Maven's Memories: Behind the Scenes with Bryan Trottier

The Bryan Trottier every Islanders fan knows is the one who came to Uniondale as a peach-faced kid and went on to become one of the best two-way centers of all-time.
But the behind-the-scenes Bryan was a thoughtful, low-key personality yet one who loved a good laugh and often was instrumental in producing smiles when strumming his guitar.
He also was an entrepreneur and innovator of sorts. Before others had come up with the idea, Trots opened a rink in Port Washington with an ice substitute.

"I want you to come over and try it someday," Bryan once told me, "and bring your son with you."
Frankly, I was hesitant at first since I wasn't exactly a whiz-bang on real ice; nor did I feel comfortable pushing young Simon Fischler on what was imitation ice.
But by that time Simon was a full-fledged Islanders fan and there was no way his hero who wore Number 19 could be refused; especially when it was a personal invitation. Finally, I agreed, we'd come.
I still was nursing some apprehensions as we drove over the Triboro Bridge toward Port Washington. "Are you sure you really want to do this?" I asked Simon one more time.
I needn't have brought it up since his head nod was as emphatic as any YES!
Bryan gave us a big greeting when we got to the facsimile ice building and explained -- in non-technical terms -- how artificial ice is more than a reasonable facsimile of the real cold stuff.
"Don't be afraid," he encouraged the lad once we got on the rink. "Just let yourself go."
And so we did with Trots skating with us, passing the puck around while passing on a few tips to Simon; and acting like a favorite uncle to my younger son.
"I like it; I like it," Simon kept saying most of the afternoon but it was less about the ice -- pretty good quality, all things considered -- but rather what a sweetheart of a host the future Hall of Famer was that day.
My behind-the-scenes views of Trots were confined to road trips and interviews I did for the Islanders original network, SportsChannel.
Win or lose, Bryan was Mister Available. His answers were insightful and articulate much like his 200-foot game. Occasionally, he'd display a sense of humor but nothing like the behind-the-scenes joker he was with teammates. Sometimes you could mistake him for a Silent Movie star such as Buster Keaton.
Bryan's deadpan expressions rarely betrayed the hijinks in which he'd indulge with his buddy-of-all-buddies, Mike Bossy.
"Trots and I liked to have fun," Bossy once explained. "It meant laughing at ourselves, each other, or the world. We could do it so easily since we had the same sense of humor.
"We could laugh at something funny in the street, a terrible joke, or the 'Rooster Tail" sticking up from (coach) Al Arbour's scalp when he kicked garbage cans and chewed us out after a bad loss."

It helped that Bryan and Mike enjoyed a very close palship starting with Bossy's first training camp. Mike had suffered an injury during the initial scrimmage and was being examined by trainer Ron Waske on the rubbing table when Trots walked in and then introduced himself. The rookie did a double-take.
"Hey," said Bryan, "how about coming over to the house for dinner tonight?"
Intuitively, Trots realized that the newcomer was lonely. What Bryan couldn't have known was that he and his new pal were birds of a feather; different from their Islander teammates. Bossy underlined that fact in his autobiography, Boss -- The Mike Bossy Story.
Bossy: "Bryan was my link to that close-knit band of Islanders in 1977. He was my security blanket. Because I rarely drank and didn't enjoy hanging out in bars after games -- and I liked keeping to myself -- I ran the risk of being labelled aloof or snobby and alienating myself from my teammates. My relationship with Trots prevented that."
Because Trots acutely recalled his first weeks as an Islander, he was able to empathize with the young right wing from Montreal.
With a tinge of amusement, Bryan remembered when a reporter came up to him and asked if he had partaken of the legendary night life of Broadway.
Trots paused and thought for a while. "Broadway, hell," he shot back. "I don't even know how to get there!"
Bryan later would reveal to me that the traits -- like the kindness he showed Bossy -- were ingrained by his father who played in a country and Western band -- "That's where I learned to sing." And also from a tough teenager named "Tiger," who already had a year of experience on Trots.
That would be Dave Williams a star on the first Junior team that Trots joined; the Swift Current Broncos.
"The way I took Boss under my wing," Trots remembered, "was the way Tiger Williams took me under his wing at Swift Current. Among other things he taught me how to fight and other aspects of tough hockey. Like me and Boss; Tiger and I became lifetime friends."
And like so many Western Canadians Trots remained a down-to-earth guy even after gaining superstardom.
One night, following the Islanders first Stanley Cup win, he was having dinner at a restaurant with his mother and father. The wounds of the previous playoff war on ice were still apparent; a black eye, well-stitched face, the works.
A customer at a nearby table finally walked over to the Trottiers' table being very polite about the visit. He looked Bryan up and down for a second and then said, "I think I recognize you." Then, a pause: "Are you a boxer?"
The Trots table shook with laughter.

Guffaws often were heard in the Trots-Boss end of the Coliseum dressing room. At times even the stern visage of Radar Arbour would tickle their funny bone.
Trots being the senior member of the act, could get away with pranks easier than the new guy. But Bossy said, "Trots and I reached a point where I could pick up my head during one of Al's tirades, just look at Bryan and then we'd just look at each other, and have to bow our heads and grit our teeth to keep from cracking up."
The word around the Isles dressing room during the Dynasty years was that Bryan was the easiest of the Islanders to crack up with a joke. Or, as one former teammate put it:
"You could tell Trots the same old story 10 times a year and he'll laugh every time like he never heard it before. All you had to do was toss out a punch line and he'd start cracking up."
With a love of entertaining -- gained from his dad, the musician -- Bryan enjoyed plucking guitar strings for his own pleasure if not his teammates. More often than not he'd warble a few choruses of Country and Western hits.
One of his Islander buddies remembered a road trip where, after a game, Bryan got on stage at a club, accompanied by his guitar. "Trots then sang in front of more than 50 in the audience."
The side of Bryan that you, the fan, may not have known was beloved by his teammates.
"Trots was special to me," Bossy concluded in his autobiography, "because he made my ten years of bus rides, plane rides and morning skates bearable.
"But, wait a second; he made them more than bearable. He made them memorable and fun."
Come to think of it, that's how my son, Simon, and I felt when Bryan had us skating on fake ice at his rink in Port Washington.
Memorable and fun!