Dennis Polonich, a former National Hockey League player, and former general manager and head coach of the Yorkton Terriers was back in the city Saturday at the team’s annual Sportsmen’s Dinner as the keynote speaker.
Polonich is from Foam Lake, SK where he was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the eighth round of the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft. He made his NHL debut in the 1974-75 season with the Detroit Red Wings. The forward would go on to play in the Detroit organization for 11 seasons from 1974 to 1985. He played in 390 regular season games with the Red Wings where he collected 141 points and 1242 penalty minutes.
Polonich, now 62, said as he now looks back, he has many great memories associated with hockey.
“One thing I’m proud of is I played for the same organization for 12-years. Not many NHL players can tell you that,” he said.
That the 12-years was with Detroit made it even more special.
“Another thing I was proud of; I was Captain of an original six team,” he said.
Polonich said as he gets older he does look back on his career at times, and recalls the sweetest of moments. As an example, when Gordie Howe and his sons Mark and Marty made their debut as a group in the National Hockey League, it was Polonich who went to the face-off dot to take the draw.
“There will never be another father and two sons on the NHL,” he said, adding “only one guy” (him) can ever say they took that heroic draw.
There was one big special moment which eluded Polonich, a Stanley Cup win.
“You have to be in the right place at the right time,” he said.
Polonich did have success at other levels, a Calder Cup with Adirondack in the American Hockey League in the 1980-81 season, and a Turner Cup in the International Hockey League with Muskegon in 1985-86.
The highlights associated with hockey have continued.
Polonich said he was invited to be part of the Detroit alumni team which was the Winter Classic in 2009 held at Wrigley Field.
“I was humbled to be invited to play in that game,” he said, adding he got to play alongside the likes go Steve Yzerman, Nikolas Lidstrom, Chris Chelios and many others.
“It was like being a little kid again.”
And he attended the Classic game in 2014 at Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor, with 105,000 in attendance.
“It was an incredible, incredible atmosphere,” he said.
Of course there was hockey before the NHL. Polonich played for two seasons of junior hockey for the Flin Flon Bombers in the Western Canada Hockey League, before beginning his pro career.
He said he can recall his first conversation with Bomber brass and his big thought being whether he would get a pair of skates, since he had always just gotten what was available in the local store catalogues.
Polonich said he asked coach Paddy Ginnell what kind of skates he should take to his first camp and the reply was “sonny bring the fastest ones you got.”
Ginnell though would become an important part of making Polonich who he is.
“He moulded me into the player I became,” said Polonich.
When Polonich was drafted it was of course a huge moment.
“I didn’t care where I was going, I just wanted to be invited to training camp,” he said.
In Winnipeg Polonich would sign his first pro contract, complete with a $7,500 signing bonus. The deal would pay him $55,000 if on the Wings in Detroit, and $15,500 if in the minors.
Making the Wings at that era as a centre was a big job with Alex Delvecchio, Marcel Dionne and Red Berenson already on the roster.
But Polonich made it playing his first games in the 1974-75 season, settling into a more consistent role the following season.
“What a thrill it was to play in the NHL,” he reiterated. “You know you’ve made it in the ’Show’ when you have your own hockey card,” he added flashing several to the audience from his playing days.
“It was an unbelievable run.”
After his pro days Polonich said it was time to in essence come home.
Midway through the 1986-1987 season the Yorkton Terriers brought Polonich in to take over as the head coach and general manager of the hockey club.
Coming in the Terriers were not a winning team, he recalled.
“We had to change the culture.” he said, adding he wanted players with character. If they did not exhibit that character “they don’t stay around long.”
As for how the team operated, it was a top down culture.
“There was only one way to do things; my way,” said Polonich.
And it worked. He would lead the club to their second SJHL title in the 1990-1991 season. He would go on to coach the Terriers for six seasons before moving up to the Western Hockey League.
Polonich said hockey has been his life, one with good memories, and its shares of bumps along the way too.
One of the greatest hardships Polonich faced occurred in October 1978.
The Red Wings were playing the Colorado Rockies.
In the game Polonich, always noted as a player willing to engage in the rough stuff would tangle with Wilf Paiement, and before the contest was over they would meet again. But things escalated.
Paiement took his stick and two handed Polonich across his face.
“I was assaulted on the ice with a two-handed baseball swing,” he told the local dinner. “…My nose was shattered … My face and eyes were severely swollen for days.”
Polonich would return to the ice, missing only 18-games, but he said Saturday, “I was never the same again.”
He played just 109 NHL games after that, and scored a grand total of four more goals in those 109 matches, after scoring 55 goals in his previous 277 contests.
“It was a difficult time in my life,” he said.
It was a different time in the NHL.
“My assailant received a 15-game suspension,” said Polonich.
Polonich was out of the NHL by 1982. It was the same year he took the step to sue Paiement, which he noted, “was not often done.”
Polonich would eventually be awarded an $850,000 settlement.
But he said ultimately everything one faces is just part of life.
“Hardship and adversity doesn’t change who you are, it just reveals who you are,” he concluded.
