Born in Glendon, Alberta, Smyl became a fixture on the Vancouver hockey scene long before he was eligible to play in the National Hockey League. Smyl played his junior career with the fabled New Westminster Bruins, where he was a huge part of their success. The team played in an incredible 4 consecutive Memorial Cup championships, an unheard of accomplishment in junior hockey where yearly roster changes are as much a part of the game as pucks and jock straps. Along with future career NHLers like Barry Beck, Ron Greschner, John Ogrodnick, Mark Lofthouse, Brad Maxwell and Lorne Henning, Smyl delivered two consecutive Memorial Cups to British Columbia's lower mainland.
In hindsight it is unfortunate the hometown Vancouver Canucks did not draft more Bruins than they did. But they did snatch up one player - small but aggressive Stan Smyl - in the third round (40th overall) of the 1978 Amateur Draft.
Full Stan Smyl Biography
No comments:
Post a Comment