1978-79 BWK Series — Day 9 — Knickle fit right in after moving west for hockey

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This article was published 04/08/2021 (1549 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rick Knickle, who played with the Brandon Wheat Kings in the 1970s, somehow lasted long enough in the game to become the toast of the hockey world in 1993.

Knickle came out from Nova Scotia, following in the footsteps of his friend Tim Lockridge, who had lived in Portage la Prairie before the move east. Lockridge returned to play with the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Terriers at age 15, making his Wheat Kings debut a year later after a move to the MJHL’s Brandon Travellers. 

With Glen Hanlon’s graduation after the 1976-77 season, Brandon was holding an open audition for a new goalie so Knickle came out west.

He was originally assigned to the Travellers, who served as Brandon’s de facto farm club, but was quickly promoted and earned the top job, playing 49 games.

Nicknamed Schoonie by his teammates because of his Nova Scotia roots, he split playing time with Scott Olson in 1978-79 but gradually played more as the playoffs went on. He was on the ice for the the first two games of the Memorial Cup but the league’s first-team all-star goalie was replaced by Portland Winter Hawks pickup Bart Hunter for the final three games. 

Still, Knickle was taken in the sixth round, 116th overall, by the Buffalo Sabres in 1979.

Knickle returned to Brandon for the 1979-80 season and then embarked on a professional odyssey that saw him play until the end of the 1996-97 season. He may be best remembered for making his National Hockey League debut on Feb. 18, 1993 with the Los Angeles Kings at age 33, and appearing in 14 regular season games. 

Knickle did amateur scouting for the Nashville Predators for 13 years, before joining the Arizona Coyotes as their director of amateur scoring for three years.

He now lives in B.C.

TIM LOCKRIDGE: “Rick and me grew up together. Our dads were in the air force so I met Rick in Nova Scotia and he just kind of clung to me. I came out to Portage (to play for the Terriers) when I was 15 and Rick wanted it. I was the one who got him a tryout two years later in Brandon to get his foot in the door … If anybody can hang in the minor leagues for 18 years, how much persistence is that, especially when you weren’t really getting paid a whole bunch? He just loved to play hockey.”

GREGG DRINNAN (Brandon Sun): “Rick Knickle was not a typical goaltender — I would say Scott Olson was the more typical goaltender — but Rick certainly had his differences. He was really quiet, and I think he might have been a little better off if he had been more vocal, only because I think he was a little too hard on himself. It might sound strange when they only lose five games but I think when he gave up a bad goal he had trouble shaking it off sometimes. If there was one player more than any other who was bothered by criticism from Dunc, I think it might have been Rick. It’s not like Dunc threw goalies under the bus, but if a goalie gave up a bad goal and everyone in the building saw it and the team saw it and knew it, Dunc wasn’t going to try to protect the goaltender or lie about the goal. He would say ‘Rick gave up a bad one and we can’t have that.’ I think it stuck with him a little more. It wasn’t water off a duck’s back.”

STEPHEN PATRICK: “Schoonie was laid back and relaxed. He had quick reflexes, a real good guy. He was a lot of fun. I played with him in the minors in Rochester and I ran into him in Brandon when Nolan was playing and he was scouting. He was a real good goaltender.” 

MIKE PEROVICH: “Rick was quiet. He didn’t say much.”

DAVE CHARTIER: “Ricky is a good guy. We would always be the last ones off the ice, he and I. Somebody would shoot pucks and I would deflect them. He had the old goalie mask and Rick was standing there and I deflected it and it went under his mask and hit him and cut him for probably 10 or 12 stitches. He said ‘What the … were you doing?’ and I said ‘I don’t know what I was doing, I was just trying to get it up high.’ He was a goer. He stayed after practice. He was one of the better goaltenders. He played well and everybody liked him. There were a lot of players who were leaders, and he was a silent leader.”

RAY ALLISON: “Rick was a good goalie. Glen Hanlon was the first kid I played with in Brandon, and I don’t know if they were in that calibre of goaltending, but Rick was a pretty good goalie, pretty fundamental. He had pretty good hands.”

WES COULSON: “Rick was just a fun-loving guy. He just loved life. He was a good goaltender. We had two really good goaltenders as a matter of fact. He was a kid from Nova Scotia who worked hard and stopped the puck. He was a good teammate.”

DAVE STEWART: “Schoonie was different. He had lots of talent but sometime his mind would wander. He was a good guy. Goaltenders are all a little different.”

TIM LOCKRIDGE: “I felt for Rick. We picked up the guy from Portland, Bart Hunter, and used him in the Memorial Cup and I think that was a real slight on Rick. He took it in stride and went with it but deep down I think it bothered him a little bit.”

DON GILLEN: “When Rick got the baton handed to him, he carried it and never dropped it. He played extremely well. He just stepped in and never missed a beat. He was reliable. He was kind ahead of his time with statistics and calculating. He had the game figured out and a lot of angles figured out before (analytics) were a thing. He went on to scout, and he knew what to look for. He was a student of the game.”

LAURIE BOSCHMAN: “Rick was a stellar goalie for us during our run. He was just very solid. We had a pretty productive team and he did a great job back there in net.”

GREGG DRINNAN: “He was a really good goaltender, and a good goalie for that era because he would give up four and know I better not give up five. He would batten down the hatches and they would end up winning.”

WES COULSON: “He just went along with the flow and never seemed to get rattled. Goaltenders are a different breed anyways but he never seemed to get too upset. If he let in a couple of bad goals, it never seemed to bother him. That’s the kind of makeup you have to have to be a goaltender.”

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