Gump faced all challenges

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In the annals of great sports nicknames, Lorne John Worsley stood right alongside Lawrence Peter Berra. The baseball catcher was known to one and all as "Yogi," the hockey goalkeeper as "Gump." And there were other similarities, too.

Like Berra, Worsley had a lovable public image. Short and squat at 5-foot-7 and 180 well-padded pounds, he bore no resemblance to your average pro athlete. As he once told his more physically imposing teammates, "I've played 20 years in [the NHL] with a beer belly -- let's see how you guys do."

That's another supposed link between Berra and Worsley: Both seemed to have a droll sense of humor that produced memorable one-liners. But Yogi's often were manufactured by others, while Gump's emitted straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak.

Worsley, who died Jan. 27 in Beloeil, Quebec, following a heart attack at age 77, played 21 tough seasons in the NHL (1952-1972). Before achieving respectability and championships with the Montreal Canadiens, he spent more than a decade with mostly ghastly New York Rangers teams that provided ample material for jokes if not victories.

Asked once which of the Original Six NHL clubs gave him the most trouble, Gump replied unhesitatingly, "the New York Rangers." And when he opened a restaurant in Montreal after his retirement from the ice, he dubbed its chicken salad "the Rangers Special."

Worsley declined to wear a mask for most of his career, which naturally resulted in his facial features being rearranged by a myriad of misplaced pucks. And he left teeth scattered all over assorted rinks.

Why live so dangerously?

"My face is my mask," he explained. "If goalies were afraid of being hurt, they wouldn't be out there at all."

That answer probably was a little too serious for Gump, so he added, "It wouldn't have been fair not to give the fans a chance to see my beautiful face."

Scars and all.