Stephen Glen Rexe (February 26, 1947 – November 12, 2013) was a Canadian 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 ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

, the first-ever draft pick of the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

of 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) and second overall pick in the 1967 NHL Amateur Draft.

Biography

Rexe played junior hockey with the Ontario Major Junior A,

Peterborough Petes The Peterborough Petes are a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League. The team has played at the Peterborough Memorial Centre in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, since 1956, and is the oldest continuously operating team in the league. ...

. In 1967, Rexe was offered an contract by Penguins general manager, Jack Riley, at $7,500 for one season with a $7,500 signing bonus. Rather than sign with Pittsburgh, Rexe chose to join the Canadian national hockey team as an amateur where he competed internationally for Canada. At the

1968 Winter Olympics The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games (french: Les Xes Jeux olympiques d'hiver), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 18 February 1968 in Grenoble, France. Thirty-seven countries participated. Frenchm ...

Rexe backed up

Wayne Stephenson Wayne Frederick Stephenson (January 29, 1945 – June 22, 2010) was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. He was born in Fort William, Ontario. Playing career Stephenson played primarily with the Canadian National Team early in ...

on the way to a Canadian bronze medal. Canada withdrew from official IIHF events in 1970 and the national team programme was suspended after they were refused permission to use semi-professional players at the world championship. Rexe spent the rest of his hockey career playing in minor hockey leagues without ever appearing in an NHL game. Rexe was primarily a second and third string goaltender for the Canadian national team. He went on to play with the

Ottawa Nationals The Ottawa Nationals were a professional men's ice hockey team out of Ottawa that played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) during the 1972–73 WHA season. The WHA had originally granted a franchise to Doug Michel for "Ontario." Original ...

, Belleville Mohawks, Belleville Quintes of the Ontario Hockey Association Senior League,

Greensboro Generals The Greensboro Generals were an East Coast Hockey League team based in Greensboro, North Carolina, and played at the Greensboro Coliseum from 1999 to 2004. The name was originally used by the Greensboro Generals in the Eastern Hockey League. Th ...

of the

Eastern Hockey League The Eastern Hockey League was a minor professional United States ice hockey league. Eastern Amateur Hockey League (1933–1953) The league was founded in 1933 as the Eastern Amateur Hockey League (EAHL). The league was founded by Tommy Lockhart ...

, the

Springfield Kings The Springfield Indians were a minor professional ice hockey franchise, originally based in West Springfield, Massachusetts and later Springfield, Massachusetts. The Indians were founding members of the American Hockey League. They were in existen ...

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

(AHL), where he back-stopped the Kings to a

Calder Cup The Calder Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the playoff champions of the American Hockey League. It was first presented in 1937 to the Syracuse Stars. The cup is made of sterling silver mounted on a base of Brazilian mahogany. In its cur ...

title in 1975, the

Springfield Indians The Springfield Indians were a minor professional ice hockey franchise, originally based in West Springfield, Massachusetts and later Springfield, Massachusetts. The Indians were founding members of the American Hockey League. They were in existe ...

also of the AHL,

Napanee Comets The Napanee Comets were an ice hockey franchise based in the Eastern Ontario town of Napanee, Ontario, located in Lennox and Addington County, approximately 40 kilometres west of Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The Comets played in a number of OHA lea ...

and Lindsay Lancers of the OHA Sr. League,

Binghamton Dusters The Binghamton Dusters were an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Binghamton, New York, USA at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. The team logo was designed by Johnny Hart, artist of the comic strip " B.C." an ...

of the North American Hockey League. He owned and coached the OPJHL Whitby Lawmen in the 1984–85 season. Rexe resided in

Belleville, Ontario Belleville is a city in Ontario, Canada situated on the eastern end of Lake Ontario, located at the mouth of the Moira River and on the Bay of Quinte. Belleville is between Ottawa and Toronto, along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Its populat ...

with his wife Maureen and their four children. After hockey, Rexe worked in the import / export automobile industry. He died at his home in Belleville on Tuesday, November 12, 2013 at the age of 66. In an interview with an '' Ottawa Sun'' reporter in April 2008, Rexe stated that he considered it an honour to have been the first-ever pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and would have been delighted if the Pens would have invited him to Pittsburgh to drop the first puck when they open their new arena.ottawasun.com – Earl McRae – A Penguin from the first to the last
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rexe, Steve 1947 births 2013 deaths Canadian ice hockey goaltenders Ice hockey people from Ontario National Hockey League first-round draft picks Peterborough Petes (ice hockey) players Pittsburgh Penguins draft picks Sportspeople from Peterborough, Ontario Springfield Kings players Springfield Indians players