Height: 5-11
Weight: 190
Shoot: R
Born: 8 Oct 1957, Edmonton AB
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1977-78 | Edmonton | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
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Untitled • by Terry Jones • The Edmonton Journal • March 10, 1978
It was a long, hard, frustrating day. The kind of day that convinces an old hockey player that he doesn't want to sign for another season. The day started Wednesday, with a 6 a.m. wake-up call. Edmonton Oilers decided they'd pass a mid-afternoon direct flight from Houston to Cincinnati and take a more involved route in order to be able to practice here. It didn't work out that way. Despite the early start, the club didn't arrive here until 13 hours later. They spent most of the day fogged in at the Atlanta airport. To Jim Cross and Craig Topolnisky, a very forgettable day on the road, was what memories are made of. To two young men who wouldn't have given you a Minnesota Fighting Saints souvenir puck in lieu of a plug nickle for their chances of ever playing in a professional hockey major league, being up with Edmonton Oilers in this mightmarish time of crisis is strictly dream city. While the veterans moaned and groaned, the two kids mentioned that it beat riding a bus. And buses were supposed to be the only transportation they'd ride for the rest of their careers. ... It's only a bit different with Topolisky. The game here last night was his third with the team and he's played well and was rewarded with a regular shift in his first game. In the games they've been in, the two kids have been far from the worst defencemen. "I played Cross and Topolnisky more than any other defenceman except Paul Shmyr because they were my second and third best defencemen tonight," said Sather after Thursday's 6-5 loss to the Stingers. "It's just as tough as I thought it would be," says Topolnisky. "The big difference from Spokane is that everything happens so quickly. If you make a mistake it's in the net." Officially the Oiler farm club is in Spokane. But when you play there, you wonder about that. "All year I just prayed I'd get called up. But it looked as if they'd never call anybody up. I honestly didn't think I'd get a chance." Both of the players realize they can make something out of this. "When you realize it's a now or never situation it really adds pressure. That's the way it is. If I make a bunch of mistakes, I'm history. But Glen Sather has given me confidence and Paul Shmyr is really helping me. When I'm on the ice, I'm not thinking about making mistakes." But to both of them, despite the long odds, it's also a personal thing. "Just to be able to be here and be able to come off the ice after a game and be able to say to yourself 'I can play with these guys' means something," said Topolnisky. ... The long hours in airports, and sometimes longer hours in arenas, just aren't long enough for Craig Topolnisky and Jim Cross. They don't want to go to sleep in case they wake up and find out the dream is over. |
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