PRO HOCKEY

By Francis Rosa
Boston Globe, October 9, 1988
 

Never underestimate the influence of a movie. Take one called ''Quicksilver."

Because former Bruin Dave Reid remembered it, and it led him into a most unusual summer job for a professional hockey player. The new member of the Maple Leafs was a bicycle delivery man in Toronto, pedaling around the streets of his old hometown.

Understand that Toronto is one the biggest cities in North America, with big traffic problems. The potential for injury is ever-present for cyclists. But, for Reid, it was worth the risk. His objective was to keep his weight down, get his legs in condition, and furthermore, "it seemed like a fun job, a neat thing to do in the summer," he said.

"I went 20-30 miles a day, five days a week for eight weeks," he said Thursday night before his first game in Boston Garden in a visiting team's uniform.

"It was an 18-speed mountain bike, and I had a two-way radio that had about a 3-mile range," he said. "I made deliveries and pickups in the core city. The office, a dispatcher I guess you'd call him, would call and say go to this place, pick up a package and deliver it to another place. I biked over a thousand miles, and it got my weight down to 210."

Any accidents with cars? "No," he replied. "I fell off the bike once, and I had a couple of close calls with cars. They just don't realize you're there; and in traffic you can go faster on a bike than in a car. You're on a bike, and you can get up alongside the cars before they know you're there."

The summer of biking came out of a chance encounter. "I was in my agent's office, and this delivery guy comes in with a package," Reid said. "He was wearing shorts and a T-shirt and a helmet, and I thought, 'What a neat job for the summer.' Then I remembered the movie 'Quicksilver' I had seen a couple of years ago about a guy who rode a bike on the streets of New York. I think it was Kevin Bacon who was the bicycle courier. It looked like a fun job . . . and it was.

"Sure, I wore a helmet, but I'd take it off on the real hot days -- and we had a lot of hot days this summer -- because my head was sweating too much."

The Leafs have him on a line with Vincent Damphousse (center) and rookie Dan Marois (right wing), after coming off "the best training camp I ever had." Reid was released by the Bruins at the end of last season, and instead of feeling bitter, he appreciated it.

"I knew I wasn't in the Bruins' plans, except maybe in Portland," Reid said, "and I thank them for letting me go the way they did. It got me a chance with the hometown team, and it gave me a good opportunity. Toronto gave me a good chance," and he seems to have made the most of it. Half of his 28 NHL career goals came in the 35 games he played for the Bruins in 1984-85.

He wants to prove that "maybe the Bruins made a mistake when they let me go, that I'm not finished." At the age of 24.