The God Father of Springfield Hockey: Bruce Landon

If there is something that ties the majority of hockey players and executives together, it is the unpredictable nature of where they will be working from one season to the next. That is unless, you are Bruce Landon. The Kingston native was the face of hockey in Springfield, Massachusetts, for nearly half a century.

As a teenager, Landon was a goaltender for the Chatham Jr. B Maroons, before joining the Petes in 1967 for two seasons. Like many who have dawned the maroon and white, Bruce gives credit for much of his early success to head coach, Roger Neilson, as he explained:

Roger Neilson was not only an outstanding coach, he was at that time a father figure. He helped me out in so many ways, off the ice, he made sure you stuck to your schooling and went to your classes. He was adamant about that. He was really ahead of his time with the radical things he did back then.

In addition to the influence of Neilson, Landon had the luxury of his hometown being near, which allowed his parents to conveniently attend games.

In the 1969 NHL Amateur Draft, Bruce was selected 39th overall to the Los Angeles Kings. Although his initial training camp with the Kings was marked with an incredibly strong performance, Landon was directed to their American Hockey League affiliate, “I was told to go home, pack my bags and meet the team in Toronto and fly out to Los Angeles. I got a call at 2:00 in the morning, the General Manager Larry Regan thought I would be better off going to Springfield. They wanted to send me for a little seasoning.”

Unfortunately the Petes alumnus’ professional playing career would be plagued by a series of injuries. In his second season playing with the Springfield Indians, Landon separated his shoulder and not too long after he dislocated it, preventing him from playing for the remainder of the year. This provided the Indians second goalie Billy Smith, to step in and, clinch a Calder Cup in 1971. Smith would go on to win four Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders and be the first goaltender to be credited with an NHL goal.

“To this day when I see him, I kid that my injuries are why he made it to the Hall of Fame,” chuckled, Landon. 

After finishing three years in the Kings organization, Bruce joined the Hartford Whalers of the World Hockey Association, after turning down an offer with the Montreal Canadiens, “they had a young goaltender named Ken Dryden so I knew my chances of making it to Montreal were slim to none.”

Backing up goalie Al Smith, Landon and the Whalers earned an Avco Cup in their inaugural season.

“The Whalers were a class organization from top to bottom. They took care of their players,” explained, the Hartford alumnus.

Following his five seasons in Connecticut, Landon was offered a contract back in the city he now called home, Springfield. It was in 1971, in his first stint with the Indians that he met his wife, “It was an opportunity to play again in my backyard and get involved doing a little summer sales work.” 

The fusion role between playing and sales quickly graduated into a full-time position on Springfield’s business operations team.

“When I made the transition, the owner literally gave me a legal pad, and a pen and said you are in charge of group sales, and I just learned as I went along and you know I made some contacts, and one thing lead to another.”

His ability to learn on the fly paid off, as Landon earned the  AHL’s Ken McKenzie Award as the individual who best promoted his team in 1979. Throughout his career, his success and inventory of responsibility continued to grow as he was promoted to General Manager in 1982, “When I got into management, I started to realize how passionate fans were in Springfield and how much the team meant to them.”

In 1994, the AHL team was sold and moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, however Landon was destined to keep hockey in Springfield.

“At that time I had no business plan, no partners, nothing I was sticking my size 9 in my mouth. I had a good friend of mine who happened to see the telecast [announcing the move] and asked what was going on. In two weeks we were able to put an ownership group together and learned how to apply for an expansion franchise with the league,” described Landon.

In May 1994, Landon was awarded the franchise, and a new brand for Springfield hockey was built, the Falcons. 

In the early 2000’s the Falcons, like many feeder teams were approached by other organizations to be bought.

“I had to work really hard to see who would buy the franchise and keep it in Springfield, they wanted to move it to Vancouver, we turned down a deal from Lou Lamariello and the New Jersey Devils, it wasn’t the right fit.”

On December 21, 2010, it was announced that the Falcons were sold to Charlie Pompea, while Landon remained a minority owner, “he lived in Connecticut but I was able to put an agreement together for him to step in and buy the franchise at a bargain price and again I stayed on as President.”

After differing business perspectives, Bruce decided to walk away until he heard the team was being sold to the Arizona Coyotes.

“I met with Paul Picknelly who didn’t want to see the team leave. I managed to help him put a group together to buy the Portland franchise and relocate it to Springfield and put a really strong ownership together and find a long term deal with Florida.

Landon would stay on for one year as a consultant, to the team’s successor the Thunderbirds, during the 2016-17 season.

The former executive’s commitment to hockey and Springfield would be recognized when he was inducted in the AHL Hall of Fame in 2016. What contributed to his success? He believes, his dedication to the city and furthermore the relationships he built along his career, “I didn’t burn any bridges. I had a passion for the city and for hockey.”

This sentiment is evident, when Landon describes his favourite memories while curating a legacy in Springfield, “I look back not at one specific memory but some of the great players that I remain very close to, to this day. Guys like, Rob Murray, the Danny Briere’s the Ryan Craig’s.”

Since retiring from hockey, Bruce has recounted his years at the rink in his book, “The Puck Stops Here: My (Not So) Minor League Life.

He recalls sitting in his backyard, chatting over a couple of martins with his daughter Tammy, sharing hockey stories, when she urged him to get the narratives on paper.

“I started chipping away at it, she said ‘just trust my judgement you can do it.’” 

In the spring, Landon’s daughter was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that put his writing endeavours on pause.

I lost all interest. I didn’t want to do it I was concentrating on what we could do and watching her health slip. One day she finished one of her chemo sessions and I had actually bought the house that was across the street from me so she could live in so that she would have her treatments here so that she could live here.

Following a promise he made to his daughter, Landon immediately sought out a local writer from a Springfield newspaper to edit his work. Resilient in his promise, he finished the final rough draft of his novel, three days before Tammy passed.

The book details the bizarre, inspiring, and unique stories that frame a hockey player and executive’s life:

“Some people were surprised how much I opened up about my personal life and family life,” explained Bruce.

All proceeds from the book will benefit the Tammy Jacobson-Landon “I Can Hear You” Scholarship Fund, at the Clarke School for Hearing and Speech in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Landon’s tenure in Springfield is a rarity and something to be celebrated. Furthermore his community-centric, people first mentality in business, is what ultimately lead the executive to Hall of Fame stature. His legacy is a prime example of the influence and importance a team can have on its city.

Want to hear more about Landon’s former teammate Craig Ramsay? Click here to learn more about Ramsay and junior hockey in the 60’s.