Beep-beep … Whooosh!

For every hockey writer, broadcaster and fan who had seen a "Looney Tunes" cartoon featuring the Road Runner, the nickname was a no-brainer. Time after time, the animated little desert bird leaves the bigger, would-be predator Wile E. Coyote in the dust, causing him one calamity after another. Anyone who saw the NHL's fastest skater of the 1960s and '70s blow past flailing checkers instantly understood that, with the twinkle in his eye and his seemingly perpetual smile, Yvan Cournoyer really was hockey's "Roadrunner."

For more of Yvan Cournoyer's 100 Greatest Players bio, please click here.