When former Atlanta Flames left winger Tim Ecclestone was 22, he sat in the Detroit Reds Wings’ locker room a few feet away from hockey legends Gordie Howe and Alex Delvecchio. Ecclestone was three-plus years into his NHL career and had just been traded to the worst team in hockey. At the time, there was little sense of urgency with the Red Wings.
”I had come from St. Louis, where we had a schedule for everything and it was militaristic,’’ said Ecclestone. “This was different. It was like a country club in Detroit. Right before we would take the ice, Gordie would be reading his book and Alex smoking his cigar. Then one time there was a golf match on television and it was time to get on the ice and one of the players said, ‘Let’s watch this last putt.’’’
Nevertheless, Howe would finish out a career as one of the greatest players ever. Delvecchio was a Hall of Famer.
And Ecclestone?
He’s just fine. A very popular player who wore the red Flame sweater almost 40 years ago has never left.
For Ecclestone, it started in Toronto where he began playing hockey on a pond at the end of his street. An early childhood teammate was the great Montreal goaltender Ken Dryden. By 1964, Ecclestone had developed into such a player that the New York Rangers picked up his rights in the NHL entry draft.
Ecclestone was offered a full scholarship to play hockey at the University of Denver but instead played with New York’s junior league affiliate in Kitchener. In 1967 when the NHL went from six to 12 teams, his rights were traded to the expansion St. Louis club.
Ecclestone was called up from the minors at the age of 20, making his NHL debut in Madison Square Garden against the Rangers. He gradually became effective for the Blues, scoring 16 goals with 21 assists by his third season, and was on three teams that went to Stanley Cup finals (losing to Montreal twice and Boston, once all in sweeps).
During the 1970-71 season, his only All-Star year, Ecclestone, then 23, was named the club’s representative to the NHL Players’ Association and he star Red Berenson upset ownership with strong ties to the union. It led to both of them being traded to Detroit, where Ecclestone played three-plus seasons including his highest point output of his career (18 goals, 35 assists) in 1971-72.
Eventually frustrated in the Motor City, he was dealt back home to Toronto but played barely a full season before being traded to Atlanta early in the 1974-75 season. The Flames were just in their third year of existence and while they didn’t make the playoffs, Ecclestone fit in well, becoming close to captain Tom Lysiak and fellow wingers Eric Vail and Willi Plett.
He played four seasons in Atlanta, the team making the playoffs three time. But in 1977-78, Ecclestone injured his knee, tried to make a comeback but didn’t want to return to the minors to get back in shape. This upset coach Fred Creighton, who banned Ecclestone from practice. Still, he remained well-liked by management and they later offered him an assistant coaching position which he held until the team left for Calgary in 1980.
Meanwhile, during his last season on the ice in 1978, Ecclestone opened a sports bar in Sandy Springs called Timothy John’s, a popular nightspot for celebrities and the mainstream. When the team moved to Canada, Ecclestone was offered to keep his assistant’s position but instead decided to remain in Atlanta and make the bar his fulltime job. He kept Timothy John’s in Sandy Springs for 10 years before relocating to North Fulton. He renamed it TJ’s and it is still going strong today.
Ecclestone played in 692 NHL games, scoring 126 goals (18 game-winners) with 233 assists. He also has been very charitable since his retirement, raising money to fund youth hockey teams in Atlanta, putting on golf tournaments as well as helping establish a fund to help a paralyzed police officer.
Where he lives: Ecclestone, now 68, lost his wife Sue to cancer four years ago. He has a son, Mark, a daughter, Sandy, and two grandchildren.
What he does now: In addition to spending a lot of time at TJ's, he just opened a new restaurant in Johns Creek with his son called "Stone's Cuisine and Cocktails.'' By the way, Ecclestone's nickname is "Stones.''
On not taking a full scholarship to the University of Denver: "My father wanted me to get an education and go but I said, 'Dad have you seen my report cards?'''
On his NHL debut for the Red Wings: "I thought the worst part of it was the plane ride which I had never been on before. But actually it was the cab ride to Madison Square Garden. I have all my stuff with me and go up to the door and asked them to let me in. I told them, 'I play here tonight.' The guy said that is the best we have ever seen when it comes to a fan trying to get in, considering I had all my equipment with me. I said, 'No, I play for the Blues.' And he pointed me around the side to the back door.''
On going to the Stanley Cup finals three straight times with an expansion team: "Well, it is sort of misleading as when the NHL expanded they put us in the West and all the good teams came from the East. But it was quite an experience to be that young and playing in the finals.''
On playing with Howe in Detroit: "He was special. He was 42 and I was 22. He was the toughest guy on my team. You have to realize that Gordie was 200 pounds while most of the players were around 185. Also, he could shoot with both right and left hands. And he was mean and if you crossed him, it was not good. He owned the league for years.''
On the best he ever played against: "It was Bobby Orr. He could change the whole game. They played him at a lot of positions and then they put him on defense and he could see the whole ice in front of him. He would go coast to coast. I didn't play with Wayne Gretzky but watched him and Orr was the best.''
On the problems with the team in Atlanta: "We were just not able to make it out of the first round of the playoffs. But I loved it here. I loved my teammates and we did everything together. It was our family.''
On retiring: "I went in for knee surgery and back then, the way they did it was they sedated you and bent your knee and then decided if surgery was needed. Well, since I was going under, I decided to go ahead and also get a vasectomy. I woke up I didn't have a cast on my knee and the doctor said I didn't need knee surgery. But I was hurting.''
On why the team moved to Calgary: "(Owner) Mr. (Tom) Cousins tried to sell the team to Ted Turner. He wanted to sell it to him for $8 million but Ted wouldn't do it. Then the Calgary group came in and offered $16 million or so and that was it. Ted said later on not buying the Flames was a big mistake.''
On not going to Calgary with the team: "(General manager) Cliff Fletcher wanted me to go to Calgary and be an assistant and felt like in a year or two I would be a head coach … maybe not at Calgary but somewhere else. My wife said let's pack it up and go. But I told her here is how it works … I would get a three-year head coaching contract and if I did well maybe another three years. But if I didn't, I would get fired the second year and then have to go on the coaching carousel and move around everywhere. So I passed and it worked out.''
On why the Thrashers couldn't stick in Atlanta: "What a lot of people don't realize is there was this piece of property right at Abernathy and 400 that was going to be the site of a new arena when Ted was trying to bring an expansion team to Atlanta. (Team president) Stan Kasten wanted to put the Thrashers there and if it would have happened, the Thrashers could have weathered a lot of storms which eventually caused them to get sold and move. But Ted wanted to stay downtown and Stan wouldn't stand up to him.''
On looking back at his career: "I was an average player. I really have no regrets from that game and it carried me into the business world. But if I was playing today, I would probably be making $1.5 million a year. But I wouldn't trade playing in that era for anything. It was the best era of hockey.''
On his one regret: "I made the All-Star Game (1971) and there were four of us from the Blues that made it and usually you invited the wife to go with you. But the other guys had kids and decided not to take the wives. I was cocky and told my wife (Sue) we would get another chance to go. It never happened. Before my wife passed away, my wife said she had no regrets and I told her I had a couple of them and not taking her to the All-Star Game was one. I stood up and told that story at her funeral.''
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