Stanley "Stan" Smrke (September 2, 1928 — April 14, 1977) was a Yugoslavian-born Canadian

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 ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He played 9 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 ...

with the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

during the 1956–57 and 1957–58 seasons. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1947 to 1967, was spent in the minor leagues.

Career

Smrke started his

career with the

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

. He was the first Yugoslavian-born player ever to play in the NHL. Smrke played his entire NHL career (9 games) with the Habs. Over his career, he scored a total of three assists before being dropped by the team. His final season in the NHL was the 1957–58 season. After leaving the NHL, he was sent to the minor leagues and became a member of the

Rochester Americans The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League; the team is an owned and operated affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home games in Rochester, New York, a ...

. He is currently ranked fifth all-time in the Rochester Americans Hall of Fame.

Personal life

He was born as Stanko Smrke in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

, in what was then the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

to a Slovene father and a

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

mother. His son,

John Smrke John Smrke (born February 25, 1956) is a Canadian-born American former professional ice hockey player who played 103 games in the National Hockey League with the St. Louis Blues and Quebec Nordiques between 1977 and 1980. Smrke was born in Chicou ...

, was also a hockey player and played 103 games in the 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 s ...

and

Quebec Nordiques The Quebec Nordiques (french: Nordiques de Québec, pronounced in Quebec French, in Canadian English; translated "Quebec City Northmen" or "Northerners") were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City. The Nordiques played in the W ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

External links

* * 1928 births 1977 deaths Baltimore Clippers (1945–49) players Canadian ice hockey forwards Canadian people of Serbian descent Canadian people of Slovenian descent Chicoutimi Saguenéens (QSHL) players Montreal Canadiens players Rochester Americans players Sportspeople from Belgrade Toronto Young Rangers players Yugoslav emigrants to Canada Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States {{Canada-icehockey-player-stub