Gordon Cruickshank (May 4, 1965 – August 9, 2021) was a Canadian ice hockey

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who was an All-American for

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Career

Cruickshank arrived in

in 1984 and had a pedestrian first season with the ice hockey team. Despite underperforming, he was selected by 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 ...

in the NHL Draft. Cruickshank seemed to prove the Bruins' scouts correct when he nearly tripled his point production and took over as the top offensive threat for the Friars. He was 23 goals better than the next highest teammate and was named to the second All-Conference team despite Providence finishing 10 games below .500. This trend continued through Cruickshank's final two seasons with the Friars and, though he was not able to help the team achieve much success, he was an All-American in his final college season. Cruickshank joined the

Maine Mariners Maine Mariners may refer to: * Maine Mariners (AHL), an ice hockey team in Portland, Maine, which operated from 1977 to 1992 * Maine Mariners (ECHL) The Maine Mariners are a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL that began play in the 2018 ...

for the tail end of the 1988 season and prepared to continue his professional career the following season. Just before the Bruins' training camp, Cruickshank injured his left ankle. He ended up needing surgery to fix a bone chip and was sidelined for several months. When he tried to return in February, Cruickshank was out of shape and his ankle still had not completely healed. Cruickshank lost the entire season to the injury but did return for Boston's training camp in 1989. He demonstrated the scoring touch he had in Providence and was assigned to Maine at the start of the season but he found it difficult to get into the lineup. Cruickshank played just 24 games for the Mariners before being sent down to the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

to finish out the year. The next season, Cruickshank was one of the top goal-scorers for the Johnstown Chiefs, finishing eighth in the league with 44 markers. Despite the performance, Cruickshank was not called up and spent his third year as a professional bouncing between three teams before retiring from hockey.

Statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruickshank, Gord 1965 births 2021 deaths AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans Boston Bruins draft picks Canadian ice hockey right wingers Greensboro Monarchs players Ice hockey people from Mississauga Johnstown Chiefs players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Maine Mariners (AHL) players Nashville Knights players Providence Friars men's ice hockey players Raleigh IceCaps players