Radim Bicanek learned to curse in English before he could say ‘hello.’
Of course, that’s an exaggeration, but you get the point. And his language mentor was Paul Rushforth.
Both were members of the former Belleville Bulls during Bicanek’s debut season in the OHL in 1993-94. Fresh from the Czech Republic when Canadian junior teams were just beginning to draft European skaters, Bicanek arrived in The Friendly City with a very limited English vocabulary. Rushforth willingly filled in the gaps.
Rushforth, a talented forward, was one of the best trash-talkers I’d ever come across in the OHL during the 24 years I covered the Bulls for The Intelligencer. And he was a terrific teammate too, as Bicanek quickly discovered.
Rushorth died on July 24. He was 52.
Rushforth came to Belleville midway through the season prior to Bicanek’s arrival via trade from the North Bay Centennials (now the Saginaw Spirit). The rangy centre quickly paid dividends for GM-coach Larry Mavety by scoring 21 goals and totalling 40 points in his first 36 games as a Bull.
At the conclusion of the ’93-94 OHL campaign, he had notched 28 goals and 63 points in 63 games. That spring, in a dozen playoff games, Rushforth scored six times and produced nine points.
Rushforth was a fun-loving and popular teammate. He could make anybody laugh. Including Bicanek.
A Buffalo Sabres NHL draft choice (sixth round in 1992), Rushforth would go on to play nine seasons of professional hockey, including his last four in England. Returning to Canada, he became a successful realtor in Ottawa where — not surprisingly — he also indulged his gift of gab as a radio co-host at CFRA.
Sofia Misenheimer, reporting for The Ottawa Citizen, had this to say about Rushforth: “The warmth audiences heard on the broadcasts matched the man many describe away from the microphone, a former pro hockey player turned broker, who put people ahead of a sale.”
In a statement posted on Facebook, Rushforth’s radio co-host, Frank Napolitano, said he will remember “an incredible partner, father, teammate, leader and friend. His impact on our community and the countless lives he touched cannot be overstated.”
Rushforth and his brokerage were supporters of Ottawa area initiatives in support of mental health. He had told The Citizen it was a cause close to his heart.
NEED TO KNOW: With 120, Rushforth was No. 3 on the career list of games played for the London (England) Knights during their five seasons in the British pro league from 1998-2003.
THE WEIGHTING GAME
Serious Hollywood actors leave nothing to chance when it comes to hitting the gym to prepare for ‘heroic’ film roles. Take Matt Damon who says he lost somewhere between 30 and 40 pounds to play the role of Odysseus in the recently-released The Odyssey.
Damon apparently dropped beer, bread and pasta from his diet and trained with barbells and on a treadmill to achieve a lean, mean look for the Hollywood epic. Damon told People magazine he hadn’t been that light, around 165 pounds, since he was in high school.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, when signed to play the lead role in Conan The Barbarian in 1982, was told he would appear too huge on screen at his then Mr. Olympia competitive bodybuilding weight of 240 pounds and had to trim down for the part. He did so by working out with lighter weights and higher reps to achieve a more camera-friendly body weight of around 210 pounds.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, for his title role as Jake LaMotta in the 1980 boxing film Raging Bull, Robert Di Niro purposely gained 60 pounds to play the former world champion as he appeared in his later years at the film’s conclusion. Di Niro said he would regularly consume four full pasta meals per day — with wine — to pack on the extra poundage.
