Apparently, there was just a bit more to booking “Slapshot”‘s Hanson Brothers than playing slot cars and, y’know, putting on the foil. Frozen Pond‘s Hersh Borenstein, a former associate of the trio claims they’ve “alienated everyone that had supported them.” (link culled from Yahoo Sports’ Sean Leahy.

The Hansons were far from easy to work with.  Dave Hanson (#16) was an extremely difficult individual.  He would matter-of-factly cancel appearances the day before he was set to appear.  I would plead with him that these promoters had paid long before and had been advertising their appearance for months, but Dave would just tell me that I can™t tell him what to do and he would not show up.  The promoter would be on the hook for his flight as well.  This got to be so routine that I just started booking two of the three Hansons to appear, and would suggest that the team have a promotion whereas a lucky fan would win the right to be the third Hanson Brother and perform on ice with them.  I mean “ if you were only able to book Moe and Curly for an appearance during the Stooges heyday, would anyone really care if Larry was unable to attend?  Eventually Dave Hanson promised to behave and I started booking all three players again.

But they were still troublesome to work with.  I used to say that œYou guys are responsible for 2% of my revenue and 98% of my grief.  Soon “ Steve Carlson asked if he could borrow money to start a new life in Wisconsin.  I even went to his wedding party.  But these nuptials were the beginning of the end of my relationship with the Hansons.  Steve™s wife thought of herself as an intellectual when there couldn™t be anything further from the truth.  Eventually, when Steve talked to me, I noticed the tone in his voice was very different; a lot more abrupt and not nearly as friendly.  After all, Steve had been my buddy for a number of years now.  I would ask him what was wrong and he would always reply that nothing was.  I would ask him if he noticed a deterioration in our relationship and he would respond he did not.

Eventually, my phone calls stopped getting returned and I learned that Steve™s wife had now taken over their management.  There was no discussion, no œthanks for your efforts, and no goodbyes.  Just unreturned phone calls from all three Hansons.  Talk about professional.