Gerry "Red" Ouellette

Gerry "Red" Ouellette played part of one NHL season with the Boston Bruins in 1960-61, but otherwise was a career minor leaguer. He played 12 strong seasons of professional hockey and besides his stint in Boston, is best known New Brunswick where he was born and later coach and played, and in Buffalo where he was a member of the Bisons for 5 seasons.

Gerry was discovered by legendary Bruin scout "Baldy" Cotton. Cotton extended an invitation to the Bruin training camp for the 1959-60 season where he impressed the Bruin brass enough to offer him a spot on the Kingston Frontenacs of the Eastern Professional Hockey League. He tallied 35 goals and registered 42 assists in his rookie pro campaign.

He started the 60-61 season in Kingston, but the Bruins struggled miserably and were quickly looking for help. They gave Ouelette an opportunity to prove him when they recalled him to Boston.

Gerry played in 34 games, scoring 9 points including 5 goals. His most memorable goal had to be his first NHL goal, which he scored against the legendary Terry Sawchuk on November 3, 1960. Gerry's season was cut short by emergency appendectomy surgery in January of 1961. When he recovered from the surgery he was sent back to Kingston where he finished the season.

Gerry obviously didn't impress the Bruins braintrust enough during his 34 game stint. For the next 4 seasons he shuffled between Bruin farm teams in Providence, Minneapolis, Kingston and San Francisco. He played well, scoring more than 30 goals twice but never had another shot at the NHL.

In 1965, Chicago selected him in the reverse draft, and quickly assigned him to the Buffalo Bisons, where he was perhaps best known as a professional hockey player. He enjoyed a lot of success. He even served as team captain when the Bisons went to the AHL Calder Cup Championship in 1970. He is the 13th highest scorer in Bisons's AHL history

The Bisons folded in 1970 when the NHL Sabres began play. The following season Gerry joined the Omaha Knights of the CHL, where he captained that team to the Adams Cup. His 58 assists with Omaha in the 70-71 season lead the league, as did his 5 goals and 13 assists in 11 games during the playoffs.

After the 1970-71 season Red returned to his native New Brunswick and played on the Hardy Cup winning Campbellton Tigers. He later coached the Tigers to two more Hardy Cup wins in 1977 and 1988. Gerry also worked for the New Brunswick Recreation Department in Campbellton until 1993, when he retired.

Read more...

Murray Oliver

Murray Oliver was a natural athlete. Murray actually turned down an opportunity to play professional baseball in the Cleveland Indians system, instead opting to further his development in the other sport he loved - hockey. Playing with his home-town Hamilton Tiger Cubs of the OHA, Oliver was named the Red Tilson Memorial Trophy winner as the OHA's Most Valuable Player in 1957-58. He later went on to the Edmonton Flyers of the WHL for a year and a half before being promoted to the National Hockey League with the Detroit Red Wings.

Murray's stay in Detroit was relatively brief. He appeared in parts of two seasons, scoring 31 goals and 31 assists for 62 points in 103 games. While it was short it was definitely sweet for Murray as he often got to center a line with his boyhood idol on right wing - Gordie Howe!

In January 1961 Oliver, Gary Aldcorn and Tom McCarthy were sent packing to Boston in exchange for Vic Stasiuk and Leo Labine. It was in Boston that Oliver became a league star. Using his quick feet and smart playmaking skills, the small center was a consistent scorer and hustling worker who fit in nicely in Beantown.

He topped the 20 goal plateau and 40 assist mark on three occasions with the Bruins, who were a weak team in the 1960s until the arrival of Bobby Orr late in the decade. Playing on the B-O-W line with Johnny Bucyk and Tommy Williams, Oliver's 1963-64 season saw him scored 24 goals and a career high 68 points, good enough to finish 7th overall in scoring. "Muzz" was the Bruins leading scorer in the 1965-66 season with 60 points (18 goals, 42 assists) as well.

Oliver's production slipped to just 9 goals and 35 points in 1966-67. The Bruins, who were looking to get bigger and stronger, traded him to Toronto for Eddie Shack. Muzz played 2 years in Toronto before he was traded to the Minnesota North Stars in exchange for Brian Conacher and Terry O'Malley.

Murray played 5 more years with the North Stars before he found himself out of a job. At the time agents negotiating contracts on behalf of players was a pretty primitive and new practice, one that wasn't warmly welcomed by the NHL teams. Having brought in an agent to negotiate a contract for the first time in his career, the Stars balked at Oliver's request for a 2 year contract and upped and left the negotiating table, leaving Oliver looking for a real job.

Murray stayed very active in hockey after retiring. Initially he got into a sales position with a hockey stick company, thanks to friend Lou Nanne.  Three years later Nanne became general manager of the Minnesota North Stars, hired Murray as an assistant coach. He even filled in as head coach part way through the 1982-83 season.

A good penalty killer, Murray was one of the few bright spots in Boston immediately prior to the arrival of Bobby Orr. He also was a bright spot in the early days of NHL hockey in Minnesota.

Read more...

Mike Moffat

Mike Moffat was a goalie from the first time he ever laced up a pair of hockey skates as a little kid. His father was a general surgeon in Cambridge and his mother was a nurse until she decided to stay home and raise six little Moffats, four boys and two girls.

As a kid Mike never played for a really good team but the turning point in his early career was a six period overtime marathon in a midget tournament that was played in Hamilton. Mike lost the game to a team from Mississauga and the guy who scored the OT goal against him was future NHL'er Dave Morrison.

Later on Mike ran into Dave at a hockey school and Dave talked to his father Jim Morrison (also a former NHL'er) into giving Mike an invitation for a tryout in Kingston. Mike not only made the Kingston Canadians (OHL) but also went on to win the Hap Holmes trophy as OHL's best goalie later on.

Jim Morrison had the biggest influence on Mike in his early career, something that Mike acknowledged.

" I've never really had any instruction in goaltending. I've learned it mostly by trial and error. In minor hockey I was always on my own. But Jimmy Morrison understood goaltending more than any other coach who never played the position. Jimmy really stressed standing up and squaring off to the shooters. Since I was a butterfly goalie I had to go back and learn how to stand up," Mike said.

Boston selected Mike with their 7th choice, 165th overall in 1980.

Mike went on to excel in the 1982 world junior championships where he posted an excellent 1.75 GAA for Canada when they famously won the gold. Mike was selected to the All-Star team and was voted the best goalie of the tournament, ahead of a goalie like John Vanbiesbrouck.

Unfortunately Mike never saw a lot of action in the NHL. He only played a total of 19 games in the regular season for Boston between 1982-84. The highlight of his career besides the Gold in the 1982 WJC was his excellent performance in the 1982 Stanley Cup playoffs where he lead Boston to a series win over Buffalo in 4 games before losing out a tight 7 game series against Quebec in the quarterfinals. It was his only playoff action in the NHL.

Mike finished his career by playing in the AHL and then for the Canadian national team. He retired at the tender age of 25 in 1987.

Read more...