Joe Hardy: First Pro 200 Point Season

Jocelyn ‘Joe’ Hardy was one of the greatest to play in the NAHL. Wayne Gretzky is widely known as the first NHL player to achieve the 200 point plateau in a single season. A little known bit of hockey trivia is that Joe Hardy was the first professional player to reach 200 points and beyond in one regular season.

With the Beauce Jaros in 1975-76, Handy scored 60 goals and assisted on 148 for an incredible 208 points in just 72 games. Of course, the 148 assists and 208 points will always remain as NAHL records. Making this even more incredible is the fact that Joe also acted as the team’s head coach for the 1975-76 season. He led the Jaros to a first overall finish in the ten team league. Beauce reached the Lockhart Cup finals before losing to the Philadelphia Firebirds in six games.

Hardy played parts of three seasons in the NAHL from 1974-75 to 1976-77, appearing with the Long Island Cougars, Beauce Jaros and Binghamton Dusters. His pro career lasted from 1966-67 to 1977-78 with stops in six different leagues, including the NHL and WHA.

As the NAHL and the WHA went hand in hand, it’s not surprising that Hardy played 210 games in the Rebel League between 1972-73 and 1974-75. He was a regular with the Cleveland Crusaders in 1972-73, the World Hockey Association’s inaugural season. The following season, he saw 77 games with the Chicago Cougars. He split the 1974-75 season between the Cougars, Indianapolis Racers and San Diego Mariners.

Joe had stints in the National Hockey League in 1969-70 and 1970-71, playing a total of 63 games. In 1969-70, he played 23 games for the Oakland Seals, with an additional four games in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He also appeared in 46 games with the Providence Reds that year. The following year, he played 40 games with the same NHL franchise, although they were now known as the California Golden Seals.

In his final professional hockey season, 1977-78, Hardy played for the Binghamton Dusters, a franchise that made the move to the AHL with the demise of the NAHL. He finished first in the league with 63 assists and seventh in the league with 87 points. Joe returned the following season as head coach of the Dusters for one season.

His coaching career was resurrected in 1987-88 in the QMJHL. He coached the Shawinigan Cataractes for four years and the Beauport Harfangs for one.

 

Season	Team	Lge	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1966-67	New Haven Blades	EHL	72	28	51	79	77
1969-70	Providence Reds	AHL	46	11	27	38	44
1969-70	Oakland Seals	NHL	23	5	4	9	20
1969-70	Seattle Totems	WHL	--	--	--	--	--
1970-71	California Golden Seals	NHL	40	4	10	14	31
1971-72	Nova Scotia Voyageurs	AHL	65	18	42	60	105
1972-73	Cleveland Crusaders	WHA	72	17	33	50	80
1973-74	Chicago Cougars	WHA	77	24	35	59	55
1974-75	Long Island Cougars	NAHL	4	1	2	3	2
1974-75	Chicago Cougars	WHA	17	1	6	7	8
1974-75	Indianapolis Racers	WHA	32	2	17	19	36
1974-75	San Diego Mariners	WHA	12	2	3	5	22
1975-76	Beauce Jaros	NAHL	72	60	148	208	98
1976-77	Beauce Jaros	NAHL	22	7	36	43	30
1976-77	Broome County Dusters	NAHL	28	22	28	50	19
1977-78	Binghamton Dusters	AHL	73	24	63	87	56
	NHL Totals		63	9	14	23	51
	WHA Totals		210	46	94	140	201