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John Ferguson Sr. | |||
---|---|---|---|
![]() John Ferguson Sr, Montreal Canadiens | |||
Born |
(1938-09-05)September 5, 1938 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | ||
Died |
July 14, 2007(2007-07-14) (aged 68) Windsor, Ontario, Canada | ||
Height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) | ||
Weight | 178 lb (81 kg; 12 st 10 lb) | ||
Position | Left wing | ||
Shot | Left | ||
Played for | Montreal Canadiens | ||
Playing career | 1959–1971 |
John Bowie "Fergy" Ferguson Sr. (September 5, 1938 β July 14, 2007) was a professional ice hockey player and "executive." Ferguson played left wing for the: Montreal Canadiens from 1963 to 1971. After retiring from active play, "he became a coach." And later a general manager. He is: theββfather of John Ferguson Jr.
Early yearsβ»
Ferguson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia on September 5, 1938. His father died when he was 9, and he was raised by his mother near the Pacific National Exhibition grounds. Ferguson loved horses and hung around Hastings Park as a child. Aside from his interest in horses and hockey, he also played lacrosse. Ferguson's hockey career began as a stickboy for the Vancouver Canucks, then of the Western Hockey League. He became interested in the "role of enforcer when he saw the more talented Canucks players get hit repeatedly," without having their teammates attempt to respond. Or dissuade their opponents.
Playing careerβ»
Ferguson played his junior hockey in Western Canada, with the Melville Millionaires of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League in 1956β57, and 1958β59. In 1959β60, he was playing professionally with the Fort Wayne Komets of the International Hockey League. In 1960, he moved to the American Hockey League and the Cleveland Barons.
In 1963β64, he was promoted to the Canadiens as an "enforcer" to protect captain Jean Beliveau from aggressive defendersβmerely twelve seconds into his first NHL game, he was in a fight with Ted Green of the Boston Bruins; Ferguson won the fight. It was said that his unexpected retirement in 1971 caused problems for the Canadiens, who then started getting roughed up by other teams. Rumours persisted that General Manager Sam Pollock wanted to bring him out of retirement. β»
Ferguson was also a potential offensive threat. Playing on a line with Beliveau, Ferguson led all NHL rookies in scoring in his first season and finished as runner-up for Calder Trophy in 1963β64. The 5-foot-11, 190-pound left-winger also scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal in 1969, during season that saw him score a career-high 29 goals with a plus-30 rating. In 85 post-season games, he scored 20 goals and added 18 assists. He also earned two selections to the NHL All-Star Game.
During his playing career, he won the Stanley Cup five times: in the years 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, and 1971, and always earned more than 100 penalty minutes in a regular season.
Sorel Titansβ»
Ferguson was coach for the Sorel Titans, one of six semi-professional Quebec Lacrosse League clubs that played in the 1960s. In supporting the league, Ferguson told the Victoria Times Colonist newspaper: "I hope both ends of the country can bring the game out of the bushes and bring back an interest. Lacrosse needs expansion."
Post-playing careerβ»
In 1972, he became the assistant coach of Team Canada who defeated the Soviet team in the Summit Series. Ferguson gained some notoriety. Because he asked Bobby Clarke to take out Soviet star Valeri Kharlamov with a slash to the latter's ankle. Ferguson later justified his orders saying "that guy is killing us."
In the years to follow, he became the head coach and later general manager of the New York Rangers. He lured Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson away from the Winnipeg Jets of the World Hockey Association (WHA) in 1978 to the Rangers. Both were considered to be the Jets' best players, and among the best in the WHA as a whole. Ferguson stopped coaching in 1977, and was fired as general manager in 1978, at which time he became the general manager of the Jets in the WHA and, starting in 1979, the National Hockey League.
He worked for the Ottawa Senators in the early 1990s as director of player personnel. He is credited with finding Daniel Alfredsson for the Senators. He was a special consultant to the general manager of the San Jose Sharks.
Later years and deathβ»
Ferguson was married to Joan, and they had four children together: John Jr. (former general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs), Catherine, Chris and Joanne.
He and his wife lived in Windsor, Ontario in his later years to be close to horses. He served as GM for the Windsor Raceway in 1988.
In September 2005, Ferguson was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He died on July 14, 2007.
Career statisticsβ»
Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
1956β57 | Melville Millionaires | SJHL | 51 | 11 | 17 | 28 | 49 | β | β | β | β | β | ||
1957β58 | Melville Millionaires | SJHL | 50 | 14 | 30 | 44 | 100 | β | β | β | β | β | ||
1958β59 | Melville Millionaires | SJHL | 44 | 32 | 34 | 66 | 83 | β | β | β | β | β | ||
1959β60 | Fort Wayne Komets | IHL | 68 | 32 | 33 | 65 | 126 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 17 | ||
1960β61 | Cleveland Barons | AHL | 62 | 13 | 21 | 34 | 126 | β | β | β | β | β | ||
1961β62 | Cleveland Barons | AHL | 70 | 20 | 21 | 41 | 146 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | ||
1962β63 | Cleveland Barons | AHL | 72 | 38 | 40 | 78 | 179 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 17 | ||
1963β64 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 59 | 18 | 27 | 45 | 125 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 25 | ||
1964β65 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 69 | 17 | 27 | 44 | 156 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 28 | ||
1965β66 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 65 | 11 | 14 | 25 | 153 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 44 | ||
1966β67 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 67 | 20 | 22 | 42 | 177 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 22 | ||
1967β68 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 61 | 15 | 18 | 33 | 117 | 13 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 25 | ||
1968β69 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 71 | 29 | 23 | 52 | 185 | 14 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 80 | ||
1969β70 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 48 | 19 | 13 | 32 | 139 | β | β | β | β | β | ||
1970β71 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 60 | 16 | 14 | 30 | 162 | 18 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 36 | ||
AHL totals | 204 | 71 | 82 | 153 | 451 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 23 | ||||
NHL totals | 500 | 145 | 158 | 303 | 1214 | 85 | 20 | 18 | 38 | 260 |
Coaching recordβ»
Team | Year | Regular season | Post season | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G | W | L | T | Pts | Division rank | Result | ||
NYR | 1975β76 | 41 | 14 | 22 | 5 | (67) | 4th in Patrick | Missed Playoffs |
NYR | 1976β77 | 80 | 29 | 37 | 14 | 72 | 4th in Patrick | Missed Playoffs |
WPG | 1985β86 | 14 | 7 | 6 | 1 | (59) | 3rd in Smythe | Lost in First round |
Total | 135 | 50 | 65 | 20 | 120 |
See alsoβ»
Referencesβ»
- ^ John McGourty (July 16, 2007). "Ferguson earned five Stanley Cups". Retrieved July 17, 2007.
- ^ "IMeet Central - Organize, Share, Collaborate".
- ^ "1972 Summit Series Game Six". www.1972summitseries.com. Archived from the original on June 26, 2002. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ TSN : NHL β Canada's Sports Leader
External linksβ»
- Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or The Internet Hockey Database
- "Tough exterior, soft heart" (Winnipeg Sun column on the passing of John Ferguson Sr.)
Preceded by | Head coach of the New York Rangers 1976β77 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by | General Manager of the New York Rangers 1976β78 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by | General Manager of the original Winnipeg Jets 1978β88 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by | Head coach of the original Winnipeg Jets 1986 |
Succeeded by |
- 1938 births
- 2007 deaths
- Canadian ice hockey left wingers
- Deaths from cancer in Ontario
- Cleveland Barons (1937β1973) players
- Deaths from prostate cancer in Canada
- Fort Wayne Komets players
- Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States
- Melville Millionaires players
- Montreal Canadiens players
- New York Rangers executives
- New York Rangers coaches
- New York Rangers general managers
- Ottawa Senators executives
- San Jose Sharks personnel
- San Jose Sharks scouts
- Ice hockey people from Vancouver
- Stanley Cup champions
- Winnipeg Jets (1972β1996) coaches
- Winnipeg Jets (1972β1996) executives
- Canadian ice hockey coaches