Height: 5-11
Weight: 220
Shoot: L
Born: 20 Mar 1942, Lindsay ON (d. 1989)
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1972-73 | New York | |||||||||||
| 1973-74 | New York-Jersey | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
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They'll Look For Bill Speer • by Bob Boyles • New York Raiders 1972-73 Hockey Program
Frenzy swirled through the Madison Square Garden crowd one April night in 1970. Nearly every patron chanted "We want Speer! We want Speer!". They did not cheer for any grass-roots candidate to emerge triumphant from the smoke-filled room. On the contrary, they were screaming for the head of a burly defenseman of the enemy Boston Bruin hockey monsters. The bruising manner in which the Bruins were treating the downtown Rangers had infuriated the crowd so that they demanded retaliation on one of the Boston culprits. The fellow whose blood they wanted was Bill Speer. Today, however, the tables are turned. In 1972, New York can sing the same old refrain to a different beat. Bill Speer's one of us — a New York Raider. Any rekindling of "We want Speer" now will surely be greeted by the jolly skaters wide grin. That big Bill could become the biggest crowd pleaser among Raider players would be ironic considering New York's disdain for anything Bostonian but not overly surprising. He is simply one of the most friendly people there is to meet (as many youngsters can attest who met Bill at shopping center appearances the Raiders held last summer), and his hockey style is sure to be a smash. It is rough! Devastating body checks have hallmarked Speer's play since he and other fledgling stars with the St. Catherines Teepees, Vic Hadfield, Chico Maki and Pat Stapleton, physically clobbered the Junior Canadians to win the 1960 Junior A championship in the Memorial Cup finals. Raising lumps and bumps all the way, Speer matured first in the ever-improving Eastern League, and then at three American League stops. Bill reached the National League with Pittsburgh in 1967-68, after completing his ascent up development rungs Knoxville in the Eastern League, and in Springfield, Cleveland and Buffalo of the American League. Speer was not long for the 5th-place Pittsburgh doldrums. The Boston Bruins defense needed help in the 1969-70 season as longtime stalwart Ted Green was felled for the year when he nearly lost his life in a stick-swinging duel with Wayne Maki of St. Louis. The Bruins summoned young Rick Smith and our man Speer to fill the bill. Paired most often with child wonder Bobby Orr, Speer replaced Green most admirably by first meshing with Beantown's crunching style, and then providing additional fuel to help rocket Boston to its first Stanley Cup in 41 years. Unfortunately, Bill Speer's happy affair in Boston ended right then. Green recovered sufficiently to attempt a comeback and fan sympathy was so on his side that the Bruins were afforded no choice but to keep him on the roster. Speersie never had a chance to stay. The Providence Reds have profited by Speer's thumping antics for the past two years. His sense of humor helped keep the Reds loose too. Providence coach Larry Wilson often conducted a practice drill in which each player skated the length of the rink and shot the puck into an empty net. Eager to impress, left wing Ron Garwasiuk flew up the ice only to miss the net by a full yard. Wilson responded with a how-in-the-world-could-a-professional-do-that attitude. When Garwasiuk dropped his head in obvious dejection, Bill inserted the needle. Speer suddenly backflipped to the ice and threw a tantrum of which any average maladjusted 3-year-old would have been proud. Garwasiuk quickly lost his frown in the avalanche of team laughter. It was good for a laugh, again, anytime the players recalled the sight of a 30-year-old, 210-pound defenseman wailing at the top of his lungs and demolishing the ice surface with mad kicks of his skates. Ironically, bruising Bill Speer is, by his own admission, not exactly the Marquis of Queensbury's first-round draft choice among hockey fighters. On the other hand, he's no Casper Milquetoast. During last season's training camp, he came up toe-to-toe with rough Bert Wilson and, as Speer tells it, "We put up our dukes. He threw his best shot and almost took my head off. I gave him my best shot and didn't budge the big brute. So I said 'well okay, Bert, now that we're even let's quit and call it a draw'." Speer may not KO the Sandersons, McKenzies, McCaskills, Doreys or Flemings of the WHA, but he won't run for the dressing room either. Hard checking is Speer's game. When Raider opponents look up in the stands at the Garden here, they may wonder how such a happy family man could deal out such devastating checks. Things like that cross your mind when you are flat on your back on the ice. |
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