Bruce Landon fulfilled a promise to his dying daughter.
The American Hockey League Hall of Famer from Kingston finished his new book, The Puck Stops Here, just three days before Tammy Jacobson-Landon succumbed to a rare form of cancer on February 20, 2019.
She was just 43 years of age.
“A few years ago, I started telling her stories and she insisted I write a book about my hockey career,” said Landon, who’s also a member of the Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame and the Massachusetts Sports Hall of Fame.
Bruce Landon was born and raised in Portsmouth, a small village in the city of Kingston. He became a standout goaltender in minor hockey and proceeded to star with junior clubs in Chatham and Peterborough.
He was drafted into the NHL by Los Angeles in 1969 but never played a game with the Kings. He was sent to Springfield, Massachusetts where he carved out a minor league career with the Indians of the American Hockey League.
He also played a few seasons with the New England Whalers of the now-defunct World Hockey Association.
When his playing days were over, he stayed in Springfield and worked as the team’s general manager, and eventually part-owner of the AHL franchise.
In between, Landon did just about everything, from sales, public relations and he even tried his hand at coaching.
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That venture, however, didn’t last very long. As a coach, his record was 0-6.
“All my stories are done from memory, and they’re all true,” said Landon.
“They’re stories about my playing days and my many years in management. It’s not a book with a lot of statistics, it’s just stories.
“They are my memoirs. I guess you can say its a story about my life. It was supposed to be a father-daughter project, but then Tammy got sick and I didn’t feel like continuing. She made me promise I would finish the book. She was my inspiration from start to finish.”
Proceeds from the book will benefit The Tammy Jacobson-Landon “I Can Hear You” Scholarship Fund at the Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech in Northampton, Mass. where his daughter had worked for many years.
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