Height: 5-8
Weight: 180
Shoot: L
Born: 4 Jul 1940, Sarnia ON (d. 2020)
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1973-74 | Chicago | |||||||||||
| 1974-75 | Chicago | |||||||||||
| 1975-76 | Indianapolis | |||||||||||
| 1976-77 | Indianapolis | |||||||||||
| 1977-78 | Cincinnati | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
• Winner, Dennis Murphy Trophy (Best Defenseman), 1973-74.
Regular Season & Playoff Coaching Record
| Regular Season | Playoffs |
| year | team | finish | finish | |||||||||
| 1973-74 | Chicago | 4-E | F: Lost Avco Cup | |||||||||
| 1974-75 | Chicago | 3-E | DNQ | |||||||||
| 1978-79 | Indianapolis | Disbanded | ||||||||||
• Served as player-coach for Chicago during 1973-75, with Jacques Demers as bench coach.
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No "One at a Time" for Pat • by Reid Grosky • The Hockey Spectator • October 26, 1973
One cannot accuse Pat Stapleton of playing them one at a time. "This team is going for the playoffs," Stapleton asserted after the Cougars' first game. "I know we're carrying a lot of players (26 at the time) but I'm not sure when or if we're going to make any more cuts," said the Cougars' new playing coach. "We have a lot of players who are about the same in ability. If one isn't doing the job, we can have another one suit up." The Cougars were carrying so much excess baggage their first week that it threatened to delay them at customs inspections. And one thing the Cougars cannot afford is travel mixups. Not with their schedule. "Nine games in a row on the road...sure it's tough," Stapleton sighed. "But we have to play 39 road games one way or the other. So we can get a lot of them out of the way right now." The Cougars are on the road their first nine games because The Greatest Show on Earth is occupying their home arena. Anyone who saw the Cougars play last season, when they were 26-50-2, would know immediately that The Greatest Show on Earth has nothing to do with hockey. In this case, it's the circus, so the Cougars won't play their first home game until Oct. 30. "The worst part about being on the road that much is you can't get ice time," Stapleton said. "You can get away without practice late in the season, but not this early. We couldn't get practice ice for two days before our first game, and it showed. We didn't get going until the middle of the second period." But the Cougars, displaying pluck they lacked last year (when they also lacked Stapleton, Ralph Backstrom, Darryl Maggs and Cam Newton), came from behind three times to tie the Toronto Toros 4-4. The game went through the WHA's overtime period, a rough experience for the Cougars' "Big Four." They had been practicing, after all, less than a week since their NHL contracts expired. The next afternoon, at 4 p.m., a weary Stapleton was still sleeping. "It's not the playing, really," he yawned after awakening. "It's the travelling, and the new pressures and all. I'm not making the line changes right now. Jacques (Demers, the team's director of player personnel) is doing it. "I don't think I can do that and play, too," Stapleton said. "There's a lot more to it than you might think. As a player I never gave it much thought. Now I'm going to have to learn, and I hope it doesn't cost us while I'm learning. I don't have any miracle formulas for succes. I just feel that hard work is the answer. A coach's job is to understand each of the players and find ways to motivate them. "The coach I played for (Billy Reay) was excellent at doing that, There may have been players who didn't like him, but I don't know of any who didn't respect him. I'd like to be like him in that way. I'd like to have his record, too." |
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Excerpts from Zander Hollander's Guide to Pro Hockey, 1973-74 (by Reyn Davis & Charley Hallman)
Signed five year, $1 million contract in late July 1973 ... Almost retired before last season to concentrate on his ice rink business in the Chicago area ... Eight-season veteran on Black Hawk blue line ... Acknowledged to be among the best at his position in the NHL ... Clears puck swiftly and likes to rush himself ... Compensates for lack of size and hitting with speed and finesse ... Teamed on defense with Bill White ... Doesn't score many goals but his slap shots create rebounds that forwards convert into goals ... Dressing room comedian with quick wit. |
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Excerpts from Pro Hockey, WHA 1976-77 (by Dan Proudfoot)
There's a touch of the comic book hero about Pat Stapleton, which is not meant to imply that he's funny in any way. No, he has a flair for drama that cries for such exclamations as "Gosh" and "Wow" and "Shazaam," usually found in comic adventures. For instance, the puck will be sliding toward the open Racer net, closer and closer, when Stapleton will suddenly materialize, sliding head-first if necessary, to knock it away just before it crosses the goal-line. And there's his passing. Stapleton's passes consistantly hit Racer forwards just at the right time. He's highly skilled at organizing offensive rushes, even if he seldom participates himself, choosing to hang back after making the play. Stapleton set a WHA record for six assists in one game (he already held the NHL mark with the same figure) and finished the season with 40, compared to his modest total of four goals. But, the figures say a lot about his style. Stapleton's sense of drama also shows in his dealings with management. He'll publicly consider retiring, only to appear at the start of the next season. The summer of 1976 was no different, for Stapleton was considering the wisdom of continuing at age 36 and there were stories that he might join the new Birmingham team as coach. There was no doubt, though, that he'd enjoyed Indianapolis and that the Racers wanted him back. He'd had one of his best seasons in 1975-76, right from the start. "I guess I'm off to my best start ever," he said, mid-way in that campaign. "I don't know that I'm playing as much as people think I am. It only appears that way since I'm in the power play and killing penalties too. As a team, we're all playing well. We've pulled together, and that's important." |
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