Marty Pavelich

Marty Pavelich
Born November 6, 1927 (1927-11-06) (age 84)
Sault Ste. Marie, ON, CAN
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight 168 lb (76 kg; 12 st 0 lb)
Position Left wing
Shot Left
Played for OHA
 Galt Red Wings
NHL
 Detroit Red Wings
Playing career 1944–1957

Martin Nicholas Pavelich (born November 6, 1927 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) is a Canadian former ice hockey left winger. He played ten seasons for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League from 1947 until 1957.

Contents

Early career

Pavelich played three seasons (1944–47) of junior-league hockey with the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) Galt Red Wings in Galt, Ontario. He played 74 regular season games for the team, scoring 52 goals, with 66 assists for a total of 118 points.[1]

NHL career

Pavelich joined the NHL Detroit Red Wings in 1947. He played a total of 634 regular season NHL games, scoring 93 goals and 159 assists for 252 points. His post-season record is 13 goals, 15 assists for 28 points in 93 games.[2] The Red Wings won the Stanley Cup four times (1950, 1952, 1954, 1955) during his career and he played in the NHL all-star games for those seasons.

Pavelich is regarded as an unsung hero of the early 1950s powerhouse Red Wing squad that also included Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay.[3] Wings manager, Jack Adams, referred to Pavelich as "one of the four key men around whom we build our hockey club."[4] Hockey journalist Stan Fischler, ranked him as the 4th best defensive forward of all time in his book Hockey's 100: A Personal Ranking of the Best Players in Hockey History.[5] Considered one of the best "shadows" of his time, his role was to check other team's top scorers, including the likes of Maurice "Rocket" Richard.[3][4]

Post-NHL

Pavelich left the Red Wings at the end of the 1956-57 season. He and Ted Lindsay ran a successful plastics manufacturing business together that supplied parts to the automotive industry.[3] He currently resides in Big Sky, Montana.

References

  1. ^ "Marty Nicholas Pavelich". Legends of Hockey.net. http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=13946. Retrieved 2010-04-30. 
  2. ^ "Marty Pavelich's player profile". Hockey DB.com. http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=4193. Retrieved 2010-04-30. 
  3. ^ a b c "Marty Pavelich 1953-54". Red Wings.NHL.com. http://redwings.nhl.com/club/page.htm?bcid=his_wol_wol-martypavelich. Retrieved 2010-04-30. 
  4. ^ a b Fischler, Stan & Shirley (2003). Who's Who in Hockey. Andrews McMeel Universal. ISBN 0-7407-1904-1. http://books.google.ca/books?id=wpbLnSHBNHgC&pg=PT342&lpg=PT342&dq=marty+pavelich&source=bl&ots=XM5Z59iTn6&sig=BsWU2iZsyT5MdK3m6GnqniwleGs&hl=en&ei=VEheS-vzI86k8QbDqcz-BA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CB0Q6AEwBzgK#v=onepage&q=marty%20pavelich&f=false. Retrieved 2010-04-30. 
  5. ^ "Marty Pavelich". Greatest Hockey Legends.com. http://redwingslegends.blogspot.com/2007/10/marty-pavelich.html. Retrieved 2010-04-30.