Wren Alvin Blair (October 2, 1925January 2, 2013) was 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 ...
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 ...
coach, scout and executive 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 ...
.
Biography
Early life
Blair was born in
Lindsay,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, the son of Audrey and Alvin Blair. The family moved to
Oshawa
Oshawa ( , also ; 2021 population 175,383; CMA 415,311) is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of Downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the G ...
when his father took a job in a dairy. Wren grew up playing hockey on the rink outside
Westmount Public School.
He was given the nickname "The Bird" and was known for his wild behavior on the bench. This behavior often involved climbing on boards to profanely berate officials and his players.
Blair was founder, coach and General Manager of the
Whitby Dunlops, who would win the
Allan Cup
The Allan Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the national senior amateur men's ice hockey champions of Canada. It was donated by Sir Montagu Allan of Ravenscrag, Montreal, and has been competed for since 1909. The current champions are the ...
in 1957 and 1959. In 1959 the team represented Canada in
1958 World Ice Hockey Championships
The 1958 Ice Hockey World Championships were held between February 28 and March 9, 1958, in Oslo, Norway at the Jordal Amfi arena. The Whitby Dunlops represented Canada, winning the World Championship for the 17th time. The Soviets lost the fina ...
winning the tournament. From 1958–1971, Blair served as the General Manager of the
Clinton Comets 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, ...
.
From 1963–65, Blair was general manager of the
Minneapolis Bruins
The Minneapolis Bruins were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the Central Professional Hockey League (CPHL) from 1963 to 1965.
The Bruins were one of the original five teams to enter the newly formed CPHL. Minneapolis operated as a ...
, 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 ...
, before his jump to the NHL.
Bobby Orr
In 1960, Blair began negotiations with
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...
president
Weston Adams
Weston Woollard Adams (August 9, 1904 – March 19, 1973) was an American hockey executive with the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Early life
Adams was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. ...
to begin building the new
Oshawa Generals
The Oshawa Generals are a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League. They are based in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The team is named for General Motors, an early sponsor (commercial), sponsor which has its Canadian headquarters in Oshawa. ...
, a
junior ice hockey
Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each cou ...
team in the
Ontario Hockey League
The Ontario Hockey League (OHL; french: Ligue de hockey de l'Ontario (LHO)) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League. The league is for players aged 16–19. There are exceptions for overag ...
. The agreement was made contingent on a new arena being built in
Oshawa, Ontario
Oshawa ( , also ; 2021 population 175,383; CMA 415,311) is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of Downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the Gr ...
. The
Oshawa Civic Auditorium
The Oshawa Civic Auditorium was an indoor arena in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. It operated from 1964 to 2006, and was primarily used as an ice hockey venue for the Oshawa Generals. The auditorium was built as a replacement to the Hambly Arena, whic ...
would later open in 1964. The Oshawa Generals were reactivated 1962 as a team playing in the
Metro Junior A League
The Metro Junior A League was a junior ice hockey league created in 1961 by Toronto Maple Leafs owner Stafford Smythe in an attempt to rival the OHA, and act as a farm system for his NHL team. The league operated for two seasons from 1961 to 196 ...
. For this year, the team played its home games at
Maple Leaf Gardens
Maple Leaf Gardens is a historic building located at the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building was initially constructed in 1931 as an arena to host ice hockey games, though it has sinc ...
.
In the fall of 1962, while serving as a scout for the Bruins, he signed
Bobby Orr
Robert Gordon Orr (born March 20, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest of all time. Orr used his ice skating speed, scoring, and play-making abilities to revolutionize the pos ...
, then a 14-year-old phenom, to the Bruins-sponsored
Oshawa Generals
The Oshawa Generals are a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League. They are based in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The team is named for General Motors, an early sponsor (commercial), sponsor which has its Canadian headquarters in Oshawa. ...
. Orr would later score 94 points in 47 games, helping the Generals win the
Ontario Hockey Association
The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) is the governing body for the majority of junior and senior level ice hockey teams in the Province of Ontario. The OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern Ontario Hockey As ...
championship in 1966 before beginning his
hall of fame
A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...
career in the NHL. Blair also coached the
Kingston Frontenacs
The Kingston Frontenacs are a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League, based in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The Frontenacs play home games at Leon's Centre, which opened in 2008.
Team history predates the OHA, back to 1945, to a te ...
to the final EPHL championship in the 1962–63 season.
Minnesota North Stars
In 1967, Minnesota was awarded an expansion franchise in the NHL,
Minnesota North Stars
The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...
.
Walter Bush
Walter Lewis Bush, Jr. (September 25, 1929 – September 22, 2016) was an American ice hockey administrator. He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In 1955, he helped start the Central Hockey League, which turned into one of the few successful mi ...
, a former partner in the Minneapolis Bruins, became the North Stars' president. He then hired Blair as their first coach and general manager. He also coached parts of the 1968–69 and 1969–70 seasons before stepping down to concentrate on his role as general manager, a job he held through the
1973–74 season. He was fired as GM and replaced by the North Stars' coach,
Jack Gordon in 1974.
Pittsburgh Penguins
He would later go on to own the
Saginaw Gears of the
International Hockey League, which won two
Turner Cup
The Turner Cup was the championship trophy of the International Hockey League from 1945 to 2001 and the renamed United Hockey League from 2007 to 2010. The Cup was named for Joe Turner, a goaltender from Windsor, Ontario. Turner became professi ...
s.
In 1973 Blair,
Al Savill and
Otto Frenzel
Otto N. "Nick" Frenzel III was a former banking executive from 1956 until 1995. He was also a co-owner, secretary, and treasurer of the Pittsburgh Penguins from 1975 until 1977.
Career Banking
He was a 1954 graduate of the Wharton School of Busin ...
purchased the then-bankrupt
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 ...
for $3.8 million. In order to trim the Penguins' payroll, Blair sold minor-league contracts to the Gears.
He was also the
General Manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
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 ...
from July 1975 to December 1976.
Later life
From 1979 through 1985, Blair, served as the player personnel director for the
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...
. In 2002, Wren brought the
North Bay Centennials
The North Bay Centennials were a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League, who played from 1982–2002. The team was based in North Bay, Ontario.
History
The North Bay Centennials or "Cents" as they were popularly known, were named afte ...
of the Ontario Hockey League to
Saginaw, Michigan
Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...
. The franchise was renamed the
Saginaw Spirit
The Saginaw Spirit are a major junior ice hockey team based in Saginaw, Michigan. They are members of the West Division of the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), one of the Major Junior leagues of the Canadian Hockey League ( ...
, with Blair stayed on as a consultant for the team. He died on January 2, 2013, aged 87, in
Oshawa, Ontario
Oshawa ( , also ; 2021 population 175,383; CMA 415,311) is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of Downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the Gr ...
.
Coaching record
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blair, Wren
1925 births
2013 deaths
Canadian ice hockey coaches
Ice hockey people from Ontario
Kingston Frontenacs coaches
Minnesota North Stars coaches
Minnesota North Stars executives
Sportspeople from Kawartha Lakes
Sportspeople from Whitby, Ontario
Pittsburgh Penguins executives