Courtnall Brothers

I began playing hockey around the age of 12, which is rather late. 

Although a healthy portion of roller hockey over the first couple of years helped develop my hands for passing, I wasn't a good shooter. And goalies at the high-school ice hockey level were tougher to score against. I had a lot of catching up to do. 

That's where the Courtnall brothers came in. 

Snazzy VHS cover, isn't it?

As you can gather from the video's title, the lessons in The Shooter's Edge focused on shooting and scoring. The instruction was rather insightful, with a key point being that when you're in a shooting position, your eye-level view of the goalie and the net behind him is misleading. That's because the puck is all the way down there on the ice and a couple of feet to the side of your sight line, so the actual areas of open net are best viewed from the puck's perspective. Accordingly, portions of the video were shot with a camera that was sitting on the ice surface, right behind the puck. Interesting, right?

The Courtnall brothers, both established NHLers at the time, also revealed common ways in which goaltenders get themselves out of position, and how to take advantage as a shooter. 

Well, after watching from beginning to end, I took my newfound knowledge up to the nearby park where a bunch of us played roller hockey after school and on weekends. We began the game, and almost immediately a loose puck found me about 10 feet to the side of the net, just above the goal line. I took the puck and darted toward the net, and noticed the goalie beginning to cheat off the near post in an effort to follow my momentum across the crease. That's when I recalled some video knowledge and promptly snuck a shot into that little gap between the near post and his foot.

Score. 

Assists to Geoff and Russ Courtnall. 

And since this is a trading card blog, here they are, captured on cardboard.

1991-92 O-Pee-Chee #305 Geoff Courtnall and #119 Russ Courtnall

Although Geoff is almost three years older than Russ, both brothers started their NHL careers with a handful of games during the 1983-84 season. 

Geoff signed with Boston as an undrafted free agent during the summer of '83, while Russ was Toronto's 1st-round pick (7th overall) in the entry draft that same summer.

And since that's not the only way their careers matched up, I created a few tables to provide a nice visual.

CAREER TOTALS

	GEOFF (17 seasons)	RUSS (16 seasons)
GAMES PLAYED	1,048	1,029
GOALS	367	297
ASSISTS	432	447
POINTS	799	744
PENALTY MINUTES	1,463	557
GAME-WINNING GOALS	55	40

PLAYOFF TOTALS

	GEOFF (15 playoff appearances)	RUSS (12 playoff appearances)
GAMES PLAYED	156	129
GOALS	39	39
ASSISTS	70	44
POINTS	109	83
PENALTY MINUTES	262	81
GAME-WINNING GOALS	10	5

BEST INDIVIDUAL SEASON
(Career highs in bold)

	GEOFF (1988-89, Washington)	RUSS (1992-93, Minnesota)
GAMES PLAYED	79	84
GOALS	42	36
ASSISTS	38	43
POINTS	80	79
PENALTY MINUTES	110	49
POWER-PLAY GOALS	16	14
GAME-WINNING GOALS	6	3

To say those numbers are solid would probably be a bit of an understatement. And what's cool to me is that each brother put up those numbers in different ways.

Younger brother Russ was one of the fastest skaters in the league, which helped make him a formidable penalty killer. He scored 29 career shorthanded goals, which is still good for 23rd on the all-time list. Over his career, Russ suited up for the Maple Leafs, Canadiens, North Stars/Dallas Stars, Canucks, Rangers, and Kings, and posted 20-goal seasons for all of those teams aside from the Kings. 

Geoff was a bit bigger, grittier, and more physical (he was no slouch in the speed department either), won a Stanley Cup with Edmonton in 1987-88, and then really took off the following year for Washington. A few seasons later, in 1992-93, he scored 11 game-winning goals for Vancouver, placing him in a tie for 1st in the NHL with Alexander Mogilny and Adam Oates. He was a 30-goal scorer seven times, and suited up for the Bruins, Oilers, Capitals, Blues, and Canucks.

Overall, two excellent careers, wouldn't you say? And both brothers hit the 1,000-game mark. That's really impressive.

So here's to the Courtnall brothers. I only wish I still had that VHS cassette and a VCR.