William Barry Ashbee (July 28, 1939 – May 12, 1977) was a Canadian professional
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
defenceman
Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...
who played five seasons in the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
(NHL) for the
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...
and
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...
between 1965 and 1974. His career ended prematurely due to an eye injury during a game, which partially blinded him. Ashbee later died of
leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...
in 1977.
Playing career
Ashbee started his junior hockey with the
Barrie Flyers
The Barrie Flyers were a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey Association from 1945 to 1960, from Barrie, Ontario. The Flyers played home games at the Barrie Arena from 1945 to 1960.
History
The Barrie Flyers junior team was founded ...
in the
Ontario Hockey Association in 1956, although he spent one season with the Lakeshore Bruins in the
Metro Junior B Hockey League for further development in 1957–58. He started his professional career by playing eight seasons with the
Hershey Bears
The Hershey Bears are a professional ice hockey team based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a town located 14 miles east of the state capital of Harrisburg. The current Bears club has played in the American Hockey League since the 1938–39 season maki ...
of the
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...
, although he did play 14 games with the
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...
of the NHL during the
1965–66 season. He made his NHL debut on November 25, 1965 against the
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...
.
Ashbee missed considerable time due to injuries, including the entire 1966–67 season following surgery to fix a crushed disk in his back, and when the NHL
expanded in 1967, he was left unprotected for the
expansion draft
An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or franchises. This occurs mainly in North American sports. One of the ways of stocking the new team or teams is an expansio ...
, and subsequently rejoined the minor league Hershey Bears.
He became an NHL regular with the
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...
during the
1970–71 season, and soon became one of their best defensemen. Ashbee was also known as a physical player, and during a game on January 3, 1973 punched a
referee after receiving a penalty, and was given an eight-game suspension, the most since
Maurice Richard's
suspension in 1955. He was named to the NHL Second All-Star team and won a
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, an ...
with the team during the
1973–74 season, and had a +52 plus/minus rating during the regular season. However, his career also ended that year during the playoffs against the New York Rangers.
Eye injury
On April 28, 1974, during overtime of Game 4 of a Stanley Cup semifinal series, a slap shot by
Dale Rolfe of the New York Rangers struck Ashbee in the right eye. He was removed from the ice on a stretcher. According to Ashbee's obituary in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', the vision in his injured eye was permanently reduced to 15 percent. With such limited vision Ashbee was unable to continue playing, so he announced his retirement on June 4, 1975.
Retirement and death
Ashbee became an assistant coach with the team the next season, though he initially declined the job because he thought it was offered to him out of sympathy.
In this role, he worked primarily with the team's defencemen. During his first season as an assistant coach, the Flyers won their second straight Stanley Cup. Ashbee had his name added to the Cup for a second time. Ashbee was told that he had
leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...
in April 1977.
Though it was caught quickly, the cancer spread fast, and Ashbee died on May 12, 1977.
He was buried at Glendale Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Weston, Ontario, his hometown.
His jersey number, 4, was retired by the Flyers on October 13, 1977
and the
Barry Ashbee Trophy
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Metropolitan Division of the National Hockey League's (NHL) Eastern Conference. The Flyers were founded in 1967 as one of si ...
is now awarded each season to the best defenseman for the Flyers.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
Awards and Honors
*NHL All-Star Second Team (1974)
*
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, an ...
Champions Player (1974), assistant coach (1975)
*Number retired by the Philadelphia Flyers (4)
References
Bibliography
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashbee, Barry
1939 births
1977 deaths
Barrie Flyers players
Boston Bruins players
Canadian ice hockey coaches
Canadian ice hockey defencemen
Deaths from cancer in Pennsylvania
Deaths from leukemia
Hershey Bears players
Kingston Frontenacs (EPHL) players
National Hockey League players with retired numbers
Philadelphia Flyers coaches
Philadelphia Flyers players
Ice hockey people from Toronto
Stanley Cup champions