Wayne Rivers

Chances are you've never heard much about Wayne Rivers. The Hamilton, Ontario born right winger played 108 NHL games in the 1960s, mostly with Boston but also with St. Louis, New York and Detroit. He had a more notable five year career in the WHA with New York and San Diego, averaging close to a point a game.

But you can impress your friends and enemies by correctly naming Wayne Rivers as the answer to this obscure trivia question: Who scored the last regular season goal of the Original Six era?

The 1966-67 season came to a close on April 1st, 1967. There were three games on the schedule that night including Boston vs. Toronto. It was Rivers who scored the very last goal of that historic regular season. At 19:18 of the third period Rivers scored to make the final score 5-2.

While Rivers only scored 15 goals in the NHL, he was a notable goal scorer at every other level. He had 158 in the WHA, and another 251 in 490 games in the 1960s AHL.

The AHL in the 1960s must have been some great hockey. Remember, there was only 6 NHL teams so the talent level in the "A" must have been pretty high, right?

“The pace isn’t as fast in the American League where they play positional hockey, do a lot of passing and don’t skate as fast or as much,” Rivers said.