Dan Lambert

Dan Lambert a tiny but skilled defenseman. He was a power play quarterback who played with passion and intelligence. He had quite the interesting and vagabond career, crossing international borders ever since he was in high school.

Lambert was born in St. Boniface, Manitoba but grew up in the picturesque French farming community of St. Malo, Manitoba. He played minor hockey there until 1985 when he crossed the border to play high school hockey in Warroad, Minnesota as a 15 year old.

Lambert returned to Canada the next season, making the Swift Current Broncos roster at the age of 16. That was the season of the terrible bus tragedy that claimed four of his teammates lives. The next season the Broncos recovered and won the Memorial Cup in their memory. Lambert, the team captain, would also call that his proudest moment in hockey. he would be named ast the Memorial Cup tournament's MVP.

Dan had an amazing year that year, scoring 102 points in only 57 games and another 28 points in just 12 post season games, all as a defenseman. Dan also represented Canada at the World Junior Championships.

Despite all of that, concerns about his size kept the NHL interest in him lukewarm at best. The Quebec Nordiques drafted him 106th overall in the 1989 NHL draft.

Lambert would go on to play only 29 NHL games, all with the Nordiques, in a 19 year pro career. He toiled in the minor leagues for several years before finding a lot of success playing in Germany.

Lambert would return to Canada and become a junior and NHL coach.