Serge Lajeunesse (born June 11, 1950) 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 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 103 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 ...

(NHL) for the Detroit Red Wings and

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...

between 1970 and 1974.

Playing career

Juniors

Lajeunesse was born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. He started playing hockey in his hometown of Montreal with the Montreal Junior Canadiens of the Ontario Hockey Association. He scored 22 points in combination with 172 penalty minutes in his first season with the team and helped them win the

Memorial Cup The Memorial Cup () is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League, a consortium of three major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of the United States. It is a four-team round-robin tournament played between t ...

. The following season in 1969–70, Lajeunesse scored 29 points and saw his penalty minutes decrease almost by half to 87 on the season and again helped the team win their second consecutive Memorial Cup. The Detroit Red Wings drafted him with their first pick, 12th overall, in the

1970 NHL Amateur Draft The 1970 NHL Amateur Draft was the eighth NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 11, 1970, the day after the 1970 Expansion Draft, at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec. The last active player in the NHL from this draft class was ...

Professional

Lajeunesse started off in Detroit's farm team, the Fort Worth Wings of the

Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which opera ...

. He only played in 12 games before being brought up to the Red Wings on November 12, 1970 against 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 ...

. In the remaining 62 games of the 1970–71 NHL season, Lajeunesse recorded 55 penalty minutes, recorded four assists, and scored his only NHL goal. After the Wings failed to reach the playoffs again that year, Lajeunesse was re-assessed and sent back down to the minors. The following season saw Lajeunesse move back and forth in the Wings' organization. He spent time with the Tidewater Wings 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 ...

and Fort Worth, while suiting up for seven games in Detroit. He contributed 20 penalty minutes in those seven games without scoring a point and finished the 1971–72 season back in Fort Worth where he helped with a short playoff run. He continued playing in the minor leagues with Tidewater (now renamed the

Virginia Wings The Virginia Wings were a professional ice hockey team based in Norfolk, Virginia of the greater Hampton Roads area. They were an affiliated farm team of the Detroit Red Wings, and a member of the American Hockey League for three seasons from 197 ...

) in 1972–73 before being called back to Detroit to fill in for injuries. Lajeunesse played in 28 NHL games that year and ended with 1 assist to go with 26 penalty minutes. Lajeunesse was traded on May 15, 1973 to the

for

Rick Foley Gilbert Anthony "Rick" Foley (September 22, 1945 — September 29, 2015) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman. He played 67 games in the National Hockey League with the Chicago Black Hawks, Philadelphia Flyers, and Detroit Red Wings b ...

. He started off in the Flyers' farm system and would retire there. Lajeunesse played six more NHL games with Philadelphia in the following two seasons. He helped his AHL team the

Richmond Robins The Richmond Robins were a professional ice hockey team based in Richmond, Virginia. They were a member of the American Hockey League for five seasons from 1971–72 to 1975–76. Their cross-state rivals in the AHL were the Virginia Wings. The ...

reach the playoffs in three consecutive seasons ( 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76), but failed to help them get past the second round. Lajeunesse retired from hockey in 1976.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Awards

*Memorial Cup: 1969, 1970 (Montreal) *OHA All-Star Second Team: 1968–69, 1969–70 (Montreal)

External links

*
Serge Lajeunesse's Bio at Hockey Draft Central.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lajeunesse, Serge 1950 births Living people Canadian ice hockey defencemen Detroit Red Wings draft picks Detroit Red Wings players Fort Worth Wings players Ice hockey people from Montreal Montreal Junior Canadiens players National Hockey League first-round draft picks Philadelphia Flyers players Richmond Robins players Tidewater Wings players Virginia Wings players