Willie Nelson didn’t write “Always on My Mind” (Brenda Lee, 1972), Aretha Franklin wasn’t the first to sing “Respect” (Otis Redding, 1965), and Kaspers Daugavins wasn’t the first NHLer to try to score on a ringette-style breakaway.
That would be Pittsburgh Penguins player-turned-colour commentator Phil Bourque, who tried the move during game action against the Detroit Red Wings in 1990. Daugavins just recorded the cover version and put a newfangled twist on the creative play for the shootout generation.
“It might look something crazy, but don’t ever forget you’re in the entertainment business,” Bourque, a distant cousin of Hall of Famer Ray and a former Senator himself, told Root Sports Tuesday. “I didn’t score… but I scored for the game of hockey.”
Unlike some of the more traditional naysayers who have frowned upon the showy spin-o-rama, Bourque heartily approves of Daugavins’ move, calling it “gutsy” and “not gimmicky.”
Titled “Phil Bourque does the Daugavins back in 1990,” NHL.com posted Bourque’s original ringette-style breakaway from which the 24-year-old Latvian jacked his style 23 years later.
Interesting to listen to the negative commentary and see the Wings take offence to Bourque’s originality: