Maven's Memories: Harris, Hansen and Historical Firsts

Billy Harris and Richie Hansen were different in so many respects, but are united and will go down in Isles history as a pair of trailblazers.
Harris, the original draftee in 1972 and Hansen the first genuine Long Islander ever to have his name placed on the Islanders roster!
Yet, despite their milestone achievements each has become a somewhat forgotten Islander. To wit:

THE VERY FIRST DRAFTEE, BILLY HARRIS:

Prior to the 1972 Expansion Draft, General Manager Bill Torrey had a wrenching decision.to make. Gifted with the first-overall pick -- Atlanta Flames GM Cliff Fletcher had the second -- Bow Tie Bill was tempted by two gifted aces.
One was a slick French-Canadian forward carrying the legendary "Richard" name although Jacques Richard had no relation to legendary Maurice (The Rocket) Richard, although some thought there might be a link.
The other prospect, Billy Harris, hailed from Toronto. While Billy hardly was a dipsy-doodle skater in the Jacques mold, Harris rang up a bushel of goals while skating for the Toronto Marlboros in the (Junior level) Ontario Hockey Association.
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Plus, Billy had character. A ton of it. As for Richard, well, he had the name; but never would come close to being anything like the Richard named Maurice.
In those pre-historic, pre-analytics, bygone decades, Torrey had to rely on communiques from his scouts along with his own gut feeling before making a decision. He finally chose Harris who reported to camp waxing joy over being the first Islander.
"I signed a three-year contract," Harris remembered, "for three years and $300,000. I felt lucky to be an Islander."

As the Number One Man -- and rather quickly the Isles best overall player -- Billy was burdened with the good-old New York "put up or shut up" kind of pressure. He responded in the best way possible; he put up this way, that way, on defense and on offense.
"It took a bit of time," said Torrey, "but, eventually, Billy became a complete hockey player."
Harris: "If they needed someone to check, kill penalties or score, I did my best. But it was a double-edged sword. In one sense, I got to play a lot but the expectations placed on me were high. The pressure both helped and hurt me."
Harris finished his rookie year playing all 78 games, scoring an impressive 28 goals and 22 assists for 50 points.
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Since the first-year Islanders won only 12 of 78 games and he never was paired with the same two linemates long enough to get a good feel for each other's moves, his chances of winning the NHL's rookie-of-the-year award were slim.
Yet when the votes were tallied Bill was good enough to finish second in the Calder Trophy voting to Steve Vickers of the playoff-bound Rangers.
Overall, the well-publicized rookie carried the Islanders and in his sophomore year, the combined teaching of new coach Al Arbour and veteran forward Ed Westfalll turned Harris into a well-rounded leader.
"A lot of my development I owed to Al," Harris explained. "He was great from a technical viewpoint and as a psychologist. Before we took the ice Al used to tell us, 'You can beat them.'"
Then a pause: "Al always made us believe."

In 1974-75 -- the franchise's only third season in the NHL -- Harris helped carry his club into the playoffs and, astonishingly, to the seventh game of the third playoff round before being eliminated.
Durability was another hallmark of Harris' game. Starting with the 1974-75 season he played all 80 games for five straight seasons.
In the 1975-76 campaign he totaled a career high 32 goals and 38 assists for 70 points. And from the Isles first playoff season in 1974-75 through Billy's last full season in Uniondale, he contributed to five straight playoff teams.
Solid, he was, but Harris was not Mike Bossy and when Bossy, the Isles purest goal-scorer, became a rookie in 1977-78, Mike replaced Billy on the club's top line alongside Clark Gillies and Bryan Trottier.
Bill played his last 67 games in the 1979-80 season under Arbour. He registered 15 goals and 15 assists for 30 points. It was after Game 67, that Torrey informed Harris that he was being traded.
Along with veteran defenseman Dave Lewis, Harris was moved to Los Angeles for center Butch Goring. To this day, many critics consider it the exchange that spurred the Isles to their first Stanley Cup.
Because he never played for a Stanley Cup-winner and then skated relatively less for the Kings and then Maple Leafs, Billy's important work getting the Islanders off the ground and into the playoffs often has been forgotten.
"In the end," concluded Torrey, "Billy did all they we had hoped he would do when drafted back in '72. And more so."

THE VERY FIRST ISLANDER FROM LONG ISLAND:

Schmoozing with Clark Gillies in co-owner Jon Ledecky's suite at Barclays Center recently, I did a double-take.
A smiling figure, surrounded by friends, entered and immediately had my brain rolling with the bottom-line question: "Who is that guy I once knew way back when?"
Before I could say, "You're Richie Hansen," none other than the very historically significant Richie Hansen, himself, was shaking my hand.
You don't have to tell me, I know that Hansen lacked Billy Harris' star quality but -- in his own geographic way -- Richie Hansen could lay claim to fame that Harris could not.
Hansen became the first local kid to play for the Islanders.
A native of Northport in Suffolk County, Richie soon discovered that hockey was part of his family's DNA. His father, Max, already had established himself as a highly-regarded youth hockey coach who put his son on ice almost as soon as Rich could walk.
"It wasn't long before my Dad was taking me on the Long Island Rail Road to Penn Station," he recalled. "We'd get out and walk into Madison Square Garden to see the Rangers in action. Mind you, this was before the Islanders came into the league."
Coached by his dad as well as other Long Island amateur hockey mentors, Hansen developed enough skill to attract several NHL scouts. In 1975 he was drafted in the seventh round and eventually dispatched to the Isles Fort Worth team in the Central Hockey League.

Impressed by Richie's diligent minor league work, Bow Tie Bill Torrey promoted Hansen to the big club on February 1st, 1977. Facing the Buffalo Sabres, Hansen not only was lustily greeted by the home crowd but also a flock of relatives and a host of Long Island friends.
"I left over 30 tickets at the box office window," Richie remembered. "Aunts, uncles, cousins. Everybody I knew wanted to come see me play. I sold a lot of tickets for the franchise that night. Why not -- this was what I always wanted, all my life.
Putting a cherry on his cake, Richie helped the Islanders beat Buffalo, 6-3, although he didn't score a goal for the home team. That would come in his second game; this time against the Broadway Blueshirts.
In that second NHL contest at the Coliseum against the Rangers, the thick-chested center tallied a goal in a 6-3 decision over the Manhattan rivals. As it happened, the goal judge who flicked on the red light was a New York City detective, Preston Marks.
This was a meaningful occasion for Richie and for Marks as well because Preston had officiated many of Hansen's youth hockey games. "For me," said Marks, "lighting the lamp for Richie was a special honor."
Unlike Billy Harris, Hansen did not revel in a long and productive NHL career. His goal was the only one of four games he played that season.

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Loaded with experienced centers such as Bryan Trottier, Jude Drouin, Lorne Henning and Andre St. Laurent, Torrey had little roster room for Hansen who would total 20 games in Islanders livery.
While his lifetime NHL scoring sheet revealed just two goals and six assists, Richie's impact on the Long Island hockey community was immense.
"He inspired a lot of Island kids to want to become big-league players," said goalie Glenn (Chico) Resch. "Right up to today, young stickhandlers such as (Bruins defenseman and Long Beach native) Charlie McAvoy are coming out of the Island to star in The Show."
Hansen allowed that he's mighty proud of his accomplishment, but when asked which game he'll never forget, his answer comes on the short hop.
"No doubt about it," he chuckled, "it was the one when I scored my first NHL goal. Hey, we beat the Rangers; that was fun enough."