Dale Hunter

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Position Centre
Shoots Left
Height
Weight		 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
200 lb (91 kg/14 st 4 lb)
Pro clubs Quebec Nordiques
Washington Capitals
Colorado Avalanche
Nationality Flag of Canada Canada
Born July 31, 1960 (1960-07-31) (age 47),
Petrolia, ON, CAN
NHL Draft 41st overall, 1979
Quebec Nordiques
Pro career 1980 – 1999

Dale Robert Hunter (born July 31, 1960 in Petrolia, Ontario) is a former Canadian ice hockey player and current co-owner and head coach of the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League.

Contents

[edit] NHL career

Selected by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft, Hunter played seven seasons in Quebec before he was traded the Washington Capitals in return for a draft pick used to select Joe Sakic. Hunter currently has the second-most penalty minutes in NHL history, amassing a staggering 3565 penalty minutes. Dale Hunter served as the team captain for the Capitals. He broke the 1000 points barrier (and is the NHL record holder for requiring the most games to do so, at 1308, as well having the most penalty minutes when reaching that scoring milestone) and played in the NHL All-Star game in 1997. The following year, he led the fourth seeded Capitals to their first appearance in the Stanley Cup finals, defeating the Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators, and Buffalo Sabres, but were swept by the Detroit Red Wings in the finals. He finished off his career with the Colorado Avalanche, the successor to the Nordiques, and helped the team to reach the Western Conference finals, losing in seven games to the eventual cup winners Dallas Stars.

Hunter is the only player in NHL history to score two overtime winners in the ultimate game of a Stanley Cup playoff series, scoring in overtime for Quebec in Game 5 of their 1982 opening round best-of-5 series vs. the Montreal Canadiens, and in 1988 scoring in overtime for Washington in Game 7 of their opening round best-of-7 series vs. the Philadelphia Flyers.

[edit] Post-NHL

Hunter's jersey number (#32) was retired by the Capitals on March 11, 2000. During the ceremony, the Capitals awarded Hunter with an authentic penalty box, symbolic of his exceptional amount of time served for penalties. Hunter became the co-owner, president and head coach of the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League, which won the 2005 Memorial Cup. On January 1, 2006, Hunter and his brother, fellow former NHLer Mark Hunter, as co-owners of the London Knights, were named to the 2006 Mayor's New Year's Honours List for Sports by the City of London, Ontario. Hunter's older brother Dave Hunter is also a former NHLer. His son Dylan Hunter is a prospect in the Buffalo Sabres system and his son Tucker currently plays for the Knights.

[edit] Notoriety

Hunter achieved notoriety for fouling other players. He holds one of the NHL's longest suspension records: 21 games for delivering a cross check to Pierre Turgeon from behind. During the deciding Game 6 of the 1993 playoffs between the Capitals and New York Islanders, Turgeon had scored and play was stopped. Literally living up to his name, Hunter snuck up on Turgeon from behind and viciously hit Turgeon while he was celebrating with a blindside cheapshot. Turgeon sustained a separated shoulder from the hit, causing him to miss the following playoff series against the Penguins.and much of the series against the Montreal Canadiens. During that first-round series, Hunter had led his team with eight postseason goals. New NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who had earlier promised to crack down on violence, suspended Hunter for the first 21 games of the 1993-94 season--at the time, the longest suspension in league history for an on-ice incident (in terms of games missed). Years later, Hunter admitted that he'd gone too far.[1]

However, according to his former Quebec Nordiques coach Michel Bergeron, even though Hunter was nicknamed the "Nuisance" on ice (La Petite Peste in French), he was known to be "humble" in the locker-room and a sort of "gentleman", close to all the players. He was the "perfect player", always the first to arrive at the training sessions and ready to do all his best for the team. Thanks to his charisma, Hunter was for very long one of the favorite players of the Nordiques fans. His leaving made them very sad, and was seen as an obvious "mistake" linked to the team's future decline.[2]

Hunter currently has the second-most penalty minutes in NHL history. When the Capitals retired his #32 jersey, he was presented with a penalty box at the retirement ceremony. As of the end of the 2005-06 NHL season, he holds the record for most number of playoff games played without playing for a Stanley Cup-winning team, at 186 games.

His notoriety continued after he stopped playing Hockey. In July of 2006, Hunter was arrested and charged with DUI.[3] The charges were dropped when the preciding judge ruled that his rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms were violated for unlawful detention and being denied his right to his attorney. In September 2005, Hunter was suspended by the Ontario Hockey League for 4 games after a player left the bench to initiate a fight in an exhibition game. On January 20, 2006, Hunter was suspended 2 games, and the team was fined $5,000, for Hunter's off ice actions in regards to the Officials. May 2006, Hunter was fined $5,000 by the OHL for criticizing the on ice officials after the Knights were eliminated from the playoffs in 4 straight games. In September 2006, Hunter was suspended by the OHL for 2 regular season games for forward Matt Davis leaving the bench to engage in a fight during a game. There is an automatic suspension for both the player and the coach if a player leaves the bench to become involved in an altercation.

[edit] Career statistics

    Regular Season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1977-78 Kitchener Rangers OHA 68 22 42 64 115 9 1 0 1 32
1978-79 Sudbury Wolves OHA 59 42 68 110 188 10 4 12 16 47
1979-80 Sudbury Wolves OHA 61 34 51 85 189 9 6 9 15 45
1980-81 Quebec Nordiques NHL 80 19 44 63 226 5 4 2 6 34
1981-82 Quebec Nordiques NHL 80 22 50 72 272 16 3 7 10 52
1982-83 Quebec Nordiques NHL 80 17 46 63 206 4 2 1 3 24
1983-84 Quebec Nordiques NHL 77 24 55 79 232 9 2 3 5 41
1984-85 Quebec Nordiques NHL 80 20 52 72 209 17 4 6 10 97
1985-86 Quebec Nordiques NHL 80 28 42 70 265 3 0 0 0 15
1986-87 Quebec Nordiques NHL 46 10 29 39 135 13 1 7 8 56
1987-88 Washington Capitals NHL 79 22 37 59 240 14 7 5 12 98
1988-89 Washington Capitals NHL 80 20 37 57 219 6 0 4 4 29
1989-90 Washington Capitals NHL 80 23 39 62 233 15 4 8 12 61
1990-91 Washington Capitals NHL 76 16 30 46 234 11 1 9 10 41
1991-92 Washington Capitals NHL 80 28 50 78 205 7 1 4 5 16
1992-93 Washington Capitals NHL 84 20 59 79 48 6 7 1 8 35
1993-94 Washington Capitals NHL 52 9 29 38 131 7 0 3 3 14
1994-95 Washington Capitals NHL 45 8 15 23 101 7 4 4 8 24
1995-96 Washington Capitals NHL 82 13 24 37 112 6 1 5 6 24
1996-97 Washington Capitals NHL 82 14 32 46 125
1997-98 Washington Capitals NHL 82 8 18 26 103 21 0 4 4 30
1998-99 Washington Capitals NHL 50 0 5 5 102
1998-99 Colorado Avalanche NHL 12 2 4 6 17 19 1 3 4 38
OHA Totals 188 98 161 259 492 28 11 21 32 124
NHL Totals 1407 323 697 1020 3565 186 42 76 118 729

[edit] Coaching record

Team Year Regular Season Post Season
G W L T OTL Pts Finish Result
LDN 2001-02 68 24 27 10 7 65 5th in West Lost in Second Round
LDN 2002-03 68 31 27 7 3 72 2nd in Midwest Lost in Second Round
LDN 2003-04 68 53 11 2 2 110 1st in Midwest Lost in Third Round
LDN 2004-05 68 59 7 2 0 120 1st in Midwest Won Memorial Cup
LDN 2005-06 68 49 15 - 4 102 1st in Midwest Lost in OHL Finals
LDN 2006-07 68 50 14 - 4 104 1st in Midwest Lost in Third Round
LDN 2007-08 68 38 24 - 6 82 2nd in Midwest Lost in First Round

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kuzmiak, Eric (2008-04-28). A Trip Through Hockey History: Remembering the Dale Hunter Cheapshot.
  2. ^ "Les Nordiques, notre équipe", video documentary (French), Imavision, 1998 (see also DVD reed. 2006).
  3. ^ Kemick, April (2006-08-20). Knights coach charged with drunk driving.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Kevin Hatcher		 Washington Capitals captains
1994-99		 Succeeded by
Adam Oates
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