Robert Richard Sheehan (born January 11, 1949) is an American former 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 h ...

player, who played 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) and

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

(WHA) between 1969 and 1982 as a center.

Career

As a youth, Sheehan played in the inaugural 1960

Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament The Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament (french: Tournoi international de hockey pee-wee de Québec) is an annual minor ice hockey event in Quebec City. The tournament was founded in 1960 to coincide with the Quebec Winter Carnival, ...

with the junior Boston Bruins. A small player by hockey standards, Sheehan made up for his physical deficits by leading the NSJHL minor league with 64 goals his rookie year. He was drafted in the third round, 32nd overall by the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

and went on to play parts of three seasons in the NHL. He was a reserve on the Canadiens Stanley Cup-champion team in 1971 and then joined the lowly

California Golden Seals The California Golden Seals were a professional ice hockey club that competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1967 to 1976. Based in Oakland, California, they played their home games at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena. The ...

where he quickly became a regular and one of the top forwards for his new club. In 1972, Sheehan joined the New York Raiders of the

, who had obtained his WHA rights from the

New England Whalers New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

. In 1975–76, he returned to the NHL with the

Chicago Black Hawks (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and would transfer between the NHL and

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 developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

(AHL) - plus another stop in the WHA - several times until his retirement in 1983. After spending the entire 1978-79 regular season with the

New Haven Nighthawks The New Haven Nighthawks were a professional ice hockey team that played in the American Hockey League from 1972 to 1992. They had affiliations with the Minnesota North Stars (1972–1977), New York Islanders (1972–1973), New York Rangers (19 ...

of the AHL, Sheehan was called up by 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 ...

to center Pat Hickey and

Ron Duguay Ronald Duguay (born July 6, 1957) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and coach who played 12 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1977 through 1989, and served four seasons as a minor league coach. He appeared as an ...

in the playoffs, which ultimately led to the 1979 Stanley Cup Final, which they lost to the Montreal Canadiens in five games. In 15 playoff games, Sheehan had four goals and three assists, and incurred eight penalty minutes. In a career-total 310 NHL games, Sheehan recorded 48 goals and 63 assists for 111 points.

International play

Sheehan represented the United States at the 1981

Ice Hockey World Championship The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual ...

tournament. He scored one goal and one assist in eight games.

Regular season and playoffs

International

Achievements & awards

*MJrHL scoring champion (1966–67) *Played in WHA All-Star Game (1973, 1974) *AHL Second All-Star Team (1979)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheehan, Bobby 1949 births Living people American men's ice hockey centers Binghamton Whalers players California Golden Seals players Chicago Blackhawks players Colorado Rockies (NHL) players Detroit Red Wings players Edmonton Oilers (WHA) players Fort Worth Texans players Ice hockey players from Massachusetts Indianapolis Racers players Los Angeles Kings players Montreal Canadiens draft picks Montreal Canadiens players Montreal Voyageurs players New Haven Nighthawks players Jersey Knights players New York Golden Blades players New York Raiders players New York Rangers players Rhode Island Reds players Sportspeople from Weymouth, Massachusetts Ice hockey people from Norfolk County, Massachusetts St. Catharines Black Hawks players Stanley Cup champions