The fateful night is split on parallel tracks. The hostage crisis plays out in Prince George while, in Toronto, a nervous Brian nervously prepares for his first NHL game, dressing his father in accolades during a locker-room interview with a reporter, played by Bruce Graham.
During the hostage standoff, Roy suddenly becomes aware of the gravity of his stunt.
“How did this happen?” he says as the walls close in and police assemble outside the TV station. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
After his father’s death, Brian continued to play hockey for 10 years. In 1975, he played with the Buffalo Sabres against the Philadelphia Flyers for the Stanley Cup championship, which went to the Flyers.
“He was a left winger and a good player,” said Bernie Parent, the Flyers goalie during the championship.
Parent said he had not known of the tragedy at the TV station in 1970 and did not know Spencer personally, but remembers him on the ice as “awesome, tough and a good player.”
“Spinner” jumps to Florida in the 1980s, after Spencer’s hockey career is over and he is working in a garage. His post-hockey life has spun out of control, involving drugs and guns. Like his father, Spencer was killed violently at age 38.
Didinger said the death of Spencer’s father dogged him until the end. He stayed in touch with Spencer during his hockey career and saw life empty out of him.
“I remember him saying, ‘I always thought my father would be with me. Every game I play, every time I step on the ice, I hear my father’s voice,’” Didinger said. “He played over 500 games and he said they all felt the same. The wins and the losses, they all felt empty.”
“Spinner” runs at Delaware Theatre Company Sept. 17 to Oct. 5.