Height: 5-11
Weight: 185
Shoot: R
Born: 3 Oct 1951, Sudbury ON
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1972-73 | New York | |||||||||||
| 1973-74 | New York-Jersey | |||||||||||
| 1974-75 | San Diego | |||||||||||
| 1975-76 | Indianapolis | |||||||||||
| 1976-77 | Edmonton | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
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Scharf Knows Exactly What To Do • by Larry Bortstein • The Hockey Spectator • March 2, 1973
"Whenever coach Henry sends me onto the ice," says Ted Scharf, "I know what he wants me to do." "He wants me to fight somebody and get things riled up for us a little. I accept the assignment. I found out in my last year of junior hockey in Kitchener when I had to check guys like Gil Perreault, Rick Martin, and Marcel Dionne, that if I was going to make it in pro hockey, it would have to be as a fighter." Recently recalled from the Long Island Ducks of the Eastern League, where he had played since the early stages of the season, Scharf is a sandy-haired 21-year-old right wing who stands 5-11 and weighs 185 pounds. He has fought more times than the top 10 ranked heavyweight boxers in the world put together and will go on fighting because that is his job. "I enjoy it," Scharf chuckles. "I don't want to say I'm the best or that I'm very good, because that's when you get guys coming after you just to prove a point." Still, there is a suspicion in the WHA that Ted just may be the best fighter in the one-year-old circuit. "I don't go after the first guy who flies past me," says Scharf. "I usually to go after a guy who's been giving us trouble or who might be figuring to go after our players. Sometimes it gets silly. Against Quebec recently, I started the game and banged a few guys around on the first couple shifts. But then I was on the bench for the rest of the game. Quebec isn't a real tough hitting club anyway except for Pierre Guite." Scharf started this year with the Raiders. In fact he was the first member of the team to wear the official club uniform and the third Raider to sign behind goalies Guy DeNoncourt and Peter Donnelly. "I was in town for my press conference the day the uniform arrived," recalls Ted, "and I got the chance to model it. That's something I'll remember for years and years." Players accosting Scharf on the ice also have memories of the occasion — painful ones. When he was up early in the season, Ted fought with Rick Ley of New England. "He clobbered Ley," recalls a Raider spokesman. Scharf pooh-poohs that brawl. "Ley is not a real good fighter," he concedes. "I guess the reason that fight got a lot of publicity was because Ley was an NHL player before this season." Scharf dressed for only 12 Raider games early in the campaign, made brief appearances in only eight, and was sent to Long Island. He and his wife continue to maintain their home in Northport, Long Island, about 85 miles from the Raiders' practice rink, Newark's Branch Brook Arena. "We like it in Long Island," says Ted, "though I'm sure glad I'm not playing there anymore. I suppose I have to say I'm happy we have so many injuries that the club had to call me back. I'm not a scorer. I had eight goals and nine assists in 35 games in Long Island but also 112 penalty minutes." Scharf scored two goals, including a game winner against Ottawa, in two consecutive games early in February. "But I think I can really help this club during the stretch for the playoffs mostly by fighting. Against Cleveland I've managed to beat two of their toughest guys, Paul Shmyr and John Hanna, already. In the first game since the Raiders brought me back, I played against Edmonton and fought with Ken Baird." A former California Golden Seal, Baird is described by Scharf as "some sort of lumberjack." Ted explains his style of fighting is to grab his opponent's jersey with his left hand, lower his head between the opponents shoulders and flail away at his head with his right hooks. "I had about 35 fights with the Jersey Devils in the Eastern League last year," he says, "but to show you what kind of league that is, I barely finished in the top ten in penalty minutes with 221. I wasn't even first on my team. Gary Gresdal, our left wing who's now with Syracuse, had 392 minutes mostly on misconducts. As a team we must have set some sort of world record for penalties." |
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Excerpts from Pro Hockey, WHA 1975-76 (by Dan Proudfoot)
No hockey men argue about Terrible Ted's talents — all agree he has a bare minimum of all the fine arts, such as skating, shooting and passing. When GM Jim Browitt worked out a deal to get him from San Diego, however, it wasn't Scharf's three goals and one assist that impressed. It was his readiness to fight, and his ability to stir up his teammates with brief, whirling, gung-ho performances. Scharf practically won a game for San Diego over Toronto Toros late last season with a rare turn on the ice. He didn't score a goal, of course, but he did upset Toros enough to allow his mates to come from behind and win. "Scharf doesn't play much really," explained Harry Howell, then playing coach of San Diego, "He's only a spare forward. But sometimes you find yourself up against a team that's checking so thoroughly and sticking to its system so well that you just can't move. A guy like Scharf can disrupt everything and get you off the hook." |
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