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.

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.

Richard Brodeur: Goalie for the Maine Nordiques

NAHL

Richard Brodeur was probably one of the most talented goaltenders to play in the North American Hockey League. Because of that talent, he spent played just 15 games in the NAHL before moving on to bigger, better things.

Brodeur played his 15 games for the Maine Nordiques during 1973-74, the inaugural season for the NAHL. He had played with the Quebec Nordiques of the World Hockey Association during that league’s inaugural season in 1972-73. He would also return to Quebec in 1973-74 to play 30 games.

The Maine Nordiques finished second in the seven team NAHL and were in total isolation. Maine finished 19 points behind the first place Syracuse Blazers and 20 points ahead of the third place Long Island Cougars. Without Brodeur in the playoffs, the Nordiques won just one of eight games in the opening round round-robin and did not advance.

QMJHL

Richard Brodeur was nothing short of a superstar in his junior career in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He played two years in the league, 1970-71 and 1971-72, with the Cornwall Royals and filled a spot vacated by Hockey Hall of Fame goalie Billy Smith.

In one of the great turnarounds in hockey, the Royals went from dead last in the ten team QMJHL in 1970-71 to first overall in 1971-72. In his rookie season, Richard played 35 of Cornwall’s 62 regular season games with obviously no post season action. In 1971-72, he played in all but four of the team’s regular season games and appeared in each of Cornwall’s playoff games.

Cornwall finished first overall, ten points ahead of the second place Drummondville Rangers, earning the team the Jean Rougeau Trophy. The Royals reached the QMJHL finals and came out victorious with a 4-2 victory over the Quebec Remparts.

At the Memorial Cup, held in Ottawa, Ontario, the Royals met the Peterborough Petes in the final game and won the holy grail of Canadian Major Junior hockey with a 2-1 win. The Edmonton Oil Kings also competed in the tournament and represented the WHL.

The accolades were plenty for Brodeur in 1971-72. He was named the First Team All-Star goalie. He won the Jacques Plante Trophy as the goalie in the QMHL with the lowest goals against average (2.93). He was named the recipient of the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as the Memorial Cup tournament’s most valuable player.

Pro Hockey

After his performance with the Cornwall Royals in 1971-72, Brodeur was taken by the expansion New York Islanders in the seventh round of the 1972 NHL Amateur Draft, 97^th overall. Richard chose to go to the upstart WHA instead and play his first pro hockey with Quebec. He would return to the Islanders after the WHA ceased to exist but appeared in just two games with the club in 1979-80.

Brodeur played in the WHA from 1972-73 to 1978-79, the entire lifetime of the league. He played exclusively with the Nordiques. In 1976-77, he played 53 games for the team during the regular season and all 17 of Quebec’s playoff games. The team finished first in the Eastern Division and second overall behind just the Houston Aeros.

Quebec met the Winnipeg Jets in the Avco Cup finals in 1976-77 and it was an odd series. The overview makes the series look close with Quebec winning in seven games, while outscoring their opponents by just three goals, 31-28. However, five of the games were decided by a differential of five or more goals. Game six was a blowout with Winnipeg winning 12-3. Game seven was an 8-2 victory for Quebec.

In 1979-80, while playing just two games with the powerhouse Islanders in the NHL, Brodeur spent the rest of the year in the Central Hockey League with the Indianapolis Checkers. Richard played the majority of games for the club and shared the Terry Sawchuk Trophy with teammate Jim Park as the goaltending duo with the lowest goals against average in the league.

While playing in the National Hockey League between 1979-80 and 1987-88, Richard saw most of his action with the Vancouver Canucks. Along with his two games on Long Island, he also played six with the Hartford Whalers at the end of his NHL career.

In 1981-82, Brodeur played the bulk of the regular season games for the Vancouver Canucks. Despite a losing record during the regular season, the Canucks managed to make it through to the Stanley Cup finals with Richard playing all the team’s post season games. The Canucks came up against the New York Islanders and lost the series in a four game sweep.