Height: 5-9
Weight: 175
Shoot: R
Born: 17 Oct 1949, Williams Lake BC (d. 2021)
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1972-73 | Alberta | |||||||||||
| 1973-74 | Edmonton | |||||||||||
| 1974-75 | Edmonton | |||||||||||
| 1975-76 | Edmonton | |||||||||||
| 1976-77 | Edmonton | |||||||||||
| 1977-78 | Indianapolis | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
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Patenaude Skates From Oblivion • by Terry Jones • The Hockey Spectator • February 2, 1973
Rusty Patenaude skated out of the oblivion that is the International Hockey League and hasn't stopped skating since. At the All-Star Break in the World Hockey Association schedule Patenaude was an unlikely scoring star with Alberta Oilers, He'd picked away game-by-game, working his way to third in club scoring on hustle and desire. "I'm not a goal scorer," he says, "I consider myself a hustler, to be successful I have to hustle and go out and be consistent every night." So far, he's getting the job done. Patenaude was one of the few players to regularly draw the praise of Coach Ray Kinasewich and General Manager Bill Hunter during a month-long losing streak which saw Oilers drop from second to fifth place in the Western Division. A former junior hockey star down the road a bit in Calgary, Patenaude is in his third year of professional hockey, He started his career in Amarillo, Texas and played last season in Fort Wayne, Indiana. "I've always felt confident that I could play professional hockey and I felt that I hadn't been given a fair shake. I came to training camp in Edmonton with my mind made up that I was going to make the team if I had to fight and scrap every second to do it. I just convinced myself that I was going to do it this year and that was that." Now that he's more or less done it, Patenaude is reluctant to take much of the credit. "I'm just happy to play regularly let alone be third in scoring on the club," he said. "But I've got a heck of a center who deserves half the credit." Ross Perkins and Patenaude were put on the same line early in the season and have managed to avoid the shuffling. "We sit beside each other in the dressing room and I think we help each other off the ice as well as on it. We figure that if we score then we're really doing our job but that if we don't score, as long as we're not scored against, then we're still doing the job. We almost think like a checking line, if the coach wanted to make us one, I'm sure we'd be a good one." Patenaude claims to be impressed with the first half season of the WHA. "I didn't think the goaltending would be as strong as it is and I can't believe that the league is as evenly balanced as it is. Every game is a big game in this league. That's the toughest thing I've found about playing here. You have to get yourself mentally up for every game. You really have to work on that because it's such a long season and the travel is so tough." Patenaude figures the Edmonton surroundings have contributed in some way to his success. "I really like it around Edmonton, as far as I'm concerned, it's the best place to play in the whole league. If there is one other spot that I wouldn't mind, it would be Minnesota. I'm an outdoorsman to begin with and I like to get outside after practice. I like the country around Edmonton and the country in Minnesota. I played some junior hockey in Moose Jaw, Sask. and I just hated it there. I wouldn't much like Winnipeg. I just don't like the prairies." |
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Excerpts from Zander Hollander's Guide to Pro Hockey, 1973-74 (by Reyn Davis & Charley Hallman)
Although just a youngster, Patenaude proved invaluable to the Oilers in 1972-73 ... Second-leading goal scorer with 29, also had 27 assists... Superb junior performer with Moose Jaw and Calgary ... Had 104 goals and 107 assists in three WCJL seasons but not sensational rookie pro year with Amarillo ... Had only 13 goals and 24 assists ... Williams Lake, British Columbia, native then had 35 goals and 42 assists with Fort Wayne of the IHL ... A tough cookie in John McKenzie tradition, he was originally drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins. |
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Excerpts from Zander Hollander's Guide to Pro Hockey, 1978-79 (by Reyn Davis)
Came to Indianapolis with Barry Wilkins and Claude St. Sauveur in a controversial trade with the Edmonton Oilers for Blair MacDonald and Mike Zuke ... Plagued by an ailing back ... Good skater and hard shooter ... Owns and operates a sprawling ranch near Williams Lake, BC ... Uses a big curve in his stick ... Scores many of his goals with a wrap-around move from behind the net ... A WHA pioneer |
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