Staunch sentinels behind the blueline, the best defencemen of the golden age of hockey were loved and hated, robust and unflinching. To admirers, these bodycheckers appeared to have no understanding of the word pain. Francis Clancy, Ching Johnson, Allan Stanley, Eddie Shore, Doug Harvey and Tim Horton could sometimes be brawny bad guys, but they were always rocks on ice. In their zone, the puck stopped!