Guy Chouinard

Guy Chouinard
Born October 20, 1956
Quebec City, QC, CAN
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 182 lb (83 kg; 13 st 0 lb)
Position Centre
Shot Right
Played for Atlanta Flames
Calgary Flames
St. Louis Blues
NHL Draft 28th overall, 1974
Atlanta Flames
Playing career 1974–1985

Guy Camil "Gramps" Chouinard (born October 20, 1956) is a retired professional ice hockey player who played in the 1970s and 80's for the Atlanta Flames, Calgary Flames, and St. Louis Blues. He has also had a lengthy career as a coach in the QMJHL since retiring as a player, and is the former head coach of the Prince Edward Island Rocket.

Playing career

Chouinard was the 28th overall pick in the 1974 NHL Entry Draft, following a successful junior career with the Quebec Remparts in which he was a regular at the age of 15. He was one of the first underage players available in the entry draft because of the National Hockey League's decision to allow drafting of underage players that year. While playing with the Atlanta Flames, he set records for scoring goals in six consecutive games from November 14 to November 24, 1978; he was the first Flame to score 50 goals in a season in the 1978–79 season. He remained with the team when it relocated to Calgary at the start of the 1980–81 season. He left the Flames franchise as its all-time leader in points (529) and assists (336) (records since broken) on September 6, 1983, when he was traded to the St. Louis Blues for future considerations.

After playing in the first nine games of the 1984-85 season in the IHL with Peoria, Chouinard opted to retire.

Coaching career

Chouinard has also had a brilliant career (more than 10 years) coaching in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, notably for the Victoriaville Tigres, Quebec Remparts, and Prince Edward Island Rocket and was enshrined in the QMJHL Hall of Fame in 2005. He has coached the second most games in the QMJHL (988), most wins as a coach (515) and most championships as a coach (4).

From 2002 to 2006, he coached in the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey, a minor professional league in Quebec, first with the Trois-Rivieres Vikings, then the Thetford-Mines Prolab. He was fired as the Prolab head-coach on January 13, 2006, after a 7–3 loss against the Saint-Hyacinthe Cristal. With the Prolab, his record was 45 wins and 48 loss (including 10 shootout loss and 2 losses in overtime).

Chouinard was hired by the QMJHL's Prince Edward Island Rocket to replace Yanick Jean as head coach, on October 22, 2007. He was relieved of his duties on October 6, 2009.

Other

Chouinard was nicknamed "Gramps" because he appeared much older than he really was. He is not the only member of his family to play professional hockey; he is the older brother of former minor-leaguer Jean Chouinard and the father of Eric Chouinard,[1] who currently is in the Phoenix Coyotes organization. His nephew, Marc Chouinard, played in the NHL for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Minnesota Wild and Vancouver Canucks.

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1971–72Quebec RempartsQMJHL582941706—————
1972–73Quebec RempartsQMJHL59438612911—————
1973–74Quebec RempartsQMJHL6275851602240110
1974–75Omaha KnightsCHL70284068661670
1974–75Atlanta FlamesNHL50002—————
1975–76Nova Scotia VoyageursAHL7040408014969150
1975–76Atlanta FlamesNHL4022220000
1976–77Atlanta FlamesNHL80173350832020
1977–78Atlanta FlamesNHL73283058821010
1978–79Atlanta FlamesNHL8050571071421230
1979–80Atlanta FlamesNHL763146772241344
1980–81Calgary FlamesNHL523152832416314174
1981–82Calgary FlamesNHL642357801230110
1982–83Calgary FlamesNHL801359721891674
1983–84St. Louis BluesNHL641234461050220
1984–85Peoria RivermenIHL92570—————
NHL totals 578 205 370 575 120 46 9 28 37 12

See also

References

  1. ↑ Panaccio, Tim; Carchidi, Sam (January 30, 2003). "Slumping Flyers obtain Chouinard from Montreal". Philadelphia Inquirer.

External links