Ernest Allan Hicke (born November 7, 1947) is 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 ...

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 ...

forward 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) with the

Oakland 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 ...

Atlanta Flames The Atlanta Flames were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta from 1972 until 1980. They played home games in the Omni Coliseum and were members of the West and later Patrick divisions of the National Hockey League (NHL). Along with t ...

, New York Islanders,

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

and

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

. He left the NHL after the 1978 season, then retired as an active player at end of the 1980 season.

Playing career

Born in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 census, Regina had a city populatio ...

, Hicke's hockey career began with the

Regina Pats Regina (Latin for "queen") may refer to: Places Canada * Regina, Saskatchewan, the capital city of the province ** Regina (electoral district) ** Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Regina France * Régina, French Guiana, a commune United States * ...

, where he played

junior hockey Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each cou ...

. After five years, Hicke's first professional appearance was with the

Houston Apollos The Houston Apollos were a minor professional ice hockey team based in Houston, Texas. They played in the Central Hockey League from 1965 to 1969, and then from 1979 to 1981. From 1965 to 1969, they were a farm team of the NHL's Montreal Canadie ...

of the

Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which opera ...

(CHL). In Hicke's first three professional seasons, he scored 45 goals and 63 assists in 139 games. Originally a member of 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 ...

organization, Hicke was traded to the

in the deal that included the draft pick the Canadiens used to draft

Guy Lafleur Guy Damien Lafleur (September 20, 1951 – April 22, 2022), nicknamed "the Flower" and "Le Démon Blond", was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He was the first player in National Hockey League (NHL) history to score 50 goals in six c ...

. Hicke's NHL career started with the Seals in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

, where he joined his older brother,

Bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

, and played 146 games, producing 33 goals and 37 assists. He was then claimed in the

1972 NHL Expansion Draft The 1972 NHL Expansion Draft was held on June 6, 1972. The draft took place to fill the rosters of the league's two then-new expansion teams for the 1972–73 season, the New York Islanders and the Atlanta Flames. Rules Each expansion team was ...

by the

. After a single season in Atlanta, he was traded to the Flames' expansion partners, the New York Islanders. Hicke played 76 games with New York, but only managed to score 21 points for the team, the worst scoring slump of his career. Hicke's production improved after being traded to the

, with 68 goals and 53 assists. After four seasons with the North Stars, Hicke was signed by the

. He left the NHL after the 1978 season and went to play for the CHL's Dallas Black Hawks. Hicke ended his hockey career with another 8 goals and 24 assists, before he retired as a player after the 1980 season.

Post-playing career

Hicke went on to coach the California North Stars, a

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

youth hockey team, with his son Shane. Hicke is the former head coach, and general manager of the

Port Huron Fighting Falcons The Keystone Ice Miners were a Junior A Tier II ice hockey team based at The Ice Mine arena in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. The team moved to Connellsville in May 2014; prior to the move, the team was known as the Port Huron Fighting Falcons. ...

. He served as a coach the DYHA Jr. Sundevils U14 A team in

Tempe, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Vale of Tempe , image_skyline = Tempeskyline3.jpg , imagesize = 260px , image_caption = Tempe skyline as se ...

in 2016–17.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hicke, Ernie 1947 births Living people Atlanta Flames players Binghamton Dusters players California Golden Seals players Canadian ice hockey left wingers Dallas Black Hawks players Houston Apollos players Ice hockey people from Saskatchewan Los Angeles Kings players Minnesota North Stars players New York Islanders players Regina Pats players Salt Lake Golden Eagles (CHL) players Springfield Indians players Sportspeople from Regina, Saskatchewan