Much has been made of the fact that the NHL’s reigning cheap-shot artist, Sam “Elbows” Bennett, was mocked and humbled at the NHL’s 2014 Scouting Combine—unable to execute a single pull-up.
Had Bennett entered the NHL back in the early 1960s, it’s not likely his fitness issues would have raised a Spockian eyebrow. Surely, the laughable Toronto Maple Leafs fitness requirements for their 1962 training camp were attainable.
As the letter from Toronto GM and coach Punch Imlach makes clear, it was 20 push-ups, 20 sit-ups, 30 knee-bends—and then off to the golf course they would go.
