Showing posts with label cleveland crusaders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cleveland crusaders. Show all posts

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Gerry Pinder: A Short But Productive Stay With The Maine Nordiques


gerry pinder 1972-73 cleveland crusaders hockey card
He spent little time in the North American Hockey League during the league’s final season, just like many filtered through the NAHL in its four years. Gerry Pinder played a total of 21 games in 1976-77 with the Maine Nordiques but certainly made an impact with the club.

Gerry Pinder – NAHL


After starting the 1976-77 season in the World Hockey Association with the San Diego Mariners, playing 44 games, Pinder joined the Nordiques and played in eleven regular season games. Gerry fit right in with six goals and three assists for nine points.

In the Lockhart Cup playoffs, Maine came as close to a championship as they would get, reaching the finals. Unfortunately, they were no match for Syracuse Blazers. Pinder played ten playoff games, scoring eight goals and assisting on two for ten points.

Gerry Pinder – Junior



Pinder played two years of junior hockey with the Saskatoon Blades, 1965-66 and 1966-67. In the first year, the Blades played in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL). In the second, Saskatoon played in the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League (SMJHL), the direct predecessor to the current WHL.

In 1966-67, Gerry broke loose offensively. In 55 regular season games, he scored an amazing 78 goals and assisted on 62 for 140 points. He led the league in goals and points and placed fourth for assists while being named the league’s player of the year. As for the Blades, they didn’t fare so well. The team placed fifth in the seven team league over the 56 game schedule and were knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by the Estevan Bruins.

Gerry Pinder – Team Canada


Before going pro, Pinder spent a few years with Canada’s national team. He competed in the 1968 Winter Olympic Games and the 1969 IIHF World Hockey Championships.

The 1968 Winter Olympics were held in Grenoble, France. Over seven games, Gerry scored one goal. The goal came in a 3-0 win over Sweden. Canada came out of the Olympics with a bronze medal. Joining Pinder on the Canadian team were future major league pros Fran Huck, Brian Glennie and Bill MacMillan.

The following year, Pinder was with Canada when they competed at the World Championships in Stockholm, Sweden. In ten games, Gerry scored three and assisted on one. Canada placed fourth in the tournament.

Gerry Pinder – NHL


Pinder played 223 regular season games in the National Hockey League between 1969-70 and 1971-72. His first two years were spent with the Chicago Black Hawks and his final year in the NHL was with the California Golden Seals. Over that time, his numbers were quite respectable with 55 goals and 69 assists for 124 points. He also played 17 games in the Stanley Cup playoffs, all with Chicago.

With the California Golden Seals, Pinder was the offensive leader on the rag-tag team. His 23 goals and 54 points led the team while playing 74 of the team’s 78 games.

Gerry Pinder – WHA


Gerry jumped to the World Hockey Association for the league’s inaugural season in 1972-73. Between 1972-73 and 1977-78, Pinder played 353 regular season games, scoring 93 goals and assisting on 141 for 234 points. He played an additional 18 games in the Avco World Trophy playoffs, adding 15 points.

Over his WHA career, Gerry played for the Cleveland Crusaders, San Diego Mariners and Edmonton Oilers. His time with the Oilers was limited to just four games during the 1977-78 season. His best year was his first, scoring 30 goals for the Crusaders in 1972-73.

 

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Joe Hardy: First Pro 200 Point Season


jocelyn hardy beauce jaros nahl
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