Jets’ Power Play Never Ended Fans Gave Team The Extra Man Needed In Grueling 6-Game Series
Larry Palanio thought they were crazy and loved them for it.
When he realized that hockey fans were camping out in front of the Coliseum ticket window before Game One of the 1970 Allan Cup Series, the Spokane Jets defenseman wondered why.
“For a game?” he says, 25 years after the Spokane Jets knocked off the Orillia (Ontario) Terriers four games to two to win the Canadian Senior Amateur hockey championship.
As the series wore on, Palanio learned to appreciate the power of enthusiasm.
When the Jets won Game Six, he remembers being pushed along on a wave of support.
“The fans were an extra player out there for us,” said Palanio, who now lives and operates a business in Deer Park. “They pumped us up to where we put out 100 percent and then found an extra 20 percent we didn’t know we had.”
The Jets wouldn’t have broken through without the 6,000 who showered the team with support through six tough games, he said.
“It’s like people who say they can lift a car when the adrenaline is flowing,” Palanio said. “We needed a push to get through the last game - a lot of guys were playing hurt on both sides - and our people gave it to us.”
Today, Palanio is ready to give up his 30-year-old cabinet and furniture business to concentrate on a pizza place.
“I built three Big Wheel pizza parlors,” he said. “I’m taking this one (in Deer Park) back. I’ll remodel it. Life’s too short to do one thing too long. I’ll keep moseying along until I find something I’m good at.”
He was good at digging pucks out of corners. So was defenseman George Talotti, another ex-Jet who was a fan of the fans.
“I talked to people who lined up outside the Coliseum the night before tickets went on sale,” said Talotti, who coaches the Spokane Braves junior hockey club. “I was amazed at the enthusiasm. I thought, ‘This is only for rock stars.’
“When I looked up at the over-flow crowds at the games, I remember thinking, ‘How could you possibly let these people down?”’