Lester Pearson was a sports fan, with particular interests in baseball and hockey. In his youth, he was a good athlete, as Governor General Roland Michener, who had played hockey with Pearson at Oxford, recalled.
Mike was a very good player. He was a good stick-handler. When I saw these Russians playing here recently, they didn't appear to be trying to score, but they were trying to keep the puck, stick-handling, getting ready for a dash. That's typical of Mike's play. He would swerve back and forth across the rink -- he often started from defence position. So the Swiss in their sport columns called him Herr Zigzag, which was typical of his play.
Maclean's Magazine asked Pearson to name an historical all-star hockey team in 1969.
I have been asked to choose my all-time, all-star team. Every hockey fan has his own ideas about that and I stress that mine is just one man's opinion. I shall pick two men for each position, so there will be a first and second team. The first team would have Georges Vezina in goal, Eddie Shore and Doug Harvey playing defense, Gordie Howe and Rocket Richard on the wings and Howie Morenz at centre.
The second team would have Johnny Bower in goal, with Bobby Orr and King Clancy at defense. I would put Hull at centre -- I hate to overlook Jean Beliveau but I don't know how you could leave Hull out -- with Cyclone Taylor and Harvey (Busher) Jackson on the wings.
Roland Michener, quoted in Peter Stursberg, Lester Pearson and the Dream of Unity (Doubleday Canada: 1978). Maclean's - December 1969
