Juha Markku "Whitey, Flying Finn" Widing (July 4, 1947 – December 30, 1984) was a Swedish

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

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 ...

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

who was the third Finnish-born player (after Albert Pudas and

Pentti Lund Pentti Alexander Lund (December 6, 1925 – April 16, 2013) was a Finnish Canadian professional ice hockey Winger (ice hockey), right winger who played for the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers in the National Hockey League. Lund was often credit ...

) to play 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). Widing played in the NHL for eight seasons, mostly with the

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 ...

Playing career

Widing was born in

Oulu Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after: ...

, Finland, to a Finnish mother, Hilkka Widing (). He moved to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

with his mother and

Finland-Swedish Finland Swedish or Fenno-Swedish ( sv, finlandssvenska; fi, suomenruotsi) is a general term for the variety of the Swedish language and a closely related group of Swedish dialects spoken in Finland by the Swedish-speaking population, commonly a ...

stepfather, Yngve Widing, when he was four years old, and he received Swedish citizenship. In 1964 his family moved to

Brandon, Manitoba Brandon () is the second-largest city in the province of Manitoba, Canada. It is located in the southwestern corner of the province on the banks of the Assiniboine River, approximately west of the provincial capital, Winnipeg, and east of the ...

, Canada, so he could play junior ice hockey for the

Brandon Wheat Kings The Brandon Wheat Kings are a Canadian junior ice hockey team based in Brandon, Manitoba. They are members of the Western Hockey League (WHL) since joining the league in the 1967–68 season. Previously, they played in the Manitoba Junior Hoc ...

. He played three seasons there, improving his point total each season from 38 to 114 and then finally to 144 in only a 50-game schedule. Widing joined the

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 ...

of the NHL in 1969–70, thus becoming the first mostly European-trained player with a full-time contract in the NHL. However, after only 44 games he was traded to the

along with Réal Lemieux for

Ted Irvine Edward Amos "Ted" Irvine (born December 8, 1944) is a Canadian former professional National Hockey League, NHL ice hockey, hockey player who was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Career Irvine was a Winger (ice hockey), left winger. He amassed ...

. In Los Angeles he developed into a legitimate scoring threat, garnering at least 55 points in five consecutive seasons. Kings' owner

Jack Kent Cooke Jack Kent Cooke (October 25, 1912 – April 6, 1997) was a Canadian-American businessman in broadcasting and professional sports. Starting in sales, Cooke was very successful, eventually becoming a partner in a network of radio stations and news ...

gave him the nickname "Whitey" and instructed his announcers to pronounce his last name as "why-ding" as opposed to the real pronunciation of "vee-ding." He often played on a line with Bob Berry and

Mike Corrigan Michael Joseph Douglas Corrigan father to “Big S Corrigan” and grandfather to Ryan Corrigan (born January 11, 1946) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played 594 games in the National Hockey League. He played for the ...

known as "the hot line." However, by

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

his productivity had dropped considerably, and he was traded to the

Cleveland Barons The name Cleveland Barons has been used by three professional hockey teams and one junior team. *Cleveland Barons (NHL), the National Hockey League team that played between 1976 and 1978 *Cleveland Barons (1937–1973), the original American Hockey ...

the following season. In 1977–78, Widing played for the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

of 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) ...

, scoring 42 points in his final professional season. After the season, he was traded to the

Indianapolis Racers The Indianapolis Racers were a major league hockey team in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1974 to 1978. They competed in four full seasons before folding 25 games into the 1978–79 season. They played at Market Square Arena. They are o ...

for

Bill Goldsworthy William Alfred Goldsworthy (August 24, 1944 – March 29, 1996) was a professional ice hockey right winger who played for three teams in the National Hockey League for 14 seasons between 1964 and 1978, mostly with the Minnesota North Stars. He r ...

, but chose instead to retire. Widing settled in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

thereafter, but died following a heart attack on December 30, 1984, aged 37.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and achievements

MJHL The Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) is a Junior 'A' ice hockey league operating in the Canadian province of Manitoba and one of nine member leagues of the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). The MJHL consists of thirteen teams all based ...

Second All-Star Team (1967)

References

*''Players: The Ultimate A-Z Guide of Everyone Who Has Ever Played in the NHL'' by Andrew Podnieks page 907 .

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Widing, Juha 1947 births 1984 deaths Brandon Wheat Kings players Cleveland Barons (NHL) players Edmonton Oilers (WHA) players Finnish ice hockey players Los Angeles Kings players New York Rangers players Omaha Knights (CHL) players Sportspeople from Oulu Swedish ice hockey centres Swedish-speaking Finns Finnish emigrants to Sweden Naturalized citizens of Sweden Swedish emigrants to Canada Swedish people of Finnish descent