Larry Gould: All-Time NAHL Buffalo Norsemen Scoring Leader

Larry Gould played just one season in the NAHL. It was his fourth year of pro hockey and his was playing with the Buffalo Norsemen. Gould made the most of his one season with 100 points over 71 games. He brought with him to Buffalo a tiny bit of National Hockey League experience. He went on to be a prolific scorer in the IHL for several years.

Larry Gould – NAHL

Gould played for the Buffalo Norsemen for the 1975-76 season. It was the only season the franchise played in the North American Hockey League. Larry’s 32 goals were good for second on the team, four behind player/head coach Guy Trottier. His 68 assists and 100 points led the Norsemen. His 68 assists also placed him eighth in the NAHL.

Larry Gould – Junior

Larry played three years of junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey Association from 1969-70 to 1971-72. His first two years were spent with the Hamilton Red Wings. The team was full of future NHLers like Rick Kehoe, Pat Hickey, Jim Schoenfeld, Bob Neely and Mike Veisor. Yet, the Red Wings were not successful in the playoffs. That Hamilton franchise is the present day Erie Otters.

His final year in the OHA was spent with the Niagara Falls Flyers. Once again, there were numerous future NHL players including Don Lever, Jim Schoenfeld, Wilf Paiement and Eric Vail. Yet, the Flyers were ousted in the first round of the Robertson Cup playoffs. That version of the Niagara Falls Flyers is now the Sudbury Wolves.

Larry Gould – Pro Hockey

Gould went undrafted but played pro hockey from 1972-73 to 1981-82 in the IHL, NHL, WHL, CHL and NAHL. His two games with the Vancouver Canucks came during the 1973-74 season.

In his rookie pro year, Larry played for the Des Moines Capitols of the IHL. Over 73 regular season games, he scored 30 goals and assisted on 54 for 84 points. He tied for ninth in the league for assists.

After his stint in the NAHL, his scoring numbers continued to rise. In 1976-77 with the Port Huron Flags of the IHL, Gould scored 35 and assisted on 71 for 106 points. He was the bright spot on a team that finished dead last in the nine team league. Larry led the IHL in assists and was fifth for points.

The following year, he scored 36 and assisted on 69 for 105 points over 80 games with Port Huron. Gould placed second in the IHL for assists and third for points. The Flags improved to fourth in the North Division and sixth in the nine team league. In the playoffs, Larry scored 12 and assisted on 12 for 24 points over 17 games. Port Huron reached the finals before falling in seven to the Toledo Goaldiggers.

In 1980-81 and still with Port Huron, Gould placed sixth in the IHL with 63 assists and placed tied for tenth with 93 points. The following year, his last in pro hockey, Larry totalled 33 goals and 60 assists for 93 points. However, the IHL had moved on to a more offensive game and Gould was left out of the top ten in all three categories. He played 15 games with the Muskegon Mohawks and 59 with the Flint Generals. The two were the sixth and seventh place teams in the seven team league.

Jim Stanfield: Short NAHL Stay With Buffalo Norsemen In 1975-76

Jim Stanfield was one of three brothers that all played junior hockey with the St. Catherines Blackhawks in the Ontario Hockey Association and all played in the National Hockey League for at least one game. Stanfield played in the NAHL towards the end of his pro hockey career with the Buffalo Norsemen during the team’s only year in the league.

Jim Stanfield – NAHL

Stanfield played for the Buffalo Norsemen for part of the 1975-76 North American Hockey League season. He appeared in 27 regular season games, scoring ten goals and assisting on 19 for 29 points with the Guy Trottier coached team. He also appeared in four Lockhart Cup playoff games, adding two points. Stanfield started the season in the WIHL, playing 33 games for the Spokane Flyers. Over his 33 games, he scored 33 goals.

The Norsemen finished the 1975-76 NAHL regular season fourth in the five team West Division and seventh overall in the ten team league. Buffalo lost in the opening round of the playoffs to the Johnstown Jets.

Jim Stanfield – Junior Hockey

Jim played three years of junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey Association from 1964-65 to 1966-67. His first two years were spent with the St. Catherines Blackhawks. Stanfield’s final year was with the London Nationals in that franchise’s second year of existence. Jim finished second on the Nationals with 32 goals, six behind team leader Garry Unger. Turk Broda was in his first of two years as head coach of the team.

Jim Stanfield – Pro Hockey

Stanfield played pro hockey from 1967-68 to 1976-77. He appeared on teams in the CHL, NHL, AHL, WHL, WIHL and NAHL. Jim played in seven regular season games in the National Hockey League between 1969-70 and 1971-72, all with the Los Angeles Kings.

In 1968-69, he was part of Central Hockey League championship team with the Dallas Black Hawks. Dallas met the Oklahoma City Blazers in the finals and won the best of four series in five games.

The following year, Stanfield joined the Springfield Kings in the American Hockey League for the final 18 games of the regular season. He started the year playing 55 games with Dallas. In the Calder Cup playoffs, Jim led Springfield with eight goals and nine assists for 17 points over 14 games. The Kings reached the Calder Cup finals before being swept by the Buffalo Bisons.

In 1974-75, Jim scored 45 goals and assisted on 57 for 102 points over 47 games with the Spokane Flyers of the WIHL. He was second in the league in goals, tied for third for assists and led the league in points.

Jim’s brother Fred Stanfield played 914 regular season games in the NHL between 1964-65 and 1977-78 with the Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins, Minnesota North Stars and Buffalo Sabres. Brother Jack Stanfield played one Stanley Cup playoff game with the Blackhawks in 1965-66. All played junior hockey for the St. Catherines Black Hawks.

Bryan McSheffrey

Bryan McSheffrey was a player that had a promising junior hockey career in the OHA with the Ottawa 67’s in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. McSheffrey looked to be off and running in the National Hockey League with the Vancouver Canucks, the team that made him a second round pick in 1972. However, by 1975, he was in the North American Hockey League, never to play in the NHL again.

Bryan McSheffrey – NAHL

McSheffrey played two years in the NAHL, 1975-76 and 1976-77. In his first year, he started out with the Guy Trottier coached Buffalo Norsemen. Over 46 games, he scored 27 goals and assisted on 31 for well more than a point per game at 58. Even with only playing 46 of 74 games, Bryan placed fourth on the Norsemen for assists.

Bryan was shipped to the fragile Cape Codders midseason. The Codders had folded before Christmas but were resurrected for a short period of time in the new year. McSheffrey played three games with the club, scoring just a goal. The Cape Codders folded for good on February 18, 1975.

McSheffrey finished off the 1975-76 season with the Mohawk Valley Comets, playing 12 games and adding seven points. The Comets lost in the opening round to the Syracuse Blazers.

In 1976-77, Bryan spent the whole season with the Comets, playing in 63 games and totalling 72 points on 29 goals and 43 assists. He placed third on the team for points. Mohawk Valley lost in the opening round to the Binghamton Dusters, three games to two.

Bryan McSheffrey – Ottawa 67’s

Bryan played four years with the Ottawa 67’s from 1968-69 to 1971-72. He appeared in one game with the Oshawa Generals in 1967-68. He was well over a point per game during his OHA career with 260 in 226 regular season games. He led the 67’s in goals in 1969-70 with 35 and placed second behind Blake Dunlop the following year for goals and points.

In his final year in the league, McSheffrey led Ottawa with 52 goals and 96 points. He placed fifth in the league for goals behind a group of four that went on to play in the NHL, including league leader and Hockey Hall of Fame member Steve Shutt.

Bryan McSheffrey – Pro Hockey

Bryan was a second round pick of the Vancouver Canucks at the 1972 NHL Amateur Draft. He had size and scoring ability and in the beginning the Canucks had big plans for him. McSheffrey played just 90 games in the NHL over his career, all between 1972-73 and 1974-75 with the Canucks and Buffalo Sabres. His time in Buffalo was limited to just three games. Bryan appears on just one hockey card. The Bryan McSheffrey rookie card is part of the 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee set.

McSheffrey finished his pro hockey career in the Netherlands Eredivisie with HYS Den Haag (The Hague). He was the league’s scoring leader, playing in 1978-79 and 1979-80. Over his time in the Netherlands, Bryan produced at over three points per game.

Les Binkley: Pittsburgh's Original Starting Goalie

NAHL

At 41 years old, Les Binkley played his final season of professional hockey in the North American Hockey League with the Buffalo Norsemen. Binkley appeared in 24 games for Buffalo in the team’s only year in the NAHL. That season, Les also played seven games in the WHA with the Toronto Toros, posting a less than stellar 5.73 goals against average.

Buffalo had Guy Trottier as player / head coach, also in his last year of pro hockey. The Norsemen finished fourth in the West Division and fell to the Johnstown Jets in the opening round of the playoffs.

Pro Hockey

Binkley played three years of junior hockey in the OHA from 1951-52 to 1953-54, all with the Galt Black Hawks. He played pro hockey from 1955-56 to 1975-76 in seven different leagues (IHL, EHL, AHL, WHL, NHL, WHA, NAHL).

At 33 in 1967-68, expansion finally gave Binkley a shot at the National Hockey League. Les was the first player signed by the Pittsburgh Penguins and he played between the pipes for the club from 1967-68 to 1971-72.

With the World Hockey Association starting business for the 1972-73 season, Binkley jumped ship to play for the Ottawa Nationals. He followed the club as they moved to Toronto to become the Toros and, as mentioned above, played his final seven games with the club in 1975-76.

His one and only championship came back in 1956-67 with the Charlotte Clippers of the Eastern Hockey League. Binkley played all of the team’s 64 regular season games and helped them to the final series where they downed the Philadelphia Ramblers in seven games.

The following season, he once again played all 64 games for the Clippers and once again led them to the EHL finals. This time, the Clippers fell to the Washington Presidents in seven games

In 1961-62, Les played his first season in the American Hockey League, appearing in 60 of 70 games for the Cleveland Barons. Binkley was honoured with the Dudley ‘Red’ Garrett Memorial Award as the league’s top first year player. The Barons finished first in the four team West Division. Cleveland lost to the Springfield Indians in the opening round of the Calder Cup playoffs. In an odd playoff format, the Indians were the top team in the East Division meaning the top two teams in the AHL were pitted against each other in the first round of the playoffs.

In 1965-66, again with the Cleveland Barons, Binkley was the recipient of the Harry ‘Hap’ Holmes Memorial Award as the goaltender with the lowest goals against average in the AHL. He played 66 of Cleveland’s 72 regular season games and all of their 12 playoff games. The Barons finished second in the West Division and reached the Calder Cup finals before bowing out to the Rochester Americans in six games.

 

Guy Trottier: Coach and Star of the Buffalo Norsemen

Guy Trottier played his last of 14 years in professional hockey with the Buffalo Norsemen of the NAHL. Trottier also acted as the head coach of the Norsemen, a team that finished fourth in the West Division with 30 wins and 60 points over the 74 game schedule. Buffalo met the Johnstown Jets in the opening round and lost three games to two. The final and deciding game of the series was a 1-0 win by the Jets. Trottier finished the year with a respectable 36 goals and 22 assists for 58 points over 56 regular season games.

Trottier played pro from 1963-64 to 1975-76, appearing in five different leagues, the IHL, AHL, NHL, WHA and NAHL. At the highest level, Guy played 115 games in the National Hockey League between 1968-69 and 1971-72 with the New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs. His World Hockey Association career lasted 174 games from 1972-73 to 1974-75 with the Ottawa Nationals, Toronto Toros and Michigan Stags.

In just his second year of pro hockey, Trottier tied for fourth place in the IHL with 46 goals as a member of the Dayton Gems. The following year, the numbers improved greatly with Guy placing third with 68 goals and tied for second with 132 points, just one off the leader. In 1966-67, He scored a career high 71 goals with the Gems to lead the IHL, 19 goals more than the second place finisher. His 135 point placed his second, four behind Len Thornson of the Fort Wayne Komets.

Trottier led the American Hockey League in goal scoring for the 1968-69 and 1969-70 seasons with the Buffalo Bisons. In the first year, he scored 45 goals and in 1969-70, the final year of existence for the Bisons, Guy scored 55.

Only two mainstream hockey cards were ever produced featuring Trottier. His 1971-72 O-Pee-Chee rookie card is valued as a common. The card had him in a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey. His 1972-73 O-Pee-Chee card is valued at a whopping $8 as it’s part of the first set of WHA hockey cards that came at the back end of the 1972-73 NHL set. Guy is on the card as a member of the Ottawa Nationals.

Season	Team	Lge	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1957-58	Trois Rivieres Lions	QHL	2	0	0	0	0
1963-64	Phila-.Greensboro	EHL	27	14	16	30	38
1963-64	Port Huron Flags	IHL	42	19	15	34	52
1964-65	Dayton Gems	IHL	68	46	42	88	56
1965-66	Dayton Gems	IHL	66	68	64	132	16
1966-67	Dayton Gems	IHL	67	71	64	135	23
1967-68	Buffalo Bisons	AHL	41	16	19	35	6
1968-69	New York Rangers	NHL	2	0	0	0	0
1968-69	Buffalo Bisons	AHL	72	45	37	82	21
1969-70	Buffalo Bisons	AHL	71	55	33	88	8
1970-71	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL	61	19	5	24	21
1971-72	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL	52	9	12	21	16
1972-73	Ottawa Nationals	WHA	72	26	32	58	25
1973-74	Toronto Toros	WHA	71	27	35	62	58
1974-75	Dayton Gems	IHL	20	12	5	17	6
1974-75	Toronto Toros	WHA	14	4	4	8	4
1974-75	Michigan Stags/Baltimore Blades	WHA	17	5	4	9	2
1975-76	Buffalo Norsemen	NAHL	56	36	22	58	59
	NHL Totals		115	28	17	45	37
	WHA Totals		174	62	75	137	89