ATD 2012 Bios Thread (as complete as possible: pic, quotes, stats, sources, etc)

[hfboardsuser]

Vyacheslav Starshinov

Position: Center/Left Wing
Height/Weight: 5'9, 181 lbs
Shoots: Left

Quotes

Around the net of the opponent, Starshinov was unstoppable. Oh, the Canadians seemed to know how to keep defensemen close to the other forwards and keep the puck away, but with Starshinov they could not do anything. With an iron grip on the stick, standing firmly on his feet, Vyacheslav never hid his intentions- throwing an open challenge to his opponent and rushing to the target in a straight line. And this outspoken act of his lured in defenders, like a rabbit to a boa constrictor.

In real life, this hero- with his massive shoulders- was quiet, seemingly a little awkward. But on the ice, Vyacheslav transformed. He became angry, merciless- to the opponent and to the game, his desire to hit irrepressible, a desire to be first in every category. He was this way not only in games, but also in training.

Vyacheslav- a typical center/forward, who has greatly developed his defensive game. The second such player, perhaps in the entire the hockey world... a center/forward who could, with such great desire and skill, perform the task of neutralizing strong rival players.

From where did he drew strength? My answer to this question: Vyacheslav loved the complex and voluminous training. I do not remember that Starshinov ever complained about the excessive severity or complexity of the load. Even when already having played- basketball played with hockey rules, football... we, the coaches, taught his example to others. I think the current generation of players can learn from Vyacheslav Starshinov

Starshinov was 18 years old when he was first allowed to play for the masters of Moscow, "Spartak". By the time he had, he was already playing volleyball, soccer, performing acrobatics, and was a good boxer.

Soviet Statistics

-Spent 15 years with Spartak Moskva, scoring 405 goals in 540 games (2nd in Soviet history).

-3X Soviet League champion (1962, 1967, 1969)
-2X USSR Cup (1970 and 1971)
-2X MVP (1967, 1968)

International Statistics

-Starshinov twice participated in the Olympics and twice in the USSR national team.
-From 1969 to 1972, was the captain of the Soviet Union.
-In 182 games for the team, scored 149 goals
-At the WCs and Olympics, played 78 games and scored 64 goals.

WC Goals- 1st, (1962), 1st (1966), 2nd (1964), 2nd (1965)
WC Points- 2nd (1964), 3rd (1966), 4th (1961), 4th (1963)

Soviet scoring at WC:

Year|G|A|P|PIM
1960-61|2nd|2nd|2nd|1st
1962-63|1st|3rd|2nd|1st
1963-64|2nd|2nd|2nd|2nd
1964-65|1st|6th|3rd|1st
1965-66|1st|7th|3rd|1st
1967-68|2nd|2nd|2nd|2nd

 

[BillyShoe1721]

G Jiri Holecek

5x Best Goalie at World Championships(all time record among goalies, tied for most among all players with Fetisov)
5x World Championships All Star Team(most among all goaltenders)
3x World Championships Gold Medalist
1x Golden Hockey Stick Award Winner for best player in Czechoslovakia
8x Top 8 Golden Hockey Stick Voting (1, 2, 2, 2, 5, 5, 5, 8)
6x Ceske Budejovice Champion
1x Olympic Silver Medalist
1x Olympic Bronze Medalist
IIHF Hockey Hall of Fame Member

JIRI HOLECEK (2) is easily one of the most accomplished goaltenders in the history of international hockey. Holecek captured three titles ('72, '76, '77) at the annual IIHF World Championships for Czechoslovakia and was chosen to the media All-Star team five times ('71, '72, '73, '76, '78).

Forty-seven shots in all Suomi fired at their opponent’s goal. Unfortunately for the Finns, standing in front of the Czechoslovak net was none other than JIRI HOLECEK. The 31-year-old veteran international was already a three-time winner (’71, ‘73, ‘75) of the IIHF Directorate’s award for Best Goalie at the annual World Championships. Xxx was the only Finn who would manage to put a puck past the Sparta Prague goaltender.

Holecek handled the other 46 shots effectively...

Holecek handed in a clean sheet for Czechoslovakia’s next match, a 5-0 defeat of the United States, to follow up. That would turn out to be the only shutout registered by any of the six teams in the final round-robin at the 1976 Winter Olympic Games.

“Holecek is the best goalie in the world – better than (Vladislav) Tretiak, (Ken) Dryden or (Bernie) Parent.” — BOBBY HULL at the 1976 Canada Cup

http://www.goironpigs.com/?p=3919

One of the best elite goalies in world hockey history. One of the living legends of Czech hockey. Was exceptionally reliable, well prepared mentally and technically for any game he had to play.

http://www.chidlovski.com/personal/1972/misc/cssrbiod.htm

But many consider him being a better goaltender than Tretiak. In his homeland (Czech Republic) Holecek was called "Kouzelnik" (The Magician), for his acrobatic style of play. He was equally good and fast with his blocker as he was with his glove hand. He also had very quick feet and tried to emulate the style of his childhood idol, xxx. Another strength was that Holecek always used to be cool under pressure. Many say that if Holecek had got the same exposure as Tretiak did when he faced the NHLers then he would be regarded as the best European goalie ever.

Holecek was born on March 18, 1944 in Prague. He started playing as a little kid on a pond at Zizkov in Prague. Then in 1956 he played for Tatra Smichov as a forward. As a 13-year old he became a goalie just by coincidence when he failed to make the Bohemians Prague team in 1957-58 as a forward. He found out that the rival club Slavia Prague was looking for a goaltender. So Holecek tried out as a goalie and made the team. He played there until 1963 before he was picked up by the Slovakian club Dukla Kosice (1963-67) / VSZ Kosice (1967-73).

In 1973 he returned to Prague where he played for Sparta Prague between 1973-78. He played a total of 488 games in the league and won the "Golden Stick" award as the player of the year in 1974. After his domestic career was over he went on to play in Germany for EHC Münich 70 (1978-80) and then EHC Essen (1980-81).

On the national team Holecek represented Czechoslovakia 164 times (a record for Czech goalies). He was a three time World Champion (1972, 1976 and 1977). Holecek was voted as the best goalie five times (1971, 1973, 1975, 1976 and 19 78) , more than any other goaltender. He was also a five time All-Star.

Holecek always played at his best when he faced the Soviets.

"I loved to play against them because our team didn't have anything to lose in those games. Everybody expected us to lose and if we won we became national heroes. I usually liked to skate out a bit to face the shooters but against them I stood on the goal line. Trying to skate out of your crease to cut the angles against the Russians would have been suicide" Holecek said.

He also never considered Tretiak to be one of the greatest goalies.

"No, Tretiak wasn't anything special. We had at least ten goalies back home who were better than him and the same goes for Sweden. The Russians had such a good team that it wasn't very hard to be in goal for them."

Holecek was a "ghost" for many opponents and must be regarded as one of the three best goalies ever in European hockey history.

http://internationalhockeylegends.blogspot.com/2007/10/jiri-holecek.html

The credit for this was also one of the best goalies in the history of Czechoslovak hockey Jiri Holecek

http://www.sienslavy.sk/historia

Jiri Holecek was their key player, turning aside 46 shots in a 2-1 win over Finland followed by the tournament's only shutout

http://www.greatesthockeylegends.com/2010/02/1976-olympics-at-innsbruck-austria.html

Jiri Holecek, former star goalie for Czechoslovakia...

http://books.google.com/books?id=dX...=0CEoQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=jiri holecek&f=false

xxx tallied in the first and third periods for Czechoslovakia, whose goalie, Jiri Holecek was brilliant.

http://books.google.com/books?id=9m...k_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CD0Q6AEwBjgU

The goaltending of xxx and Jiri Holecek was brilliant.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAAIBAJ&pg=6954,5350892&dq=jiří+holeček&hl=en

In the scoreless third period, the Soviets repeatedly sailed into the Czech zone, only to be stymied by Jiri Holecek.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAAIBAJ&pg=3054,3009479&dq=jiří+holeček&hl=en

Jiri Holecek played yet another heroic game in the Czechslovak goal...

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAAIBAJ&pg=2957,4728358&dq=jiří+holeček&hl=en

Czech goalie Jiri Holecek, brilliant throughout the afternoon, led an unrelenting defense that continually denied the Americans' offense.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAAIBAJ&pg=1140,2810980&dq=jiří+holeček&hl=en

Czech aces in goalie Jiri Holecek and xxx...

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAAIBAJ&pg=1077,4447006&dq=jiří+holeček&hl=en

The Czechs opened up a 2-0 lead in the first period as goaltender Jiri Holecek made several brilliant saves.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAAIBAJ&pg=3006,6473277&dq=jiří+holeček&hl=en

...the peerless goalie Jiri Holecek...

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAAAIBAJ&pg=4768,950725&dq=jiří+holeček&hl=en

 

[nik jr]

Henry William Sprague Cleghorn

- 5'10, 190 lbs - one of the biggest players of his era
- Jersey numbers: none, 1, 2, 3
- Shoots: left
- Born on March 11, 1890 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Died on July 11, 1956 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958


Leadership
Cleghorn was elected captain of the Montreal Wanderers at the age of 25, served as captain of the Canadiens from '22-'25, captain of Boston in '26 and '27, and served as a defensive coach for Boston in '27 and '28. Cleghorn was captain of 3 finalists and 1 Stanley Cup champion.

Sprague Cleghorn, who has been elected captain of Montreal Wanderers this season, is perhaps the best all-around defence player in the NHA.

Sprague Cleghorn, Bruins' captain for the last 2 seasons, was named today as coach of the National League hockey team and he is to be cast in a new role this season.

Manager Art Ross of the Bruins in making the announcement, said Cleghorn would assume more responsibility this season than before, that he would do all the defence coaching, but that his appointment did not mean that he would not play if needed. "Peg" can still go out and play a strong defence game, said Ross, and you'll see him on the ice for the Bruins.

Cleghorn, coming to Boston in the fall of 1925 from Canadiens, was greatly responsible for the winning streak the team had towards the close of the season. Ross played one of his master strokes in bringing the veteran defence man to Boston and he used him as a steadying influence on the younger players on the team. In the Bruins' practice scrimmage today, Cleghorn was assigned by manager Ross to coach the defensive players and he spent considerable time with Clapper and Clark.

Perhaps the biggest star of the Boston outfit, if not the best known player in the National League today, is Sprague Cleghorn, who plays a defense position and captains the team. Cleghorn is a slashing type of player feared by his rivals because of his driving power on offensive play. Sprague has been playing professional hockey for sixteen years and has competed in more world's championship series than any other professional hockey man in the game today. Cleghorn is a two handed hitter, holding his stick with both hands in making a shot, and the puck travels at a terrific speed.

mentoring Eddie Shore?

Sprague was still with the Bruins when Eddie Shore broke in. "Eddie was the greenest pea you ever saw when he came to the Bruins," Sprague once told us. "I helped develop his puck-carrying style by placing chairs on the ice a certain distance apart. He rushed with the puck, swerving in and out around the chairs. Of course, he had natural ability, but it had to be brought out."

Oddly enough, Shore once told us that he (Shore) lacked natural ability. "I'm not a natural athlete -- I'm a made athlete," he said. "I had motion pictures of myself made playing hockey. I studied them to discover the mistakes I was making and correct them. Nothing ever came easy to me."

Cleghorn was a natural leader and his on ice leadership was noted many times throughout his career.

Though Vezina was the team's star, Sprague Cleghorn and X were great defensively, and the former figured in both his team's goals.
... Sprague Cleghorn played one of his cool, calculating games, directing the plays, and at times staging rushes.

Gerard and Sprague Cleghorn he (Shorty Green, in picking his all time team) regards as top defencemen for their ice generalship and thumping rearguard play.

Peg Steadies Bruins
The appearance of Sprague Cleghorn on the Bruins' defence had a steadying effect. The "Big Train" handled his players with rare judgment and turned in a sound game defensively, himself, and above all, played cleanly.
....
At times, only one man would remain back of the blue line in front of Connell, and indeed, there was one time when they were all up on the offensive, but the strategy of Cleghorn, aided by continuous hard checking of the locals, foiled them.
....
The driving force of Sprague Cleghorn behind the team was very much in evidence throughout, and it made what earlier in the season appeared to be a very ordinary team, look like logical contenders.

"He played a leading role in the championships we won in those years, because he was fearless and a terrific two-way performer. He was ice-cold and the slugger type. He gave the younger fellows on the club all the confidence in the world because he went out of his way to protect any fellow playing on his side." "I might also add,†laughs Gorman, “that Sprague didn’t need any excuse or reason to knock down or hurt an opponent. He liked trouble on the ice, reveled in the heavy going."

Sprague Cleghorn was offered coaching jobs in Boston and Philadelphia in 1921, and later served as assistant coach for the Boston Bruins, and head coach for the Providence Reds and Montreal Maroons.


Difference Maker
Although Cleghorn far too often hurt his teams by his bad decisions, he had large and positive effects on his teams. His teams improved when he joined and declined when he left.

Here is a chronicle of the way that teams' fortunes changed when Sprague Cleghorn changed teams.

I have left out the Montreal Wanderers, as their arena burned down after Cleghorn left and they did not play a full season. (Did Cleghorn have an alibi for the night of the fire?)

Year | Team | With or Without? | Win% | GF | GA | GF+ | GA+
1917-18 | Ottawa | Without Cleghorn | 0.409 | 102 | 114 | 0.98 | 1.09
1918-19 | Ottawa | With Cleghorn | 0.667 | 71 | 54 | 0.95 | 0.72

Year | Team | With or Without? | Win% | GF | GA | GF+ | GA+
1919-20 | Ottawa | With Cleghorn | 0.792 | 121 | 64 | 1.05 | 0.56
1920-21 | Ottawa | Without Cleghorn | 0.583 | 97 | 75 | 0.96 | 0.74

Year | Team | With or Without? | Win% | GF | GA | GF+ | GA+
1919-20 | Toronto | Without Cleghorn | 0.500 | 119 | 106 | 1.03 | 0.92
1920-21 | Toronto | With Cleghorn | 0.625 | 105 | 100 | 1.03 | 0.99

Year | Team | With or Without? | Win% | GF | GA | GF+ | GA+
1920-21 | Toronto | With Cleghorn | 0.625 | 105 | 100 | 1.03 | 0.99
1921-22 | Toronto | Without Cleghorn | 0.563 | 98 | 97 | 1.03 | 1.02

Year | Team | With or Without? | Win% | GF | GA | GF+ | GA+
1920-21 | Montreal | Without Cleghorn | 0.542 | 112 | 99 | 1.10 | 0.98
1921-22 | Montreal | With Cleghorn | 0.521 | 88 | 94 | 0.93 | 0.99

Year | Team | With or Without? | Win% | GF | GA | GF+ | GA+
1924-25 | Montreal | With Cleghorn | 0.600 | 93 | 56 | 1.24 | 0.75
1925-26 | Montreal | Without Cleghorn | 0.319 | 79 | 108 | 0.95 | 1.30

Year | Team | With or Without? | Win% | GF | GA | GF+ | GA+
1924-25 | Boston | Without Cleghorn | 0.200 | 49 | 119 | 0.65 | 1.59
1925-26 | Boston | With Cleghorn | 0.528 | 92 | 85 | 1.11 | 1.02

Year | Team | With or Without? | Win% | GF | GA | GF+ | GA+
Total | Total | With Cleghorn | 0.614 | 675 | 553 | 1.05 | 0.86
Total | Total | Without Cleghorn | 0.429 | 656 | 718 | 0.97 | 1.06

Teams almost invariably improved when Cleghorn arrived and declined when he left. Especially on the defensive side, where the pre/post Cleghorn squads were 6% worse than league average, as compared to 14% better than league average with Cleghorn. The offensive difference was also positive - 5% above league average with Cleghorn, and 3% below league average without him.

This analysis doesn't take into account the fact that Cleghorn only played the second part of the 1920-21 regular season for Toronto. Looking within that season, and splitting it up by first half and second half:

Year | Team | With or Without? | W | L | Win% | GF | GA | GF/G | GA/G
1920-21 | Toronto | Without Cleghorn | 5 | 5 | 0.500 | 39 | 47 | 3.90 | 4.70
1920-21 | Toronto | With Cleghorn | 10 | 4 | 0.714 | 66 | 53 | 4.71 | 3.79

Once again, Cleghorn had a large impact on his team's fortunes.

Again, you could compare him to Chris Pronger...he moved around a bit but he transformed every team he played on.

overpass missed that Cleghorn played the first 3 games for Ottawa in '21.

Season|Team|With or Without?|W|L|Win%|GF|GA|GF/G|GA/G
1920-21|Ottawa|Without Cleghorn| 11|10|0.524|80|70|3.81|3.33
1920-21|Ottawa|With Cleghorn|3|0|1.000|17|5|5.67|1.67

Sprague Cleghorn was a top defenseman on 3 championship teams ('20, '21, '24) and twice more reached the finals ('25, '27).

Even though Cleghorn was near the end of his career and not the same offensive player as he was in his prime, he was twice runner up for the Hart Trophy, once losing by only 1 vote.

1923-24 HART
1. Frank Nighbor, Ott C 37
2. Sprague Cleghorn, Mtl D 36
3. John Ross Roach, Tor G 35

1925-26 HART: (519)
1. Nels Stewart, Mtl M C 88
2. Sprague Cleghorn, Bos D 75
3. Frank Nighbor, Ott C 68

'26 was Cleghorn's last season as a regular player. In '27, he was player-coach, captain and a substitute.


Defense

Sprague Cleghorn, rated as the best defense player in pro hockey, will make his initial appearance in a St Patrick uniform on Wednesday night.

While Nighbor stood out as the most brilliant player on the ice... the real hero of the sensational struggle was not the flashy Nighbor. It wasn't Darragh... nor was it Broadbent, who notched the winning goal. It was big Sprague Cleghorn. Ottawa took a chance in starting Cleghorn on the defence and shifting Boucher to the line, and in the first five minutes it looked as though the management made a bloomer, but Cleghorn quickly regained his old-time form and thereafter was the most useful man on the ice. He stepped into the Vancouver forwards time after time, sent McKay, Adams and others sprawling into heavy body checks and intercepted pass after pass when goals seemed certain. Cleghorn carried the puck down for Ottawa's first goal in the opening period, and it was he who brought it thru again and enabled Broadbent to tally the decisive one.

As well known as he was for his speculative rushes on offense, Cleghorn was lauded for his play even when he didn't have the puck. Many of the game's top forwards were less inclined to venture near a net guarded by a tough defender. But Cleghorn wasn't a mere bully; he was respected for exceptional defensive play that was considered to be at the same level as such stars as Eddie Gerard and George Boucher.

Cleghorn has developed into a prominent figure in Canadian hockey since he left here and is rated as one of the strongest defensive players in the professional game.

Eddie Shore and Lionel Hitchman are stronger offensively than either Capt Sprague Cleghorn or Billy Coutu. Defensively, Cleghorn is superior to the others.

Sprague Cleghorn routinely employed illegal tactics, intimidation and violence in defending, but was also very good at more common and legal methods of defense. He was also one of the biggest players of his era, a fast skater both forwards and backwards, had a long reach, was noted for strong defense throughout his career and was famous for intercepting passes and then counterattacking.

Artie Ross and Sprague Cleghorn gave Moran valuable assistance on the defense, and time and again they stopped the Vancouver charge when it looked as if nothing could stay Taylor's spectacular rushes. The only bit of roughness last night was contributed by Ross.

Jimmie Kelly of New York's "village" doubts if he ever saw a hockey player who could skate backwards with Sprague Cleghorn, a talent which made that Canadiens star one of the greatest defensemen - his eye was never off the puck.

Thursday night Tex Rickard's Rangers play the Boston Bruins, a lineup which includes Sprague Cleghorn, one of the fastest of all the hockey stars.

Sprague Cleghorn, who has been elected captain of Montreal Wanderers this season, is perhaps the best all-around defence player in the NHA. He can hold down either the line or defence, is fast, a fine stick-handler, and carries a grand shot. He led all defence men in scoring last season. His great forte is intercepting a pass or busting a rush and getting off to a flying break for the other end of the rink. He stands alone in this stunt. Sprague has a head as well as hands and feet.

examples of intercepting the puck and counterattacking:

The Toronto players advanced three abreast but a poke by Sprague Cleghorn saved a sure looking goal. Sprague carried the puck to the other end and gave Boucher the opening to make the count 3-1 for the locals.

Cleghorn intercepted a pass close to the Canadien nets and went down centre ice alone, the rest of the team, panting from their mighty effort, dropping back on defence to catch an instant's rest.

Cleghorn got through until he faced both Cameron and Stewart. He stood directly in front of them, juggling the puck, as if uncertain what to do, apparently cornered. Then, suddenly, when he seemed ready to quit the effort, he slid the rubber between Cameron's feet, jumped around that astonished player before he had time to move, grabbed the rubber again, sailed in on Roach, and whipped the puck across his ankles and into the net.

Spectacular? And then some! There hasn't been such a piece of clever juggling and quick thinking on local ice this year.

on the Penalty Kill

Sprague Cleghorn was masterful with his checking when the B's were shorthanded, which happened on occasion.

Herberts and Hitchman were ruled off, but Cleghorn, with only three team mates (goalie included, so it was 3 on 5) broke away to carry down and count on a long shot with about a minute to play. The teams went to overtime in a 3-all tie.

Offense
-- Retired 13th in career NHL scoring
-- Retired 5th among all NHL players in assists
-- Retired 2nd to Harry Cameron in career NHL scoring by a defenseman
-- Top-10 in his league in goals three times (7th-1915, 8th-1922, 10th-1917)
-- Top-10 in his league in assists three times (1st-1915, 3rd-1919, 6th-1917, 9th-1922, 9th-1925)
-- Top-10 in his league in points three times (3rd-1915, 8th-1922, 10th-1917)
-- Top-4 in points by defensemen 13 times in 16 seasons from 1911-1926 (1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 4th, 4th)
-- scored 84 goals, 33 assists and 117 points in 115 NHA regular season games
-- 6 point per game seasons
-- 1st defenseman to lead his NHL team in scoring ('22)


Cleghorn's brutality became more famous, but he did not rely on violence and physicality to score. He could and sometimes did overpower opponents, but his offensive game was generally conventional, relying on skill, speed and intelligence.

Sprague Cleghorn excelled in dazzling serpentine runs down the ice... Sprague Cleghorn holding his stick with one hand blocked his opponent with the other and bore down on the Ottawa net in many a speedy dash... The game was so free from roughness that a penalty was not inflicted... Then with lightning speed Sprague Cleghorn sped from one side of the rink to the other until he was well in the enemy's territory and scored from a difficult angle... After Sprague Cleghorn had scored after another dodging journey through the Ottawas

Sprague Cleghorn, who has been elected captain of Montreal Wanderers this season, is perhaps the best all-around defence player in the NHA. He can hold down either the line or defence, is fast, a fine stick-handler, and carries a grand shot. He led all defence men in scoring last season. His great forte is intercepting a pass or busting a rush and getting off to a flying break for the other end of the rink. He stands alone in this stunt. Sprague has a head as well as hands and feet.

(Tommy) Gorman feels Sprague was such a great star because he was a terrific scorer. A forward before he settled back to a defence post, Sprague led many a rush. He could take a pass on either side and could fire the puck as hard as any forward in the game at that time.

Cleghorn could not only shoot very hard, but also high:

Sprague Cleghorn scored the deciding goal (1-0 game) in the 3rd period on a high shot that went into the net over the shoulders of John Ross Roach, diminutive Toronto goalie.

Two-thirds of the way through the last period Moran, the goal tender for the Quebec team, received a smash from the puck which had been shot with lightning force by Sprague Cleghorn in an attempt to score, and was completely knocked out.

playing a power game:

Once there was a type of player who barged into the two defensemen lined up abreast and by sheer power tred to skate over them. Sprague Cleghorn was this type, but hs school of slam-bang hockey is not popular anymore, because it takes too much strength and endurance to stand the hardships of the play.

Cleghorn used to skate directly in between the defensemen, whether they closed in on him or not. Usually something would have to give, but generally, it was not Cleghorn!

Violence
--4 times in top 10 in PIM during his NHL career
--Retired 4th in NHL career PIM, with 538 in 259 games
--Estimated that he had been involved in 50 "stretcher case" fights, and counted 52 scars to show.

He is one of the greatest but roughest players the game has known...Cleghorn was one of the most aggressive players the game has ever known and to get by him, opponents had to face up to bodychecks, crosschecks, elbows, buttends and fists. His rushing was equally aggressive and whoever might relieve him of the puck would not come by it easily.

Sprague Cleghorn was not only the master of the clenched fist coming out of nowhere, he was also the master of the skate to the groin, the elbow to the head, the stick across the face, the stick in the face, the stick over the head, the full-force frontal cross-check, the slam headfirst into the boards, the running charge from behind, and his favourite move of all, the butt end in the ribs. “He’d skate over to the Montreal bench where they kept a big can of talcum powder,†Clancy remembers, “sprinkle some of it on his hockey glove, and then run that glove of his up and down the shaft of his stick. Then he’d glare over at our bench and we knew that he was ready – ready to give us the butt end of his stick.â€

Cleghorn famously exacted revenge on Ottawa for dumping him in 1921 by deliberately injuring several of their players. This attack was so vicious that legal action was pursued and 2 of the 4 teams supported banning Sprague Cleghorn from the NHL.

Cleghorn Told to Play Clean Hockey or Quit
Sprague Cleghorn, point player of the Canadiens will either have to confine his efforts henceforth to clean hockey or get out of the National League.
...President Calder was a witness at last Saturday's match at Montreal during which Cleghorn carved up nearly all the Ottawa players, George Boucher, Clint Benedict, Frank Nighbor and Eddie Gerard.
....According to league officials, Cleghorn made no secret about the fact that he was out to "get" his former team-mates on the Ottawa team.

Sprague Cleghorn was violently protective of his teammates, and even more so of his younger brother Odie.

Sammy Lichtenheim loses S. Cleghorn's services for four weeks for the latter's unprovoked attack Saturday night in the Arena on Newsy Lalonde of the Canadiens. The Wanderers will thus have their chances for a championship impaired.
...
In speaking of the mix-up President Quinn said he thought that Lalonde was to blame for going after Odie Cleghorn, for which he was fined $25 and ruled off, but in his opinion there was no excuse for Sprague Cleghorn attacking Lalonde as he did.

Cleghorn was famously suspended by his own team for violence on March 7, 1923.

Hitchman immediately made his presence felt and the first man he sent sprawling with a terrific bodycheck was Odie Cleghorn, whom he spilled head over heels. Sprague Cleghorn, bad man of the NHL, then went to his brother's assistance and attempted to crosscheck Hitchman near the Ottawa nets. Hitchman met Sprague with a bodycheck that also sent him spinning, and Sprague skated back to the Canadien defence, evidently in distress. Two minutes later, Hitchman rushed, and as he shot, Cleghorn charged over and knocked him down with a terrific blow across the head. As Hitchman fell(?) Cleghorn jabbed him again (and the) officials jumped into it and sent Cleghorn to the dressing room.

but Sprague's competitiveness put success on the ice before brotherly love:

Even brotherly love takes a back seat in the rough and tumble scrambles in the Dominion as shown by the recent clash between Odie and Sprague Cleghorn, who once played amateur hockey in New York. Odie now plays on Les Canadiens and Sprague on the Ottawa team of the big Eastern Canadian League.

When these two teams met in Montreal Odie raced down the ice swinging the puck ahead of him and Sprague essayed to stop him. Odie was getting past his brother, when, according to the Canadian papers, Sprague rapped him over the head with his hockey stick... Odie didn't take the count for a wonder and was getting ready to return the compliment in kind when the officials intervened.

Although Cleghorn and Lalonde were longtime adversaries who had each knocked the other unconscious on the ice, they respected each other.

He was one of the best -- he could shoot like the dickens and skate like the dickens. I played both with and against Sprague. I don't know of a more sincere and tough competitor. We had our little tiffs on the ice like all hockey players, but we soon got over them."

Newsy Lalonde, 60, another hockey great of the Cleghorn era, collapsed Friday night (Sprague Cleghorn died on Wednesday), and his wife said he has been talking about Sprague "almost constantly" since his death.

Stamina and Endurance

When Sprague Cleghorn, captain of the Montreal Canadiens, world's professional hockey champions, was relieved in the last period of the recent Stanley Cup series match against Calgary, he is believed to have completed a record for continuous professional hockey play which will stand for a long time. It was the first time in the seventy-six games that he has played with the Canadiens that he ever stepped out for a rest. In 1922 Cleghorn played twenty-four complete games. He played the same number in 1923 and this year he participated in twenty-three regularly scheduled league games and five play-off battles.

“Sprague was the original Iron-Man of hockey. In fact, I’d go so far as to say he was in a class by himself when it came to going the route and doing the iron man stunt. He’d go 60 minutes some nights, as he often did, and I’d kid him when he came off the ice. ‘Didn’t see you out there at all’, I’d laugh, and Sprague just grinned back ‘I was around, all right, Tommy, ask some of the fellows on the other team.
“Now athletes have to take time out with bruised ankles and other minor ailments, but Sprague wouldn’t think of missing a game unless one of his arms or legs was broken and dangling loose. He didn’t know what it meant to rest up.â€

All Time Great
Cleghorn was usually ranked as the best or one of the best d-men before Eddie Shore (and sometimes above Shore). Some who put Cleghorn on their all time team: Jim Coleman in Trail of the Stanley Cup (for the pre-consolidation period), McLean's magazine in 1925, Red Dutton in 1938, Duke Keats, Shorty Green in 1944, Tommy Gorman, King Clancy, Sam Rothschild and Lester Patrick

But Mr. Clancy finally yielded the information that the greatest axeman of all-time was Sprague Cleghorn. In fact, Clancy also said that, in his opinion, Cleghorn was the greatest of defensemen.

Rothschild (NHL player from 1924-1930) got to talking about hockey players he has seen in the past 20 years, and when asked to select the inevitable all-star team, he didn't hesitate at all, came up fast with the following team: Georges Vezina, Eddie Shore, Sprague Cleghorn, Milt Schmidt, Bill Cook, Busher Jackson.

In a 1925 article Patrick was asked to select his all-time all-star team. Here's what he said:

"My opinion is based on consistency of players over a period of years, and the fact that men selected possessed nearly all the fundamentals of an ideal player - physique, stamina, courage, speed, stick-handling, goal-getting ability, skill in passing, proper temperament and, above all, hockey brains."

Patrick selected Hughie Lehman in goal, Sprague Cleghorn and Hod Stuart on defence, and up front he chose Tom Phillips, Arthur Farrell and Fred "Cyclone" Taylor.

Overview of his Pre-NHL Career
Sprague Cleghorn was recruited by pro teams when he was a teenager:

The (New York) Wanderers, however, have been strengthened through the acquisition of three of the most expert players in Canada. Otis and Sprague Cleghorn and Smeaton have been in demand by the professional clubs of Canada for several seasons past, and may be depended upon to give the local followers of the game a real treat in expert hockey playing.

Sprague Cleghorn started his career as a C:

The meeting of the Executive Committee of the Amateur Hockey League yesterday, to form an All-New York hockey team from various clubs in the local league, to play an international championship game against the Victorias of Montreal at the St. Nicholas rink to-morrow night, resulted in the selection of... Sprague and "Odie" Cleghorn of the Wanderers at centre and right wing.

Cleghorn moved to D in his 2nd season, and was called the best defenseman in Canada shortly after he turned 21:

As professionals they have both jumped into favor with the Canadian experts, and Sprague Cleghorn is hailed as the best defense player in Canada to-day.

Sprague Cleghorn was the best defence man playing in the National Hockey Association a year ago and has already signed his contract, even at a reduction in salary.

Ottawa hockey fans saw the greatest exponent of the modern game at his best Monday night when Sprague Cleghorn, of the Montreal Wanderers, unbuckled his case of samples and exposed the whole lot to view. Not since the days of the late Hod Stuart has a player of such all-around excellence as Cleghorn been seen on a hockey arena. And it is just doubtful if the great Hod, who was cut down at the height of his hockey career, could quite touch the general efficiency of the man who is now playing for the same team and same position Stuart held down when he passed away.

Big and strong, far-seeing and intelligent, Cleghorn is the mainspring of the Wanderers' machine. When he engineers a rush, it accomplishes something more often than it fails, and that is beyond all proportions of the average rush. Of Wanderers' 7 goals Monday, Cleghorn was directly responsible for 4. On each occasion he caught the three Ottawa line men coming in, intercepting the puck, and with his rivals going the other way, he broke like a sprinter straight down the centre. And his teammates were watching him, for 2 of them broke with him, giving the old "odd man" advantage that made winning lacrosse teams, and is the first principle in hockey. Both defence men bunched, hoping to guess which side the pass would go, and with Cleghorn working the puck in jigger fashion, they appeared hypnotized.

The rubber was always snapped sharp and clean, and the wing man was always close behind the angle to get it, and be on-side. With such a skillful man as Geordie Roberts with only the goaler between himself and the net, the result was inevitable. Four times Cleghorn performed this feat in identically the same manner last night. Four goals resulted.

By reverting to the files of 1915, it will be seen Mr Cleghorn was in the habit of pulling this stuff a year ago. With him it is no flash in the pan. He dopes out the situation and catches the opposition coming in. He strikes where the opposing team is the weakest, and he doesn't have to be told where rivals are in that condition. Cleghorn's teammates watch him like a hawk and are off with him when he breaks away. He is the Hod Stuart of present-day hockey.

Cleghorn broke both his ankles (his left in a game on January 20, 1916; and his right slightly less than 1 year later) and observers thought at the time that his injuries would end his career.

It is not so likely that hockey fans will ever see Sprague Cleghorn on skates again. The latest accident to the great hockey player, when he broke his right leg has likely put him on the shelf for good.
...
His early form (after recovering from his left ankle injury) was promising and once in a while he turned in a good enough game to warrant recognition. But he never approached the grand form that made him the superman he was in 1915 and 1916.

Cleghorn obviously returned to professional hockey, but his ankle injuries may have compromised his career.

It is reported that Sprague Cleghorn, once considered the greatest defence man in the game, will rejoin his former team mate Harry Hyland and finish out the season with the Ottawa club in the National Hockey League.
.... Cleghorn did great work for the Wanderers 3 years ago until he broke one of his ankles in a game against Toronto at the Arena. He did not show such good form last winter, but was coming back strong toward the latter part of it.

They believe Cleghorn just the man they require and are convinced that his presence on the Ottawa team will more than offset any effectiveness they might have secured through the addition of Hyland, Ritchie and Crawford. Captain Eddie Gerard has highly recommended Cleghorn and other members of the team are tickled at the prospect of having the Montreal boy shooting up and down the ice in a barber pole sweater. Cleghorn comes high, but should prove one of the sensations of the season.

Prankster

Described by Frank Selke as "one of the truly great old-time hockey players", Cleghorn was a powerfully-built defenseman... fast, fearless, a skillful puckhandler, Cleghorn was recognized as a defense great of his era... Old-timers recall the rugged Cleghorn as a practical joker in a game which was becoming steadily more serious. He could tell a funny story when pressure on his team was heaviest, iron nerves undisturbed by sports crises.

He gave us a lot of trouble off the ice. He was always trying some practical joke on someone, but he more than made up for it on the ice. And, off the ice, he was a great fellow. I liked him.

examples of his practical jokes:

A fastidious dresser and polished performer, Odie was the opposite in many respects to his explosive brother, who loved practical jokes of a juicy kind. Once, when the brothers were leaving Vancouver for the east by train, Sprague placed a dead pigeon among his brothers silk shirts -- a thing that Odie didn't discover until the Prairies, when the pigeon was very ripe.

Sprague was a notorious practical joker and selected his victims impartially. Once, when he was coaching the old Montreal Maroons, they opened the season in Ottawa. Sprague had been having a lot of fun with a metallic buzzer which he concealed in the palm of his hand. When he shook hands, the buzzer would give the other man something of a shock.

The governor general at the time was Viscount Byng, a great hockey fan, who went to the Ottawa bench before the game started to shake hands with the players. Then he started across the ice to go through the same ritual with the Maroons. Just before he reached the bench, the late Jimmy Strachan, president of the Maroons, was seen clutching Sprague's arm.

"I had a brain wave, and I had it just in time," he explained later. "That gol durn Sprague was all set to give the governor general the buzzer. Can you imagine what would have happened?"

Personal Notes
Married Evelyn Irene Mabie of Brooklyn, New York, USA on May 4, 1911 in Montreal.

Sprague Cleghorn could be an odious pile of **** off the ice as well as on. He hit his wife with his crutch in 1918 while recovering from a broken leg, and was taken to court before the charges were dropped. Divorced in 1921 after his wife Evelyn thought he was missing in 1920, but found him living with another woman. Evelyn was awarded a $1000/month alimony by Justice Cohalan of the Supreme Court.

Sprague Cleghorn married 2 twice more, divorced once more, and was made a widower by his third wife.



special thanks to: overpass, tarheelhockey, seventieslord, Velociraptor, TheDevilMadeMe

 

[monster_bertuzzi]

Bill Cowley​

Cowley entered the NHL in the 1934-35 with the St. Louis Eagles. Cowley spent the season learning the ropes of the NHL. The Eagles however would only last the one season. Their players were dispersed around the league in a special draft. Boston eagerly picked up the slick stick-handler.

Cowley quickly developed into a superstar in Boston. He became an all star by 1938. By 1939 he led all playoff scorers in scoring as the Bruins won the Stanley Cup Championship. By 1940-41 Cowley was the best player in the league. He earned the Hart Trophy as the league's MVP while winning the scoring title and leading the Bruins to another Stanley Cup. He also set a new league record for assists in one season with 45.

Cowley's greatness was hampered by serious injuries. He missed much of he 1941-42 season with a broken jaw (broken in 5 places). He rebounded to capture his second Hart Trophy in 1942-43 (equaling his own season assist record) but had a fine 1943-44 season cut short by a separated shoulder. The injury cost him a shot at destroying the NHL single season scoring record. He was at 71 points with 6 weeks left. The old record was 73 points (held by Cooney Weiland). Cowley would rebound the next year but had a broken wrist in 1946. He retired at the end of the 1947 season.

At the time of his retirement, Cowley was arguably the greatest player the NHL had seen. He retired with 548 career points, enough for him to claim the title as the NHL's all time leading scorer until 1952. His 353 career assists were also all time highs.

 

[Rob Scuderi]

D Lionel Hitchman

6-1, 167 lbs.
Shoots Left

2nd place finish in '30 Hart voting

Lionel Hitchman was steady, aggressive and defensive-minded defenseman who was often paired with Eddie Shore to form one of the greatest defense tandems in hockey history. Hitchman's flawless defensive play allowed Shore more freedom to play an offensive game, a rarity among rearguards in the early days of hockey. The duo formed a feared one-two defensive punch, with their favorite target being Montreal's Howie Morenz.

Because of his defensive role, Hitchman was an unheralded player. The Toronto-born Hitchman never made an All-Star team and never scored more than 11 points in a season but was integral to the success of the Boston Bruins and prior to that the Ottawa Senators.

"Hitch" started his professional career with the Senators in 1922-23, arriving just in time to play with the legendary Eddie Gerard en route to the playoffs. He played his typical quiet style and even helped the Sens win the Stanley Cup that season.

Though he was a NHL rookie, he played with great composure and dignity. That was never more so evident than in a playoff game against the Montreal Canadiens. Noted goon/superstar Sprague Cleghorn of the Habs cross-checked the lanky Hitchman in the face, knocking out the some of Hitch's teeth and breaking his nose. The foul was so flagrant that not only did the dirty Cleghorn earn a match penalty on the play, but he was suspended by his own team for the final game of the series. Hitch kept on playing, with plaster on his nose, helping the Sens win the NHL title.

Hitchman, who interestingly would become teammates in Boston with his old nemesis Cleghorn, went on to help Boston to its first Stanley Cup final (the B's fell in two games to Hitchman's old Ottawa teammates) with a solid, 3-6-9 campaign in 1926-27. Late in the final loss to Ottawa Hitchman became involved in a brutal fight with former teammate Buck Boucher, drawing a match penalty and $50 fine.

He then added five goals, eight points and a career-high 87 penalty minutes to the cause as Boston finished first in the American Division -- the club's first first-place finish -- in 1927-28. Although the Bruins had players with far more name recognition, Hitchman was named the first captain in the club's modern history that season.

Everything fell into place in 1928-29. Hitchman had a unremarkable offensive season -- one goal, no assists in 38 games, during which he logged 64 penalty minutes --but he led a defense that was virtually impenetrable. The Bruins surrendered only 52 goals over 44 games, then gave up only three more in five playoff games. After a three-game sweep of Montreal in the first playoff round, Hitchman and the B's allowed just one goal in the two-game final with the New York Rangers and claimed the first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

Hitchman continued to play the same steady, physical brand of defense through 1933-34, even playing with a broken jaw for part of the 1929-30 campaign. During his 10 seasons on Boston's blue line, the Bruins finished first in the American Division five times (four years in a row between 1928 and 1931) and played in three Cup finals. He played in 377 games as a Bruin, collecting 26 goals and 26 assists for 52 points and 466 penalty minutes. His post-season career included 31 games, three goals, four points and 52 PIMs.

Today fans attending Boston Bruins games will notice Hitchman's number three hanging high in the rafters along side much more familiar hockey legends like Shore, Phil Esposito, Bobby Orr and Cam Neely.

"To me, Shore was a country boy who had made good; he was a good skater and puck carrier but was not an exceptional defenseman like his teammate Lionel Hitchman who was better because he could get them coming and going."

It was Lionel Hitchman, an Ottawa boy with Boston, who caused the Senators the most annoyance. Tall "Hitch" was in every play, standing up well in the defence and furnishing much of Boston's offensive punch.

Hitchman gave the crowd a thrill with a lone rush up center. His bullet like drive from the defence, however, was easily handled by Connell.

Eddie Shore, pairs with Lionel Hitchman on the Bruin defense, and these two offer one of the best reasons why Boston's opponents have scored only 86 goals.

...Captain Lionel Hitchman, one of the game's greatest defence players...

"Game's getting pretty soft," remarked the lad sitting beside me.

"Getting what?" I demanded. It looked pretty hard to me.

"Listen," he returned, "I'm not saying the pubic isn't getting its money's worth of action; the game's swifter than it ever was before. Doubtless it's getting to be a better game every year; those who should know say it is. But a game of hockey without a fight doesn't seem quite natural to me. I was brought up to take my hockey raw."

Well I couldn't say to this guy, "How would you like to get out there and take it yourself?" He happened to be famed Lionel Hitchman, that hard hitting, fast skating defenseman who gave hockey enthusiasts their full of share of thrills during a dozen or more years spent on the ice.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19350203&id=CnYxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6SEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6623,7540935

 

[Dreakmur]

Alf Smith is remembered as a bruising winger at one point described as the toughest, meanest player ever to call Ottawa home.

He was a good scorer and was very prominent in the team's victories but was constantly criticized for his dirty play.

Smith played on a line with Frank McGee, making room for his talented teammate with his bruising style.

Alfred Smith was possibly the meanest, most vicious hockey player of the early era. He was exceedingly expert with the stick, both for scoring and for head- cracking. He was an outstanding all-around player, a fortress of strength…

Smith earned a reputation early on for his rough and tumble style of play, as well as his short-fused temper.

Alf Smith !!!​

Awards and Achievements:
3 x Stanley Cup Champion (1904, 1905, 1906)

Ultimate Hockey's "Best Corner Man of 1900-1909
Ultimate Hockey's "Most Able Instigator" of 1900-1909
Ultimate Hockey's "Best Fighter" of 1900-1909
Ultimate Hockey's "Dirtiest Player" of 1900-1909
Ultimate Hockey's "Most Hated Player" of 1900-1909

Scoring:
Points – 1st(1897), 4th(1905), 6th(1896), 7th(1907), 8th(1904), 9th(1895), 9th(1906), 9th(1908)
Goals – 1st(1897), 4th(1905), 6th(1896), 7th(1907), 8th(1904), 9th(1895), 9th(1906), 9th(1908)
Assists – (while not officially recorded, SIHR has found that Smith was one of the best playmakers of his era)

According to that SIHR study, Alf Smith recorded 23 assists in 32 games. That gives him a 0.72 assist per game rate, which was by far the best of his time. The second best per game average was 0.50, and that was Russell Bowie.

According to the SIHR study, Smith had 23 assists from 1903 to 1909. He had an average of 0.72 assists per game, so I just used that per game average to figure out how many assists to give him. I also adjusted other guys we know the per game averages for, and also gave some guys the benefit of assumed assists (if he jumped up to a tie for 5th with a guy who we don't know assists for, I just gave that guy an assist and dropped Smith to 6th).

Scoring placements:
1896 - he goes from 9th to 7th
1897 - he goes from 6th to 2nd
1898 - he goes from a tie for 1st to a decent lead for 1st
1904 - he goes from 8th to 7th
1905 - he goes from 4th to 3rd
1906 - he stays in 9th
1907 - he goes from 7th to 4th
1908 - he goes from 9th to 8th

I'm not trying to pass these off as his new finishes, becuse I have no idea how his assists were actually spread out. I just spread them perfectly even though his entire career, which is unlikely.

I am just trying to demonstrate the types of adjustments that should be expected if assists were recorded during Alf Smith's days.

Play-off Scoring:
33 Goals in 18 Stanley Cup Challenge games

He was second only to Frank McGee on the Silver Seven dynasty

Play-off Goals - 2nd(1904), 2nd(1905), 3rd(1906), 6th(1907)



One of the most impressive thing about Alf Smith’s career accomplishments is that he missed almost his entire prime! From 1897 to 1903, during which he was 24 to 31 years old, Smith was banned from amateur sports due to him accepting a bonus from a lacrosse team he played for.

In that 6 year ban, he played only one season, which was in the Western Pensylvania Hockey League. He played 22 games with Pittsburgh PAC and scored 28 goals and 17 asssists for 45 points.

Jack Marshall and Pud Glass played hard clean hockey although continuously baited by Alf Smith.

The first game, played before a crowd of 2500, was a battle royal precipitated by Bawlf sluggin Alf Smith. From then on it was a series of crosschecks and butt ends, when both Hall and Smith were hurt. Captain Breen of the Scullers, bandaged and bleeding, said it was the dirtiest game he ever played in. When the battle was over, Ottawa had topped the westerners by 9-1, Frank McGee and Alf Smith having been busy with some sharpshooting in between frays.

Ottawa entered the game against Wanderers at Montreal without the services of their star defence men Moore and Pulford, out with injuries. Jim McGee and Alf Smith took their positions and did a good job. (Smith scored a goal)

The great combination play of the senators was the feature of the final match, with Smith ad McGee leading the scorers in a total of nine racked up against three for Brandon.

Alf Smith scored three goals when not busy exchanging bumps but the Senators were lucky to win.

Newspaper Clippings:

Alf Smith was the life of the Kenora team, and without him they would have been in poor shape indeed. He rushed and checked like a fiend, bumping Hod Stuart or anyone else who blocked his path with an abandon that pleased the lusty-lunged rooters mightily. He had plenty of speed and did not spare himself.

After the face off, Alf Smith broke away near his own end of the rink, dodged down through center ice, swung over to the left wing, and finally landed back in center in front of Nicholson and beat the Shamrock goaltender with a swift high shot.

There was a dim suspicion that Smith and Westwick are not in the best physical condition, and they certainly showed the effects of the fast game at the conclusion of Tuesday’s match. Westwick held on well, but Smith faded perceptibly and lacked the vigour and dashing spirit for which he has hitherto been noted.

Manager McSwigan, of the garden, has done everything possible to get two fast wings, but they are not to be had. Tempting offers were made for Alf Smith of Ottawa....

Quotes from ATD GMs:

Smith was the toughest player of his time, an excellent leader, a two-way player, very good scorer, and played both wings.

… what you need to know is he was basically mr. intangibles. He was tough, dirty, good defensively, and a leader. His scoring was ok - I did a quick study and Smith's offensive contributions compared to a catalyst like Frank McGee were very similar to, say, Gillies or Tonelli compared to Mike Bossy.

Alf Smith's scoring exploits are not nearly so impressive, but he was a catalyst on the Silver Seven dynasty. He had enough skill to be a decent scorer, and was constantly mixing it up with his rough and dirty play. Presumably got under the skin of his opponents, and more often than not went down the ice and scored a goal just to rub it in. Think of Claude Lemieux in his Conn Smythe-winning playoff season, and span it out over the course of several seasons, and that probably describes Alf Smith.

 

[Dreakmur]

An excellent skater with impressive speed, quickness and acceleration, Kovalchuk has outstanding puckhandling skills, scoring ability and plays a tough aggressive style of game.

Has awesome offensive instincts and a tremendous shot. Can blow by people with superior skating ability. Can dominate in one-on-one situations with defenders. Is capable of playing the point on power plays.

Ilya Kovalchuk !!!​

Awards and Achievements:
First Team All-Star (2012)
Second Team All-Star (2004)

3 x NHL All-Star (2004, 2008, 2009)

All-Star voting –1st(2012), 2nd(2004), 3rd(2006), 3rd(2008), 3rd(2009), 5th(2010), 6th(2007)

2 x World Championship Gold Medalist (2008, 2009)

IIHF Best Forward (2009)
IIHF All-Star (2009)

Statistics:
Points – 2nd(2004), 5th(2012), 6th(2009), 8th(2006), 10th(2008), 11th(2010)
Goals – 1st(2004), 2nd(2008), 3rd(2006), 4th(2009), 5th(2012), 6th(2010), 7th(2003), 8th(2007)

IIHF Points – 1st(2010), 2nd(2009), 10th(2011)


5 Year Peak: 2004-2009
2nd in Points (89% of 1st place Joe Thornton)
1st in Goals (105% of 2nd place Alex Ovechkin)

10 Year Peak: 2003-Present
3rd in Points (97% of 2nd place Martin St. Louis)
1st in Goals (110% of 2nd place Jarome Iginla)

Since the Lock-out
6th in Points (88% of 2nd place Joe Thornton)
2nd in Goals (88% of 1st place Alex Ovechkin)

Point Percentages – 100(2004), 86(2012), 83(2009), 82(2008), 80(2006), 78(2010), 67(2007), 64(2003), 61(2011), 57(2002)
Goal Percentages – 100(2004), 100(2008), 96(2006), 93(2009), 84(2007), 80(2010), 79(2003), 74(2012), 71(2002), 69(2011)

in 2010 WC, kovalchuk played with datsyuk and malkin and was the playmaker. datsyuk, who is much more a passer than shooter, finished with 6g and 1a in 6 games. malkin, who is more balanced, had 5g and 2a in 5 games, and kovalchuk had 2g and 10a in 9 games. passing between them was very good.

 

[BillyShoe1721]

LW Paul Kariya

4x Top 16 Hart Voting(2, 8, 9, 16)
9x Top 8 All Star Voting LW(1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 6, 7, 7, 8)
2x Lady Byng Award Winner
7x NHL All Star Game Participant
1x All Rookie 1st Team
4x Top 10 Goals(4, 7, 9, 10)
7x Top 23 Assists(3, 8, 12, 18, 19, 20, 23)
6x Top 20 Points(3, 3, 4, 7, 13, 20)
2x Olympic Medalist(1 Gold, 1 Silver)
2x World Championships Medalist(1 Gold, 1 Silver)
2x World Championships All Star Team Member
17 goals, 22 assists, 39 points in 38 career WC & Olympic International Games
Anaheim Mighty Ducks Captain, 1996-2003

That summer, Kariya was selected 4th overall at the NHL Entry Draft by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, but one of Kariya's dreams was to play for Canada in the Olympics, an assignment the Mighty Duck management agreed might help the winger ready himself for the pro game. He began his season with Maine and then joined the Canadian Olympic team as it readied itself for the 1994 Games in Lillehammer, Norway. After a strong exhibition schedule, Kariya was Team Canada's top scorer in the tournament with four assists and three goals, including an overtime winner against the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals. In the gold medal game, the final event of the Olympics, Canada and Sweden had to go to a sudden-death shootout to decide the winner. After five shooters for both teams, including Kariya, who scored one of Canada's two goals, the teams were still deadlocked. In the sudden death encore Kariya had to score to keep Canada's chances alive after Peter Forsberg scored on a nifty deke. However, Swedish keeper Tommy Salo made an acrobatic save on Kariya's close-in shot to win the game and the gold for Sweden.

Despite the disappointment, watched by millions of Canadians, Kariya rebounded to give everyone a taste of what was to come in 47 games with the Mighty Ducks and as a member of Canada's entry in the World Cup. The next season, 1995-96, he exploded for 108 points in his first full year in the NHL. It was a pace he would continue over the following three seasons, collecting 227 points in 220 games.

In February 1996 Kariya was named a starter for the All-Star Game. He was still in awe of his fellow stars, making comments to that effect to the man he stood next to during the introductions, Winnipeg's high scoring Teemu Selanne. Three weeks later Kariya became more familiar with the talented Finn when the Mighty Ducks made a trade with Winnipeg to bring Selanne to Anaheim. Selanne had the speed and goal-scoring touch to take advantage of Kariya's innate ability to find the open man. The twosome formed a dangerous and fast combination, often teaming with center Steve Rucchin who, like Kariya, was a product of the post-secondary hockey system, joining the team after starring at the University of Western Ontario.

Anaheim was improving but still had not made the playoffs during Kariya's stay when the 1996-97 season began. Kariya, named the team's captain, missed the first 11 games of the season due to injury, and his importance to the Mighty Ducks became apparent. The team won only one game during his absence. When he returned, Anaheim began to climb in the standings, earning a playoff spot by the end of the season. Kariya scored an overtime goal to keep the team alive in the first round against the Phoenix Coyotes as the Ducks rallied to advance to the next round in seven games. The Detroit Red Wings, the eventual Stanley Cup champions, had too much depth for Anaheim in the conference semifinals, sending the upstarts from the West home in four games. Kariya's 99 points in his shortened season and Anaheim's success ensured his name was among the final three considered for the Hart Trophy as the league's Most Valuable Player.

Just before he was to play in the 1998 All-Star Game, Kariya sustained his fourth concussion in a nasty incident involving Chicago's Gary Suter. Kariya never lost consciousness and could remember the details of the game. Only later did he feel the effects of the hit, the headaches and the memory loss. He missed the rest of the season and the Nagano Olympics because of post-concussion syndrome.

He returned to form the next season. Terrorizing defenders and goalies with Selanne, Kariya finished third in overall scoring in 1998-99.

In the summer of 2002, he was one of the original eight players named to Canada's Olympic Team. Kariya played alongside Mario Lemieux at Salt Lake City, and helped power the Canadians to the gold medal with three goals and an assist.

Following a sub-par 2001-02 regular season in Anaheim, Kariya and the Ducks were looking to get back on the right track, and they did so with Kariya finishing the regular season with 81 points on the strength of 25 goals and 56 assists while the Ducks qualified for the post season for the first time since 1998-99. Not only did they qualify, but they reached the Stanley Cup Final only to lose to the New Jersey Devils in a hard-fought seven game series.

After nine seasons in Anaheim, the former Hobey Baker winner was acquired by the Colorado Avalanche in the summer of 2003. Upon his arrival with the Avs, Kariya went on to play a mere 51 games with the club due to injury and subsequently signed as a free agent with the Nashville Predators in the summer of 2005.

In Nashville, Kariya was a steady offensive threat recording 55 goals and 161 points over 164 games. However, the club opted not to re-sign the left winger in the off-season. On July 1st, 2007 Kariya signed a three-year deal with the St. Louis Blues.

http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=14823

"Paul had a lot of pressure on him...He singlehandedly won some games for us this year...Now that we have Teemu, there's no way everybody can just key on Paul.

Kariya was known for his skilled and entertaining style of play. An offensive player, he was a fast skater with strong puck-handling and passing abilities. Prior to and early in his NHL career, Kariya drew comparisons to Wayne Gretzky. During the 1994 Winter Olympics, American head coach Tim Taylor likened his skating and playmaking ability to Gretzky's, while Kariya's linemate, Chris Kontos, described his on-ice vision as "Gretzky-like". Canadian head coach Tom Renney heralded him as "think[ing] and play[ing] at a better speed than anybody else," adding that his teammates "are usually a half-step behind him." His speed made him particularly adept in international competition, as games were played on a larger ice surface in comparison to the NHL. Following his first NHL goal against the Winnipeg Jets, opposing coach John Paddock told reporters, "like with Gretzky the puck seems to following him around... It looks like he's cherry-picking, but he's not. That's just great instinct." Kariya himself cited Gretzky, as well as Brett Hull, Jeremy Roenick and Pavel Bure as players he liked patterning his game after. Kariya was also recognized for his "hockey sense" and the cerebral aspect of his game, which included analyzing the game at a high level. His first NHL coach, Ron Wilson, also once described Kariya as "the hardest-working athlete [he's] ever been associated with".

While recognized primarily as a playmaker leading up to his NHL career, Kariya was forced into shooting more as the Mighty Ducks lacked scorers in his first two seasons with the team. During his third NHL season, he commented that "If Teemu [Selanne] had been here right off the bat, then maybe I wouldn't have focused so much on shooting." Kariya was able to put many shots on goal due to his quick release. In 1998–99, he led the league with 429 shots on goal, which at the time was the second-highest recorded total in NHL history. Nonetheless maintaining his passing ability, Kariya was particularly adept at making plays from deep in the offensive zone and beside the opposing team's net.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Kariya

The 36-year-old known for his creative explosiveness, energy and great speed ends a stellar 15-year NHL career where he was undoubtedly one of the most skilled players of his generation.

Yet it was Kariya who was the face of the franchise and in some ways the face of Canadian hockey.

Always approachable and affable, Kariya was easy for both the fans and the media to like. Especially the Canadian media. In the 1990s, the Canadian media was looking for the super skilled Canadian nice guy to wave the Canadian flag. The media did this in the past with Bobby Orr and with Wayne Gretzky, who was on the down side of his career. They never warmed to the big brute and bully Eric Lindros, who was Canada's top player. Both Lindros and Kariya embraced Team Canada in the years before NHL players represented national teams at the Olympics, but it was the nice guy Kariya that they wrapped the Canadian flag around and championed.

The two-time recipient of the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for sportsmanship, ends his career (which also saw stops in Colorado, Nashville and St. Louis) with 402 goals and 587 assists in 989 games. He also finished as the runner up to Dominik Hasek in Hart Trophy balloting in 1997, and finished top 5 in NHL scoring 3 times.

The question becomes is that enough to get him into the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Kariya was a special player, certainly a top 10 player in his prime. His peak years were from 1995 through 2000 when he was mentioned in the same breath as Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Eric Lindros, Jaromir Jagr and Selanne as the best player in the game. He was the best skater and arguably the most intelligent hockey superstar of his time.

http://www.greatesthockeylegends.com/2011/06/paul-kariya-hhof-worthy.html

When Paul Kariya announced his retirement Wednesday because of concussion issues, the first memory that probably most of us had was him rocketing up the ice like he was a cruise missile. His first three strides were as dynamic as any I've seen, and it seemed as if he could cover 150 feet of ice in the snap of your finger. His skating seemed supersonic. His shot release was wickedly quick.

Explosive. Exciting. Energetic. All of those words fit Kariya.

But Kariya, more than anything else, was well-prepared. There weren't many in this sport who worked harder at their craft than Kariya did. He came to work every day with the idea that he was going to be the best player he could be.

When the Nashville Predators signed Kariya in 2005, they were most excited about securing an offensive star. But I would bet if you asked general manager David Poile and coach Barry Trotz today what they liked most about him, it would be that he set an example for younger players on how to be a pro.

On a practice day, Kariya came to work. On a game day, he had his game face on the moment he climbed out of bed. When Teemu Selanne and Kariya played together, they were the best of friends and yet their approaches to preparation couldn't have been more different. Selanne, one of the NHL's true warriors, felt he played best when he relaxed. Selanne could be involved in the NHL's most intense game and yet he might check a tennis score on television between periods.

Kariya never understood that. Selanne tried to get him to lighten up, but Kariya, in his mind, couldn't relax without compromising his level of play. He didn't like to do interviews on a game day. He had a certain ritual that he followed with regard to his sleep, his meal and preparing his stick. He always felt if he didn't put his full focus on his preparation, then he wasn't doing his job.

His mental approach also seemed different to me. When Kariya was a young NHL player, I remember talking to him about whether he ever considered that he might have been better served to have played center instead of wing. I always believed his on-ice vision would have made him a natural center and I think he could have still scored plenty of goals.

He thought about it for a second or two, before saying: "Really the position that is on your hockey card just spells out what your defensive responsibilities are," Kariya said. "I think I go where I need to go in the offensive zone, regardless of what position I'm playing."

To this day, I've never had another player tell me that a player's position is mostly about who he has to cover when the puck comes the other way. But that's the way Kariya thinks.

This is a guy who used to spend time after practice trying to perfect a one-timer on his backhand. You read that right.

That's how serious Kariya was about profession.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/hockey/columnist/allen/2011-06-29-nhl-kariya-retires_n.htm

A smaller player with speed to burn, Kariya was a dynamic goal scorer after coming out of the University of Maine. The skills he had were the stuff of legend and the kind of thing that saw him team up with Teemu Selanne in Anaheim to help lead the Ducks to the 2003 Stanley Cup finals.

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/...m-nhl-blames-head-shots-for-shortened-career/

Kariya-Sakic-Crosby
Pronger-Niedermayer
Brodeur

Sports Illustrated's All-Time Canadian Olympic Team

The speedy left wing accounted for six goals and 11 points over 14 games in Lillehammer and Salt Lake City, leading the team in scoring in '94, when he delivered the OT game-winner in the quarterfinals against the Czechs.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1167373/3/index.htm

"You need an intelligent player with him, because Paul's smart and doesn't do things the same way every time," says Trotz. "He's all about getting separation [from the defender], giving and going, quick thinking and quick movement. You have to be able to adjust."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1105732/index.htm

In a perfect NHL, in which skilled players would be not be impeded by obstruction, and the league's television ratings would dwarf bowling's, the dynamic Kariya would score a passel of goals every year. This season, in the Dead Puck era on the counter-punching Ducks, he produced 25, played consistent two-way hockey and provided strong leadership.

the indefatigable Kariya

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1028820/1/index.htm

Before playing the Mighty Ducks last season, opposing coaches must have told their players, "Don't let Paul Kariya score. If he has an opportunity, flatten him. Drag him to the ice and sit on him if you have to—just don't let him score!"

With few other Anaheim scoring threats to be concerned about—and none close to the ultratalented left wing—teams clamped down on Kariya, and it worked. Three years after putting up 101 points, he had 57 in 2001-02; the Mighty Ducks ranked 29th in goals scored. Opponents didn't have to worry about breaking the rules to stop him either, because Anaheim converted only 11.5% of its power plays, the worst mark in the league.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1027042/index.htm

Kariya laughed. He's not now, nor has he ever been, a fighter, but sometimes enough is enough. Last Thursday at practice the Ducks were doing three-on-three battle drills—the forwards fighting through checks and driving to the net, a splendid idea given Anaheim's 6-0 capitulation to the Florida Panthers the previous night—when the 5'9", 176-pound Kariya made a quick cut and defenseman Pavel Trnka hooked him to the ice. Kariya clambered to his skates, slashed the 6'2", 200-pound Trnka, uttered words not heard in PG-rated Mighty Ducks films and engaged in what would be defined in hockey's lexicon of confrontation as a tussle but not quite a scrap.

"Everyone was acting like a hooligan at practice," Kariya would say at the restaurant. "I was mad at how soft we'd played, and then to see guys practice hard, be tough guys in practice. Obviously, there was a lot of frustration. That's not me."

"Paul has played well and hard, and he probably would've scored more if he'd had a complementary player," Murray says. "We have to get a player who can help him, so the puck comes to him and he doesn't waste energy chasing it. When you make changes [like trading a star], you're looking for more bodies or grit or guys with high energy. Nobody has more energy than Paul. I get here at 8:30 for a 10:30 practice, and Paul's already here. I tell him to let me beat him to the rink. He'll listen for a day, but then he's back."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1024457/2/index.htm

Kariya is the rare player who is conspicuously hockey bright, an empiricist who conducts most of his experiments in the laboratory of the neutral zone. A feint here. A burst of speed there. Kariya's game metamorphoses with the situation, like the seemingly harmless one-on-two rush he made last season against the Vancouver Canucks. With both teams on a change, Kariya slowly carried the puck into the offensive zone until Oleg Tverdovsky, trailing the play by 100 feet after hopping off the Anaheim bench, neared the blue line. Kariya then hit Tverdovsky with a tape-to-tape, no-look pass as he entered the zone, leading to a scoring opportunity. " Kariya's thinking about not only who's on the ice but also about who's coming on," Canucks general manager Brian Burke says. "He even knows when the defense is changing. Watching that play, you'd have sworn he had eyes in the back of his head."

"There's hard backchecking, and there's smart backchecking," Shanahan says. "Most guys put their heads down and go hard. The principle is that if the backcheckers go fast, you go slow. If they go slow, you go fast. The only problem is, when we play Anaheim and I'm entering the zone late expecting to be open, Paul's right there on me, waiting. Every time. Drives me nuts."

Kariya is persistent. To regain some of the explosiveness he lost to a foot injury last season, Kariya spent part of the summer Rollerblading uphill while wearing a weighted vest. He also worked on his shot again. For every 100 he would take on his natural left-handed side, he would shoot an equal number on his backhand.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1023854/2/index.htm

Whom Would You Rather Have?

PAVEL BURE
PANTHERS RW
At 5'10" and 189 pounds, the 28-year-old Bure is a blur on skates and an expert at getting behind defenses. Through Sunday he had 268 goals in 440 NHL games, and though he had reconstructive surgery on his right knee last March, he was fit enough to score in Florida's opener last Saturday.

OR

PAUL KARIYA
MIGHTY DUCKS LW
At 5'10" and 180 pounds, the 24-year-old Kariya is a blur on skates and is not averse to coursing through traffic to make plays. He had 378 points (168 goals, 210 assists) in 303 games at week's end, and he seems fully recovered from the four concussions he has suffered in his career.

The Verdict: No one fills the net the way Bure does, but if we were starting a team, we would want Kariya.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1017312/index.htm

At 23 Kariya was a crowd-pleasing star who over the previous two seasons had had the highest points-per-game average, 1.43, in the NHL

He was the one young Canadian forward with the purportedly European attributes of speed and puck skills, and he would have been dancing on the big Olympic ice before adoring crowds.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1014355/index.htm

Kariya, the league's most talented left wing

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1014279/index.htm

NHL'S BEST

Skater

1. Paul Kariya, Mighty Ducks
2. Sergei Fedorov, Red Wings
3. Peter Bondra, Capitals

Wrist Shot

1. Joe Sakic, Avalanche
2. Brett Hull, Blues
3. Paul Kariya, Mighty Ducks

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1011017/index.htm

The comments about him always contain the phrase "plays like Gretzky." There are immediate disclaimers that include his size and age and the fact that "no one actually could be Wayne Gretzky," but the comparisons always are made.

Kariya is stylish and clever, looking to make the pass first, take the shot second. He sometimes swirls in circles to shake free from opponents. He makes short little passes off the boards to himself to avert body checks. He takes the puck behind the opposition net and waits, as if he is counting the paying customers, waits and waits until he finds someone open. He—does all this sound familiar?—has that sense that he knows where the game is going before everyone else does. He sees what nobody else seems to notice.

"You look at him, and, O.K., he has great wheels and good hands, but those aren't his best assets," Duck general manager Jack Ferreira says. "He has that sixth sense of knowing where everybody is, that great anticipation. There might be some things he'll do that you don't want him to do, but you have to let him go. You never want to control his creativeness."

"It doesn't take a trained eye to pick out Paul Kariya on the ice," Duck coach Ron Wilson says. "He's very serious about what he docs. He's always thinking. I took him with me last week to watch one of my daughters play freshman basketball, and within 10 minutes he had the whole game figured out. He's saying, 'Why don't they force that girl left? Don't they see she can't dribble with her left hand?' "

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1006217/2/index.htm

He has been called the Wayne Gretzky of college hockey. While Paul Kariya (ka-REE-ya), a freshman at Maine, may not be quite the stickhandling genius Gretzky was at 18, there are enough similarities between the two to justify the comparison. Bent over at the waist, deceptively fast, Kariya skates like the Great One. He passes the puck with a Gretzky-like sixth sense, anticipating the movements of everyone else on the ice. A leftwinger, Kariya nevertheless likes to set up behind the opponent's net to the goalie's left, a la Mr. Wayne-derful. And at 5'11", 165 pounds, Kariya has been knocked for being too small, a criticism Gretzky endured before turning pro.

"It's almost sacrilegious to compare him to Wayne," says Maine's coach, Shawn Walsh. "But you can't help it."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1137476/index.htm

Wherever Paul Kariya has played he has astonished his competitors and teammates with his talent, especially when it comes to passing the puck and reacting to the fast pace of a hockey game.

https://www.google.com/search?q=pau....,cf.osb&fp=3cfee13304427b08&biw=1366&bih=638

Great hockey players are extremely competitive. Steve Yzerman, Pavel Bure, Mark Messier-take your pick, Paul is no exception. "He definitely doesn't like to lose," Steve says.

One of Paul's greatest attributes is his ability to anticipate plays before they develop. He's a great thinker and one of the most creative playermakers in the game. Combine that with his Gretzky-like vision and it's easy to see why so many people compare him to "The Great One".

Scouting Report: Blinding speed, great hand-eye coordination, shoots the puck from anywhere, and tremendous on-ice intelligence and awareness.

http://books.google.com/books?id=Gg...d=0CFYQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=paul kariya&f=false

One thing is clear even to the untrained eye: Kariya is a very solid hockey player...In many games, Kariya's quickness and play-making ability make him the most engaging, surprising and entertaining player on the ice. Paul Coffey of the Detroit Red Wings has called the playing surface at the Arrowhead Pond the worst in the league, hands down. But even on slush, Kariya's deftness-with and without the puck-stands out.

http://books.google.com/books?id=1P...0CE8Q6AEwBjgK#v=onepage&q=paul kariya&f=false

"Paul Kariya is the most focused, most intense athlete I have ever been around," says Duck coach Craig Hartsburg. "It's refreshing, I think, for a professional athlete and superstar to be like that. He approaches the game with a passion"

https://www.google.com/search?q=pau....,cf.osb&fp=3cfee13304427b08&biw=1366&bih=638

When the NHL sought a marquee successor to Wayne Gretzky, they hoped to find a gifted skater with exceptional playmaking abilities, who embodied Gretzky's clean play and who was also at home with the media.

The obvious choice was Paul Kariya.

Possessing unfathomable speed, Gretzky-like stickhandling skills, and a backhand shot practiced and executed to a rare accuracy, Kariya had the misfortune of thriving in a franchise too bereft of talent to complement his abilities and win meaningfully.

http://books.google.com/books?id=wp...0CC8Q6AEwADge#v=onepage&q=paul kariya&f=false

 

[BillyShoe1721]

RW Babe Dye

Hockey Hall of Fame Member
7x Top 8 Goals NHL(1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 8) (2nd in his only season in consolidated NHL)
3rd in Assists, 22-23
6x Top 6 Points NHL(1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6) (5th in his only season in consolidated NHL)
1x Stanley Cup Champion

Dye was short at 5'8" and slight at just 150 pounds, and his strengths and weaknesses as a player were quickly exposed. On the downside, his skating ability was behind other NHLers, but because of his brilliant stickhandling and hard shot he made an impressive contribution to the team, scoring 11 goals in just twice as many games during his first season.

Three times between 1920 and 1925 Dye led the league in scoring. He twice scored goals in 11 consecutive games and in the 1924-25 season he counted 38, a Toronto record that stood for 35 years, until Frank Mahovlich entered the NHL. In his first six seasons, Dye scored a remarkable 176 goals in just 170 games, a pace that wasn't equaled until Wayne Gretzky came along in the 1980s and rewrote the NHL record book. Because of his weak skating combined with his high scoring, Dye always had an unbalanced goals-to-assists ratio. During his career, he scored 202 goals but made only 41 assists.

Dye's name is also in the record book on account of the 1922 Stanley Cup playoffs. The St. Pats played the champions of the Western Canada Hockey League, the Vancouver Millionaires, in a best-of-five finals. Dye scored two game-winning goals, including four in the fifth and final game, a 5-1 Toronto rout. In all he scored nine of the team's 16 goals, and those nine are still a Stanley Cup finals record. This was to be Dye's only taste of Cup victory.

http://www.legendsofhockey.net/Lege...er.jsp?mem=p197001&type=Player&page=bio&list=

"I can't recall a player in my time, or since, who could control a shot like Babe. He could thread a needle with a puck and it came up like a bomb. Only Charlie Conacher fired as hard, but he couldn't pick a corner the same.-Montreal Gazette, January 5th, 1962

Cecil, dubbed "Babe" by his teammates because of his love of baseball, an obvious reference to the great Babe Ruth, has been unceremoniously if not inevitably forgotten about over the course of time by hockey fans. He was one of the NHL's earliest scoring sensations He often jostled with the likes of Cy Denneny and Joe Malone for the scoring championship. Though considered to be a below average skater by most accounts, Dye won the scoring title twice, in 1922-23 and 1924-25, and led the league in goal scoring 3 times.

Most of Cecil's accomplishments came in Toronto, but not technically as a member of the Maple Leafs. When he starred in the league the Toronto team was still known as the St. Pats. It was not until Dye's brief comeback attempt in 1930 that he actually played with the Maple Leafs emblem on his chest, and that only lasted 8 games. Perhaps this is why "The Babe" is often forgotten about when discussing the greatest of all the great Toronto players.

Dye, who briefly played half back with the CFL's Toronto Argonauts, was a dynamic hockey player during his career. During his eleven seasons as an NHL player Dye became known for his incredible stickhandling hard and accurate shot, which helped him become one of the NHL's snipers of his era. His best year on record was when Dye scored 38 goals (in 29 games) and 6 assists for 44 points in 1924-25.

Dye's St. Pat's were no league powerhouse in the 1920s. They were usually in the middle of things but usually came up short - except in 1921-22. Dye won his only Stanley Cup that season. In those days the NHL champion were challenged for the Stanley Cup championship. The Vancouver Millionaires earned the right to take on the St. Pats this year, and it was one of the all time great championship battles. The tilt went the full distance, with Toronto winning the decisive 5th game. Dye was the star of the series, scoring 9 goals in the championship!

http://mapleleafslegends.blogspot.com/2007/03/babe-dye.html

Dye was not the best of skaters in the NHL, but he was a master at stick handling and possessed a fearsome slap shot. While he scored 202 goals during his career, his assist total was only 41.

He was one of the best in the NHL during the early 1920s. His 176 goals in just 170 games of his first six NHL seasons set the benchmark for many years to come until Wayne Gretzky rewrote the record book in the 1980s.

http://www.bringthenhltohamilton.com/babe_dye.html

Babe Dye was a goal-scorer, plain and simple. What he lacked in skating ability, he made up for with smooth stick-handling and a hard shot.

http://tophockey.info/babe-dye

A right winger with limitless potential, Cecil "Babe" Dye was unique among young athletes who learned their trade in the renowned Jesse Ketchum School playground in Toronto.

Esther Dye's first order of business when the first winter frost arrived was to flood the backyard rink adjacent to their house; then she would lace on the skates with Cecil. She taught her son until Babe knew everything there was to know about handling a puck, especially the art of shooting it at blinding speed.

"Babe could shoot the puck from any length or from any spot on the rink," said Canadian author Ron McAllister. "He could score with his back turned, or from any side at all. In time, he played with the older boys of the neighborhood, who were forced to welcome him, in spite of his size, for young Dye had a shot like a thunderclap and an astounding accuracy. His light weight became only secondary for Dye because he could snap a two inch plank with one of his drives."

http://books.google.com/books?id=wp...F8Q6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=babe dye hockey&f=false

Dye was a slow skater but could thread a needle with his bullet-like shot. Charlie Querrie, who coached and managed Dye in Toronto, claimed he knew Dye would score a goal as soon as the puck hit the winger’s stick. Once, at the tail-end of a practice at the old Mutual Street Arena in Toronto, he proved it. Showing off for a group of young rink rats who were hanging around, he lined up three pucks on the ice and took dead-aim at a clock off at one end of the ice. He missed with his first shot, and hit it with his second and third shots, smashing the clock to pieces!

http://hockeyomni.wordpress.com/2009/05/18/babe-dye/

Babe Dye (1919-1929) Long before the slapshot or curved stick made their debut in National Hockey League rinks, the powerful drives of Babe Dye were giving goaltenders ulcers throughout the NHL. Dye's mighty and accurate shot won him...

http://www.google.com/search?q=babe....,cf.osb&fp=56ed0adfc068eaff&biw=1366&bih=638

Cecil “Babe” Dye had hockey's hardest shot in the 1920s.

http://www.google.com/search?q=babe....,cf.osb&fp=56ed0adfc068eaff&biw=1366&bih=638

Dye almost didn't make it to the finals. He was due to report for baseball training camp by the time the Cup final rolled around, but the Buffalo Bisons (the minor-league baseball team for which Dye also starred) gave him special permission to stay with his hockey club. The Bisons' permission slip allowed Dye to put on the greatest individual performance in the history of the Arena Gardens. "To say that it was a triumph for the local right winger is putting it mildly," read the wrap of the game in The Globe. "He dominated the attacking end of the play, and he had the entire visiting team badly rattled as his rifle-fire shots went hurtling past."

http://books.google.com/books?id=lc...GIQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=babe dye hockey&f=false

Babe Dye, known as one of the hardest and fastest shots in the NHL of the 1920s...

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=s3djAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BXoNAAAAIBAJ&pg=7066,371308&dq=babe+dye&hl=en

Wicked shooting on the part of Babe Dye was the life saver for Toronto. Although subjected to a rather rough voyage, the right wing player of the Green and White paid strict attention to his knitting, and while Hamilton players were serving penalties for bumping him about he was out there beating Forbes with shots that the diminutive goalie could not see.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...oYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6913,1416190&dq=babe+dye&hl=en

HUGE props to LF for all the following quotes

He was, perhaps, the greatest sharpshooter of them all, and he won many a game for Toronto. He had an uncanny knack for getting the puck away at remarkable speed, and all netguardians made no secret of the fact that they feared the Toronto rightwinger.

-Globe & Mail, November 8th, 1930

It is doubtful if Hamilton would have provided stout opposition to the Montrealers if the Canadiens had had a previous practice or if Dye had not been loaned to the locals. Dye, besides scoring two goals, was particularly effective in checking. He broke up several rushes that looked dangerous and otherwise made himself conspicuous.- December 23, 1920

..the Irish played a superb defense game and held the frantic charges of the losers in a wonderful manner. They never had less than three men back on their blue line...

In the opinion of St.Pats management, Babe Dye was the next most effective player after roach. The little right winger worked himself sick and when the final whistle sounded, was in a state bordering on collapse. He was used more as a defensive force than on attack, but this was following a policy laid down by George O'Donoghue and Reg Noble.-March 14th, 1922

"Babe" Dye found it hard to get away from Denneny, and he also failed to check the latter closely, the result that Denneny scored 2 goals. Dye, however, evend the count when he drilled in the winning counter.- January 15th, 1925

Candiens started the heavy work, but the locals returned it with plenty of interest. Corbeau, Dye, and McCaffery stopping many of the Habitans rushes with stiff bodychecks.- December 14th, 1925

"Babe" Dye checked well, but his shot was wide. - December 14th, 1925

"Babe" Dye's fake pass was not much in evidence, The Montrealers watched him too closely. Dye, however, played a better checking game than in his previous appearances, and stopped many rushes before they were well under way.- Jan 14th, 1924

The Toronto forwards came back with every rush, and they bottled up the Millionaires so completely that they never had a chance. Noble, playing rover for the first time since he starred at that position with the riverise O.H.A senior champions, was in his glory. His long sweeping pokechecks stopped Mackay, ***, and company with bewildering consistency, and when the attackers were forced over on the wing Dye or *** stepped into them right merrily.- March 27th, 1922

"Babe" Dye was not as his best, he having not fully recovered from is injuries. His swift shot was missing, and he was below par in checking.

With nine minutes to play, Dye cauch Cyrill Denneny with a hard but fair body check..-Januray 16th, 1922

"Babe" Dye was made the target for considerable abuse, but he gave as good as he received. By the last period Stan Jackson, former local player, charged Dye into the boards and was knocked out, while Dye escaped unhurt.- Jan 26th, 1925

The game was cleanly contested, and the only semblance of trouble occurred when Dye swung at **** when he resented the latter's close and illegal checking.- November 26th, 1925

No gentle tactics were indulged in by the contestants, and the exchanges finally resulted in a clash between "Babe" Dye and King Clancy, the latter coming out of the mix-up with a split lip and minus a tooth. -February 14th, 1924

The trouble with Dye has been brewing for two periods. Clancy did not like the way Dye checked him, and more especially the way he stepped around the defense. -February 14th, 1924

Referee Ross had been dividing his attention between a brewing melee in which Dye was figuring and the puck, and had not noticed an offside and so ruled. -February 28th, 1924

When these two players were amateurs they invariably engaged in some bumping duels, and last night was no exception, Dye taking advantage of the first opportunity to hand *** a bodycheck which sent the erstwhile Dental player flying.- January 2nd, 1923

"Out in front of the defense, the Noble-***-***-***-Dye quintette went great guns throughout and every player shared the limelight"- March 27th, 1922

The game was only four minutes old when Dye scored on a rebound from Adam's shot. -November 26th, 1925

Dye's fake shot in the last few minutes drew Forbes out and McCaffery recieved the pass out in front of an open net.- December 7th, 1925

The locals started off like whirlwinds and combined attacks by ***, Day, and Dye, gave the losers defense and goaltender much to do in the first few minutes.- December 14th, 1925

His shot was right on the net, and he combined well with Day, one of these combinations resulting in a goal. - January 16th, 1926

*** and Dye had combined, and *** picked up the rebound.- March 27th, 1922

He slipped in the rebound off Adams shot- January 7th, 1924

He took the rebound on Dye's shot, and the Canadien goalie was lucky to clear the shot.

It came in second period, when Babe Dye gathered the puck in behind and to one side of the Canadient net. He passed it out in front and the disc hit Sprague Cleghorn's skate and skidded past Vezina. -January 21st, 1924

With four minutes to go, he combined nicely with Dye, and again beat Benedict who had rushed out of the net in an attempt to block the shot.- March 6th, 1923

There was no scoring until midway through the second period when Dye slammed in Noble's shot. - February 15th, 1923

St.Patricks displayed more combination than in many a day and Noble and *** were outstanding in this respect. *** skated faster and checked better than usual and was a big factor in the goal-getting. Reg noble was the same wily, consistent player and he worked well with *** and Dye.

It was Dye who put them in the lead. Dye intercepted a pass from Joe Malone, and racing in fast drove a terrific shot at ***. The latter stopped it,but Dye scored on the rebound.

*** refused to fall to fall for the fake shot, and with his legs spread
apart awaited the next move by the wily right wing player. The move came alright, but it was in the nature of a shot between *** legs, which *** never saw and which counted as a St.Pats goal.- January 19th, 1920

"Babe" Dye got his first real work since joining the "pros,", and his work caused favorable comment. He was more aggressive than usual, and his fast-traveling shot kept Vezina constantly on alert.-December 27th, 1920

****, who appears bigger than ever, has taken a dislike to to Dye's bullet-like shooting, and the latter kept the fat in the fire by hitting the big fellow almost every time he shot.- January 20th, 1921[/B]

St.Pats were all in their glory on the defensive. ** and Cameron starred on defence and ***, Dye, and Noble were all brilliant on the line.

Dye, even though opposed to one of sports greatest stars in "Mickey" Mackay, formerly of Chelsey ON, played his best game of the year. He outguessed Mackay repeatedly with his fake shot and short snappy stickhandling maneuvers, and if he felldown in any department it was his shooting, he invariably lifting the puck far
over the net.- March 18th, 1922

Subheading: Dye settled issue with Riflelike shot, giving N.H.L. champions 2-to-1 victory

Dye was the hero of the night, as his masterful shot won the game.- March 22nd, 1922

He scored one goal in the second by a brilliant burst of speed and a wicked shot.- Jan 6th, 1925

"Babe" Dye, the noted sharpshooter, has been elected captain of the St.Patrick's professional hockey team...-November 12th, 1925

"Babe" Dye was too closely watched to do damage, but while the Canadiens were keeping guard on him the rest of the "Irish" did damage.- December 14th, 1925

He drove in shots that nearly lifted goaltender Connell off his feet, and his fake shot had Ottawa checkers badly rattled. - January 2nd, 1926

Dye wasn't able to skate very fast, but he was thinking several steps ahead of the checkers.- Jan 26th, 1926

Dye, for the first time this season on local ice, played as a regular throughout the game, and he was back to his old form. He was the hardest working visitor on ice, and worried Vezina with terrific shots, though the only goal he scored was an easy effort pas from behind the net which found him unmarked and in position to catch Vezina unaware. -February 11th, 1924

He is the best scorer in the league- Jan 2, 1924 (Note: This does refer to Dye, just the stuff that comes between Dye's mention and this was drawn out and pointless)

He was fooled once from outside on a lift shot by Dye, which traveled with amazing speed, but the locals went right on for the others.-March 27th, 1922

Helpless in the vise-like grip of the St.Patricks checkers, and unable to subdue "Babe" dye and his machine-gun shot.-March 29th, 1922

It was his masterpiece in hockey, and it was Dye and his bullet shot that which enabled the locals to carry off the highest honours professional hockey can give.-March 29th, 1922

For Dye, greatest marksman of the east, scored that many, and established the fact beyond a shadow of a doubt he is one of the most effective players on the line-up of the 1922 Stanley Cup holders.-March 29th, 1922

In attacking, Dye showed exceptional speed, and he used every trick in the sport as far as getting goals is concerned.-March 29th, 1922

The crowd was disappointed in all except the dashes of Dye, the checking of the locals and the result.

He secured the puck while traveling at a speed which few fans believed he was capable of, and dashing in he faked a shot drew Lehman out and and shoved the rubber into the net. It was a clever play.-March 31st, 1922

"Babe Dye, besides getting two goals, played one of the best games in his career, and he was a vertiable whirlwind around the the Ottawa defense.-January 4th, 1923

The visitors were every bit as good as the weakened St.Patrick's, except when "Babe" Dye got into action. Dye is far from well- the same is true for several of his teammates- but he maintained his record as a goal getter, notching two and figuring in as many more successful plays. He was only used when he was needed, as he was so weak that he could hardly skate.- February 5th, 1923

Dye was given a rough passage in Montreal, but the sharpshooters pluckiness is as well known as his goal-scoring ability and he is sure to be at his best.-February 14th, 1923

Dye was more effective than he was been in weeks. He is recovering from his injuries and will be ready for the playoffs series. Dye was shooting with speed and precision and Forbes was plainly ill every time the sharpshooter tried to score. On a combination play with Cameron, Dye scored the only goal in the period.-March 5th, 1923

 

[Velociraptor]

Doug Mohns, D/LW

Position: Defenseman or Left Wing
HT/WT: 6'0", 185 lbs
Handedness: Left
Nickname(s): Diesel
Born: December 13th, 1933 in Capreol, ON

- 2-time Stanley Cup Finalist (1957, 1958)
- Played in NHL All-Star Game 7 times (as non SC-winner) (1954, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1972)
- Top-10 in All-Star Voting 5 Times - LW - (3rd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th)
- Top-10 in All-Star Voting 3 Times - D - (5th, 7th, 10th)
- Finished 5th in 1957 Norris Voting
- Finished 9th in 1962 Hart Voting
- scored 248 goals and 462 assists for 710 points in 1390 games, adding 1250 penalty minutes.
- scored 14 goals and 36 assists for 50 points in 94 games, adding 122 penalty minutes.

Top 10 Finishes:
Goals - 1x - (7)
Assists - 2x (9, 10)
Plus/Minus - 1x - (7)
Even Strength Goals - 1x - (7)
Power Play Goals - 1x - (6)
Shorthanded Goals - 1x - (2)
Game Winning Goals - 1x - (4)
Scoring among defensemen - 4x - (2, 2, 3, 5)
Playoff Assists (1958) - (2)

Voting Record

Norris Voting Record:

5th (56-57), 5th (61-62), 8th (59-60), 8th (69-70), 10th (60-61), 10th (63-64), 11th (62-63)


Quotes

Hey kid, slow down, do you want to make the rest of us look bad?

Doug Mohns does not know his own strength

I like the way you handle yourself on the ice, you’re strong on your feet and you’re not afraid to throw your weight around, and I must say, you have one hell of a shot

I would take Mohns in a fight against anybody in the league

Legends of Hockey

Doug Mohns grew up in Capreol, Ontario where railway culture and hockey were the kings of time well spent. It is no surprise that, in such a setting, he would earn the nickname "Diesel" out of respect for the manner in which his piston-like legs could dig into the ice and propel him forward like a locomotive.

Over the eleven seasons that followed, Mohns became an anchor on the Bruins' defense with his blueline partner, Fernie Flaman. Mohns' mobility and puckhandling skills made him a fan favourite with the Boston crowd. In 1959-60, he became only the second rearguard in NHL history to score 20 goals in a single season.

In 1964-65, he was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks. There, his versatility began to show as his superior speed earned him a spot on left wing with "Scooter Line" members Stan Mikita and Ken Wharram. Naturally, Mohns' point totals increased dramatically over his blueline days.

By 1970-71, the veteran skater was back at his original NHL trade as a defenseman. From then on, until his retirement in 1975, he worked as a stay-at-home defender who added stability and leadership to the young lineups he supported in Minnesota, Atlanta, and, finally, Washington where he hung up his blades after 22 big-league campaigns.

dougmohns.com, Biography

Doug became known as Doug "Diesel" Mohns, named by one of his team mates, Ralph Willis. This proved to be a fitting name for the young hockey player from a railroad town . Not only did he possess a booming shot but his speed and strength was extraordinary.

Doug’s strength, speed, and shooting skills, were obviously quite apparent because players began making comments

both Doug and Don McKenney were chosen as the two most skilled Boston Bruins players, in the late 1950’s, and were flown to Detroit to represent their team in the leagues skills contest.

Doug surfaced as one of the best players on the team and certainly one of the most versatile players in the league.

Few players in the league could play as well at both positions. This made him a valuable asset to his team. He was not only used as a point man on the power play but he was also called upon when the team was short handed . He became a core member who helped to make up the nucleus of his team. Doug was paired with Ferny Flaman on defense during the middle to late 50’s and they became one of the most respected pairings in the league because of their combined strength, speed and savy."Diesel Doug,"as he was called, was arguably the fastest skater with the hardest shot and was the second defenseman in the league to ever score 20 goals in a season.

It may be that he is the only player to ever do so. At any rate it attests to his depth of talent.
The Black Hawks were looking to fill a void on defense and Doug was just what they were looking for. He had an excellent training camp, and his years with the Bruins had shown he was highly adept at playing either left wing or defense.

Doug did receive more than his share of injuries during his career. Mainly because he was a physical player.

Boston. Contracted as a left winger, this time, he was soon asked to fill a void on defense. Doug’s experience, versatility , and presence were a tremendous lift to the team and it helped carry his new team into the playoffs that year. As it turned out Doug was one of the players chosen for the second all-star position for the first half of the 1971-72 season.

...strength he blended well with Doug’s savvy, speed and mobility.

 

[Velociraptor]

George Armstrong, RW

Position: Right Wing (has also been known to play centre)
HT/WT: 6'1", 205 lbs
Handedness: Right
Nickname(s): "Chief"
Born: July 6th, 1930 in Bowlands, ON

- inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1975.
- 4-time Stanley Cup Champion (1962, 1963, 1964, 1967)
- Played in NHL All-Star Game 7 times (1956, 1957, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1968)
- Top-10 in All-Star Voting 3 Times (4th, 4th, 7th)
- Credited with a Retro Selke (1961)
- scored 296 goals and 417 assists for 713 points in 1187 games, adding 721 penalty minutes.
- scored 26 goals and 34 assists for 60 points in 110 games, adding 52 penalty minutes.

Top 10 Finishes:
Penalty Minutes - 2x - (8, 10)
Power Play Goals - 1x - (7)
Shorthanded Goals - 2x - (2)

Quotes

(Armstrong is) the best captain, as a captain, the Leafs have ever had

Legends of Hockey

He played the majority of his first two pro seasons with the Leafs' AHL farm team in Pittsburgh before making the big club for good at the start of the 1952-53 season. Armstrong was never a great skater but was rarely out of position; he knew how to play the angles on the opposing forwards and was a great corner man in the offensive zone. He never attained the scoring heights in the NHL as he had in his junior and senior days but Armstrong brought determination, leadership, and humour to a Leafs squad that was trying to escape the shadow of the Barilko tragedy in the early 1950s.

Armstrong was named as captain of the Leafs to start the 1957-58 season and was called by Conn Smythe "the best captain, as a captain, the Leafs have ever had." Smythe later honoured his captain by naming one of his horses Big Chief Army, something Smythe had done on only two other occasions for Charlie Conacher and Jean Beliveau.

Greatest Hockey Legends

George Armstrong was never supposed to last long in the National Hockey League. Critics said he was a slow, clumsy skater who didn't possess a great shot. Yet somehow he overachieved. He played in 21 NHL seasons, all with the Leafs, and record 296 goals and 713 points in almost 1200 games. He is remembered as one of the all time great Leaf captains and is a member of the National Hockey League Hall of Fame.

Armstrong was able to adjust to the NHL game and prove his critics wrong. He became a very reliable two way player. He was always dependable in his own zone and patrolled his wing with great efficiency, and there are few players who could work the walls and corners with the effectiveness of Armstrong. Offensively he contributed steady though never mind boggling statistics, but was always dangerous when he controlled the puck close to the net. He was the team jester off the ice, but deadly serious on it, both in games and in practice.

By the time Armstrong joined the Leafs, the franchise's great glory days had just been completed. After capturing 4 Stanley Cups in 5 years from 1947 through 1951, the team fell on lean times for most of the 1950s. But slowly but surely the Leafs progressed as Armstrong matured into a great player. By 1957-58 the dressing room comedian became the Leafs captain, and the following two seasons he led the Leafs back to the Stanley Cup finals, but wound up falling short to the dynastic Montreal Canadiens in both series.

The Canadiens lost their grip on the Stanley Cup following the retirement of Rocket Richard in 1960, just as the Leafs were emerging as the top team in the league. Armstrong was simply outstanding as the Leafs captured the 1962, 1963 and 1964 Stanley Cup championships.

As the 1960's wound down, Armstrong's game continued to be strong despite his advancing age. Despite his worse offensive season as a pro, Armstrong was instrumental in a surprise Stanley Cup championship in 1967. It was typical of Armstrong. Other than his longevity, no hockey statistic could ever relate just how important a player Armstrong was. All the unquantifiable intangibles that make hockey such a great game is where Armstrong excelled.

the back of his 1970-71 Topps Card

Never a prolific scorer, George is a tenacious checker and his perserverance in the corners is evident in the number of times he comes with the puck.

A few quotes that proves Armstrong's versatility and that he could play centre in addition to wing.

Ottawa Citizen - Sep 19, 1950

Toronto's captain and ace center Armstrong

Ottawa Citizen - Mar 24, 1956

...center on their big line with left winger Dick Duff and rich winger George Armstrong

New York Times - Mar 7, 1957

center, Armstrong; wings, Sloan. Duff

 

[Hedberg]

D Phil Housley

338 G, 894 A, 1232 Pts in 1495 GP
1992 2nd Team All-Star
1996 World Cup Champion
7th (92-93), 10th (91-92), 10th (94-95) in Assists

1st (92-93), 2nd (91-92), 3rd (94-95), 4th (83-84), 4th (89-90), 5th (86-87), 5th (90-91), 5th (95-96), 5th (99-00), 6th (84-85), 6th (87-88), 6th (88-89), 6th (98-99), 9th (82-83) in Defense Scoring

Played in 1984, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2000 All-Star Game
Member of the IIHF Hall of Fame

Legends of Hockey

Phil Housley was drafted 6th overall in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft by the Buffalo Sabres directly out of high school. That year, he made his NHL debut on October 6 against the Quebec Nordiques. Ten nights later, he scored his first goal against the Washington Capitals. Housley played 77 games that rookie season and scored 66 points and was named to the NHL's All-Rookie Team. He was also the runner-up for the Calder Trophy to Chicago's Steve Larmer. In 1983-84, Housley improved to 31 goals and 77 points and played in the mid-season All-Star Game

In 1987-88, Housley set a team record with 29 goals from the blueline. When he scored 31 goals in 1983-84, he also played forward, where some of his goals were credited. In 1988-89, he recorded 70 points, which was a team record by a defenceman and also played in his second All-Star Game. In 1989-90, Housley continued to assault the Sabres' record book, setting new marks with 60 assists and 81 points by a defenceman.

Playing D with Phil Housley (Bob Cunnigham, 2001):

Perhaps only Paul Coffey is more renowned than Phil Housley for his scoring among defensemen. Housley, now with the Calgary Flames, is in his 13th NHL season, a tour of duty that included stops in Buffalo, Winnipeg and St. Louis. And without a doubt, the smooth-skating blueliner has had his greatest impact on the game in the offensive end.

But the first thing Housley points out when asked to assess his game is the gradual improvement in his defense. Relatively undersized at 5’10” and 185 pounds, Housley has increasingly relied on savvy and anticipation to ward off would-be attackers. And when they make a mistake, he’s there to capitalize in the form of a goal or assist.

Housley Elected to IIHF Hall of Fame

Housley represented the United States as a player internationally 11 times during his career, including as a member of the U.S. team that captured the first-ever World Cup of Hockey title in 1996. He also helped the United States to a silver medal at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Housley retired in 2004 following a 21-year NHL career and, at the time, was the league's all-time leader in points with (1,232) and games played (1,495) by an American-born player.

 

[Hedberg]

C Joe Malone

179 G, 27 A, 206 Pts in 123 NHA GP
143 G, 32 A, 175 Pts in 126 NHL GP

1912, 1913, 1919 Stanley Cup Champion
1913, 1918, 1920 Retro Hart
1st (12-13), 1st (16-17), 2nd (15-16), 5th (13-14) in NHA Scoring
1st (17-18), 1st (19-20), 4th (20-21), 4th (21-22) in NHL Goals
4th (20-21), 5th (19-20) in NHL Assists
1st (17-18), 1st (19-20), 4th (20-21), 5th (21-22) in NHL Points
Captain of the Quebec Bulldogs 1910-1917, 1919-1920
Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame

Legends of Hockey

One of the most gifted and prolific goal scorers ever to play the game, Joe Malone became an enduring legend for decades after his retirement. While known for his unique upright skating style and revered for his excellent conduct on the ice, what set "Phantom" Joe Malone apart from the rest was an ability to find openings and weave his way through the defensive alignments of the opposition. Deceptively quick, Malone was the fastest player in the pros and possessed a lethal instinct around the net.

Quebec reacquired Malone when they joined the NHA in 1911 and immediately installed him as captain. The Phantom enjoyed an outstanding seven-year career with the Bulldogs, during which the club won the Stanley Cup twice and Malone led the league in scoring for three years. The team emerged as Stanley Cup winners after taking the regular-season title in 1912. In March of that year, the Bulldogs crushed the challengers from Moncton, New Brunswick, with Malone and linemate Jack McDonald accumulating 14 of the team's 17 goals.

One of hockey's most naturally gifted scorers, Malone totaled 343 goals in 273 regular-season contests between 1909 and 1924. He scored five or more goals in a single game 10 times in his career. Malone is a member of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1950.

Canadiens Legends:

When the National Hockey League was officially formed for the 1917-18 season, the league needed a scoring superstar to grab the headlines. Enter Joe Malone, who joined the Montreal Canadiens.

Malone stepped up and set goal scoring standards in the NHL's opening night as the Habs battled the Senators in Ottawa. Malone scored 5 goals that night, which to this day remains a Montreal record for most goals in a road game.

But Malone was not a one night sensation. Malone would register two more 5-goal games that season. No player in NHL history has scored 5 goals in a game more than once in a single season.

Playing much of the season on a line with the great Newsy Lalonde and the speedy Didier Pitre, Malone's magical season ended with an amazing 44 goals in the short 20 game season. That's an average of 2.20 goals a game, by far the best mark in NHL history. The modern record for goals per game ratio is Wayne Gretzky's 1.18 when he scored 87 in 74 games in 1983-84.

Malone's 44 goals bettered Ottawa's Cy Denneny's 36 to capture the inaugural NHL scoring championship. There was no Hart Trophy as league MVP until 1924, but it is safe to say Malone would have been the likely recipient.

Hockey was significantly different back then. An article by Vern Degeer in the March 18, 1961 issue of The Hockey News suggests just how different it was back then.

"There's no denying the defensive tactic of the gladiators of the Malone era were far removed from the smooth precision of the ultra moderns," wrote DeGeer. "Rinks had poorer lighting. The pace was slower and squads smaller. And about the only time a regular campaigner like Joe hit the sidelines was to get a fresh cudgel."

"We had a lot of ice time," Malone told DeGeer, "but I'll tell you we didn't go up and down the rink like they do today. We'd hustle when opportunities presented and then we'd loaf. At least I did. It was the only way you could go the 60 minutes and a lot of players had to do that."

Malone, remembered as a tricky stickhandler, described his own style of play.

"I didn't have the hardest shot in the world," he said "but I knew where it was going most of the time. You can't say as much for the slap shot. With the old wrist shot you looked where you were shooting, trying to pick your spots. With the slap the player has to keep his eye on the puck, like in golf, or you're liable to fan the shot entirely. I've seen that done. It's an exciting play, but I wouldn't want to be the goaltender. You never know where the puck's going. Seems to me that's why so many goalies get hurt."

The Toronto World, Jan 20, 1913

Malone looks the best man on the Quebec team and shapes up great. Very few have anything on him. He works hard all the time.

The Montreal Gazette, Jun 28, 1950

As we recall him, he skated with his feet fairly wide apart, was hard to knock off balance, was always in the right place at the right time and had a hard and accurate shot

The Daily Telegraph, Jan 19, 1914

Tommy Smith got in some nice tricky rushes, but it is regretable that he does not check back as Jack Marks and Joe Malone do

 

[Leaf Lander]

C/RW Aloyisus Martin Sloan

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Nickname: Slinker
Height: 5'10''
Weight: 175 lbs
Position: Center / Right Wing
Shoots: Right
Date of Birth: November 30, 1927
Place of Birth: Pontiac, Quebec, Canada

Memorial Cup Champion (1945)
Memorial Cup Finalist (1946)
Ontario Hockey Association Junior MVP (1946)
Calder Cup Finalist (1950)
Stanley Cup Champion (1951, 1961)
World Championship Silver Medal (1962)
NHL Second All-Star Team Centre (1956)
NHL Unofficial Third All-Star Team Centre (1954*)
Played in NHL All-Star Game (1951, 1952, 1956)
J.P. Bickell Memorial Award (1956)
Team Assistant Captain (1954-1958)

* Tod Sloan finished half-a-point behind Ted Kennedy for the second All-Star Team Centre position. (The Windsor Daily Star (04/23/1954))


Seasons
GP
G
A
PTS
PIM
13 745 220 262 482 831

Top-15 Scoring (5th, 8th, 8th, 13th)
Top-10 Goalscoring (3rd, 4th, 8th, 9th)
Top-15 Assist (8th, 11th, 12th, 14th)
Top-10 Penalty Minutes (6th, 8th, 9th, 9th)


Playoffs
GP
G
A
PTS
PIM
8 47 9 12 21 47

Top-10 Playoff Scoring (4th, 8th)
Top-10 Playoff Goalscoring (3rd)
Top-10 Playoff Assist (2nd, 9th)
Top-10 Penalty Minutes (3rd)


Awards Nomination:

Hart Memorial Trophy:
1955-56: 2nd position (Jean Beliveau) (-8.5%)


Season
Position
1950-51 RW
1951-52 RW/C
1952-53 C
1953-54 C
1954-55 C/RW
1955-56 C
1956-57 C
1957-58 C/RW
1958-59 C
1959-60 C
1960-61 C


Originally Posted by Legends of Hockey
Known as a tough forward who could give and take a check with the best of them.

Originally Posted by Joe Pelletier's Greatest Hockey Legends
Sloan was a creative center who relied on quick, shifty movement to get the puck into dangerous scoring positions. He was unique to say the least, so unique that not everyone new what to make of him and his unorthodox style of play in those days.

Tod had an excellent career, highlighted by his 8 full years as a Leaf. The small but resilient center had a great rookie season in 1950-51. After a 31 goal rookie season, Sloan picked up 9 points (third highest on the team) in 11 playoff games en route to the Stanley Cup championship.

Sloan was a top player for the Leafs for the next seven years, although they never were able to duplicate their playoff success for the remainder of the decade.

Sloan returned to lower scoring totals over his final two seasons in Toronto, thanks in part to a bad shoulder. however the Leafs traded their pint-sized fireball to Chicago in 1958.

Originally Posted by The Three Stars and Other Selections: More Amazing Hockey Lists for Trivia Lovers
An excellent all-around forward, Sloan played nearly a decade with the Maple Leafs including the 1951 championship season. Twice he topped the 30-goal mark and he was placed on the NHL 2nd All-Star Team in 1956.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tales from the Chicago Blackhawks
Glenn Hall was in his second season, captain Ed Litzenberger was a 33-goal scorer, veterans Ted Lindsay and Tod Sloan provided experiences for youngster Bobby Hull, Elmer Vasko, Ken Wharram, and Pierre Pilote was establishing himself as a top flight defenseman.

Newspaper Clips:

Originally Posted by The Lewiston Daily Sun; Leafs Tip Hawks (11/23/1950)
Sloan started the Leafs on the way to their 11th victory by scoring in the first period on a passout from behind the Chicago nets. The puck went in off Harry Lumley's skate. Then Sloan capped the night by blazing a shot past Lumley early in the third period.

Originally Posted by Ottawa Citizen; Tod Sloan Scores 27th Tally As Leafs Tie Habs (02/16/1951)
Aloysius Martin Sloan, better known to hockey fans as Tod, has the misfortune of playing right wing in the same league as Detroit's Gordie Howe and Montreal's Maurice (Rocket) Richard.

Otherwise, the 23-year-old Toronto Maple Leafs star, would be sure to find himself more often in the spotlight reserved for players with exceptional ability to put the puck in opposing nets.

While National Hockey League writers plod along, continually discussing the merits of Howe and Richard, Tod Sloan is running up a record that rate more than casual mention.

The little guy from Vinton, Que., who has been commuting between the majors and minors for six years, demonstrated his dependability once again last night by scoring a goal as Toronto played a 2-2 tie with Montreal Canadiens.

It was Sloan's 27th tally of the season, only two less than Howe and five below Richard who was held scoreless in last night's meeting. In addition it moved Sloan into a tie with Richard for fourth place in the NHL point standings.

Still young, Sloan appears to have found his scoring eye in the last couple of years. Last season he scored 37 goals for Cleveland Barons. In two previous seasons with Toronto he had a total of three.

It's only recently that Tod was moved from center to right wing and since it tallies with his increasing scoring punch it might be an indication that Sloan will be a serious threat in coming years to the domination of the right wing spot by Howe and Richard.

Originally Posted by The Calgary Herald; Trade Rumors Fly In N.H.L. (06/02/1952
Speedy forward Tod Sloan

Originally Posted by The Montreal Gazette; Tod Sloan Tallies Two goals To Pace Leafs; Kaiser Scores
The first was a spectacular play. Sloan took a pass from Max Bentley at his own blue line, started toward his own goal, then turned and streaked down the ice all alone. He went by all four Montreal defenders and slid a backhand past Gerry McNeil. The right winger capped his night's work by helping Johnny McCormack score late in the game

.

Originally Posted by The Ottawa Citizen; Loss of Tod Sloan Terrific Blow To Leafs in Series With Detroit (03/24/1956)
Toronto's brittle-as-bone chances for the Stanley Cup appear at the breaking point.

The Maple Leafs' hopes were shaken Thursday night on the rinkside boards of Detroit Olympia when ace center Tod Sloan crumpled on the ice with a fractured shoulder bone.

Sloan, whose 37 goals during the regular 1955-56 National Hockey League campaign made him the most productive Leaf player in 10 years, is out for the rest of the Stanley Cup semi-finals against Detroit Red Wings.

It was a big blow to Leafs. Sloan, center on their big line with rookie left winger Dick Duff and right winger George Armstrong, was the key man in Toronto's run to the fourth and last playoff spot.

Originally Posted by Ottawa Citizen; Bonuses at 6000$ As Jean Beliveau Wins Hart Trophy
Beliveau polled 94 votes out of a possible 180 to narrowly edge Tod Sloan, of Toronto Maple Leafs, as ''the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team.''

The voting was divided into half seasons, with Worsley carrying the majority in the opening half and Sloan finishing ahead in the second half, but Beliveau's consistent strength was enough to give him the trophy.

Originally Posted by The Montreal Gazette; Playing the Field by Dunk Caroll (10/15/1958)
Sloan scored 13 goals last season for the Leafs and the latter didn't see fit to protect him from the draft. The Black Hawks picked him up for 15 000$ and he is already beginning to show his gratitude, since he hasn't made any secret of the fact that he wasn't too happy with the Toronto club for several seasons. He was a good hockey player for the Leafs away back when he was happy, and if he is happy in his Chicago surrounding he could become a good one again for the Hawks.

Originally Posted by The Windsor Daily Star; Pilous Certain He Has 'Answer' (03/26/1959)
Otherwise, Pilous is expected to repeat with his other two lines. His big scoring punch admittedly rests with Tod Sloan, who scored two goals Tuesday, Eddie Litzenberger and Ted Lindsay.

Originally Posted by Ottawa Citizen; Youthful Bob Hull Leader For Oncoming Black Hawks(12/09/1959)
Last year Sloan, pivoting the ''pappy line'' with Litzenberger and Ted Lindsay, was a eye figure in Chicago's upsurge.

Originally Posted by The Star Weekly, Toronto; Stars of the World's Fastest Game - Tod Sloan's magic means goals for Chicago (01/18/1960)
Aloysius Martin ''Tod'' Sloan is give him his full name, is a real magician inside the blue line, and the closest he gets to the goal the greatest his magic.

Purchased by Chicago from Toronto Maple Leafs at start of the '58 season, the Slinker centered the highest scoring line in the NHL last season. With Eddie Litzenberger on right wing and Ted Lindsay on left, the line ran up a total of 197 points for the Black Hawks.

Ted potted his 200th goal this season in his 11th NHL campaign.

Originally Posted by Chicago Tribune (12/21/1969)
Tod Sloan, the hard working veteran.

Originally Posted by The Windsor Star; Solution came at left wing (04/01/1967)
For years, the Chicago Black Hawks tried to find a centreman who could mae an effective third line.

They tried Len Lunde, Gerry Melnyk, Fred Stanfield, Bill Hay, Murray Hall, Camille Henry. There were few fellows they didn't try. It was considered by one and all to be the Chicago dilemma, the reason for a failing in depth, and, consequently, failures to win championships, some of them startling.

When Tod Sloan retired in 1961, which was the last time the Hawks won a Stanley Cup, they began to have trouble making a third line.
Hockey Cards:

Originally Posted by 1953-54 Parkhurst #5
Known as ''Slinker Sloan because of his deceptive style of play, he came to the Leafs in 1950 via Pittsburgh and Cleveland. He has been alternated between Right Wing and Center, being able to play both position equally well.
Quote:

Originally Posted by 1954-55 Parkhurst
A clever man with a hockey stick. Tod can work his way through opposing players to set up a goal, or score one himself. He finished 14th in scoring last season, and while he only garnered 11 goals, his 31 assists boosted him well up the scoring ladder. A fiery aggressive player, Sloan sometimes let lets his temper overrule his better judgment and he picks up a lot of penalties. But when he settles down to play hockey he is as good as any pivotman in the league.

Originally Posted by 1955-56 Parkhurst #10
As good a stickhandler as there is in the NHL, Tod works hard for every point he gets. He was a standout junior, but needed 3 chances to make the big league. Teamed up with Kennedy and Smith in his first season in 1950-51 and formed the league's most feared forward line. However, he has since shifted to centre and hasn't been able to find the wingmen who can convert his plays.

Originally Posted by 1957-58 Parkhurst #T5
Tod is on his way to his greatest season scoring goals like he did in 1955-6 when he potted 37 to tie Gaye Stewart's record of most goals by a Leaf. Next to Smith Tod is the oldest player on the Leafs team but his speed and play does not indicate any slowing down. Tod took a bad beating in the 1955-56 playoff which hurt his play last year.

Originally Posted by 1958-59 Topps #42
Called ''slinker'' because of hulahula shift which makes him too elusive.

Originally Posted by 1959-60 Topps #13
Purchased by Hawks from Toronto, ''Tod'' centered so-called pappy line and jumped goal-scoring from 13 in previous year to 27. Sometimes called ''Slinker'' by his slippery skating style, needs 11 more to achieve 200 as big leaguer.

- ''Tod is his own boss. He does what he likes with the puck. It took us a few years to discover the best way to handle him is to leave him alone.'' - Conn Smythe

Biography & Personal Life:

Of Irish descendant, Aloyisus Martin Sloan was born on November 30, 1927 in Pontiac, Quebec, while his mother was visiting relatives in this little town of a little more than 5000 souls. However, Sloan grew up in Falconbridge, Ontario. Sloan played his minor hockey in Copper Cliff, which was one of the only three towns across Ontario that had an indoor rink. The Toppazzini brothers, Tim Horton and George Armstrong were all huddled together under that one roof, raising the level of each other's play.

Sloan is one of the greatest products in a long line of greats who played for the Saint-Michael's College. He had two stellar seasons for Saint-Michaels, leading the league in goals with 45, assists with 32, and points with 75 in just 25 games during the 1945-46 season. Not surprisingly, Sloan was named as the Junior Ontario Hockey Association's Most Valuable Player that season. In two season of junior hockey, Sloan participated both time at the Memorial Cup, winning the trophy in his first season.

The next season, Sloan moved up to the AHL with the Pittsburgh Hornets were he played his first season of professional hockey, notching 15 goals in 64 games. For the next two seasons, Tod split his time between Toronto in the NHL and Pittsburgh in the AHL, playing 1 and 29 games respectively. In 1949, although he had played 29 games with the Leafs, his name was left off the Stanley Cup.

During his time in the AHL, Sloan was already very adept in playing either the right wing or at the centre position. However, it is the latter where he would play the most. It is also reported that the Maple Leafs demoted Sloan in his first two try with the club because of his diminutive size. It would take Sloan to gain 15 pounds and stop smoking before he was able to earn a full-time spot with the big club.

The 1949-50 season would be his last season in the AHL. Indeed, his impressive play for the Cleveland Barons during the 1950 playoffs, were he recorded 10 goals and 14 points in 9 games, earned him a full time job with the Leafs the following autumn, and he never had to look back.

In his rookie year, Sloan played in his first All-Star Game and saw his first action in the Stanley Cup playoffs. On a line with Sid Smith and Ted Kennedy, all three of them were recognize as one of the most fearful line in the National Hockey League. Including the playoffs, Sloan registered an impressive total of 65 points that season, but none of them were as big as his goal at 19:23 of the final period of the final game against the Montreal Canadiens. His goal tied the game and forced overtime, setting the stage for the heroics of Bill Barilko and a Maple Leafs Stanley Cup championship. With 32 seconds remaining, while goaltender Turk Broda was already on the bench for an extra attacker, Sloan fired the puck through a maze of bodies and past goaltender Gerry McNeil. Actually, before Barilko overtime goal, Sloan was the definite hero of this game, as he had scored the two regulation goal for his team.

After his second complete season in the NHL and a 25 goals season, there was a strong rumour sending Tod Sloan to the Detroit Red Wings for defenceman Leo Reise. At the time, Jack Adams stated that he knew nothing about those rumours, but the newspaper of the time said that they were given this piece of information by a reliable source. This rumour seemed to make sense, as the Toronto Maple Leafs were in need of a defenceman while the Red Wings needed a body up front. However, this trade never happen, and Sloan remained a Maple Leafs.

The mid 1950's were difficult for Tod Sloan and the Toronto Maple Leafs. From the 1952-53 season up to the 1954-55 season, Sloan registered only a total of 39 goals and 96 points in 200 games. Even with less than half a point per game, Tod still finish 1st, 4th and 6th in team scoring, which show the overall poor performances of the Maple Leafs at that time. Sloan was now playing mostly at the centre position, as the magic of the first season with Sid Smith and Ted Kennedy was long gone. It was also reported that the various winger who played alongside 'Slinker' couldn't convert the plays Sloan was setting up. The Maple Leafs playing a more defensives style of hockey during those years might also partially explain those sub-par performances.

Nonetheless, with a poor 1954-55 season to his standard, Sloan salary was drastically cut prior to the 1955-56 season. As he explained: ''I have to take the worst salary cut of my career but I have a chance to make it my richest. My contract calls for bonuses if I get 20 goals, then 25 and so on.''

Perhaps the bonuses clauses motivated Sloan to switch gears and perform his best season of his career, but by his own admittance, Sloan decided to take his own physical health before and during the season more seriously. As he recall: '' I knew I wasn't producing, so I gave myself a good talking and decided to do something about it. [...] giving up smoking put the weight on me. I went 167 playing weight and I stayed on a diet to keep it there. I also ran for four weeks every morning regularly, four and five miles. When I hit training camp, I was breezing.''

At the tail end of the 1955-56 camp, Sloan and 25 years old Georges Armstrong, who could also play centre of the right wing, switch position. Now Sloan being the centre, the duo clicked immediately. It was a 19 years old rookie of the name of Dick Duff, who also played his junior hockey in Saint-Michael College, that would finish the trio.

It would be a career year for the 27 years old veteran, who would finish first in his team scoring with 37 goals and 66 points, in 70 regular season games. His 37 goals campaign was the best a Maple Leafs ever registered, equalizing the mark of Gaye Stewart, the shifty left winger, who had done the same 10 years ago. Astoundingly enough, the second goalscorer on his team was Dick Duff with 18 goals, less than half Sloan's total! For this remarkable season, Sloan was named to the NHL's Second All Star Team and barely miss on the Hart Memorial Trophy, both time slightly outperform by the great Jean Beliveau.

The Toronto Maple Leafs played the Detroit Red Wings in the 1956 Stanley Cup semifinals. Toronto fans were incensed when their star player, Tod Sloan, broke his shoulder in a collision with Detroit's Gordie Howe in the second game of the series. Indeed, in the second period, Ted Lindsay and Sloan engaged in a nasty stick swinging incident that left Lindsay with a bloody gash above his eye. Later in the game, Gordie Howe hammered Sloan into the boards. Sloan had to be carried outside the ice with a broken right shoulder blade. He would not play again in those playoffs and the Red Wings breezed through the Leafs in only five games. That shoulder injury would be a recurrent and nagging problem for the rest of Sloan's career.

Although he deservedly receive an enormous pay increase after his 1955-56 campaign, the Maple Leafs organization started to get wary and unhappy of some of Sloan's action. Indeed, Jimmy Thomson, the veteran defenceman, and Sloan begin the process of unionization, as they reveal plans to form a labour. Because Sloan and Thomson took an active part in organizing the NHL Player's Association and that Conn Smythe was a man to carry a grudge, both players were traded to the Chicago Blackhawks for cash; Thomson first, followed a year later by Sloan.

Although he had played many games as a right winger in his last season with the Leafs, it's as a centre that Sloan would help the Blackhawks. He found himself centering Ed Litzenberger and the key man in the players' association movement Ted Lindsay while with them. Nicknamed 'The Pappy Line', due to the relatively old age of the three players, the trio clicked immediately and were the highest scoring line in the NHL in, with 197 points.

In his last two season in the league, Sloan settle as the third line, defensive center for the Hawks. It's with them that Sloan would registered his 200th goal of his career. As one newspaper stated that he was happier than a kid on Christmas morning, Sloan told: ''I never thought I'd get it. After all, I don't have much longer to go in this game, but now maybe after this, they'll bring me back for one more crack next year.''

The Blackhawks indeed brought the hard working veteran back for a final season, a move they would never regret, as his contribution helped them winning their first Stanley Cup in 23 years.

After playing a single season in the Senior Ontario Hockey Association, Sloan sought reinstatement as an amateur. Once he was granted that status, he joined the Galt Terriers and represent Canada in a silver medal performance at the 1962 World Championships. Even at 35 years of age, he lead all players in assists, while finishing two points off the league leader. After this tournament, Sloan announced his retirement of the game he loved for good.


Fun and Interesting Facts:

- Tod Sloan and Dave Keon are cousins
- During the summer of his playing days, Tod worked as a brewery salesman
- Winning the Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 1961, Tod Sloan was engraved as Martin A. Sloan
- For thirteen NHL seasons, Tod Sloan's pension paid him 4176$ a year, which even at the time was below the poverty level in Canada


Signing & Trades:

- On April 30, 1946, Sloan was signed as a free agent by the Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL)
- On September 6, 1949, Sloan, Sloan was loaned to the Cleveland Barons by the Toronto Maple Leafs with the trade of Ray Ceresino and Harry Taylor for Bob Solinger (AHL)
- On June 6, 1958, he was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks by the Toronto Maple Leafs for 15 000$


Injuries & Fines:

- Sloan missed some games of the 1947-48 season due to a pull groin
- On October 17, 1952, Sloan received 5 stitches when Leo Labine cross checked him into the board. Eight days later, Sloan was fine 100$ for a stick swinging incident with Labine
- On November 26, 1954, Sloan lost a tooth and had 11 stitches taken in his lips
- On March 23, 1954, Sloan received a game misconduct and a 75$ fine for pushing referee Ed Chadwick by the throat
- On March 18, 1956, Sloan received a cut on the back of his hand by defenceman Larry Hillman that required eight stitches
- On February 15, 1957, the Maple Leafs lost the service of Sloan for at least a week with the recurring problem at his right shoulder


Miscellaneous:

Click this bar to view the full image.

Click this bar to view the full image.



- The Toronto Maple Leafs played the Detroit Red Wings in the 1956 Stanley Cup semifinals. Toronto fans were incensed when their star player, Tod Sloan, broke his shoulder in a collision with Detroit's Gordie Howe. Both Howe and Ted Lindsay received death threats. It was suggested that rookie Cummy Burton wear a Red Wings jersey with Lindsay's number 7 on the front and Howe's number 9 on the back. The idea was for Burton to skate onto the ice to see if anything happened. Wisely, Burton refused to be the guinea pig.
- Rudy Pilous, Chicago BlackHawks Coach: ''Now, we had some players on that team who liked to bet on the horses. I guess that I was the leader in that department. But a group of us used to go out to Sportsman's Park when we were home in Chicago. There was Tod Sloan and Murray Balfour and myself and occasionally, Stash Mikita. But you never could get Hall or Hull to go out to the racetrack. They stayed downtown, watching their money.''


Abbreviation:
AHL: American Hockey League
JOHA: Junior Ontario Hockey Association
NHL: National Hockey League
SOHA: Senior Ontario Hockey Association


Internet Sites:
http://www.legendsofhockey.net/Legen...p?player=14342
http://www.sihrhockey.org/member_pla...id=3541&mode=2
http://mapleleafslegends.blogspot.co...tod-sloan.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tod_Sloan_(ice_hockey)

 

[BraveCanadian]

With their ninth round pick (288) in the 2012 ATD, the Guelph Platers have selected: RW, Bill Mosienko

Career Highlights:

Stanley Cup Finalist, 1944.
NHL Post Season All Star (2nd) 1945, 1946.
1944-1945 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy Winner
Named to the NHL All Star Game 1947, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953.
Inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1965.


Vitals:
Born: July 9, 1921
Position: RW
Height: 5-8
Weight: 160
Shoots: Right


Regular Season:

Top 10 in Goals: 2, 5, 6, 10, 10.
Top 10 in Assists: 2, 7, 9, 10, 10.
Top 10 in Points: 5, 5, 7, 8, 9.

Although two of Bill's top ten placings in each category were during the war years, he matched or bettered each of those placings in the post war seasons.


Career Regular Season Stats:

GP|G|A|Pts|+/-|PIM|EV|PP|SH|GW
711|258|282|540||121||||

Playoffs:

Unfortunately, the Chicago Blackhawks of Bill Mosienko's day were a very poor team. During his career they never finished higher than 3rd in the 6 team league, had a winning record only once, and finished out of the playoffs altogether in 10 of his 14 NHL seasons.

In his limited sample of playoff games, here are Mosienko's playoff stats:


Career Playoff Stats:

GP|G|A|Pts|+/-|PIM|EV|PP|SH|GW
22|10|4|14||15||||

Quotations and Perspective:

(Regarding Mosienko scoring 3 goals in 21 seconds)

"That record will never be broken. Never," suggested Hall of Fame teammate Bill Gadsby. "It was just fantastic, it was damn near the same play off the face-off each one. He could really skate. he could really fly and he scored those three goals. I mean, it was unbelievable just to watch it!"

(photo caption of Bill Mosienko)

Bill Mosienko of the Chicago Black Hawks, who proved the downfall of the Detroit Red Wings at the Windy City last night. Mosienko scored three goals, two of them tying the count and a third one breaking the 5-5 deadlock and winning the game. Mosienko is rated one of the fastest skaters since Syl Apps which makes him a Chicago whirlwind.

(describing the Hawks playoff woes during this time and Mosienko's important goal to make it to overtime and break the poor streak against the Canadiens)
.
.
.
Dewsbury broke up the game at 5:18 of the overtime. He took George Gee's pass-out from the back boards and slammed it in from 30 feet out.

Two Canadien defenders and goalie Gerry McNeil waved desperatedly at the puck as it sailed in. The victory was witnessed by a crowd of 16,114.

In 10 previous playoff games with the Canadiens - covering 1944 and 1946 appearances as well as the current series - the Hawks had not registered a single win.

Hawks' veteran Bill Mosienko had sent the game into overtime just a minute and 57 seconds before the end of the final period.

Some say the remarkable patronage at hockey games in Chicago Stadium now is attributable to the fascinating skating of the Hawks' spectacular first line, Max Bentley, Doug Bentley and Bill Mosienko.

The winning goal was the climax of a whirlwind play on which Bill Mosienko and Doug McCaig worked the puck past the Toronto defenders, then passed off to Bentley. From a few feet out, he drove a terrific shot past Turk Broda and that settled the issue.

The Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League Tuesday had offered $55,000 cash for three players owned by the Toronto Maple Leafs to bolster the Hawks, crippled by the lost of Bill Mosienko, sidelined with a broken leg.

.
.
.
The Hawk "Pony line" of Max and Doug Bentley and Bill Mosienko - top scoring trio of the league last year - sparked the Chicago attack, each member getting one goal. The Bentleys each drew an assist.

.
.
.
In the only other game, Chicago Black Hawks pulled an upset by edging Montreal Canadiens 3-2 at Montreal.

...

In Montreal, the teams battled on even terms most of the way for the 14,186 fans and the tie-breaking goal came at 12:21 of the last period on a close-in shot by Cal Gardner, new Chicago cenre, following a passout by Bill Mosienko.

.
.
.
In the third, Johnston scored again on an assist from Alex Kaleta after two minutes and 48 seconds. Eddie Wares of the Hawks was in the penalty box at that time.

After Wares returned to the ice, he and Bill Mosienko broke loose, caught the New York defence off balance and skated the length of the ice with Mosienko scoring from six feex out.

(the Hawks mostly one-line team getting mostly shut down in their only chance at the Cup during Mosienko's career)
.
.
.
The Chamberlain-Watson-Getliffe line emerged as the stars of last night's game. They back-checked, did much to slow up the Hawks with their heavy bumping and bagged four of the five Canadien goals.

Most of the time, too, they were on against the starr Chicago line of Clint Smith, Bill Mosienko and Doug Bentley, and they stopped that line cold on all but one occasion. Smith bagged the only Hawk goal on a three-way play in the second period while the Canadiens were a man short.

.
.
.
When the Red Wings play Montreal, they are up against the league's fastest club as well as its leading exponent of scientific hockey, and Jack Adams' men aren't speedy enough to best utilize their weight and vitality. The argument that the Wings are handicapped against a fast-moving squad is supported by the Chicago Black Hawks, the only other club to have beaten them this season. The Hawks, boasting such speed merchants as Bill Mosienko and Pete Horeck, hold two decisions over Detroit but are too weak in most departments to down Wings consistently.

​

 

[BraveCanadian]

With their tenth round pick (289) in the 2012 ATD, the Guelph Platers have selected: W, Jere Lehtinen

"Jere Lehtinen has really become the Finnish version of Bob Gainey", Kevin Allen USA Today


Career Highlights:

Stanley Cup Champion, 1999.
Stanley Cup Finalist, 2000.
Frank J. Selke Trophy Winner (1998, 1999, 2003)
Named to NHL All Star Game 1998.


Vitals:
Born: June 24, 1973
Position: LW/RW
Height: 6-0
Weight: 194
Shoots: Right


Regular Season:

A three time recipient of the Selke trophy for best defensive forward, Lehtinen was a smart, quick, and surprisingly two-way player. He often played with Modano and Hull on the Stars front line.

Lehtinen lead the Dallas Stars team in goalscoring twice in his career, including the 2002-2003 campaign in which he won one of his Selke awards.

Overall, he racked up 7 seasons of 20 or more goals including those two 30 goal campaigns.


Career Regular Season Stats:

GP|G|A|Pts|+/-|PIM|EV|PP|SH|GW
875|243|271|514|176|210|157|77|9|37

Playoffs:

During game 6 of the Stars 1999 championship run (in which they won 2-1 to capture the Cup), it was Lehtinen who scored the Stars first goal and assisted on Brett Hull's controversial Stanley Cup winning goal in the third overtime.

That championship run was the best offensive playoff of his career: Lehtinen scored 10 goals (including 8 ES goals) and added 3 assists for 13 points.

Career Playoff Stats:

GP|G|A|Pts|+/-|PIM|EV|PP|SH|GW
108|27|22|49|2|12|19|7|1|1

International

Lehtinen was very active with the Finnish national teams. He is a four time Olympic medalist and four time World Championship medalist.

Jere was also a silver medalist in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.

Olympic Games

Medal|Year|Location
Bronze |1994|Lillehammer|
Bronze|1998|Nagano|
Silver|2006|Turin|
Bronze|2010|Vancouver|

World Championships

Medal|Year|Location
Silver |1992|Czechslovakia|
Silver |1994|Italy|
Gold |1995|Sweden|
Silver|2007|Russia|

Quotations and Perspective:

[Jere Lehtinen] does much of the dirty work on the Star's first line with Mike Modano and Brett Hull. He is a terrific corner man and is the defensive conscience on a line that almost always goes against the opponent's top line.

Both he and Sabres centre Michael Peca have been Selke finalists the past three seasons, with Peca winning it two years ago and Lehtinen last year.

"You could say that he has had a chance to play with Mike Modano, but it goes both ways," said [Guy Carbonneau]. "Mike is pretty lucky to play with Jere. (Jere) creates a lot of space for 'Mo' by working hard in the corners and along the boards and Mike knows that if he has to take a chance and gets caught deep in their zone that Jere is always going to be back there."

...

-- Selke Trophy (best defensive forward): Dallas' Jere Lehtinen won in consecutive seasons four years ago, and he makes it a hat trick in this category. He's fast, strong, smart and an underrated cog in the Stars' resurgence. Teammates Milan Hejduk and Forsberg also are finalists.

Jere Lehtinen, back in the lineup after missing eight games with an ankle problem, scored twice and Jason Arnott scored the 200th goal of his career as the Dallas Stars beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 Friday night.

Lehtinen is still in pain but returned because Dallas is in desperation mode. The Stars are on the verge of missing the playoffs after five straight division titles. They went 3-4-1 without Lehtinen, scoring just 17 goals.

Selke Trophy (top defensive forward): Dallas' Jere Lehtinen has really become the Finnish version of Bob Gainey. He's going to be a top contender for this award every season. But in my head there is a battle going on to recognize Mike Modano's career-long transformation into one of the league's best all-around players. Much like Steve Yzerman went through, Modano over time has become as strong defensively as he is offensively.

"We use Lehtinen as a catalyst," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said of his versatile winger. "When anybody isn't going well, we just put him with Lehtinen..."

A marvelous exchange of passes between Lehtinen and Mike Modano, who returned after missing seven games because of a knee injury, resulted in Lehtinen's 13th goal of the season and cut the Devils' lead to 2-1 early in the second period.

The goal was the third of the playoffs and 20th of his career for Lehtinen, who twice received the Selke Trophy as the NHL's top defensive forward. He scored a career-high 31 goals for the Stars during the regular season.

Tippett said Lehtinen is a coach's dream.

"I think he's one of the top 10 forwards in the world,'' the coach said. "He has the ability to score, and he's probably the top defensive forward in the league.''

Lehtinen said, "I was fortunate to get the two goals, but it was most important to get the win.''

Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock put Jere Lehtinen, Brett Hull and Mike Modano back together on the Stars' top line Wednesday night, and the reunion had the desired effect.

Lehtinen scored a career-high three goals and Hull tallied the game-winner with 3:19 left in overtime as the Stars earned a 4-3 victory over the Nashville Predators.

"Modano and Lehtinen had a bead on the game from the start, and Brett's an opportunistic guy," Hitchcock said, "They were outstanding."

Hull and Modano had two assists each to help the Stars improve to 5-2 in their last seven games.

But Lehtinen was Dallas' best player, leading the team with eight shots on goal.

"He coudl have had six goals tonight the way he was playing," Hitchcock said.

Lehtinen usually does the dirty work when he plays with Modano and Hull, but the checker became the scorer against the Predators.

.
.
.

"We battled all night," Predators right wing Tom Fitzgerald said. "But it seemed like every chance he (Lehtinen) got, he put the puck in the net. Give him credit. He's done it his entire career. He's a silent superstar."

...
Lehtinen, a defensive forward who embodies the two-way style the team is built around, played just 17 regular season games because of a series of ankle injuries...

... Jere Lehtinen, who has been one of their best players in the Stanley Cup playoffs and is a member of their best line, left the game with an injury to his right knee early in the second period...

​

 

[Leaf Lander]

Nikolai Sologubov: Very few players who have been compared to Bobby Orr can compare in terms of physical suffering and courage. The first Russian to wear this label in fact faced greater difficulties. Nikolai Sologubov was a soldier during the Great Patriotic War in 1943 when he suffered two severe leg injuries; the second was bad enough that doctors were prepared to amputate. Sologubov convinced them not to, instead opting for eight painful leg surgeries, four on each leg. Remarkably, it was only after the War and subsequent rehabilitation that Sologubov took up ice hockey. The former military man's physique was suited for the position of defenseman, and it was a role he filled well; Vsevelod Bobrov once said he was happy if he ever scored a goal against him in any game. Sologubov was also also a master body checker, and would have been a star just on these qualities alone. However, Sologubov was also an apt shooter himself, and wished to his this gift. In this way he pioneered the rushing defenseman, as he went on to score nearly a goal every other game over the course of his Soviet league career. Nikolai Sologubov died in 1988, the winner of three IIHF Top Defenseman awards and eight Worlds medals.- MrBugg

He played for several Moscow-based teams from 1949 to 1964, finishing with SKA Kalinin in 1964-65. He played for the national team in all the IIHF World Championships from 1955 to 1961 as well as 1963, and in the 1956 and 1960 Winter Olympics. At the 1960 Winter Olympics Sologubov was the USSR Olympic Team Flag Bearer. He helped the Soviet Union win World Championship Gold in 1956 and 1963, Silver in 1955, 1957, 1958, and 1959, and Bronze in 1960 and 1961. Sologubov was named best defenceman at the World Championships in 1956, 1957, and 1960. He was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2004.
He could often be identified on the ice by his gold tooth- wikipedia

 

[Velociraptor]

Herbie Lewis, LW

Position: Left Wing
HT/WT: 5'9", 165 lbs
Handedness: Left
Nickname(s): "The Duke of Duluth"
Born: April 17th, 1906 in Calgary, AB

- inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1989.
- 2-time Stanley Cup Champion (1936, 1937)
- elected as the starting LW in the very first first NHL All-Star game
- 7-Time 30+ point scorer in an era when that was a significant accomplishment.
- Top-10 in All-Star Voting once - C - (2nd) - Lewis had one vote to Marty Barry's 22, Lewis was the only other player who received a vote.
- Top-10 in All-Star Voting 3 Times - RW - (5th, 8th, 9th)
- Top-10 in All-Star Voting 4 Times - LW - (3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th)
- scored 148 goals and 161 assists for 309 points in 483 games, adding 248 penalty minutes.
- scored 13 goals and 10 assists for 23 points in 38 games, adding 6 penalty minutes.

There is not much I can find on Lewis's versatility, but if those all-star votes are any indication of his positional versatility, then he could also possibly be considered at both RW and C.

Top 10 Finishes:
Goals - 1x - (7)
Assists - 2x - (4, 4)
Points - 2x - (6, 9)

*12th in NHL scoring from 1929-30 to 1937-38 with 279 points. 7th place had 283 points. This is effectively equal to Paul Thompson and Hooley Smith over this timeframe, and 15.7% behind 2nd place Marty Barry, all in similar numbers of games:

http://www.hockey-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=combined&year_min=1930&year_max=1938&season_start=1&season_end=-1&age_min=0&age_max=99&birth_country=&franch_id=&is_active=&is_hof=&pos=S&handed=&c1stat=&c1comp=gt&c1val=&c2stat=&c2comp=gt&c2val=&c3stat=&c3comp=gt&c3val=&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&order_by=points

Quotes

Legends of Hockey

Herbie Lewis was born in Calgary, Alberta, and was to become known for his relentless defence and blinding speed during an eleven-year career in the NHL. He was rough for a little guy, a good defensive winger and accurate playmaker, and considered the fastest skater in the NHL in his day with his trademark short, mincing steps.

Lewis journeyed to Duluth in 1924 and played with the Hornets in the USAHA where he was given the nickname "The Duke of Duluth." He led the CHL in points (28) and assists (11) in the 1925-26 season and was a CHL First Team All-Star that year.

He participated in the first NHL All-Star game in 1934 (the Ace Bailey Benefit Game) and went on to lead the team in playoff scoring with five goals. He played in the longest NHL game on March 24-25, 1936, when Detroit defeated the Montreal Maroons 1-0 after six overtime periods. The Wings went on to capture the 1936 Stanley Cup and won it again the next year as Lewis combined on a line with Marty Barry and XXX XXXXXX to dominate almost every game of the finals.

Greatest Hockey Legends

Herbie Lewis was a small but explosive skater from Calgary, Alberta. Following a prolific junior career, Herbie joined the Duluth Hornets of the AHA where he starred for four strong seasons. He was such a star that he was nicknamed "The Duke of Duluth" - a name that would stay with the sharp shooting left winger for the rest of his hockey career. Lewis was the big fish in the small pond known as the AHA. He was that league's brightest light, and was well paid for his services.

It wasn't until 1928-29 that Lewis was finally lured to the National Hockey League as the Detroit Cougars (later renamed Falcons and then finally Red Wings) acquired his rights in 1928. It marked the first year of an 11 year stay in the Motor City, and what a stay it was!

Lewis teamed with right winger Larry Aurie and a variety of fellow-Hall of Fame center men in his NHL tenure. First it was the great Ebbie Goodfellow, but soon XXXXXX XXXXXXX stepped in between the two sharp shooting wingers. Toronto Maple Leaf boss Conn Smythe once described the line of Lewis, XXXXXXX and Aurie as "the best line in hockey." Despite some great success with these guys, it wasn't until the arrival of Marty Barry in 1935 that the Wings emerged as Stanley Cup champs. The lethal combination of Lewis, Barry and Aurie led the Wings to back to back championships in 1936 and 1937 - the first two championships in Detroit's history.

Named as the Wing's captain in 1933, Herbie was elected as the starting left winger in the first-ever NHL All-Star Game, held for the benefit of Ace Bailey in 1934. One of the most electrifying players in the 1930s.

Red Wings Official Site

(1933-34) was also this season that Lewis and right-winger Larry Aurie, his regular linemate, represented Detroit in the first NHL All-Star Game, a benefit match for Toronto forward Ace Bailey, whose career was cut short by a head injury suffered in a game against Boston.

When XXX picked up Marty Barry from Boston to center Aurie and Lewis, the trio immediately clicked, sparking Detroit to successive Cup wins. Toronto manager Conn Smythe described the unit as, "The best line in hockey, coming and going.

Lewis captained the Red Wings to their first Stanley Cup final appearance in 1933-34 and scored the first Stanley Cup final goal and first playoff overtime marker in club history. He finished as the leading goal scorer in that spring's post-season.

Long before he made the leap to the NHL, Herbie Lewis was a wanted man. The Montreal Maroons signed him in 1926, but the deal was voided by NHL president Frank Calder, since Lewis was already under contract to the American Hockey Association's Duluth Hornets.

Lewis was a star with the Hornets, leading the team in scoring in 1925-26, earning the nickname "The Duke of Duluth" in the process. He was the league's biggest drawing card and its highest-paid performer.

Detroit manager Jack Adams astutely scooped up this budding star through the 1928 inter-league draft and Lewis blossomed in the Motor City.

Christian Science Monitor - Mar 5, 1937

Herbie Lewis would have made the first team at left wing had not Jackson stood on his head.

Chicago Tribune - Jan 19, 1937

The Red Wings will have added strength for the game, since Herbie Lewis, star left wing of the league's high point line, who has been out of the last four games will return tonight.

The Sun - Oct 15, 1963

In the 1961-1962 season he over- hauled Herbie Lewis, star of the Wings' 1936 and 1937 Stanley Cup champion team

Thanks to TDMM, who provided an extensive bio of Lewis in last years' draft.

 

[Dreakmur]

Nicknamed "Tough Tony" and "Mighty Mouse," Leswick quickly developed a reputation as a relentless checker, a tough as nails body checker, and perhaps the NHL's all time ultimate pest.

….

Although he did chip in offensively while in New York, including 27 and 24 goal seasons, Tony was best known for shadowing the league's top players.

Tony Leswick !!!​

Awards and Achievements:
3 x Stanley Cup Champion (1952, 1954, 1955)

Second Team All-Star (1950)

6 x NHL All-Star (1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1952, *1954)

Statistsics:
Points – 17th(1948), 17th(1950), 19th(1947)
Goals – 6th(1947), 9th(1948), 17th(1950)
Assists – 16th(1950)

Play-off Points – 8th(1952), 10th(1948), 10th(1950), 10th(1954)
Play-off Goals – 5th(1952), 6th(1948), 7th(1954)
Play-off Assists – 8th(1950)

Among the outstanding players who possessed great skill as skaters, stickhandlers and back-checkers but were not likely candidates for the Lady Byng trophy, Tony Leswick is an example.

This little players was rated one of the best defensive forwards in the league. Although a left had shot, he played either wing and was a great penalty killer. He was a fast skater and full of hustle and spirit. His other attributes were anathema to the opposition. He kept up a constant chatter of deprecatory remarks concerning the antecedents or ability of opposing wings, interspersed with elbow action or buttends to goad them into penalties. This cost him time in the penalty box but he was usually successful in having one of the opposing stars for company.

Perhaps his favorite target was Montreal's fiery Rocket Richard. The long lasting feud between the two lasted for years. Leswick knew how to get under Richard's skin. Richard, who had a short fuse to start with, would often blow up at Leswick and assaulted him. Often Leswick would take Richard's shot and write it off as "taking one for the team." Richard would be banished to the penalty box while the Rangers would go on the powerplay. Other times Leswick was more than willing to answer Richard's battle cry, and the two would brawl it out. Both players were banished to the box, which of course would have to be a small victory for the Rangers. Anytime you could take Rocket Richard out of the game for a few minutes at a time greatly enhanced the Rangers chance of winning.

Now picking on the ferociously explosive Richard takes guts. The only player perhaps more dangerous to tick off was Gordie Howe - not only arguably the greatest player of all time, but perhaps the greatest fighter of all time too. Leswick fearlessly needled Mr. Hockey with great success. Like Richard, no one had as much success keeping Howe off of his game as Leswick did. So impressed by Leswick's performance were the Red Wings, they went out and traded legendary Gaye Stewart to get him.

…a small bulldog-type forward…

Tony was a combative little bugger. He played a lot bigger than his size.

Tony was one of the toughest little guys who ever played.

Leswick could bring out the worst in a saint.

 

[Rob Scuderi]

G Gump Worsley

Anyone who wears one is chicken. My face is my mask.

5-7, a "generous" 180 lbs.
Catches left

• 335W-352L-150T, 2.88 GAA in 861 GP
• 40-26, 2.78 GAA in 70 playoff GP

• Inducted into Hall of Fame in 1980
• x2 Vezina (Masterson) Winner '66, '68
• All-Star Team Record: 1 ('68), 2 ('66), 3 ('55), 3 ('61), 4 ('63), 4 ('72), 5 ('71), 6 ('57)
• Hart Voting Record: 7 ('63), 8 ('66), 9 ('61)
• x4 All-Star Games '61, '62, '65, '72
• x4 SC winner '65, '66, '68, '69
• x1 AHL 1st All-Star Team '64

• Led league in GAA '68 (40GP)
• x2 2nd in GAA '58 (37GP),'66 (51GP)
• Led league in SV% '58 (37GP)
• x2 2nd in SV% '63 '66
• Led playoffs in SV% twice '65, '66
• Second in playoff SV% once '68 (12GP) behind Parent (5GP)

Regular season save percentage numbers; 53-63 with Rangers, 66-69 with Canadiens, 71-74 with North Stars

Year | GP | Worsley |League Average |League rank
1953 | 50 | .901 | .918 | 6/6
1955 | 65 | .915 | .915 | 4/6
1956 | 70 | .920 | .915 | 3/6
1957 | 68 | .904 | .911 | 4/6
1958 | 37 | .929 | .907 | 1/6
1959 | 67 | .905 | .905 | 3/6
1960 | 39 | .897 | .907 | 5/6
1961 | 59 | .912 | .906 | 3/6
1962 | 60 | .912 | .904 | 4/6
1963 | 67 | .914 | .905 | 2/6
1966 | 51 | .923 | .902 | 2/6
1968 | 40 | .922 | .909 | 5/12
1969 | 30 | .920 | .908 | 4/12
1971 | 24 | .920 | .903 | 3/14
1972 | 34 | .934 | .902 | 2/14
1974 | 29 | .901 | .896 | 9/16

Gump's playoff numbers; 56-62 was with the Rangers, 65-69 Canadiens, 70-72 North Stars

Year | Worsley | Top GAA | Cup winner
1956 | 4.67 | 1.80 | 1.80
1957 | 3.99 | 1.66 | 1.66
1958 | 4.60 | 1.94 | 1.94
1962 | 3.28 | 2.07 | 2.07
1965 | 1.68 | 1.68 | 1.68
1966 | 1.99 | 1.99 | 1.99
1968 | 1.88 | 1.35 | 1.88
1969 | 2.27 | 1.42 | 1.42
1970 | 4.67 | 1.48 | 2.23
1971 | 3.25 | 2.19 | 3.00
1972 | 2.16 | 1.86 | 2.61

Year | Worsley | Top SV% | Cup winner
1956 | .851 | .923 | .923
1957 | .888 | .933 | .933
1958 | .873 | .937 | .937
1962 | .914 | .927 | .927
1965 | .936 | .936 | .936
1966 | .931 | .931 | .931
1968 | .930 | .963 | .930
1969 | .921 | .953 | .953
1970 | .880 | .935 | .925
1971 | .888 | .928 | .914
1972 | .935 | .936 | .915

Although Worsley played 21 years in the NHL, his career didn't begin until he was 24 years old. Prior to his 1952-53 rookie season with the Rangers, he played in five different leagues, winning honors and trophies at virtually every stop along the way. He was named the top rookie and best goalie in the USHL with the St. Paul Saints in 1950-51, was named the league's MVP in the Western League during his year with the Vancouver Canucks in 1953-54 and was placed on All-Star teams just about everywhere he went.

He won the Calder Trophy his first year in the NHL despite a record of 13-29-8, testament to his tremendous play on an otherwise weak team. But the next season the Rangers sent him to Vancouver, the only time a Calder winner never played a single NHL game the year after being so honoured. The following year he made the Broadway Blueshirts and stayed in the pro crease for the next decade.

They made the playoffs only four of the ten seasons, and although he was spectacular as the last line of defense, the team wasn't very good. But in 1963 the general managers' meetings were in Montreal and Worsley was traded from New York to the Habs during the course of the June weekend.

The additional pressure of playing in Montreal and the expectation of winning seemed to have nothing but a positive impact on Worsley's game. In his first season, however, he hurt his knee and played most of the year in the minors with the Quebec Aces to get in shape. He started the next season with the Aces but was called up to the Forum in mid-season and played heroically the rest of the way in leading the Habs to the 1965 Stanley Cup. He would never play in the minors again.

In his seven seasons with Montreal, he was on four Cup-winning teams, but his career with the bleu, blanc et rouge ended on November 28, 1969, in Chicago when his fear of flying got the better of him during an NHL schedule that demanded almost constant air travel. He retired.

However, later in that 1969-70 season, Worsley was convinced by Minnesota general manager Wren Blair to return to the expansion North Stars for the last few games of the season. Minnesota didn't have too many plane trips in its schedule, and Blair was also willing to pay Gump an additional $500 for a win, $250 for a tie and $100 for a shutout, over and above his salary. Worsley accepted and spent four more years in the NHL. He didn't retire until he was 44 years old, and it was only in the final six games of that final 1973-74 season that he wore a mask.

Struggles in New York

You could almost say that Gump Worsley loves being in the doughouse. That seems to be his formula for success as a goalkeeper with the New York Rangers of the NHL. Certainly the most controversial and colorful netminder in the game, rollicking Gump has had would-be successors breathing down his neck for years while he takes time out to feud with team officials. This has been going on since he went to the Rangers from Saskatoon of the Western Hockey League in the 1952-53 season. He has shucked off four pretenders to the Rangers goalkeeping job since then although the 31-year-old Gump has been blithely jumping around between the major and minor leagues.

This year, despite vigorous protests from Worsley, team officials decided that Gump and McCartan would alternate in the nets. The feud spilled into the public prints last week when Worsley said general manager Muzz Patrick made him play although he had a sore back. Patrick said there was nothing wrong with him. Worsley was in the doughouse this week when it was announced that McCartan would play with Kitchener Waterloo of the Eastern Professional Hockey League. "He needs regular work and he is not getting it here," said Patrick. "All he lacks is experience to become a big league goalie." Rangers officials have been saying this sort of thing for years since Worsley first joined the club.

Coach Phil Watson Tuesday pinned the Stanley Cup hopes of the New York Rangers on Lorne (Gump) Worsley, the stubby goaltender he blasted only two weeks ago as a "beer belly" and a "fat boy." The volatile Watson predicted the Rangers will win the cup if "Worsley plays like he can and should."

"The way we're going now, we can win the cup. But Gump's our key man. If he isn't hot, we're dead." Although the Ranger roster is clear of injuries, coach Watson appears to have prescribed some psychological needling to keep his players on their toes. Two weeks ago he roasted Worsley when the last-place Chicago Blackhawks tied the Rangers in Chicago 6-6. Muttering "beer belly" and "fat boy," the New York coach charged his goalie was five pounds over his playing weight of 165. Worsley, who stands five-feet-seven, retorted that Watson was "full of old rope." Nevertheless, in the five Ranger games since Watson's blowoff, Worsley has allowed only seven goals.

New York Rangers, spurred by a magnificent goal-tending performance by Gump Worsley, snapped a 10-game National Hockey League losing string Wednesday night with a 5-0 victory over Boston's last-place Bruins. It was the Rangers' first victory since Jan. 1 and their first on home ice since Dec. 12. They were within one defeat of tying the club record for consecutive losses, established in 1943-44.

At New York, although the score wouldn't indicate it, the Rangers were badly outshot and outskated in the first two periods. With Worsley refusing to give ground, however, New York established a 4-0 lead at the end of the middle session. During the first 40 minutes Worsley made 28 saves, many of them spectacular. Boston's Bruce Gamble made only 11 in the same period. Worsley finished 40 saves and his second shutout of the season. On a breakaway by Jerry Toppazzini, Worsley charged from the cage, made a diving stop and was kicked in the head. Play was halted for three minutes while smelling salts were administered. Worsley's best performance was midway through the final period when the Bruins held a two-man advantage for a minute and 54 seconds. The trio of Doug Harvey, Dean Prentice, and Al Langlois in front of him provided the Rangers with their best skating of the evening.

Goalie Lorne (Gump) Worsley is happy with the new deal he is getting with the New York Rangers, and the way he is playing lately the Rangers have every reason to be even happier.

The Gumper has been a one man fort and a hero in the Rangers' Stanley cup semifinal hockey series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Friday night, he pulled out all the stops in a performance that had everyone gasping. He made 56 saves, many spectacular. It was in vain, as the Rangers lost 3-2, in two overtimes to the Leafs, who hold a 3-2 lead in the best of seven series going into the sixth game here Saturday night.

Gump's a lot happier now than in the old days when he and Coach Phil Watson, had a running feud, often because Watson thought Worsley was too pudgy. He didn't mention Watson by name, but said in an interview: "It's like the difference between night and day now that Doug's here. It's a pleasure to play now." He was referring to Doug Harvey, the long time Montreal defenseman who this year took over the coaching job at New York.

"Doug explains things to you. He doesn't just blast you off your feet," said Gump. And, said the stocky goaltender, there's no criticism of his weight now. Worsley is 5 feet 7 and his playing weight is 175 pounds. By the time his pads add a few inches around him, he looks like a roly-poly dwarf on the ice next to his big teammates. But he's moving well and Harvey has no complaints.

Success in Montreal

It was only last May that the little round jolly guy who guards the nets for Montreal Canadiens got his second new lease on life in the National Hockey League. And Gump Worsley, who stands five-feet-seven and weights 180 pounds, hasn't looked back since. Worsley is the No 1 goalie for the Canadiens and he and partner Charlie Hodge are headed toward winning the Vezina trophy-the award given to the goalie or goalies having played a minimum 25 games for the team with the fewest goals scored against it.

The 36-year-old Worsley received his first new lease on life in the fall of 1963 when he left behind a miserable 10-year career with the New York Rangers to join the Canadiens. When Worsley toiled for the hapless Rangers, he was used for target practice by opposing sharpshooters. The Ranger defence was far from solid and more often than not he was left to fend for himself. Some observers used to say Worsley could have been the best goalie in the NHL if he played for a first division team. Then the big trade was made and Montreal sent veteran Jacques Plante to New York and made room for Worsley.

Things, however, didn't start off too well for Worsley as he showed up at the Candiens' training camp overweight. And to complicate things for him Hodge was playing sensationally at the other end of the practice rink. Worsley started the season in Montreal, but played only 7.5 games before he was injured and sent to Quebec Aces in the American League to play himself back into shape. Hodge took over and performed admirably, winning the Vezina trophy in the process.
Meanwhile, Worsley languished in the minors and the critics began talking of him being in the twilight of his career.

But the chubby netminder got his second chance last season after Hodge faltered badly after a good first half. He played 18 games for Montreal during the rest of the regular season and starred in the playoffs against Chicago. His second new lease on life actually came in the final game of the Stanley Cup final when he blanked the Hawks 5-0. From that time on, Worsley has grown in stature in Montreal and appears to be set for at least another couple of seasons.

Meanwhile, Leaf coach Punch Imlach appeared somewhat less enthused with the efforts of his forward units - particularly around the Montreal net. They were on target most of the time, but they were shooting at 35-year-old Worsley who was a star of the piece.

"It's been worth all the sweat and toil." Worsley said Tuesday night after his bulldog goaltending and Claude Provost's overtime goal had enabled the Montreal Canadiens to nip Toronto 4-3 and gain a Stanley cup final round berth for the first time since 1960.

Gump, traded by the Rangers to Montreal two years ago, had weathered an early Toronto storm - three goals in 1.5 minutes - and had shut out the defending Cup champs for the last hour and 12 minutes. He stopped 34 shots in his fourth start since replacing injured Charlie Hodge in the Canadiens' cage.

A persistent flu bug should be the least of Toronto's worries Tuesday night when the Maple Leaf resume their National Hockey League playoff struggle against the high-flying Montreal Canadiens. Montreal goalie Gump worsley is the pest the Leafs must shake off in the third game of the Stanley Cup semifinal series if they are to stall the Canadiens' drive for a second straight post-season title.

Backed by Worsley's standout play in the nets, the Canadiens swept the first two games of the best-of-seven series at Montreal last week, edging the flu-plagued Leafs 4-3 Thursday night and blanking them 2-0 Saturday evening. "I'm just glad we won it," Worsley said after turning away 25 Toronto shots Saturday night en route to his third shutout in Stanley cup play. The 36-year-old Vezina Trophy winner, a 13-year NHL veteran, registered two shutouts in his first postseason appearance for the Canadiens last spring.

Both teams played harder and better in this game than the first and again Crozier broke the back of the Montreal onslaughts. Gump Worsley in the Montreal nets was sensational in his own right, but Croazier was simply better.

Detroit goalie Roger Crozier held the hot hand for the first two games of the Cup finals. He played so well, in fact, that he drew top mention in the post-game star selections. But once the series switched to Detroit, Gump Worsley took over and was clearly the better of the two in the third game-if only by a slight edge. He also outplayed Hank Bassen in the fourth game Sunday.

Should Bassen start Tuesday night, it will be only his sixth Stanley Cup game. Worsley has appeared in 36 and the difference in experience might just be enough.

"Gimme air, I can't breathe" That was Gump Worsley pleading with Ed Giacomin while the two goalies were involved in an early first period brawl SAturday at Madison Square Garden. The plea just as well might have come from the Rangers who were smothered by the checkin and skating of Canadiens and went down 4-1 to their third straight loss in the Stanley Cup quarter-final. The Canadiens settled for only 18 shots on the unsteady Giacomin but scored on three of five first-period chances in spoiling the Rangers' unbeaten string of 18 games at home.

Worsley made three great saves, robbing Bob Nevin in the opening period on his shot and own rebound, a catch save on Phil Goyette in the dull middle session, then on red Seiling's drive and the rebound by Walt Tkaczuk early in the third. "I lost the shutout on my own stupidity," said Worsley about Hadfield's goal. "I had the shot coming dead center in my glove but brought it down and into the net."

...It started when Ferguson cross-checked New York defenceman Jim Neilson and they came off the boards in a tugging match. Brad Park tried to help Neilson but was taken on by Ted Harris. Giacomin skated from his crease and grabbed Teddy's arm as he was about to land a haymaker. That's when Worsley got into the act for an automatic $50 fine for leaving his crease to fight. He pulled Giacomin away but both goalies fell to the ice in the scuffle. "Get the hell up and gimme air, I can't breahte," Gump told his co-member of the goaltenders' union.

"That's just what I did," said Giacomin afterwards, "I didn't want to hurt him. He's too old for me."

Giacomin trolling after a crappy game

The big "M" could easily have had the "hat trick" only for a couple of great saves by Gump Worsley...

Gump Worsley had a hard time staying alert but made some clutch stops en route to his fourth shutout of the season.

Gump Worsley, Montreal's acrobatic goaltender...Worsley, the NHL's top goaltender during the regular season and a standout in the Canadiens' four-game playoff blitz of Boston...

Strain gets to be too much for Worsley

"Worsley is obviously very upset," Pollock said. "His nerves have been bad all season and the flight to Chicago apparently was the breaking point." The Canadiens were en route to Los Angeles for a Wednesday night engagement against the Kings and Worsley chose to return here by train rather than face the additional four-hour flight to the West Coast city.

"He doesn't expect any special treatment," Pollock said. "His decision will be to return to the team as a regular or retire." Pollock said Worsley's stand coincides with that of the club. "We both have similar positions." Pollock said. "He'll undergo an examiniation by the club doctor and it will depend a lot on what the doctor prescribes.

Worsley suffers from a fear of flying and has been under considerable strain since the NHL expanded to a two-division, 12-team league last season to encompass such distant points as Los Angeles, Oakland, Minneapolis and St. Louis.

Worsley, usually caricatured as a pixie-like individual complete with a wide grin, and wry sense of humor, has been on edge since the season began. He has been unhappy with his position with the team, spending considerable time on the bench and there have been injuries.

Gump’s fear of flying was well earned. While still in the minors the left engine of a plane carrying the New York Rovers caught fire in the air and was forced to land unexpectedly. Facing NHL shooters like Bobby Hull was easy for him compared with boarding a flight to the team’s next destination. One night, while on a trip to Los Angeles, the plane hit some bad air and dropped ten thousand feet before the pilot righted the ship. Gump got off the plane in Chicago and took a train to L.A. Early in the next season the idea of more flights became impossible to bear and he retired from hockey.

http://thehockeywriters.com/lorne-gump-worsley-the-bio/

Also despite Pollock claiming the doctor's orders were supreme here, Worsley's version of the story captured in the legends video tells how Pollock had the team doctor fired after he told Gump the only option he had was to switch professions

Here are a few other of the other tribulations that the Gumper had to deal with along the way:

The blast to the forehead from Bobby Hull landed him, unconscious, in Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital. Upon awakening, he was asked how he was feeling and replied, "Good thing the puck hit me flat!(happened in '61)

Worsley left the game immediately after Ratelle's goal which came unassisted on a 25-footer after he had intercepted a pass by Henri Richard. The Gumper was hit flush on the right temple by the egg which was thrown from about 100 feet away and had to retire from the game. "The doctor said it was a mild concussion, and I still feel a bit dizzy," said Worsley afterwards.

The egg-tosser, a 25-year-old fan who had a bag of them when caught by the Garden police, got off lucky when Worsley refused to press charges.

Lorne (Gump) Worsley, veteran goalie for the champion Montreal Canadiens of the NHL, collapsed at a sports dinner yesterday and was taken to a hospital. Worsley was reported to have slumped over the head table at the dinner and to have been carried from the hall on a chair. Worsley was knocked unconscious in a goalmouth collision with the Chicago Black Hawk's Bobby Hull during the first period of the Montreal-Chicago Stanley Cup semifinal playoff game April 25.

 

[BillyShoe1721]

C Joe Nieuwendyk

5x Top 9 Goals(5, 5, 7, 7, 9)
3x Stanley Cup Champion
4x NHL All Star Game Participant
Conn Smythe Trophy Winner, 1999
King Clancy Memorial Trophy Winner, 94-95
NHL Rookie 1st Team All Star, 87-88
Calder Trophy Winner, 87-88
Olympic Gold Medalist, 2002
Calgary Flames Captain, 1991-1995
Hockey Hall of Fame Member
7 points in 13 career international games(Olympics and WC)

Besides being an exceptional hockey player, Nieuwendyk was also considered to be the best lacrosse player in Canada, and at one point he even played on a team that won the Minto Cup, the country's top award in that sport.

In 1985, after his freshman year at Cornell, the Calgary Flames were sufficiently impressed to draft him in the second round, 27th overall. In his first full season as a Flame (1987-88), the young centre scored 51 goals and 92 points, becoming only the second NHL player after Mike Bossy to score 50 goals in his rookie season. His totals also included an eye-popping 31 powerplay goals and 8 game-winners, and he was rewarded with the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie.

Nieuwendyk's second season with the Flames was just as impressive as his first. He was the leader of a team that won the Stanley Cup, again scoring 51 goals. In 1991, he was named captain of the Flames. When knee problems prevented Nieuwendyk from playing early in the 1995-96 season, the Flames found few takers on the trade market. Finally, in December 1995, the Flames traded Nieuwendyk to the Dallas Stars for Jarome Iginla and Corey Millen.

Known as an aggressive player in front of the net as well as an exceptional passer, Nieuwendyk's style of play caused him a number of health problems. He missed most of the 1998 playoff due to a knee injury. However, in 1999, his health and luck returned as Nieuwendyk scored 6 game-winning goals in the playoffs to lead the Stars to victory over the Buffalo Sabres in the Stanley Cup finals. That spring, Joe was recipient of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP.

Joe went on to play parts of two more seasons with the Stars before he was traded to the New Jersey Devils. Following his arrival in New Jersey, Nieuwendyk has reached numerous milestones,reaching the 500 goal-plateau, 500 assists and 1,000 points.

In 2003, Nieuwendyk earned his third career Stanley Cup ring despite missing the Devils' Final due to injury. Later that summer, he signed as a free agent with the Toronto Maple Leafs where he suited up for one season before opting to move on to the Florida Panthers in the summer of 2005.

Nieuwendyk's first season with the Florida Panthers saw the centre tally 56 points in 65 games, however, the club failed to qualify for the playoffs that spring. Due to chronic back problems, Nieuwendyk retired three months into his second season with the Panthers.

Joe Nieuwendyk left the NHL as one of the most respected players of his time, collecting 564 goals and 562 assists for 1,126 points through 1,257 regular season games. In playoff action, he added 66 goals and 50 assists for 116 points in 158 games.

http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=11194

Joe Nieuwendyk was a winner. He won three Stanley Cup championships with three different teams - Calgary, Dallas and New Jersey. Plus he won an Olympic gold medal with Team Canada in 2002.

In 1999 he was so important to Dallas' Stanley Cup championship that he was named as the Conn Smythe trophy winner - about as prestigious of an individual award a hockey player can earn.

That was not his only major award either. In 1988 he won the Calder trophy as best NHL rookie, and in 1995 he won the King Clancy award for his leadership on and off the ice.

Statistically speaking his numbers are also worthy. 564 goals and 1126 points in 1257 games once upon a time guaranteed a player inclusion in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Nowadays a new standard is trying to be established, given the much higher scoring era of the 1980s and early 1990s.

Surprisingly, Nieuwendyk's career statistics could be a sticking point for some Hall voters. Injuries really slowed him, although he always remained a clutch player. He did not average a point per game. And his career totals lands him in a group of 1980s/1990s players who had similar statistics but are debatable Hall of Famers - players like Dino Ciccarelli (608 goals), Dave Andreychuk (640 goals), and a host of players who squeaked into the 500 goal club.

Nieuwendyk's advantages are his championships, his awards, and his impeccable reputation in the community - something the Hall of Fame definitely takes into consideration.

Knowledgeable hockey fans know that Nieuwendyk was one of those guys who brought more to the rink than any statistic can quantify. That might seem odd to say given Nieuwy spent much of his career primarily as a top marksman, but he was a complete player. Aside from chronic back injuries, he had no real weakness in his game. And he brought a lot to the organization off the ice, both in terms of dressing room leadership and community involvement.

http://flameslegends.blogspot.com/2009/01/joe-nieuwendyk.html

Internationally, he was a key defensive cog as part of Canada's Olympic entries in 1998 and 2002 (as seen above), and he won a silver medal with the 1986 world junior tournament.

-James Mirtle

DALLAS — Joe Nieuwendyk never played a game for the Devils in the 2003 Stanley Cup finals, but he was influential in helping them win their third and last championship.

Sidelined for the entire finals against the Anaheim Ducks with a torn oblique muscle he suffered late in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Ottawa Senators, Nieuwendyk still brought an intangible quality that made an impact.

“In the limited time he was with us, he was one of the most team-oriented guys I’ve ever come across,” Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello told The Star-Ledger today. “Whether he was in the lineup or hurt, all he thought about was the team. His commitment to winning and unselfishness is what I think about.”

“He was a player you tried to get others to be like,” Lamoriello said. “You want players to give up their own identity for the team. Joe would do whatever was asked of him.”

http://www.nj.com/devils/index.ssf/2011/10/current_devils_need_unselfish.html

Drafted by Calgary in the second round (27th overall) in 1985, the clutch center won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1988 after scoring 51 goals and 92 points. He would go on to amass a total of 564 goals -- including 93 game-winners (ninth all-time) and 1,126 points during the course of 20 NHL seasons. One of the league's top face-off specialists, Nieuwendyk, who is now the GM of the Dallas Stars, won three Stanley Cups with three different teams.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mu...hl-2011-hall-of-fame-inductees/content.1.html

"If you shot [the puck] at the net and Joe was there, he'd get a piece of it." Nieuwendyk, who last week retired from the Florida Panthers because of chronic back injuries after 20 NHL seasons, was one of the best players in the league at deflecting shots past goaltenders. Since he was an altogether average physical specimen, Nieuwendyk took it upon himself to master the little things; he was also one of the top face-off men around.

Players who rely on wile don't generally attract much attention from scouts, so when the Flames took him with a second-round pick in 1985, one paper ran the headline JOE WHO? He answered his critics quickly. Between the deflections and a wrist shot that wasn't strong but was deadly accurate, he scored 51 goals in each of his first two seasons. (Nieuwendyk, Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy are the only players to start their NHL careers with consecutive 50-goal seasons.) In his second season Calgary won its only Stanley Cup. Nieuwendyk, who went on to play for four other teams and hoist the Cup twice more, finished with 564 goals, 19th best of all time. Along the way, countless kids who might not have been the most physically blessed took notice. "If you don't learn anything from being around him," said Panthers center Stephen Weiss, "then you're in trouble."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1114844/index.htm

Eric says he modeled himself "after guys like Mike Modano and Joe Nieuwendyk, who played the game with size and speed and strength."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1111539/index.htm

The offense revolves around centers Mike Modano and Joe Nieuwendyk, who are as adept at setting up linemates as they are at scoring. Modano's right wing, Brett Hull, still has his trademark booming shot and a lightning-quick release....

Chances are Stars coach Ken Hitchcock would rather see the Devils' top offensive line of Jason Arnott, Patrik Elias and Petr Sykora forced into a defensive role, so expect him to match a line centered by Modano or Nieuwendyk, along with top defenseman Derian Hatcher, against that unit....

With Modano, Nieuwendyk and Carbonneau taking face-offs, Dallas has a huge advantage in this department. The Stars are masters at creating offense off draws....

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1019383/index.htm

By signing free-agent C Joe Nieuwendyk the Maple Leafs finally have a bona fide No. 2 pivot behind Mats Sundin. Nieuwendyk will score points, win face-offs and be a positive influence in the dressing room....

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1030080/index.htm

Nieuwendyk, a fine two-way player, would be a perfect fit in Detroit, where he would be reunited with Brett Hull.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1029179/index.htm

4. Joe Nieuwendyk. STARS Head always up when he attacks, allowing him to read goalie and make necessary adjustments.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1147259/index.htm

Joe Nieuwendyk's line scored all three goals, but it doesn't matter if the Modano line scores, or the Nieuwendyk line, or the Guy Carbonneau line. We all go out and do the same thing: We frustrate people. I don't know how many times this year players on other teams have skated up to me and said, "Will you give us some room here?"

The goal was set up because of good forechecking by Langenbrunner and Nieuwendyk.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1016088/2/index.htm

A good bit of Nieuwendyk's success—19 goals, in fact—can be traced to Calgary's potent power play. His job on the power play is to plant his 6'1", 175-pound frame in front of the goalie and go for rebounds and deflections. He might as well wear a sign that says, "Cross-check me hard." It seems he takes 20 hard hits in the back per night. "Just part of the job," says Nieuwendyk, who leads the NHL in power-play goals.

"He stands in there and takes it," says Edmonton coach Glen Sather, admiringly. "He is tough."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1066961/2/index.htm

Nieuwendyk was used in almost every critical situation involving special teams, but especially when Calgary had the man advantage.

http://books.google.com/books?id=31...CDkQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=joe nieuwendyk&f=false

Nieuwendyk was one of the most respected players of his generation, an elegant forward with a knack for scoring key goals and winning faceoffs.

Most importantly, he was a winner, with three Stanley Cups rings and a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games.

"Joe was a great player and a class act and I really enjoyed being around him, both on and off the ice," Dallas Stars forward Mike Modano said.

"As great a player as he was, he was an even better teammate," said retired forward Brett Hull, Nieuwendyk's trigger man with the Stars. "He got along with everybody, was very classy, unbelievably skilled and clutch."

"He brought a different aspect to our team," said New Jersey Devils and Team Canada goaltender Martin Brodeur. "He was one of the great centremen I played with, a leader who blended in right away."

"He was an all-around elite player," said Montreal Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey, Nieuwendyk's boss in Dallas. "He was the kind of player whose accomplishments merit consideration for the Hall of Fame."

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/story/2006/12/07/nhl-panthers-nieuwendyk.html

Easing into the scoring area from either side of the net, stick coiled, waiting for the prey to drop its guard, the opportune moment to strike, blade darting out like a serpent's tongue.

"I've got to admit I'd never heard of the guy, but he was really impressive right away,'' says former Flames teammate Hakan Loob, two decades later, from his home in Sweden. "Immediately. He played like a European. Skill. Size. Smart. Great, great hands. Amazing touch. I can't begin to remember how many pucks he deflected into the net. I probably can't count that high.

"I do know that playing on a line with him helped boost my career. It's easy to with players that talented. How lucky was I? Here's a rookie, scoring 51 goals, chasing Mike Bossy, one of the best in league history, and I'm playing beside him.

"A dream to coach,'' echoes his old coach, Terry Crisp. "Nieuwy would just come into the room, put on his gear and go out and play. No fuss. No dramatics. You could chew him out, kick his butt. He went out and did the job.''

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=07e2c675-134d-4011-9cb9-760fae46c0b6&k=32356

Stars center Joe Nieuwendyk isn't a tough guy. He doesn't have the scars on his face, the reputation on his resume or the minutes in the penalty box. But he is tough. Nieuwendyk proved it again Saturday night when he returned from a knee injury to score the series-clinching goal against the Edmonton Oilers.

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we...page=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM

Even before they got the scouting report on the Calgary Flames, the Sharks knew who would be the cover boy. ''Joe Nieuwendyk's a great player," Sharks captain Jeff Odgers said. "He's definitely the guy we'll have to key on."

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we...page=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM

Elegantly and almost effortlessly, Nieuwendyk shot and scored the 493rd goal of his career and his first with the Devils, who outlasted the Nashville Predators tonight, 4-3, in front of 16,535 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center.

After only two games since arriving in a trade from Dallas, it is obvious that Nieuwendyk, 35, still has game-breaking talent. Nieuwendyk, who has yet to play with either Petr Sykora or Patrik Elias, gives the Devils a center who can play with finesse and ferocity.

''The transition has been good,'' Nieuwendyk said. ''I like this team's style. It's a style I'm accustomed to. We play defense first and create offense from there. I couldn't ask for a better situation.''

Nieuwendyk, meanwhile, has played with extra sizzle.

''One thing that is instantly noticeable is that we're a better face-off team,'' Constantine said. ''But I don't want to minimize his talents by saying he's just that.''

Nieuwendyk has enough speed to burn when he needs it. He fed Langenbrunner for his goal by setting up behind the net and threading a pass that only Langenbrunner could have reached.

''He's just very good around the net -- great around the net,'' Bobby Holik said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/22/s...k-gives-devils-a-needed-boost-of-offense.html

Joe Nieuwendyk praised his Canadian Olympic teammates for their patience Saturday against a skillful and smart Swedish team. And if there's anyone who should know about patience, it's Nieuwendyk.

Since enjoying back-to-back 51-goal seasons with the Calgary Flames early in his NHL career, the 31-year-old center has endured a series of injuries and misfortunes that cut his production dramatically. Only recently has he recovered the mobility to complement his superb playmaking skills, and Canadian Coach Marc Crawford is grateful for Nieuwendyk's perseverance.

Nieuwendyk played a key role as Canada rallied for a 3-2 victory over Sweden in round-robin play Saturday at Big Hat arena

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes...yk+Is+No+Ordinary+Joe+in+3-2+Win&pqatl=google

 

[Velociraptor]

Randy Carlyle, D

Position: Defenseman
HT/WT: 5'10", 200 lbs
Handedness: Left
Nickname(s): "Kitty"
Born: April 19th, 1956 in Sudbury, ON

- Won the James Norris Memorial Trophy in 1981.
- 1-time Member of the NHL First All-Star Team (1981).
- Played in the NHL All-Star Game 4 times (1981, 1982, 1985, 1993)
- Top-10 in All-Star Voting 3 Times (2nd, 7th
- scored 148 goals and 499 assists for 647 points in 1055 games, adding 1400 penalty minutes.
- scored 9 goals and 24 assists for 33 points in 69 games, adding 120 penalty minutes.

Top 10 Finishes:
Assists - 1x - (7)

Voting Record:

Hart Voting Record:

11th (80-81)

Norris Voting Record:

1st (80-81), 9th (84-85), 13th (81-82)

Quotes

Carlyle has great anticipation. That's why I put him on the ice for our power play.

Legends of Hockey

Except that after just two years, Toronto gave up on him. They traded him to Pittsburgh with George Ferguson for Dave Burrows, and Carlyle's career took off.

Two years later, in 1981, he won the Norris Trophy, something no Leaf had even won. Six seasons in Penguins colours and he was off to Winnipeg for the last nine years of his career.

Randy Carlyle was allowed to play and develop in Pittsburgh, and quickly hit his stride as a strong defensive leader with offensive talents.

The Complete Handbook Of Pro Hockey

reminds many people of a young Brad Park... was not a favourite of serious-minded Toronto coach Roger Nielson...

has yet to play up to what appears to be his potential... strong, aggressive...

rugged for his size

offensively, he's as good as any defenseman there is in the game, says Barry Beck... Rugged player who plays a physical game... some rivals question his skills under forechecking pressure in defensive zone... crowd favourite among critical Pittsburgh fans.

an offensive defenseman... also pretty tough... not great defensively, but doesn't need much help... best at keeping front of the net clear...

fell into disfavour in Pittsburgh... had weight problems and play deteriorated... "he has a great attitude, has become a team leader since we got him," says coach Barry Long... has improved defensive game and reduced mistakes... tireless worker who thrives on lots of ice time...

one of the NHL's most efficient defensemen... excellent in close contact situations... almost always gets the upper hand... some say he represents 35% of the Jets' defense... a leader.

says and does a lot on the ice... gives a running commentary of game situations, offering advice and direction to teammates and taunts to opponents... plays better defensively than he did (when he won the norris), but the points are not quite as plentiful... plays lighter than he did in his earlier days...

Winnipeg Jets Memorial Site

The Jets acquired veteran defenseman Randy Carlyle from the Pittsburgh Penguins late in the 1983-1984 season and he spent the next nine seasons with the Jets. The former Norris Trophy winner became a leader on the blue line and off the ice and he remained with the Jets as an assistant coach after his distinguished playing career came to a conclusion. His most embarrassing moment as a Jet came against the Los Angeles Kings when XXXXXX XXXXXXXX yelled “Hey, Kitty” and Carlyle fed him a perfect drop pass.

Trib Total Media: Penguins All-Time Team

Won Norris Trophy as NHL’s top defenseman in 1980-81 and remains the only Penguin ever to win the Norris … Had 16 goals, 67 assists for 83 points in trophy-winning season … Reached double figures in goals for three straight seasons from 1980-83 … Team captain 1981-84 … Pittsburgh career totals of 66 goals, 257 assists, 323 points in 397 games.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Mar 2, 1979

Penguin Carlyle Fires Up, .Defenseman Compared To Brad Park.

Hockey fans in and around Toronto are said to be steamed up over the loss of defenseman Randy Carlyle, who has blossomed into one of the NHL's finest since being traded to the Penguins last summer. Before being fired late last night, Coach Roger Neilson took most of the heat for the Carlyle deal and for the Leafs' sub-.500 performance this season.

Word of Carlyle's development is out. While Penguin Coach XXXX XXXXXX may go a little overboard comparing the 22-year-old blueliner to the incomparable Bobby Orr, others around the league think Carlyle stacks up favorably against a young Brad Park.

Similar in many ways. Carlyle lacks only Park's blazing slap shot.‎

The Pittsburgh Penguins: History

The Penguins were not very good when Randy Carlyle joined them. Thanks to his strong defense and fiery leadership, they made the playoffs in each of his first four seasons with the team. In 1980-81, Carlyle won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman.

Winnipeg Jets

... In 1984, part of the solution to this problem came in the form of Randy Carlyle. A rugged defenseman. Carlyle had learned his art in the tough leagues of Northern Ontario, his experience helped the teams defense corps mature quickly.

Beaver County Times - Feb 26, 1979

Randy Carlyle Saves Penguins

Defenseman Randy Carlyle moved to the Pittsburgh Penguins from the Toronto Maple Leafs this year to play the point on power plays and has proved no disappointment.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Dec 4, 1980

... He took on Randy Carlyle in a brief swinging match, then wrestled with Carlyle and XXXXXXXX for several penalty minutes.

 

[Dreakmur]

In his prime, he was considered one of the best two-way centers to play the game. Although he was never a prolific scorer, he was an exceptional penalty killer and ruled the face-off circle.

….

Why was Peca put in leadership roles for many of the teams he played for? One word – Intangibles. You could almost say he was a born leader.

Mike Peca !!!​

Awards and Achievements:
Olympic Gold Medalist (2002)

2 x Selke Trophy Winner (1997, 2002)


Selke voting – 1st(1997), 1st(2002), 2nd(1998), 3rd(1999), 5th(2000), 5th(2003), 5th(2004)

Statistics:
Short-Handed Goals – 1st(1997), 2nd(2002), 3rd(1998)

SH TOI – 1st(1997), 1st(1998), 1st(1999), 1st(2000), 1st(2002), 1st(2004), 1st(2006), 1st(2007), 1st(2008), 2nd(2003)

 

[Hedberg]

RW Theoren Fleury

455 G, 633 A, 1088 Pts in 1084 GP
1989 Stanley Cup Champion
1991 Canada Cup Champion
2002 Olympic Gold Medalist
1990-91 +/- Leader
1994-95 2nd Team All-Star
2nd (90-91), 6th (94-95), 7th (98-99) in Goals
6th (98-99), 7th (97-98) in Assists
6th (94-95), 7th (98-99), 8th (90-91) in Points
Played in 1991, 1992, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001 All-Star Game
Captain of the Calgary Flames 1995-1997

Calgary Flames Legends:

Despite the fact that he was one of the NHL's all time greatest super pests, annoying opponents and opponent's fans endlessly, you could not help but admire Theoren Fleury if for nothing more than his success in overcoming the many obstacles thrown his way in life.

He grew to be just 5'6" and played around 180lbs. Despite this he played with ferocious physicality. Grit and determination were his calling cards, even though he had the speed and skill to twice break the 100 point barrier.

Fleury played 10+ seasons for the Calgary Flames from 1988-89 to the 1998-99 season. During that time as a member of the Flames, he reached the 20-goal plateau ten times, the 30-goal plateau seven times, the 40-goal plateau three times, and had a career-high 51 goals and 104 points in the 1990-91 season. He was the Flames leading scorer six times between the 1990-91 and 1998-99 seasons.

Fleury was a pesky, sometimes dirty physical player. He started more than a few fires in the NHL, particularly in the legendary wars with the Edmonton Oilers in the Battle of Alberta. But his most famous on-ice incident would have to be his involvement in the 1986 "Punch Up in Piestany" at the World Junior Championships.

Fleury embraced the international game. He returned to the WJC in 1987, winning gold. He participated in two world championships, 2 Canada Cups/World Cups, and 2 Olympics. His play at the 2002 Olympic games in Salt Lake where Canada won gold, Fleury impressed many with his fine play despite his crumbling NHL career.

Wayne Gretzky insisted upon the aging Fleury being a part of that team. #99 was one of Fleury's biggest fans.

"When you use the word `little' to describe Theo Fleury, you're not talking about his heart," says Wayne Gretzky, who selected Fleury for the gold medal-winning team. "This is a 50-goal scorer who could play for any team in the NHL. He's a small man who has the ability to make the big play at any time. He's living proof that size is not an insurmountable hurdle in making it to the NHL. I thoroughly enjoyed playing with Theo in the Canada Cup [in 1991]. His quickness in going to the net often catches defensemen and goaltenders asleep. When his arms are raised after scoring a goal, then he doesn't look so small."

Legends of Hockey

At 5 feet 6 inches, Theo Fleury is one of the smallest players in hockey, and he had to disprove many doubters and skeptics to become a bona fide NHL star. Intense and fearless, Fleury made a name for himself for more than his stature he could score, play defensively and lead teams to championships in junior hockey, in the NHL and on the international stage.

Wikipedia:

Towards the end of the season [90-91], Fleury set a league record by scoring three shorthanded goals in one game against the St. Louis Blues.... set a franchise record by going +9 in a 13–1 victory over the San Jose Sharks on February 10, 1993, in which he scored six points.

 

[Hedberg]

RW Rick Tocchet

440 G, 512 A, 952 Pts in 1144 GP
1987, 1991 Canada Cup Champion
1992 Stanley Cup Champion
Played in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993 All-Star Game
Captain of the Philadelphia Flyers 1991-1992

Legends of Hockey

Right-winger Rick Tocchet has been one of the top power forwards of his era. His grit, scoring ability, and leadership have been vital factors on six different clubs.

Tocchet developed into one of the NHL's premier power forwards. He topped the 30-goal mark four straight years for the Flyers and helped the club come within a game of winning the Stanley Cup in 1987. The hard-nosed competitor also represented his country at the 1990 World Championships and the Canada Cup in 1987 and 1991.

By February 1992, Phladelphia was in decline and the team tried to shake things up by sending Tocchet to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Mark Recchi was the key player they received in the multi-player deal. Tocchet fit in well on his new club and scored 19 points in 14 playoff games as the Pens repeated as Stanley Cup champions. The next year, he scored a career-high 48 goals, but the club was upset by the New York Islanders in the quarter-finals.

During the mid- to late-'90s, the veteran forward was more of grinder on the L.A. Kings, Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals, and Phoenix Coyotes. He returned to Philly in exchange for Mikael Renberg in March 2000 and scored eleven points while helping the team reach the Eastern Conference finals. He provided leadership and scored 36 points for Philly in 2000-01 and was a tough foe in the slot when utilized on the power play.

Rick Tocchet: Seasoned Champion (From Hockey Arizona, Dec 1997)

You wake up in the morning, go to work, and throughout the course of the day, you suffer a fractured jaw. Do you continue to work, or go to the doctor and get it taken care of? I think the majority of us would take the rest of the day off, and get the problem corrected. Coyotes right winger Rick Tocchet does not fit in with the majority of us. On March 15th, 1992, Tocchet suffered a fractured jaw in the first period. Not only did he continue to play that night, but he scored two goals including the game winner. To Tocchet, it is just part of the game. "We were .500 at the time, you want to play and you want to try to win. It's amazing when you have adrenaline. The next day I was obviously in pain, but during the game you just don't think about it." Just the type of attitude the Coyotes were looking for when they brought the 13 year veteran aboard this past off-season.

The Stanley Cup is not the only championship Tocchet was a part of. In two of his most memorable hockey moments prior to the cup, he was twice a member of the Canadian team during the Canada Cup tournament, (now known as the World Cup), in 1987 and 1991. "Winning the Stanley Cup is definitely number one, but the Canada Cups were a real close second and third, especially in 1987. When we (Canada) played the Russians, there was no love between us, them and the Americans. It was all about who was number one in hockey, and that was pretty exciting."

The four-time NHL All-star is no stranger to the record book either. The Philadelphia Flyers 121st overall pick in the 1983 draft would go on to become their all-time penalty minute leader with 1683 minutes. Considering the old Broad Street Bullies of the 70's, this was no easy accomplishment. With nine 20-goal seasons, he is one of only four players in NHL history with 300 goals and 2000 penalty minutes, and in 1987-88, became only the third player at that time to have 30 goals and 300 penalty minutes in the same season. While sharing the NHL All-star game record for the fastest goal scored from the start of the period at 19 seconds, he has also had 14 career hat tricks which include two four-goal games.

Hard work, dedication and conditioning are some things that have helped change the image of Rick Tocchet since joining the NHL in 1984. He is always one of the last players off the ice, usually working on puckhandling drills. Before the games, he's one of the first to the rink and is riding the exercise bike; after games, he's lifting weights.

Wayne Gretzky, after the 1987 Canada Cup:
"He [Tocchet] was out there on one leg giving it everything he had.
He's the one who managed to turn things around and get us going
in that final game. I'd be proud to have him for a teammate anytime."

Scotty Bowman, after the 1992 Stanley Cup:
"Rick delivered when we needed it most. He's versatile enough
to beat you a lot of ways: with his shot, with his savvy, and with his body."