Brian Bellows

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Position Right Wing
Shoots Right
Height
Weight		 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
210 lb (95 kg/14 st 0 lb)
Pro clubs Minnesota North Stars
Montreal Canadiens
Tampa Bay Lightning
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Washington Capitals
Berlin Capitals
Nationality Flag of Canada Canada
Born September 1, 1964,
St. Catharines, ON, CAN
NHL Draft 2nd overall, 1982
Minnesota North Stars
Pro career 1982 – 1999

Brian Bellows (born September 1, 1964 in St. Catharines, Ontario) is a retired professional ice hockey player.

Drafted second overall by the Minnesota North Stars, Bellows was often compared to Wayne Gretzky, which led to a tough rookie season. The pressure of such comparisons caused criticisms when he did not live up to them. Bellows improved greatly in the second half of the season and finished with 35 goals. In the playoffs that year, Bellows scored 9 points (5 goals, 4 assists) in 9 games.

Bellows played 10 seasons with the North Stars and was popular in Minnesota for his charity work, as well as his goal-scoring. He had a North Star record 342 goals in 753 games, peaking with 55 goals in 1989-90. In 1990-91, Bellows scored 29 points in the post-season to become the North Stars career playoff point leader, and took the North Stars to the Stanley Cup finals where they fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins. During one of the games Bellows was the target of a classic exchange from Kevin Stevens and Bryan Trottier where they berated him for a solid minute while the ref stood nearby and laughed at Bellows.[1]

When team captain Craig Hartsburg was injured partway through the 1983-84 season, Bellows was named interim captain for the remainder of the season. At 19 years and 4 months, Bellows became captain at an earlier age than Sidney Crosby. However, because he was an interim captain, Crosby is still considered the youngest captain in history.[1]

On August 31, 1992 Bellows was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for Russ Courtnall. The trade angered Bellows, but he relished the chance to play for the Canadiens. His 88 points were the second highest season total of his career, and his 15 playoff points helped the Canadiens win the Stanley Cup.

As his career was winding down, Bellows played for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Anaheim Mighty Ducks and the Washington Capitals. In the 1997-98 NHL season the Capitals made it to the Stanley Cup finals, but lost to the Detroit Red Wings. En route to the Eastern Conference championship, Bellows scored the series-clinching overtime goal in the first round in Game 6 against the Boston Bruins. The 1998-99 season was his last. On January 2, 1999, Bellows scored his 1000th career regular season point, becoming the 54th NHL player to reach that plateau.

Bellows was named to the 1990 second all-star team, and played in three NHL All-Star Games (1984, 1988 and 1992). He retired with 485 goals, 537 assists, and 1,022 points.

Contents

[edit] Career statistics

    Regular Season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1980-81 Kitchener Rangers OHA 66 49 67 116 23 16 14 13 27 13
1981-82 Kitchener Rangers OHL 47 45 52 97 23 15 16 13 29 11
1982-83 Minnesota North Stars NHL 78 35 30 65 27 9 5 4 9 18
1983-84 Minnesota North Stars NHL 78 41 42 83 66 16 2 12 14 6
1984-85 Minnesota North Stars NHL 78 26 36 62 72 9 2 4 6 9
1985-86 Minnesota North Stars NHL 77 31 48 79 46 5 5 0 5 16
1986-87 Minnesota North Stars NHL 65 26 27 53 34 - - - - -
1987-88 Minnesota North Stars NHL 77 40 41 81 81
1988-89 Minnesota North Stars NHL 60 23 27 50 55 5 2 3 5 8
1989-90 Minnesota North Stars NHL 80 55 44 99 72 7 4 3 7 10
1990-91 Minnesota North Stars NHL 80 35 40 75 43 23 10 19 29 30
1991-92 Minnesota North Stars NHL 80 30 45 75 41 7 4 4 8 14
1992-93 Montreal Canadiens NHL 82 40 48 88 44 18 6 9 15 18
1993-94 Montreal Canadiens NHL 77 33 38 71 36 6 1 2 3 2
1994-95 Montreal Canadiens NHL 41 8 8 16 8 - - - - -
1995-96 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 79 23 26 49 39 6 2 0 2 4
1996-97 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 73 15 31 46 60 23 8 8 16 56
1996-97 Anaheim Mighty Ducks NHL 62 15 13 28 22 11 2 4 6 2
1997-98 Berlin Capitals DEL 31 15 17 32 18 - - - - -
1997-98 Washington Capitals NHL 11 6 3 9 6 21 6 7 13 6
1998-99 Washington Capitals NHL 76 17 19 36 26
OHA/OHL Totals 113 94 119 213 46 31 30 26 56 24
NHL Totals 1188 485 537 1022 718 143 51 71 122 143

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ McKeon, Ross (2007-12-10). Mailbag:More Crosby. Yahoo! Sports Canada. Retrieved on 2008-04-29.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Craig Hartsburg		 Minnesota North Stars captains
1984		 Succeeded by
Craig Hartsburg


v • d • e
Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars first-round draft picks
Minnesota: Cheesman • Benzelock • Redmond • Byers • Hicks • Bryan Maxwell • Sharpley • Brad Maxwell • Smith • Hartsburg • McCarthy • Palmer • Meighan • Bellows • Lawton • Quinn • Babe • Archibald • Modano • Zmolek • Hatcher • Matvichuk
Dallas: Harvey • Botterill • Iginla • Jackman • Morrow • Ott • Bacashihua • Vagner • Fistric • Niskanen • Vishnevskiy