Height: 5-11
Weight: 170
Shoot: L
Born: 1 Sep 1946, Noranda PQ
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1972-73 | Los Angeles | |||||||||||
| 1973-74 | Los Angeles | |||||||||||
| 1974-75 | Michigan | |||||||||||
| Quebec | ||||||||||||
| Totals (2 teams) | ||||||||||||
| 1975-76 | Quebec | |||||||||||
| 1976-77 | Quebec | |||||||||||
| 1977-78 | Quebec | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
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Sutherland Stirs 'Em Up • by Dan Hafner • The Hockey Spectator • December 28, 1973
Right now Steve Sutherland of the Sharks is the World Hockey Association's bad boy. With 93 penalty minutes accumulated in his first 26 games, he has a substantial lead in that department. It may be that Sutherland, who was assessed 219 minutes in his last season in the International League, may retain the lead all season. He hopes not, He would rather just play hockey. "Everyone on a team has a role to fill," said Sutherland. "One of mine is to stir things up when the team is going bad. Many of the fights I get into are just to try and shake things up. I seldom get involved in a brawl when we are winning." "I play on the checking line with Earl Heiskala and Reg Thomas. We are assigned the other team's best scoring line. Sometimes the way to slow down a hot line is to intimidate them." Sutherland admits that there are times when he has a short fuse and blows up in a hurry, But he points out that he usually is like that only when the Sharks are in a slump as they were a couple of weeks ago. Although he has tackled the toughest fighters in every league he has played in, Sutherland has suffered few injuries in fights. Once he had his nose broken and he has had cuts, bruises and black eyes. But his serious injuries have come during playing time on the ice. Two of the injuries were last season and virtually wiped out his first year in the major leagues. One was a freak groin injury that kept him out for 2-4 months, the other a fractured cheekbone. "The groin injury was the worst I ever had," said Sutherland. "I was brushed against the boards and tried to get leverage to bounce off and get free. I must have had my body in an awkward position. "The doctors said the groin muscle had pulled away from the bone. They said it was a similar injury that kept Oscar Robertson of the Milwaukee Bucks below par for a full season. "I had just returned to action when I got my cheekbone fractured in a melee in front of the net. It was a disappointing year, my first chance to prove that I belonged in the majors. "Then this year we got off to a bad start. Last season we had a reputation as a tough club, but some of our best fighters were gone in favor of guys who could score. I felt it was my job to shake things up. That's why I accumulated so many minutes. We are winning now and it won't be necessary." Sutherland is disappointed in his lack of scoring, although he did score twice in a recent Shark victory. He scored only three goals in his first 26 games. Last year he had 11 in 43 games, many of which he only played a couple of shifts. "I know my primary job is to keep the other team from scoring," said the 27-year-old native of Noranda, Quebec, "But hockey is so much more fun when you score some goals. It is an honor to be sent out against the other team's best scoring line, but it forces you to play defensively. In a way it makes me play better, because I'm more alert, and I feel that I'm doing my job, but it's sort of like a lineman in football. It would be nice to score once in a while." When Terry Slater was assembling the Sharks' original squad, he was looking for hard-nosed players. He had learned first hand that "Sudsy" was tough. He had played for the Port Huron team that beat Slaters' Des Moines team in the International League playoffs in 1971. Furthermore, Sutherland had led the playoffs in penalty minutes with 56. He's Slater's kind of guy. |
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Excerpts from Zander Hollander Complete Hockey Handbook, 1975-76 (by Reyn Davis)
One of four Nordiques who fired six game-winning goals in 1974-75 division-winning performance ... acquired in a five-player trade with the Michigan Stags ... Reputation as a good fighter and hard worker ... Arrived in Quebec, anxious to take on anybody who so much as rubbed a Nordique ... Lost his zeal somewhat when the Nordiques were content to let him do all their fighting while they watched ... Speaks French fluently ... Has played a prominent role in Quebec's march to the Canadian division title. |
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Excerpts from Pro Hockey, WHA 1976-77 (by Dan Proudfoot)
In the midst of such glamorous names as Bernier, Bordeleau, Tardif, Houle and Cloutier, Steve Sutherland labours inconspicuously. "I got 22 goals, I can't be doing that badly," Sutherland can say in either French or English, for he's one of the very few English-Canadians who've played for the Quebec City team and been able to speak French. "An honest hockey player," says Maurice Filion. And, what's more, a tough one with 197 minutes in penalties. Sutherland is apt to figure more strongly in Nordiques strategy this year because the league has reduced the number of players allowed in uniform from 20 to 18. That means less room for players whose greatest skill is fighting, and the necessity of having a policeman who can also shoot goals. |
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