Brian Roy Spencer (September 3, 1949 – June 3, 1988) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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 ...

player who played ten 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 ...

for the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ( ...

and

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

Career

Brian Spencer was drafted in the fifth round, 55th overall by the

in the 1969 NHL Entry Draft. On December 12, 1970, when Spencer was called up to play with the Leafs in what would be his first NHL game on television, he telephoned his father Roy in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

to tell him to watch the game that night on ''

Hockey Night in Canada CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its hi ...

''. Spencer was to be interviewed between periods of the game. However, a game featuring the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce B ...

versus the

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 S ...

was aired instead. Infuriated, Roy Spencer drove to Prince George, where the closest TV station,

CKPG-TV CKPG-TV (Analog television, analogue channel 2) is a television station in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada, affiliated with Citytv. The station is owned by the Jim Pattison Group#The Jim Pattison Media Group, Jim Pattison Broadcast Group, ...

(then a

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

affiliate), is located. When he arrived, he ordered station staff, at gunpoint, to broadcast the Maple Leafs game instead. The station complied, but as Roy Spencer left the station, he was confronted by the

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...

. After a brief stand-off Roy Spencer was shot and killed. After several seasons with Toronto and the

, Spencer was acquired by the

. Spencer had his best offensive production in a Sabres uniform when he scored 41 points (12 goals, 29 assists) in 1974–75. Spencer played well in Buffalo and was extremely popular with the fans at Buffalo's Memorial Auditorium. His hustle, aggressive play, and hitting ability were things the fans admired. Spencer developed into a solid two-way player. He would however be dealt to the

in September 1977. His offensive production declined as he took on the role of a checking forward with the Penguins. Spencer's last NHL season came in 1978–79 when he played seven games for Pittsburgh. He then finished his playing career in the AHL (Binghamton, Springfield and Hershey) and retired after the 1979–80 season.

Death

After hockey, Spencer submerged himself in a life of alcohol and violence. In 1987, he was charged with kidnapping and murder and faced the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

.Sports Illustrated: "The Case Against Brian Spencer: One woman's testimony could mean a death sentence for a former hockey player accused of murder", May 11, 1987.
/ref> Family and friends, including ex-teammates, gathered around him and tried to help. A former teammate from the Sabres,

Rick Martin Richard Lionel Martin (; ; July 26, 1951March 13, 2011) was a Canadian professional ice hockey winger who played in the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres and Los Angeles Kings for 11 seasons between 1971 and 1982. He was most famous for playing on the ...

, tried to help by testifying as a character witness at his trial. The jury returned a not guilty verdict in March 1988 and Spencer vowed to change his life. Despite the acquittal and a move to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, Spencer's life continued to spiral out of control. Three months later, Spencer would die under similar circumstances to his father; he was fatally shot in a robbery following a crack cocaine purchase in

Riviera Beach, Florida Riviera Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, which was incorporated September 29, 1922. Due to the location of its eastern boundary, it is also the easternmost municipality in the Miami metropolitan area, which was home ...

. Spencer was survived by five children from two marriages, and his twin brother, Byron. A book on Brian's life ''Gross Misconduct: The Life of Spinner Spencer'', written by

Martin O'Malley Martin Joseph O'Malley (born January 18, 1963) is an American lawyer and former politician who served as the 61st Governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was Mayor of Baltimore from 1999 to 2007. O'Malley ...

, was adapted in 1993 by

Paul Gross Paul Michael Gross OC (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian actor, director, writer, producer, and musician born in Calgary, Alberta. Gross is known for his lead role as Constable Benton Fraser in the popular Canadian television series ''Due So ...

and directed by

Atom Egoyan Atom Egoyan (; hy, Աթոմ Եղոյեան, translit=Atom Yeghoyan; born July 19, 1960) is a Canadian filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in the 1980s from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. Egoyan m ...

into a

made-for-television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

in Canada, ''Gross Misconduct: The Life of Brian Spencer''. In 1999, Spencer's daughter and grandson were killed in a car accident in Oklahoma.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Notes

References

* ''Players:The Ultimate A-Z Guide of Everyone Who Has Ever Played in the NHL'' by Andrew Podnieks, * ''Penguin's Profiles: Pittsburgh's Boys of Winter''. O'Brien, James P. 1994, Retrieved 17 Nov. 2006.

External links

*
IMDB page for "Gross Misconduct" (1993) - a Canadian TV movie based on Spencer's life

Spinning Out of Control, The Brian Spencer Story at The Hockey Writers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Brian 1949 births 1988 deaths 1988 murders in the United States Binghamton Dusters players Buffalo Sabres players Calgary Centennials players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Canadian ice hockey left wingers Canadian people murdered abroad Deaths by firearm in Florida Estevan Bruins players Hershey Bears players Ice hockey people from British Columbia Male murder victims New York Islanders players People acquitted of murder People from the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako People murdered in Florida Pittsburgh Penguins players Regina Pats players Springfield Indians players Swift Current Broncos players Toronto Maple Leafs draft picks Toronto Maple Leafs players Tulsa Oilers (1964–1984) players Unsolved murders in the United States