Blair MacDonald
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Blair MacDonald
Blair Neil Joseph "B. J." MacDonald (born November 17, 1953) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association between 1973 and 1983. He featured in the 1979 WHA Final with the Edmonton Oilers and the 1982 Stanley Cup Finals with the Vancouver Canucks. He is best known for his time with the Oilers, the club where he spent the majority of his career and where he served as one of Wayne Gretzky's first linemates at the start of Gretzky's NHL career. Playing career WHA After a stellar final year of junior hockey with the Cornwall Royals of the QMJHL in which he scored 63 goals in 64 games, MacDonald was selected 86th overall by the Los Angeles Kings in the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft. However, he was also selected 30th overall by the Alberta Oilers (returned to original name Edmonton Oilers a few months later) of the rival World Hockey Association in their draft, and chose to forego the NHL to sign in Edmonton. MacD ...
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Winger (ice Hockey)
Winger, in the game of ice hockey, is a forward position of a player whose primary zone of play is along the outer playing areas. They typically flank the centre forward. Originally the name was given to forward players who went up and down the sides of the rink. Wingers generally have the least defensive responsibilities out of any position on the ice, however they are still tasked with defensive duties such as forechecking duties or covering the point in the defensive zone. Nowadays, there are different types of wingers in the game — out-and-out goal scorers, checkers who disrupt the opponents, and forwards who work along the boards and in the corners. Often a winger's precise role on a line depends upon what type of role the other winger plays; usually lines will have one more goal-scoring oriented winger and one winger more focused on playing the boards, checking and passing the puck to others to take shots (if a larger player, he will sometimes be called a "power for ...
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1974–75 WHA Season
The 1974–75 WHA season was the third season of the World Hockey Association. Fourteen teams each played 78 games. Regular season The WHA expanded by adding the Indianapolis Racers and Phoenix Roadrunners, and splitting into 3 divisions (Western, Eastern, and Canadian). The top two teams in each division qualified for the playoffs along with the two next best teams overall. Prior to the season, Southern California welcomed the Jersey Knights, who moved to San Diego and became the Mariners, and said goodbye to the Los Angeles Sharks, who moved to Detroit and became the Michigan Stags. Midway through the season, the Stags moved to Baltimore and became the Blades; they folded for good after the season. Chicago also folded at season's end. Also, the New England Whalers left Boston for Hartford, but played the first half of the season in Springfield, Massachusetts until construction on the Hartford Civic Center was finished. The NHL also expanded this season, to 18 teams, making a t ...
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Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous city and state. A landlocked country, Austria is bordered by Germany to the northwest, the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia to the northeast, Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The country occupies an area of and has a population of 9 million. Austria emerged from the remnants of the Eastern and Hungarian March at the end of the first millennium. Originally a margraviate of Bavaria, it developed into a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire in 1156 and was later made an archduchy in 1453. In the 16th century, Vienna began serving as the empire's administrative capital and Austria thus became the heartland of the Habsburg monarchy. After the dissolution of the H ...
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Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) considers it to be one of the "most important championships available to the sport". The trophy was commissioned in 1892 as the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup and is named after Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor General of Canada, who donated it as an award to Canada's top-ranking amateur ice hockey club. The entire Stanley family supported the sport, the sons and daughters all playing and promoting the game. The first Cup was awarded in 1893 to Montreal Hockey Club, and winners from 1893 to 1914 were determined by challenge games and league play. Professional teams first became eligible to challenge for the Stanley Cup in 1906. In 1915, the National Hockey Association (NHA) and the Pacifi ...
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Jari Kurri
Jari Pekka Kurri (; born May 18, 1960) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey winger and a five-time Stanley Cup champion. In 2001, he became the first Finnish player to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 2017 Kurri was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history. He is the general manager and owner of Jokerit. Playing career Early years (1977–1980) He began his pro career with Jokerit in the Finnish SM-liiga. After an eleven-point rookie season for Jokerit in 1977–78, Kurri scored 30 and 39 points the next two years, playing all 33 games in each season. On March 20, 1979, in a game of seemingly minor consequence at the time, Kurri accompanied the Finnish national team to play in Edmonton, Alberta. The Finns had been invited by the World Hockey Association to play the WHA-leading Edmonton Oilers - while essentially an exhibition game for the Finnish team, the WHA counted the game in its standings. Finland lost the game 8-4, nevertheless Kurri impr ...
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Glenn Anderson
Glenn Chris Anderson (born October 2, 1960) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Edmonton Oilers, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, and St. Louis Blues. Anderson was known to have a knack for stepping up in big games, which garnered him the reputation of a "money" player. His five playoff overtime goals rank third in NHL history, while his 17 playoff game-winning goals put him fifth all-time. During the playoffs, Anderson accumulated 93 goals, 121 assists, and 214 points, the fourth, ninth, and fourth most in NHL history. Anderson is also first all-time in regular season game winning goals in Oilers history with 72. At a young age, Anderson admired the European aspects of the game. He was known to have a liking for participating in international tournaments, more so than his NHL contemporaries. When he was drafted by the Oilers in 1979, he chose to play for Team Canada at the 1980 Winter Olymp ...
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Mark Messier
Mark John Douglas Messier (; born January 18, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre of the National Hockey League (NHL). His playing career in the NHL lasted 25 years ( 1979–2004) with the Edmonton Oilers and New York Rangers. He also played professionally with the World Hockey Association (WHA)'s Indianapolis Racers and Cincinnati Stingers. He also played a short 4 game stint in the original Central Hockey League with the Houston Apollos in 1979. He was the last former WHA player to be active in professional hockey, and the last active player in any of the major North American professional sports leagues to have played in the 1970s. After his playing career, he served as special assistant to the president and general manager of the Rangers. Messier is considered one of the greatest ice hockey players of all time. He is second on the all-time list for playoff points (295) and third for regular-season games played (1756) and regular-season points (1887). He ...
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Ron Chipperfield
Ronald James Chipperfield (born March 28, 1954) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who served as the Edmonton Oilers' first National Hockey League (NHL) captain. He played for the Oilers in both the World Hockey Association (WHA) and the NHL, as well as the Vancouver Blazers and the Calgary Cowboys of the WHA, and the Quebec Nordiques of the NHL. Chipperfield was born in Brandon, Manitoba. Playing career Chipperfield started his junior career in 1969–70 with the Dauphin Kings of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL), leading the league in scoring. The Kings won the MJHL championship and advanced to the 1970 Memorial Cup western semi-final before bowing out. Next he spent four years with Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Canadian Hockey League (WCHL), where he set numerous team and league records. His most successful year there was his last, 1973–74, when he scored 90 goals, setting a league record at the time, won the scoring title, and was named league M ...
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Lady Byng Trophy
The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, formerly known as the Lady Byng Trophy, is presented each year to the National Hockey League "player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability". The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy has been awarded 88 times to 53 different players since it was first awarded in 1925. The original trophy was donated to the league by Lady Byng of Vimy, then–viceregal consort of Canada. The voting is conducted at the end of the regular season by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, and each individual voter ranks their top five candidates on a 10-7-5-3-1 points system. Three finalists are named and the trophy is awarded at the NHL Awards ceremony after the Stanley Cup Playoffs. History The trophy is named in honour of Marie Evelyn Moreton (Lady Byng), wife of the Viscount Byng of Vimy, who commanded Canadian forces at the Battle of Vimy Ridge and who was Gov ...
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Bill Barber
William Charles Barber (born July 11, 1952) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played twelve seasons for the Philadelphia Flyers in the National Hockey League (NHL). As part of the famed LCB (Leach, Clarke, Barber) line, Barber helped lead the Flyers to the franchise's two Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1990. He is currently a scouting consultant with the Flyers. Playing career Barber was drafted by the Flyers, seventh overall, in the first round of the 1972 draft. He was called up after 11 games in the AHL with the Richmond Robins. In his first season with the Flyers, Barber scored 30 goals and 34 assists and was a contender for the Calder Memorial Trophy for rookie of the year. Barber was converted to left wing by coach Fred Shero. He scored at least 20 goals every season. His best season was 50 goals and 62 assists in the 1975–76 season. In the Flyers' successful 1974 and 1975 Stanley Cup play ...
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NHL All-Star Game
The National Hockey League All-Star Game (french: Match des Étoiles de la Ligue Nationale de Hockey, links=no) is an exhibition ice hockey game that is traditionally held during the regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL), with many of the League's star players playing against each other. Each team plays with four players. The game's proceeds benefit the pension fund of the players. The NHL All-Star Game, held in late January or early February, marks the symbolic halfway point in the regular season, though not the mathematical halfway point which, for most seasons, is usually one or two weeks earlier. Between 2007 and 2020, it was held in late January. After skipping 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2022, it was held in early February, and the 2023 All-Star Game will also be held in early February. Format Current On November 18, 2015, the NHL announced significant changes to the All-Star Game format, starting with the 2016 game: instead of one game featuring two ...
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Brett Callighen
Brett Charles Callighen (born May 15, 1953) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey forward who played 213 games in the World Hockey Association (WHA), followed by 160 games in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played for the New England Whalers and Edmonton Oilers. He was Wayne Gretzky's first regular left winger. Playing career Callighen was playing with the Oilers when they were one of the four WHA teams to move into the NHL for the 1979–80 NHL season. On October 14, 1979, Callighen along with Blair MacDonald assisted on Gretzky's first NHL goal. During that season, on 24 February, Callighen suffered an injury to his left eye when it was clipped by Brad McCrimmon's stick, causing Callighen to miss the remainder of that season. Callighen had repeated surgeries, but was declared legally blind in that eye. He played in only portions of the Oilers' 1980–81 and 1981–82 seasons, followed by a few games over the next four years with top-tier European teams HC Lugano ...
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