Former LI Ducks hockey player to share stories at Bay Shore's Boulton Center during evening in his honor
It's been 60 years since he suited up for the L.I. Ducks hockey team and played at the Long Island Arena, but his passion for the team remains.
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Buzz Deschamps says the jersey still fits.
It's been 60 years since he suited up for the L.I. Ducks hockey team and played at the Long Island Arena, but his passion for the team remains.
Deschamps says he can't find his old No. 12 jersey. He says the Ducks owner, Al Baron, who was based in Patchogue, had it and would not give it to him.
Now, no one can find it.
Instead, Deschamps wears a No. 6 jersey from an former teammate and looks forward to sharing stories about the Ducks Thursday night at the Boulton Center in Bay Shore at an evening in his honor.
"There's not a day that doesn't go by when someone shares with me a story about how their dad took them to the LI Arena and how they watched us play," Deschamps told News12's Kevin Maher.
Deschamps was a "hockey lifer" and still coaches youth teams at age 81.
He likes to tell the kids he went to "two lane" university, as in the two-lane highways he traveled on while taking bus rides with the Ducks and six other pro teams for whom he played.
"All I tried to do was be a good guy and hang around the rink," he said.
But he says he was most proud to be a Ducks player and believes the team has a special role in pro sports on Long Island.
"We created it. We created the passion for kids to become hockey players. I'd say that's the biggest impact, " said Deschamps
Buzz, whose real name is Bernard, said he was "very fortunate" to have a life in hockey.
Last year, he wrote about that life in a book called "A Stick In The Window."
It chronicles his life as growing up in Canada, his playing days and the famous friends he met along the way, like Wayne Gretzky, Butch Goring, John Muckler and Bryan Trottier.
Buzz says he looks forward to sharing those stories Thursday at the Boulton Center, along with special guests Gilles Villemure, Richie Hansen, Tony DeMayo and more.
The event starts at 7 p.m. and is being put on by the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame.
Tickets can be bought at https://www.boultoncenter.org/.
