Richard John Vasko (born January 12, 1957) is 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 ...

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 ...

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

who 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 ...

for the Detroit Red Wings.

Career

As a youth, Vasko played in the 1970

Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament The Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament (french: Tournoi international de hockey pee-wee de Québec) is an annual minor ice hockey event in Quebec City. The tournament was founded in 1960 to coincide with the Quebec Winter Carnival, ...

with a

minor ice hockey Minor hockey is an umbrella term for amateur ice hockey which is played below the junior age level. Players are classified by age, with each age group playing in its own league. The rules, especially as it relates to body contact, vary from c ...

team from Cedar Hill,

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. Vasko was drafted 37th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1977 NHL amateur draft and 53rd overall by 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 ...

in the

1977 WHA Amateur Draft The 1977 WHA Amateur Draft was the fifth and final draft held by the World Hockey Association. __NOTOC__ Selections by Round Below are listed the selections in the 1977 WHA Amateur Draft. Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 ...

. He went on to play 31 regular season games for the Red Wings over three seasons.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

References

External links

*
Rick Vasko's Bio on Hockey Draft Central.com
1957 births Adirondack Red Wings players Detroit Red Wings draft picks Detroit Red Wings players Indianapolis Racers draft picks Kansas City Red Wings players Living people Oklahoma City Stars players Peterborough Petes (ice hockey) players Ice hockey people from St. Catharines Canadian ice hockey defencemen {{Canada-icehockey-defenceman-1950s-stub