Many more wound up earning their . spurs with shortened ‘careers - -in’ major (Western ‘Hockey League), minor (B.C., : ‘Peace-Cariboo and Prairie - Junior | circuits) and college ranks. We even have some who _verossed the .ocean to ‘Play in -Europe. So, we took a few days to cull ‘the NHL’s official guide and record book which contains rec- ords of current and retired” _ players, and we came up with a _ few surprises. Don Nachbauer For example, did you know .. that 30-year-old Don Nachbauer -was born in Kitimat and has seven NHL seasons plus a few in the American Hockey League on his list of achievements? Nachbauer. was drafted out of Billings juniors by Hartford in 1979, He was their third choice and 60th selection overall. _ Hartford traded Nachbauer and Ken Linseman to Edmonton for Risto Siltanen and Brent -‘-Loney in August 1982. In 1983 ‘he was claimed by Los Angéles . . in the waiver draft, and shipped to New Haven of the AHL. Then he signed as a free agent with Philadelphia in October 1984, He’s been up and down | . between the ‘Flyers and AHL’s Hershey Beats ever since. Nachbauet has 221 NHL . gamés to his credit. During -this span he’s-scored.:23--times;*as- sisted on 45 goals for an overall point total of 68. He’s also spent "465 minutes in the penalty box. He has 11 big league playoff games on his record,. with one goal, one assist and 24 penalty minutes. . | Alan Kerr Hazelton-born’ Alan: Kerr is 25. Alan was picked by New York Islanders in the 1982 entry draft. He was their fourth choice _ and 84th pick overall. Kerr was a 1984 first all-star - with the WHL’s Seattle team, and spent much of his first two years in the minors with Spring- field. He's been a regular with the _ Islanders the past three years, : playing 249 games all toll. Kerr has 54 goals, 64 assists, and 118 NHL points: He also has 557 minutes in the sin bin. Kerr’s NHL playoff record is 25 games, three goals, four as- sists and 43 minutes in penalties. Brian Spencer Perhaps the most famous (maybe infamous is a better word) player from this area is Brian Spencer. This talented . player gained much youthful ex- perience in Kitimat’s minor - hockey association. But he'll be ever remembered for three news-making items off the ice. First, his father was gun- ned down ‘by police outside a Prince George TV station when - - Brian’s dad waved a gun and ex- pressed his disgust that the sta- tion wasn’t providing an NHL game young Spencer was playing in that Saturday night. After: -10° years, Brian left hockey and got: tatigled up with a crowd from. the wronk side of | Me” “bigs.” : tt may be hard to believe, but 14 olayers with pro. hockey experience got their start in the Northwest B. C. : . area. 2s the tracks i in Florida, He wound The - ‘third 7 item -gaining Spencer national prominence in Canada came just recently when he ended up.a murder'victim.*.~ As for his career, he played for Toronto, ‘Islanders, Buffalo. and Pittsburgh over 10 seasons. | His game total was 553. Spencer ; fired. 80 goals, picked up 143 assists, 223 points and. 634 minutes in penalties.. In 37 playoff games, Brian had one. goal and five assists, plus 29 minutes in penalties. | It was a sad ending to a pro- ductive career that many friends say should have been twice as - good as it was. . Bill Riley Kitimat’s ‘Bill Riley “stepped into pro hockey after some ex- cellent years in the defunct Pacific Northwest Hockey. League — a mixture of. junior and intermediate teams from as far away as Prince George to Prince Rupert on the coast. The classy Riley wound up in the NHL for five years — 1974-75 to 1979-80. His time with Washington and Winnipeg produced 139 games and 320 minutes in the penalty box. He wound up with 31 goals, 30 assists, and was quite proud of: the fact he was one of the few. black. Players to make it ‘to the aro enigigat fe A sean Smithers offered the NHL three top-rated players and the major league was happy to take them. The most famous were the ‘Watson brothers — Joe and ~ Jim. Joe Watson A badly broken leg ended Joe’s career in the 1978-79 geason with Colorado. He fin-. ished with 14 years in the majors including time with Boston (the team he came up with) and more than a decade with Philadelphia Flyers. Overall, Joe played 835 regular season games. He had 447 minutes in penalties, 38 goals, 178 assists (216 points), plus 84 games in the playoffs where he scored three times, added 12 assists and put an addi- tional 62 minutes on his penalty total. Happy-go- -lucky Joe now works in marketing with the Flyers and often looks back glee- fully on those years from 1964-65 to 1978-79, Jim Watson It was an injury that ended brother Jim Watson’s career as. well. His 10 years with Phila- delphia from 1972-73 to 1981-82 was closed out witha back prob- . lem. Jim got his back repaired, but heeded doctors’ advice to get into another line of work. Now he operates his own house construction business in Philly. Jim is credited with 613 regular season games. Like Joe, he was a defenceman and con- tributed 38 goals, 148 assists for 186 points. He had 101 playort ga games: in 7 je area for - which’ he scored five times and r . Jim’s - 492 ‘season penalties, plus 89 more in mninutgs to his2a' counted: 34. assists. the. playoffs, earned him an o ‘overall. total 581 “minutes”. of - up in jail. That, was ‘news-maker . _ two. “watching » his team in action ~ while. he ‘sat beside ‘the, -time- a keeper,” “Ron Flockhart : Still shown as active, despite listing only. four games with . "Boston and 11 in the minors last season, is Smithers’ Ron Flock- hart. 9 Philadelphia signed, the 29-year-old as a free agent in 1980-81. In nine years Flockhart has played with the Flyers, Pen- -guins, Canadiens, Blues. and Bruins. He has 453. big league games to his credit, and an im- pressive 145 goals , with 183 assists. _ To his 328-point total we can add 208 penalty minutes. Cralg Levie Two graduates from the Ter- race junior ‘B’ Centennials of the early 1970’s.are Craig Levie and Glen Cochrane, both de- fencemen. - Levie, who retired two years - ago, played with Winnipeg, : Minnesota, Vancouver and St. Louis for six seasons (1981-82 to 1986-87). He notched 183 games in which he scored 22 goals and 53 assists for 75 points. He. also - racked up ‘177, minutes for miscues. - Sixteen playoff: games added two. goals, three: assists and 16 verall totals. Glen Cochrane Cochrane, :3]1; was Philadel- ~'phia’s sixth choice (50th overall) in the '78 amateur draft. He’s spent time with. the. Flyers, Canucks, Black Hawks - and Oilers. ‘Glen’s time adds up to 10 years so far. During that time the tough guy has run up 1,556 minutes in penalties. Cocky managed only 89 points over the years (17 goals, 72 assists). -This covers 411 ‘games. He has a playoff. record - of 18 games, one goal, one assist and: 31 more minutes penalty box time. Ryan Stowart - We also count Ryan Stewart of Houston on our list. Born in Houston, the 22-year-old was drafted first by Winnipeg (18th — overall) in 1985. Stewart has only three games with Jets in his pro service so ‘far. He did score one: goal. The - rest of his time has been in the minors. Two area minor hockey grads from the goaltending ranks — Mark Fitzpatrick of Kitimat and Wade Flaherty of Terrace — are also seeking big money in the pro game.. Mark Fitzpatrick Fitzpatrick shares netminding duties with Glenn Healy on the. New York Islanders. He started last season with Los Angeles, the team that drafted him from Medicine Hat the previous year. He was taken 27th overall in the . second round. Mark had expected to play fot - New Haven in the AHL, but ear- - ly into the season the Kings big league hock e Sharples is out of hockey jury. Playing with Adirondack Wings in the American - Hockey. League early last week, he was bounced into the boards and suffered a _ Shoulder separation. “Injury idles Sharples ‘Terrace defenceman Jeff . for a few weeks with an in- : .. Fight shoulder break, not re- 2 quiring surgery. from three te five weeks. The parent Detroit Red. ‘Wings had Jeff flown to Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit for specialist treat- ment. Medics described the injury as a third-degree He’s expected to be out called him up. He played 17 © | games for the Kings before his February trade to the Islanders, . With Mr. Gretzky and com- pany, he had 957 minutes of playing time, He allowed 64 goals for a 4.01 goals-against average. His win-loss-tie record was 6-7-3. He made 566 saves for an average of .886. On the east coast, Fitz got into 11 Islander games, playing 627 minutes and posting a 3.92 goals-against average. He won three, lost four and tied two. He also allowed 41 goals, made 313 saves and came out with a save average of .869. He also got in the scoring col- umn at both cities. He recorded one assist and one penalty at L.A., then did likewise at N.Y, _ Wade Flaherty Flaherty caught on with Min- nesota this summer after Buf- falo dropped their draft rights on Wade by failing to offer him a contract. So, he free-agented with the North Stars on‘d minor league contract at. Kalamazoo, Michigan. . At the Minnesota training camp, Flaherty was in top shape - and impressed the brass. How- ever, he still got shipped to the- International League. . Last week, after some early time in Michigan, he was asked to go to Greensboro, North Carolina as part of a new entry in the Eastern League. This will. be a challenge for Flaherty, who told us he’s expecting a lot more - rubber fired at him in the nets. At this point in our story, we look back to the late 70s and ear- ly 80s when Terrace put together - provincial championship teams first in peewee, then bantam fol- lowed by midget. {MOTOR =INN= sarNie CATCH THE ACTION (A eet . FP onrliern ” Jett Sharples Most prominent among this — trio (at least as far as Terrace is concerned). is 22-year-old de- fenceman Jeff Sharples. Jeff, drafted in ’85 by Detroit, thas two full seasons plus three games from 86-87 with the - _Wings. However, he’s started - ~ out this year with Detroit’s AHL farm team, Adirondack. This way he gets more needed ice time to develop. - In 105 Red Wing contests, Sharples has 14 goals, 35 assists — for 49 points. He also has 70 penalty minutes. Rudy Poeschek Twenty-three-year-old .Rudy Poeschek is another defenceman: from-that-midget winner in Ter- race. Rudy was. selected by Rangers in the ’84 draft. He was. New York’s 12th pick (the 238th overall). ‘Poeschek | is not noted for scoring talétit. It was his muscle that attracted him to the - - Rangers. After a couple of years in i the minors with Colorado, he played all last season at New York. Daie Kushner Kushner, who signed in ’87 as a free agent with the Islanders. The 23-year-old | has yet to crack New York’s lineup, but has two years experience with the AHL’s Springfield squad. His. scoring totals are 18 goals, 31 assists. Considering ‘the fact that ~ hockey hadn’t been a factor in the Northwest until after World - War II, it appears we have our share of talent in the pros. And you can bet there'll be more names added to our dist i in . the future. Visit the Northern Motor Inn, for nightly ‘entertainment. Come to where the ACTION is. 3086 Hwy: 16 East 695-6975 The third Terrace grad is.Dale. eo rere ce ey a ON,