Height: 6-0
Weight: 190
Shoot: R
Born: 9 Sep 1940, Penticton BC
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1972-73 | Houston | |||||||||||
| 1973-74 | Houston | |||||||||||
| 1974-75 | Houston | |||||||||||
| 1975-76 | Houston | |||||||||||
| 1976-77 | Houston | |||||||||||
| 1977-78 | Houston | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
• Highest WHA point total of all players not to have played in the NHL.
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Nothing Unlucky About No. 13 • by Joey LeBourgeois • The Hockey Spectator • March 23, 1973
When Larry Lund is in the draw, chances are the Houston Aeros will wind up with the puck. He'll beat the man across from him nine times out of ten, and an Aeros player will control the puck eight times out of the nine. Teammates and most of Houston's knowledgeable hockey aficionados call him one of the strongest centermen in hockey. They also consider him one of the better playmakers in the World Hockey Association and somewhat of a puck hound. Larry Lund rates as a good one. The 6-0, 190 pounder also rates high in the personality department. Soft spoken and mild mannered, he has a kind word for everyone and is probably over-modest. From just talking to him, one would never think he could be so tough to beat on the ice. "As far as the faceoff is concerned," claims Lund, "timing is the important factor. A lot of people say you have be strong, but you have to catch the puck at the split second that's just right to win the draw." "You wanna get your stick on the puck that quick instant that is just hitting the ice. I don't guess it should even quite touch. And even when you do catch it right, it's a 50-50 chance of getting it to the right man." Whatever it is, Lund has a knack for doing it. He doesn't concentrate on it much, however. He's more worried about how the team performs overall than about how he does. "I'm not having what I consider a good year," he says, "but it's not so important as long as the team is doing well. As long as we can keep winning and I can do my part to help I'll be satisfied." The little things don't bother Lund much. He's more interested in the more important aspects of the game period he is, for instance, the only pro hockey player to wear number 13, but doesn't think twice about it. "It has nothing to do with superstition," he says, "I wore the number in juniors and they had it in Phoenix, so I wore it there. I just kept the number here. I don't even know how I started wearing it. It doesn't mean anything." The Penticton, British Columbia, native means a lot to the Aeros. He joins Gordie Labossiere and Ed Hoekstra to give the Houston one of the strongest groups of winners in the league. A consistently good performer, Lund fits right in. It's not a new situation for the man either. He's had consistently good seasons ever since he's been in pro hockey. After a year with the Edmonton Oil Kings and the CAHL, Lund broke in to the professional ranks with the Muskegon Zephyrs of the IHL in 1961. Since then he's played with just five teams, including four years with the Seattle Totems and three with the Phoenix Roadrunners. It was with the Roadrunners that Lund came into his own. He was the number-one center on a line with Aeros teammate Frank Hughes and Andre Hinse for three years. The first season he had 33 goals and 40 assists the second he went 29-63-92 and in the 1971-72 season he finished second in the Western Hockey League in scoring with thirty net-shakers and 66 assists for 96 points. This season Lund isn't going to match those figures, apparently, but he's doing the job as far as coach Bill Dineen is concerned. He's hovering near the 60-point mark as the team's fifth-leading scorer, and carrying his share of the load. |
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Excerpts from Pro Hockey, WHA 1975-76 (by Dan Proudfoot)
Next to the president himself, Gordie Howe, Larry Lund is the eldest of the Houston Aeros players. But at the age of 36 he's improving instead of slowing down, and the 1974-75 statistics show he's already highly ranked, as the fourth-highest scorer of all WHA centers. Look carefully at his stick, if you get a chance to see him play. Equipment managers always find it easy to locate Lund's sticks, for they're the longest, largest instruments to be found anywhere. With the combination of savvy accumulated in years of hockey and sticks long enough to reach around opponents, Lund can both take and give a pass as well as any player you'd care to mention. Penalty killing is another forte. Lund's skating isn't exactly the perfect example of grace, which crippled his chances back in the days when there were only a handful of big league teams. Playing at Seattle of the Western Hockey League, however, he was a linemate of Bill Dineen. When the time came for Dineen to draft a team of his own, he remembered the perfect passes. |
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Excerpts from Zander Hollander Complete Hockey Handbook, 1975-76 (by Reyn Davis) A master in the art of cashing rebounds ... Opposing defensemen say he seems to have as many arms as an octopus ... Excellent in the faceoff circle ... Set a club record for points last season with 108, including 75 assists ... Very imposing figure on power plays, winning critical faceoffs, feeding key passes, and bravely entering the crease to screen goaltenders, tie up defensemen and cash rebounds ... Wears Number 13 ... Year prior to the advent of the WHA, he volunteered to pay his way to the California Golden Seals' camp if he could have a tryout ... They told him he wasn't welcome ... He hasn't forgotten. |
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Excerpts from Pro Hockey, WHA 1976-77 (by Dan Proudfoot)
So Larry Lund is 36. That doesn't make him a has-been in coach Bill Dineen's book, not so long as he remains one of the best face-off artists in the WHA, and the key to the Aeros' power play. "He's the guy for all of the key faceoffs," says assistant coach Jack Stanfield. "We think he's the best in the league at winning the draws." Lund's scoring fell off badly in 1975-76 but that was because he missed 17 games and was less than his best in many others because of a broken thumb and a separated shoulder. |
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