Jean Cusson (born October 5, 1942) is a Canadian retired 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 ...

player who briefly played in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

for the

Oakland Seals The California Golden Seals were a professional ice hockey club that competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1967 to 1976. Based in Oakland, California, they played their home games at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena. The ...

. Cusson spent three years with the Canadian national team before the Seals signed him to a three-game amateur tryout contract in March, 1968. He only played two games for the Seals registering no points and a single shot on goal. He returned to Canada and played 2 seasons as a senior amateur, then moved to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and played out the remainder of his career in the

National League A The National League (NL) is a professional ice hockey league in Switzerland and is the top tier of the Swiss league system. Prior to the 2017–18 season, the league was known as National League A. During the 2018–19 season, the league ...

, serving as a

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

until retiring in 1979 to focus on coaching, which he did until 1983. Cusson also excelled in other sports such as

Canadian football Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...

and was drafted by the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes ( French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the East Division of the Cana ...

in the 9th round of the 1964 CFL Draft

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

External links

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1970 interview (in french) of Jean Cusson in Geneva upon his arrival in Switzerland
1942 births Living people Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Switzerland Canadian ice hockey coaches Canadian ice hockey left wingers Genève-Servette HC players HC La Chaux-de-Fonds players Ice hockey people from Quebec Oakland Seals players People from Verdun, Quebec SCL Tigers players Sportspeople from Montreal Université de Montréal alumni {{Canada-icehockey-winger-1940s-stub