge move for him.
Wilford McClure
2025-04-21 06:10:06
Count answers: 3
Homesickness was the reason for coming home in the end and when it came down to it, I missed playing about with my mates and of course, my family too. Looking back at the experience now, I should have stayed and worked at it. I didn’t know what to expect when I went out there and there was no guidance to help me. I was the first Brit to get that opportunity so there was no internet either to give me the information on what was in store for me. Once you were in North America, you were cut off from the rest of the world and that was difficult to adjust to.
Alejandra Green
2025-04-21 06:08:50
Count answers: 3
Homesickness was the reason for coming home in the end and when it came down to it, I missed playing about with my mates and, of course, my family too. Looking back at the experience now, I should have stayed and worked at it. I didn’t know what to expect when I went out there and there was no guidance to help me. Once you were in North America, you were cut off from the rest of the world and that was difficult to adjust to. It could have been easier if someone had done it before me. In hindsight, it would have been logical to stay there and see where it took me.
Francesco McLaughlin
2025-04-21 04:35:23
Count answers: 4
It was totally my doing, my fault. But when we’re going back to those days there were no mobile phones, no internet. To phone someone from Canada you had to go to a phone box and I was just thrown in there, so because I didn’t know what I was doing I just felt it was too much.
What held me back as well was my fitness. I wasn’t remotely as fit as I should have been. Fitness hadn’t even reached Edinburgh yet.
Thurman Schmeler
2025-04-21 04:13:39
Count answers: 4
Only 18 at the time (1986), he declined the opportunity to play in North America, preferring to return home to Scotland.
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