Bernard Allan Federko (born May 12, 1956) is a Canadian 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 ...

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

ancestry who played fourteen seasons 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 ...

from

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

through

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

Playing career

Federko began playing hockey at a young age in his home town of

Foam Lake, Saskatchewan Foam Lake is a town in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. It had a population of 1,123 in 2006. It is located in a mixed agricultural area approximately 220 km south-east of Saskatoon on the Yellowhead Highway. Foam Lake, the lake for ...

. He was captain of the 1971 Bantam provincial champions. He also played Senior hockey with the local Foam Lake Flyers of the Fishing Lake Hockey League, winning the league scoring title as a bantam-aged player. Federko continued his career with the

Saskatoon Blades The Saskatoon Blades are a major junior ice hockey team playing in the Eastern Division of the Western Hockey League, formerly the Western Canadian Hockey League (WCHL). They are based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, playing at the 15,195-seat SaskTe ...

of the WHL where he set and still holds the team record for assists. He played three seasons with the Blades, and in his final year with the club he led the league in assists and points in both the regular season ''and'' playoffs. As a reward, Federko was drafted 7th overall by 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 ...

in the

1976 NHL Amateur Draft The 1976 NHL Amateur Draft was the 14th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the NHL office in Montreal, Quebec, on June 1, 1976. It's notable as featuring one of the weakest first rounds in draft history, as only two players ( Rick Green and Bernie F ...

. He started the next season with the Kansas City Blues 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 ...

and was leading the league in points when he was called up mid-season to play 31 games with St. Louis. He scored three

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

s in those 31 games. In the

1978–79 NHL season The 1978–79 NHL season was the 62nd season of the National Hockey League. The Montreal Canadiens beat the New York Rangers in the Stanley Cup finals four games to one for their fourth consecutive Cup. The Cleveland Barons merged with the Minneso ...

, Federko developed into a bona fide star, as he scored 95 points. Federko scored 100 points in a season four times, and was a consistent and underrated performer for the Blues. Federko scored at least 90 points in seven of the eight seasons between 1978 and 1986, and became the first player in NHL history to record at least 50 assists in 10 consecutive seasons. However, in an era when

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

was scoring 200 points a season, Federko never got the attention many felt he deserved. In 1986, in a poll conducted by GOAL magazine, he was named the most overlooked talent in hockey. His

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 ...

Ron Caron Ronald Caron (December 19, 1929 – January 9, 2012) was a Canadian executive in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Montreal Canadiens and St. Louis Blues. Early life Caron was born in Hull, Quebec (now Gatineau, Quebec), on December 19 ...

said he was "A great playmaker. He makes the average or above average player look like a star at times. He's such an unselfish player." On March 19, 1988, Federko became the 22nd NHL player to record 1000 career points. After a poor season for Federko in 1988–89, he was traded to 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 ...

with

Tony McKegney Anthony Syiid McKegney (born February 15, 1958) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League from 1978–79 until 1990–91. He is the first black player in NHL history to score 40 goa ...

for future Blues star

Adam Oates Adam Robert Oates (born August 27, 1962) 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) o ...

, and Paul MacLean. In Detroit, Federko re-united with former Blues head coach

Jacques Demers Jacques Demers (born August 25, 1944) is a former Canadian Senator, former broadcaster and former professional ice hockey head coach. After a lengthy coaching career in the World Hockey Association and in the National Hockey League, Demers bec ...

, but he had to play behind

Steve Yzerman Stephen Gregory Yzerman (; born May 9, 1965) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player currently serving as executive vice president and general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, with whom he spent all 22 seasons of his NHL playing c ...

and did not get his desired ice time. After his lowest point output since his rookie season, Federko decided to retire after the 1989–90 season, having played exactly 1,000 NHL games with his final game on April 1, 1990.

Post-NHL career

Less than a year after retiring as a player, the Blues retired number 24 in his honor on March 16, 1991. Federko was eventually inducted into the

Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...

in 2002, the first Hall of Famer to earn his credentials primarily as a Blue. Currently, Federko is a television color commentator for

Bally Sports Midwest Bally Sports Midwest is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts regional e ...

during Blues broadcasts. Federko was the head coach/general manager of the St. Louis Vipers roller hockey team of the

Roller Hockey International Roller Hockey International was a professional inline hockey league that operated in North America from 1993 to 1999. It was the first major professional league for inline hockey. History League president Dennis Murphy had been involved in the ...

for the 1993 and 1994 seasons.

Awards

Bob Brownridge Memorial Trophy The Bob Clarke Trophy is awarded annually to the player who leads the Western Hockey League in points scoring during the regular season. In both years Bob Clarke played in the WHL, he captured the League scoring title. In 1968-69, Clarke’s Flin ...

(WCHL leading scorer) - 1976 *Named to the WCHL First All-Star Team (1976) *Named WCHL MVP (1976) *Named to the CHL Second All-Star Team (1977) *Won Ken McKenzie Trophy as CHL Rookie of the Year (1977) *Played in the NHL All-Star Game (1980, 1981) *Named NHL Player of the Week (For week ending December 3, 1984)

Records

*St. Louis Blues team record for career games played (927) *St. Louis Blues team record for career assists (721) *St. Louis Blues team record for career points (1073) *Shares St. Louis Blues team record for assists in one game (5 on February 27, 1988) *St. Louis Blues team record for career playoff assists (66) *Held St. Louis Blues team record for points in one playoff year (21 in 1986); Until Ryan O'Reilly in 2019 with 23 (Won Conn Smythe & Stanley Cup) *Held St. Louis Blues team record for assists in one playoff year (15 in 1982); Until Alex Pietrangelo in 2019 with 16 (Won Stanley Cup) **NHL Record - First player to get 50 assists in 10 consecutive seasons in NHL history.

Career statistics

References

Citations

General references

External links

*
St. Louis Blues Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Federko, Bernie 1956 births Canadian ice hockey centres Canadian people of Ukrainian descent Detroit Red Wings players Edmonton Oilers (WHA) draft picks Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Ice hockey people from Saskatchewan Kansas City Blues players Living people National Hockey League broadcasters National Hockey League first-round draft picks National Hockey League players with retired numbers Saskatoon Blades players St. Louis Blues announcers St. Louis Blues draft picks St. Louis Blues players World Hockey Association first round draft picks