Gary Raymond Veneruzzo (born June 28, 1943) is a Canadian 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. He played seven games 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

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 ...

during the 1967–68 and 1971–72 seasons, and 348 games in the

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) with the

Los Angeles Sharks The Los Angeles Sharks were an ice hockey team that played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 to 1974. Their primary home arena was the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena but they sometimes played at the Long Beach Sports Arena whe ...

, Michigan Stags/Baltimore Blades,

Cincinnati Stingers The Cincinnati Stingers were an ice hockey team based in Cincinnati that played in the World Hockey Association from 1975 to 1979 and in the Central Hockey League during the 1979–80 season. Their home arena was Riverfront Coliseum. They are t ...

, Phoenix Roadrunners, and

San Diego Mariners The San Diego Mariners were an ice hockey team based in San Diego that played in the World Hockey Association from 1974 to 1977 at the San Diego Sports Arena. Previous to being in San Diego, the team was known as the New York Raiders, New York ...

from 1972 to 1977. Veneruzzo was born in Fort William,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Playing career

Veneruzzo was a minor league player playing in the

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 ...

system for the

Tulsa Oilers The Tulsa Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and play in the ECHL. The Oilers played their home games at the Tulsa Convention Center until 2008 when they moved into the new BOK Center. For many years, the Tuls ...

in the Central Professional Hockey League when the NHL expanded in 1967. He was the selected in the 19th round of the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft by the St. Louis Blues. Veneruzzo initially did not make the NHL roster and was farmed out to their affiliate in the Central Professional League, the Kansas City Blues, where he led the team in scoring - and earned a brief call up to the NHL team. He scored a goal and an assist in five NHL regular appearances and appeared in nine Stanley Cup games, where he was credited with two assists. The following two years Veneruzzo was in the minors despite having decent statistics. He was called up in 1972 for two games with the Blues where he was held scoreless. Veneruzzo jumped to the WHA for its inaugural season in 1972-73, signing with the Los Angeles Sharks. He led the Sharks in scoring that season with 43 goals and 30 assists, and the following year was second on the team, behind

Marc Tardif Joseph Gérard Marquis Tardif (born June 12, 1949) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger who played in both the National Hockey League (NHL) and the World Hockey Association (WHA), principally for the Quebec Nordiques, and is ...

with 39 goals and 29 assists. The Sharks moved to Michigan in 1974 and then midway through the season to Baltimore, and Veneruzzo again led the team in scoring with 33 goals and 27 assists. He started the following year with the Cincinnati Stingers before being traded to Phoenix. Veneruzzo played one more year in the WHA, closing his career with the San Diego Mariners in 1976-77. Altogether Veneruzzo ranked 56th overall in all time scoring in the WHA, having played 348 games in the WHA scoring 151 goals, 123 assists and 274 points coupled with 212 penalty minutes in regular season games, and five goals, no assists and 11 penalty minutes in 18 playoff appearances. He was inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

External links

* 1943 births Living people Baltimore Blades players Buffalo Bisons (AHL) players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Canadian ice hockey left wingers Cincinnati Stingers players Denver Spurs (WHL) players Ice hockey people from Thunder Bay Kansas City Blues players Los Angeles Sharks players Michigan Stags players Ontario Hockey Association Senior A League (1890–1979) players Phoenix Roadrunners (WHA) players St. Louis Blues players San Diego Mariners players Seattle Totems (WHL) players Tulsa Oilers (1964–1984) players Victoria Maple Leafs players {{Canada-icehockey-winger-1940s-stub