Norrish played with the Regina Pats from 1969 through 1971. He scored an impressive 86 goals in 115 games.
His best season was in 1969-70 when he scored 37 goals in just 35 games. At the completion of the Pats junior season he was loaned out to the Weyburn Red Wings for their Memorial Cup push, scoring 21 points in 19 playoff games. However Weyburn would lose out to Gilbert Perreault's Montreal Junior Canadiens.
Weyburn had gotten to know Norrish all too well that season. On November 25th, 1969 he scored the opening goal against Weyburn just five seconds into the game!
And that wasn't even his best game of the season. Less than two weeks later, on December 7th, 1969 he scored three goals in just 20 seconds - bettering the NHL record famously set by Chicago's Bill Mosienko in 1952 by one second!
With that fine junior resume the Minnesota North Stars selected Rod Norrish 21st overall in the 1971 NHL draft.
Norrish's rookie pro season was a disaster. He broke his leg early in the season, causing him to miss half the season. He would finish the season with zero goals and only one assist in 39 games with the Cleveland Barons of the AHL.
Norrish rebounded with two solid AHL seasons that resulted in his first taste of NHL action in 1973-74.
Norrish even scored a goal in his very first NHL game, scoring the 1-1 tying goal at 12:15 of the first period against Rogie Vachon of the Los Angeles Kings. Norrish would play a total of 9 games with the North Stars that season, totalling two goals and three points.
Norrish would get another 12 game look with Minnesota in 1974-75, scoring another goal and two more assists, but he had a rough season in the minor leagues with the New Haven Nighthawks. He would score just nine times in 52 games.
That proved to be Norrish's last season in pro hockey. He would play a season of senior hockey in Spokane, Washington before he returned to his hometown of Strongfield, Saskatchewan and got into the trucking and farming.
No comments:
Post a Comment