Mark Pavelich, a former New York Ranger and the man who assisted on Mike Eruzione’s memorable goal during the Miracle on Ice, passed away last week at a mental health institution at the age of 63 – and after his passing, former teammate and Rangers captain Barry Beck lashed out at the Blueshirts, the NHL, and USA Hockey in a Facebook post about Pavelich’s death.
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On Monday, Tom Laidlaw, one of the 100 Greatest Rangers of All-Time and a former teammate of Beck and Pavelich under Miracle on Ice coach Herb Brooks, joined Carton & Roberts to discuss the situation and remember the Pavelich he played with.
“He was a great guy. He was a Minnesota kid who didn’t care about NYC; he would always wear corduroy pants and a flannel shirt to practice, and he would just put on a jacket and tie to go to games to meet dress code,” Laidlaw said. “Great teammate, incredibly hard worker who wanted to be good at what he did. Tough, too, so when you hear everything about him, it’s a sad story.”
That demeanor and blue-collar personality never changed, Laidlaw said, even after Pavelich scored five goals in a game.
“When he scored, he just went back to center ice and would just line up for the faceoff,” Laidlaw said. “People were throwing hats and he was just like, ‘okay, I’m supposed to do that.’”
Pavelich was quiet and isolated – he never talked about his role in the Miracle on Ice, preferring to talk about “fishing and Bob Dylan” – according to Laidlaw – and it was a fishing buddy and neighbor whom he attacked in the incident that led him down the path to prison, and eventually the mental health institution where he spent his final days.
“We knew he was isolated, but we didn’t think something was wrong with that, that was just Mark Pavelich,” Laidlaw said. “Once we heard about the incident with the neighbor, you hear that and say ‘well that’s not Mark,’ and when you hear he ends up unfit to stand trial, then you know something is wrong. The family really believed it was CTE from his playing career.”
Laidlaw isn’t sure about that, and had a rebuttal for Beck, whom he considers a respected friend.
“CTE can certainly be part of that, and we’ll find out when they do an autopsy here, but I’m not totally with Barry on that one,” Laidlaw said. “I respect Barry, he’s a captain and a friend of mine, and there’s always going to be a bond between us, but I don’t buy his stance. Barry is a fantastic person who has dealt with tragedy himself, but he’s been over in China and away from the hockey world – which does so many great things for other all the time, but always behind the scenes very discreetly.”
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Laidlaw mentioned that the league and the NHLPA put millions of dollars into alumni funding all the time – but, as the old saying goes, you can’t help someone who doesn’t want it.
“That’s the thing: the alumni can’t go to Mark and say, ‘we need to get you help’ because there are laws,” Laidlaw said. “He had to come to the association and ask, and when he did, they went above and beyond. Glenn Healy did a fantastic job getting him legal help to get out of prison. I don’t buy the notion; our pension is terrible, but that’s our issue, and we should’ve taken care of that when we played. The league doesn’t owe us anything; we were paid to play in the NHL and the dream came true.”
And when it comes to the CTW discussion, Laidlaw believes it’s a risk of the trade that most, if not all, hockey players would accept no matter what to play.
“Ten times over, and I’d even do it now. I’ve had many concussions and I assume I have CTE, but that’s the way it is,” “But would I change anything? No, I’d have played longer.”
Craig, who goes way back with Laidlaw, has become an advocate for mental health since realizing and conquering his past demons, and said he believes – “and will until I’m dead” – that something happened that changed Pavelich’s brain and changed who he was.
“No question. The person I know from when I played with him was a great guy, and there’s no way he’d do that if something wasn’t wrong with him,” Laidlaw said.
Laidlaw told the story of Joe Murphy, a former No. 1 pick, who lives on the streets in Canada and got help from the NHL, but didn’t want it. Murphy is just one of many in that situation, but Laidlaw believes advocacy is the best way to try to help those who don’t want help go on to help themselves.
“I think a big part of it is that people speaking out more and saying they have things they have to deal with is important, so others who don’t have that voice can see that and seek help,” Laidlaw said. “And, it’s a pride issue too; there are a lot of people who are hurting, but feel they look weaker if they reach out and say that something is wrong and they need help.”
Listen to Laidlaw’s entire appearance on Carton & Roberts below.
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