Mike Vernon

Vernon guarding the near post

Mike Vernon was born on February 24 1963 Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He played hockey with his older brothers. Since his brothers were all players they put little Mike in net. At those times he hoped to be a Stanley Cup champion. He then went into league hockey and then to the juniors.

Mike was a superstar in the juniors so the Calgary Flames drafted him in 1982 3rd round 56th overall and then found out he wasn’t so good he lost 2 out of 2 games then the year after that he lost all his games too. Then a streak of greatness came over him in 1985-86 he had 9 wins, 3 losses and 3 ties.

Eight great years later he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings which he played with for 3 years and in those 3 years 1 fight occurred against Colorado’s great Patrick Roy. After those 3 years were up he moved on to the San Jose Sharks for 2½ years before getting traded to Florida for a half year then traded back to hometown Calgary for 2 more years before retiring. Mike had a great 21 year career with a handful of great saves witch led Calgary and Detroit to one Stanley Cup each.

February 6 2007 was one of the most memorable days in Vernon’s life. The Calgary Flames finale decide to retire the hometown-hero’s number. Some people think it was late and others are just happy they’ve retired it.

From the bottom to the top Mike Vernon wasn’t always the best goalie but he was always a great friend.