Joe Nolan (March 21, 1929 – September 29, 1986) was an

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 ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

whose career spanned six seasons across two leagues.

Playing career

Nolan started the 1955-56 season as a member of the

Clinton Comets The Clinton Comets were an American ice hockey team in Clinton, New York. Founded in 1927–28 as the Clinton Hockey Club and nicknamed the Comets in 1949, the team played primarily at the Clinton Arena from 1949 until 1973. The team was origin ...

.Eastern Hockey League Transactions Page
/ref> On November 7, 1955, Nolan was signed by the Clinton Comets after defenceman Jim Johnson was waived from the team. Nolan finished the season leading the league in penalty minutes with 352 PIMs. Nolan's 352 PIMs were a league record and also marked the first time that a player accumulated over 300 penalty minutes in a season.From Atlantic City To Toronto: The Boardwalk Trophy and the Eastern Hockey League
/ref> Nolan's staggering penalty minutes gave him an unofficial reward for most individual penalty minutes in a season, which he won back to back years in 1955-1956 and 1956-1957. On December 12, 1956, Nolan was released from the Clinton Comets. At the time, Nolan led the league in penalty minutes. Upon his release, Nolan was signed by the

Johnstown Jets The Johnstown Jets were a professional ice hockey team from Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The Jets were founded in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League for the 1950–51 season, playing at the newly constructed Cambria County War Memorial Arena. The Jet ...

for whom he then appeared in only five playoff games before retiring.

Acting career

Nolan retired from hockey in 1956, but returned to Johnstown, Pennsylvania two decades later in a minor role for the movie ''

Slap Shot ''Slap Shot'' is a 1977 American sports film directed by George Roy Hill, written by Nancy Dowd and starring Paul Newman and Michael Ontkean. It depicts a minor league ice hockey team that resorts to violent play to gain popularity in a declin ...

''. Nolan assumed the role of Clarence "Screaming Buffalo" Swamptown, a player who Chiefs players thought "was suspended forever" until he was introduced at the Federal League championship game. In real life, Nolan was not suspended for life - or at all - due to misconduct. Some of the promotional material for ''Slap Shot'', specifically statements made by the Carlson brothers and Dave Hanson, suggested that Nolan had been banned for life from pro hockey "for some reason." Nolan ''was'' investigated for gambling, but was not suspended. If he had been suspended for life as the promotional material stated, he would have been ineligible to work as an official, which he did for a number of years after his retirement.

Personal

Nolan was a full-blooded Ojibwa Indian. He came from a large family of four brothers and five sisters, the son of Clement and Veronica Nolan. Upon retiring from the EHL, Nolan returned to Clinton, New YorkIMDB: Joe Nolan Biography Page
/ref> to reside, but eventually came back to the Eastern Hockey League as a linesman who was respected by players Nolan continued to reside there until his death in 1986.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nolan, Joe 1929 births Canadian ice hockey defencemen Eastern Hockey League players Johnstown Jets players Ice hockey people from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario First Nations sportspeople Ojibwe people 1991 deaths Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States