John Brophy: His name alone evokes so many wild stories from hockey's Slap Shot era. But for a certain group of Maple Leaf players, there's the unforgettable years he coached in the late '80s in St. Catharines and with Toronto between 1986-88. His old-time hockey methods collided with the modern NHL and the resulting mess played out in the waning days of the Harold Ballard era in Toronto.

Flash forward 25 years. A group of 'Brophy's Boys' knew they had to visit their colourful coach, when they recently happened upon the Nova Scotia retirement home where the 80-year-old is now confined.

"We were on the NHL Legends tour bus outside the native reserve in Eskasoni," said Mark Osborne. "Guys such as Al Iafrate, Tom Fergus, Gary Leeman, myself, Dan Daoust. We had a five-hour drive to our next game in Liverpool, we looked at the atlas and saw the road ran right through Antigonish.

"It just dawned on me. I had got an earlier text message from (ex-Leaf) Wes Jarvis who reminded me John was in a nursing home there."

Osborne, now an analyst for Leafs TV and an alumni executive, got directions and asked the bus driver to pull in.

"It's a series of cottages near a field with sheep running around," Osborne said. "As soon as we went in, he just lit up, he was just tickled.

"We reminded him who everyone was. He hasn't had a good year, but was doing much better. He's not that mobile from his car accident a number of years ago. The funny thing is, his unit has five elderly women. He keeps on telling them he once coached the Leafs and they don't believe him. They say, 'Oh, sure you did John.'"

The stories flowed with side-splitting results.

"There was a game where Iafrate was on for the first shift of the game and was a minus two right away," Osborne recalled.

"Broph wanted him off the ice and yelled in that high-pitched voice 'I-a-fray-tee!,' while Garry Lariviere, his assistant, tried to settle him down. John benched Al about 10 minutes and then put him back. So Al goes minus-three and we're down 3-0 after one period.

"None of us were really playing well that night, so we come off and he yells 'it's like you guys are playing in the dark, so sit in the dark.' And he shuts the dressing room lights off, left the room and slammed the door. There we are, NHL players, in complete darkness. Borje Salming said 'Come on guys, turn on the lights'. Al was right by the switch, but Broph was listening outside.

"As soon as Al turned them on, he burst right through the door and screamed at him again, telling him how dumb he was. Then he started on Al's hair (the defenceman was follically challenged) 'I-a-fray-tee, you're bald, you're bald, you're bald.'"

Brophy was quite proud of his own white mane, but in the midst of an intense game in the old L.A. Forum, he split his head trying to walk under the stands.

"He didn't even want the trainers to help him," Osborne said. "He just said 'Bleed, bleed.' With that red streak and white head he looked like the Japanese flag.

"You talk to all the players from his generation, the '70s and '80s, and they say there is nobody like Broph. The antics, his one-liners, the things he'd do between periods were unprecedented. And surviving the minor leagues with all those tough guys, he was such a competitive guy.

"One year Hockey Night did a music feature 'the 12 Days of Christmas'. The 10th day was '10 Brophy tantrums' and in each verse, the clip was him turning purple with rage."

The players stayed about 20 minutes and were glad they stopped by.

"You think about life and him getting on in years," Osborne said. "There are no guarantees about anything. Will we get to see each other again? Because he's in a home now, there's no way of ever really bringing him back for an alumni celebration.

lance.hornby@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @SunHornby