Height: 5-8
Weight: 165
Shoot: L
Born: 1 Jun 1956, Saskatoon SK
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1976-77 | Houston | |||||||||||
| 1977-78 | Houston | |||||||||||
| 1978-79 | Winnipeg | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
• Cousin of Bernie Lukowich.
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Lukowich Shows the Critics Wrong (excerpt) • by Reyn Davis • The Winnipeg Free Press • October 11, 1979
Lukowich is a 170-pound package of dynamite looking for a place to explode. A fire seems to rage within him. His intensity is rare. His speed, his reflexes, his shot, his nerve, and the burning desire erased any doubt in the minds of the Jets whether he should be one of their priority picks. But even he was surprised to be protected despite 63 goals last season. He was certain Terry Ruskowski would be rated ahead of him. "Hell yes," he said. "I thought Roscoe would be kept way ahead of everyone." The Jets, however, decided that Lukowich was too rare to pass up and that a big strong, able defenseman such as Scott Campbell would never be available in the expansion draft. Lukowich is the product of a sporting family famous throughout Western Canada for its exploits in curling. Home was the tiny town of Speers, Saskatchewan, and Morris, the youngest of four boys, had to settle for the old outdoor rink in town while dad took the three other boys nine miles down the road to Hafford to curl. "Dad had it in his mind that we would eventually have a family rink," said Morris. "He wanted the four of us boys together." That may happen yet. One brother, Mike, skipped Saskatchewan to a national school-boy curling championship, while another brother, Eddie, won a Brier skipping for Alberta. Although he hasn't thrown a rock for two years, Lukowich doesn't expect he'll have any trouble adjusting when the time comes. "It's like riding a bike," he said, "you never forget." But as the family began to realize that Morris had exceptional hockey talents, no one got in the way. With three friends, he went to the Medicine Hat Tigers training camp in 1972. When the first cuts were made, his three friends were gone. But Morris survived. His break came the following year, when the left winger on a line with Don Murdoch suddenly lost the will to play following a fight. Lukowich took over and looked just fine, then a new center Greg Carroll was added and the line took off. In his draft year Lukowich had 65 goals and 77 assists for 142 points in 72 games. Murdoch had 88 goals and 77 assists for 165 points in 70 games and Carroll had 60 goals and 111 assists for 171 points in 71 games. Murdoch and Carroll were first round draft choices. Murdoch was the 6th player drafted in 1976, chosen by New York Rangers and John Ferguson. Carroll was the 15th player, taken by the Washington Capitals. Lukowich went later. He was the third-round choice of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Murdoch went to the NHL, starred, and then became the subject of great embarrassment to the Rangers, the league, and the players in general, when he was found in possession of cocaine while entering Canada. For Carroll, it became a circus too. He went to Cincinnati, then New England, back to Cincinnati, over to Washington and Detroit before the Red Wings released him. Lukowich, despite the objections of the Medicine Hat management, continued to take his books on the road, and in his final year of high school, graduated from grade 12 with an 87 average. Signed by the Houston Aeros, he joined the two time Avco Cup champions in 1976. But why Houston? "I had the option of going to Pittsburgh and playing for Wren Blair, or going to Houston playing with Gordie Howe," he said. "What would you take?" Blair was livid. "He gave me hell and told me I was too small," said Lukowich. The Houston franchise folded in 1978 and the Jets purchased the WHA rights of 10 Aeros. "I could have gone to Pittsburgh," said Lukowich. "But I chose Winnipeg because most of my friends were going there ... Roscoe (Ruskowski), Scotty (Campbell) and Rich (Preston)." And he's never forgotten the Pittsburgh slurs. Let the league be advised Morris Eugene Lukowich is on the way. |
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