Gregory Linn Polis (August 8, 1950 – March 18, 2018) 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. Polis 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) for the

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 ...

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the s ...

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 ...

and

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL) ...

Early life

Born in

Westlock, Alberta Westlock is a town in central Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1913, the town is primarily an agricultural, business, and government administration centre serving communities and rural areas within surrounding Westlock County. Geography Westlock i ...

, Polis grew up in

Dapp A decentralised application (DApp, dApp, Dapp, or dapp) is an application that can operate autonomously, typically through the use of smart contracts, that run on a decentralized computing, blockchain or other distributed ledger system. Like ...

, a nearby

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

town with a population of 75. With few other children in town, he would bring his pet Labrador Retriever to chase down and retrieve the puck. Statements such as "Greg's dog used to chase pucks for him in his childhood" - with associated cartoon - were an annual highlight of his

Topps The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company that manufactures chewing gum, candy, and collectibles. Formerly based in New York City, Topps is best known as a leading producer of American Football Card, American football, Baseball card, baseb ...

and

O-Pee-Chee The O-Pee-Chee Company, Ltd. was a Canadian confectionery company founded in 1911 that produced candy until the mid-1990s. Based in London, Ontario, the company produced its first trading card sets in the 1930s, releasing several collections of ...

hockey cards A hockey card is a type of trading card typically printed on some sort of card stock, featuring one or more ice hockey players or other hockey-related theme and are typically found in countries such as Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden ...

in the early 1970s, the repetition of which became a source of amusement to hockey card collectors over the years.

Career

Polis played for the

Estevan Bruins Estevan is the eighth-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is approximately north of the Canada–United States border. The Souris River runs by the city. This city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Estevan No. 5. History The ...

in the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League and Western Canada Hockey League (precursors of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...

) for four seasons, and was regarded as one of the best players to come out of that junior level organization. He was named as a league all star at left wing three times, and finished second in scoring in the league twice. After advancing through the junior levels, Polis was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins as their first choice in the

1970 NHL Amateur Draft The 1970 NHL Amateur Draft was the eighth NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 11, 1970, the day after the 1970 Expansion Draft, at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec. The last active player in the NHL from this draft class was Bil ...

(seventh overall).http://www.hockeydraftcentral.com/1970/70007.html Profile at hockeydraftcentral.com. Retrieved 11-04-04. He played in the

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or div ...

during his first three years with the Penguins. He played with three other teams during an injury-plagued career. Polis served his last pro season with the

in 1979–80.

Death

Polis died of cancer in

Courtenay, British Columbia Courtenay ( ) is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the largest community and only city in the area commonly known as the Comox Valley, and the seat of the Comox Valley Regional Dis ...

on March 18, 2018.

Awards and achievements

* WCHL All-Star Team (1969, 1970) *All-Star Game: 1971, 1972, 1973 *All-Star Game Most Valuable Player: 1973 *Pittsburgh Briere Award (Rookie of Year): 1970–71

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Polis, Greg 1950 births 2018 deaths Estevan Bruins players Hershey Bears players Ice hockey people from Alberta National Hockey League first-round draft picks New Haven Nighthawks players New York Rangers players People from Westlock County Pittsburgh Penguins draft picks Pittsburgh Penguins players St. Louis Blues players Washington Capitals players Canadian ice hockey left wingers