Butch Goring

Butch Goring
Born (1949-10-22) October 22, 1949
Saint Boniface, MB, CAN
Height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight 165 lb (75 kg; 11 st 11 lb)
Position Centre
Shot Left
Played for Los Angeles Kings
New York Islanders
Boston Bruins
National team  Canada
NHL Draft 51st overall, 1969
Los Angeles Kings
Playing career 19691987

Robert Thomas "Butch" Goring [1] (born October 22, 1949) is a retired Canadian ice hockey player. He played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders and Boston Bruins. He is a four-time Stanley Cup winner with the Islanders. Since retiring as a player he has served as head coach of both the Bruins and Islanders. He currently serves as the Islanders TV color commentator alongside long-time Islanders announcer Howie Rose.

Playing career

After finishing his junior career with the Dauphin Kings of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL), Goring was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in the fifth round (51st overall) of the 1969 NHL Entry Draft. He played parts of two seasons for the Kings in 1970 and 1971, bouncing back and forth between Los Angeles and their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Indians. He had a very successful season in Springfield in 1971, leading the league in playoff goals, assists and points in helping his team (along with future Hall of Fame goaltender and future Islanders' teammate Billy Smith) win the Calder Cup championship.

The next season Goring was promoted for good to the NHL, and starred for nine seasons for the Los Angeles Kings, developing into one of the most complete players in the league. In the 1975–76 playoff quarterfinal series vs. Boston, Goring scored the overtime game-winning goal in game 2 and game 6. He won both the Bill Masterton Trophy and the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in 1978. Prior to the 1978–79 season he was offered a five-year, $1-million contract by the World Hockey Association's Edmonton Oilers.[1] Although he turned the offer down, he realized he wasn't under appreciated around the NHL as he had suspected.

In the 1980 season, Goring was traded in March to the New York Islanders in exchange for Billy Harris and Dave Lewis, and was widely regarded as being the "final piece of the puzzle". That season, he scored 19 points in 21 playoff games to help the Islanders to the first of four consecutive Stanley Cups. The next season (1980–81), he improved upon his previous playoff run, scoring 10 goals and 10 assists in 20 playoff games, and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff most valuable player, as the Islanders won their second Cup.

Goring's final NHL season was 1985. After his release by the Islanders, he played effectively for half a season with the Boston Bruins, before retiring and becoming the Bruins' head coach for a season and a half. After he was fired as the Bruins' coach in 1987, he played briefly for the Nova Scotia Oilers of the AHL before retiring for good.

Goring retired having played 1107 games, with 375 goals and 513 assists for 888 points. He recorded only 102 penalty minutes, the lowest total in NHL history for a player appearing in more than a thousand games.

Goring was most recognizable on the ice for a helmet that he had worn since he was 12 years old and continued to wear throughout his entire professional career. He also developed a reputation for perhaps the poorest fashion sense in the league. In the 1970s, on a road trip with the Kings, a burglar broke into his hotel room and stole everything that belonged to his roommate but left all of Goring's clothes hanging in the closet untouched.[1]

Former Islanders' teammate Mike Bossy stated on a 2010 episode of TSN's Off The Record that Goring is quite likely the originator of the NHL's tradition of growing a beard in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1965–66 Winnipeg Rangers MJHL 3 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 1 0
1966–67 Winnipeg Rangers MJHL 51 35 31 66 2 8 2 6 8 0
1967–68 Hull Nationals Que-Sr. 40 16 41 57 4
1967–68 Winnipeg Jets MJHL 1 2 1 3 0
1967–68 St. Boniface Mohawks Al-Cup 12 5 6 11 2
1968–69 Winnipeg Jets WCJHL 39 42 33 75 0
1968–69 Dauphin Kings M-Cup 12 8 8 16 5
1968–69 Regina Pats M-Cup 2 2 3 5 0
1969–70 Los Angeles Kings NHL 59 13 23 36 8
1969–70 Springfield Kings AHL 19 13 7 20 0
1970–71 Los Angeles Kings NHL 19 2 5 7 2
1970–71 Springfield Kings AHL 40 23 32 55 4 12 11 14 25 0
1971–72 Los Angeles Kings NHL 74 21 29 50 2
1972–73 Los Angeles Kings NHL 67 28 31 59 2
1973–74 Los Angeles Kings NHL 70 28 33 61 2 5 0 1 1 0
1974–75 Los Angeles Kings NHL 60 27 33 60 6 3 0 0 0 0
1975–76 Los Angeles Kings NHL 80 33 40 73 8 9 2 3 5 4
1976–77 Los Angeles Kings NHL 78 30 55 85 6 9 7 5 12 0
1977–78 Los Angeles Kings NHL 80 37 36 73 2 2 0 0 0 2
1978–79 Los Angeles Kings NHL 80 36 51 87 16 2 0 0 0 0
1979–80 Los Angeles Kings NHL 69 20 48 68 12
1979–80 New York Islanders* NHL 12 6 5 11 2 21 7 12 19 2
1980–81 New York Islanders* NHL 78 23 37 60 0 18 10 10 20 6
1981–82 New York Islanders* NHL 67 15 17 32 10 19 6 5 11 12
1982–83 New York Islanders* NHL 75 19 20 39 8 20 4 8 12 4
1983–84 New York Islanders NHL 71 22 24 46 8 21 1 5 6 2
1984–85 New York Islanders NHL 29 2 5 7 2
1984–85 Boston Bruins NHL 39 13 21 34 6 5 1 1 2 0
1986–87 Nova Scotia Oilers AHL 10 3 5 8 2
NHL totals 1107 375 513 888 102 134 38 50 88 32

* Stanley Cup champion

Coaching career

Goring served two stints as an NHL head coach. He coached the Bruins in the 1985–86 season and the early part of the following campaign; he also coached the New York Islanders in the 1999–2000 season and most of the following season – he was fired by the Islanders on March 4, 2001. He also served as the head coach for several minor league teams, including the Capital District Islanders, Las Vegas Thunder, Denver Grizzlies, Utah Grizzlies, and Anchorage Aces, winning two championships. In 2002–2003 he took over the Krefeld Penguins of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga and led them to their first championship since 1952. In 2004–2005, he was the coach of the DEG Metro Stars hockey team in Germany.

Coaching record

Team Year Regular season Post season
G W L T OTL Pts Finish Result
BOS1985–86 80373112863rd in AdamsLost in first round
BOS1986–87 13571(85)3rd in Adams(fired)
NYI1999–2000 82244891585th in AtlanticMissed playoffs
NYI2000–01 65174053(52)5th in Atlantic(fired)
Total 24083126274

Career achievements and facts

See also

References

External links

Preceded by
Marcel Dionne
Winner of the Lady Byng Trophy
1978
Succeeded by
Bob MacMillan
Preceded by
Ed Westfall
Winner of the Bill Masterton Trophy
1978
Succeeded by
Serge Savard
Preceded by
Bryan Trottier
Winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy
1981
Succeeded by
Mike Bossy
Preceded by
Harry Sinden
Head coach of the Boston Bruins
198586
Succeeded by
Terry O'Reilly
Preceded by
Bill Stewart
Head coach of the New York Islanders
19992001
Succeeded by
Lorne Henning
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, April 30, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.