Moe Lemay

Moe Lemay's father loved Rocket Richard so much he named his son after him.

Maurice became shortened to Moe in English Canada. Moe was born in Saskatoon but spent a fair chunk of his youth growing up on military bases in West Germany. Moe's dad was a proud member of the Canadian military.

The family eventually settled in Ottawa where Moe would become a local hockey sensation, first in the youth scene and then with the famed Ottawa 67s junior team.

Lemay was a bit of a late bloomer, being passed over entirely in the 1980 NHL Draft. The Vancouver Canucks selected him with their fifth choice, 105th overall, in 1981.

It was not long into the 1981-82 junior season that it looked like the Canucks landed a steal with that pick. Lemay and Jeff Vaive lit up the OHL for the 67s. By the end of the year Lemay finished with an impressive 68 goals and 138 points in 62 games with Ottawa. He also played five games with the Canucks that season, as well as Team Canada's gold medal winning team at the World Juniors.

Lemay obviously had a knack for scoring goals but he also had some sandpaper to his game. It was that combination of talent and grit that made him an intriguing prospect.

After spending half of each of the next two seasons apprenticing in the minor leagues, Lemay finally made the Canucks full time in 1984. He responded with a 21 goal, 52 point season in 1984-85 and followed that up with 16 goals and 31 points in just 48 games in 1985-86. Serious hip and knee injuries truncated his season.

The knee would continue to give Lemay problems throughout the rest of his career. The Canucks traded him to Edmonton in exchange for Raimo Summanen in 1987. Lemay only played in 19 games with the Oilers, but got his name on the Stanley Cup that spring.

From there Lemay bounced to Boston to Winnipeg to the minor leagues before settling on a long hockey career back in Germany.

In 317 career NHL games Moe Lemay scored 72 goals, 94 assists and 166 points.