Valere Ronald Fonteyne (born December 2, 1933) 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 hock ...

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He 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 ...

(NHL) from 1959 to 1972, serving the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

(on two tours of duty),

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

and

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 ...

, and in the

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

(WHA) from 1972 to 1974 with the Alberta/Edmonton Oilers.

Playing career

While not an offensive star, Fonteyne was a hard-working and effective defensive forward. He is regarded as one of the cleanest players in

history. In 820 NHL games spanning 13 seasons, he served a remarkable total of just 26 minutes in the penalty box. He went completely unpenalized in five different seasons, including three in a row from 1965–1968. In a further 149

games he was assessed only two minor penalties. In his entire professional career, Fonteyne only received a single fighting penalty. In his NHL career, Fonteyne scored 75 goals and 154 assists for 229 points in 820 games. He also played in 59 playoff games, scoring 3 goals and 10 assists. He made it to the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

finals with the

in 1961, 1963 and 1966 but lost each time. The Alberta native was the first player chosen by the then-

Alberta Oilers Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territ ...

in the 1972

WHA General Player Draft The World Hockey Association General Player Draft was held over the course of two days, February 12 and February 13, 1972, in Anaheim, California. The purpose of the draft was to establish an orderly process through which WHA teams would stock their ...

; he played two seasons in the WHA before ending his career. He was one of 130 former Oilers to appear in a post-game ceremony when the Edmonton Oilers played their final game at

Rexall Place Northlands Coliseum is a now-unused indoor arena located in Edmonton, Alberta, situated on the north side of Northlands (organization), Northlands. It was used for sports events and concerts, and was home to the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hock ...

in April 2016 before moving to a new arena.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fonteyne, Val 1933 births Living people Baltimore Clippers players Detroit Red Wings players Edmonton Oilers (WHA) players Medicine Hat Tigers players New York Rangers players Ice hockey people from Alberta People from Wetaskiwin Pittsburgh Hornets players Pittsburgh Penguins players Canadian ice hockey left wingers