Bob Berry (ice hockey)

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Bob Berry
Born (1943-11-29) November 29, 1943 (age 80)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb)
Position Left wing
Shot Left
Played for Montreal Canadiens
Los Angeles Kings
Playing career 1968–1978

Bob Berry (born November 29, 1943) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger who played eight seasons in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens and Los Angeles Kings between 1968 and 1977. Bob was elected to play in two NHL all star games. He has also served as a head coach in the NHL for the Los Angeles Kings, Montreal Canadiens, Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues between 1978 and 1994. He has two sons Bradlee and Brock. His grandson Bodie is following in his grandpa footsteps wearing his jersey #18 and playing junior hockey.

Playing career

Born in

NHL All-Star game on January 30, 1973 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Berry was selected to play in the All-Star game again the following year at the Chicago Stadium. He finished his NHL career with 350 points in 541 regular season games.[1]

Coaching career

Los Angeles Kings

After retiring as a player in 1978 with the AHL's

1978-79. He led the Kings to the Stanley Cup playoffs in each of his three seasons behind the bench. However, in each of those years from 1978–79 to 1980–81 they were defeated in the opening round of the playoffs. Berry eventually resigned as head coach at the end of the 1980–81 campaign after the Kings posted a 43W–24L–13T record and lost to the New York Rangers in the preliminary round. Despite his lack of success in the playoffs, Berry is credited with giving rise to the famed "Triple Crown Line" during his tenure as head coach, putting Marcel Dionne, Charlie Simmer and Dave Taylor on the same line for the very first time in a game at Joe Louis Arena in 1979 vs. the Detroit Red Wings
.

Montreal Canadiens

He moved on to take the head coaching assignment in his hometown of Montreal replacing

1982–83 (by the Buffalo Sabres). This would mark the fifth straight season he would lose in the first round of the playoffs as a head coach. With the team playing below .500 in his third year behind the bench in 1983–84, he was eventually fired by the Canadiens and was replaced by Jacques Lemaire 63 games into the season.[2] To date, he is the last non-interim Canadiens coach who was not fully bilingual in English and French, though he spoke French well enough to have a simple conversation.[3]

Pittsburgh Penguins

He was named the 9th head coach in Pittsburgh Penguins history on June 4, 1984 a mere 5 days prior to the

QMJHL
. Even though Berry's new team drafted their future franchise player, he inherited a Penguins team that had failed to reach the playoffs the previous two seasons. That streak continued under his guidance for the next three seasons as the Penguins missed reaching the playoffs for the fifth straight year in
1986-87. He was eventually relieved of his head coaching position at the end of the 1986–87 NHL season
on April 13, 1987.

St. Louis Blues

He returned to coaching for the 1988–89 NHL season after a two-year hiatus, this time joining the St. Louis Blues coaching staff as an assistant with Joe Micheletti under head coach Brian Sutter.[4][5] He finally got a taste of playoff success behind the bench as his team defeated the Minnesota North Stars in the opening round of the playoffs 4–1. The Blues then faced their rival, the Chicago Blackhawks in round 2 but lost that series in five games.

The Blues qualified for the playoffs in the following three seasons. However, they were unable to advance past the second round in either of those years. Berry was appointed assistant GM of the Blues under GM

1995–96
would be his final season behind the Blues bench.

San Jose Sharks

In San Jose, his was hired on as an assistant under head coach

1999-2000
.

Front office

He currently serves as a pro scout for the Chicago Blackhawks. He has also served as a pro scout in the NHL for the Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues and Ottawa Senators.

Awards and achievements

  • Played in 26th annual NHL All-Star game, January 30, 1973. (Madison Square Garden) New York, NY.
  • Played in 27th annual NHL All-Star game, January 29, 1974. (Chicago Stadium) Chicago, IL.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season
 Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1962–63 Middlebury College
NCAA III
 — — — — — — — — — —
1963–64 Verdun Maple Leafs MMJHL 25 38 27 65 93 — — — — —
1963–64
 Peterborough Petes OHA 11 4 3 7 36 2 0 0 0 4
1964–65
Sir George Williams College
 OQAA 17 13 27 40 — — — — — —
1965–66
Sir George Williams College
 OQAA 27 36 48 84 — — — — — —
1966–67 Sir George Williams College OQAA 31 48 41 89 — — — — — —
1966–67 Canadian National Team Intl 5 1 1 2 0 — — — — —
1967–68 Hull Nationals QUE Sr 39 32 23 55 80 — — — — —
1968–69 Montreal Canadiens NHL 2 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
1968–69
Cleveland Barons
 AHL 68 24 29 53 104 5 0 3 3 10
1969–70
Montreal Voyageurs
 AHL 71 18 41 59 104 8 1 0 1 11
1970–71 Los Angeles Kings NHL 77 25 38 63 52 — — — — —
1971–72 Los Angeles Kings NHL 78 17 22 39 44 — — — — —
1972–73 Los Angeles Kings NHL 78 36 28 64 75 — — — — —
1973–74 Los Angeles Kings NHL 77 23 33 56 56 5 0 0 0 0
1974–75 Los Angeles Kings NHL 80 25 23 48 60 3 1 2 3 2
1975–76 Los Angeles Kings NHL 80 20 22 42 37 9 1 1 2 0
1976–77 Los Angeles Kings NHL 69 13 25 38 20 9 0 3 3 4
1976–77 Fort Worth Texans
CHL
 7 4 4 8 0 — — — — —
1977–78 Springfield Indians AHL 74 26 27 53 56 4 0 0 0 0
NHL totals 541 159 191 350 344 26 2 6 8 6

Coaching record

Team Year
Regular season
Post season
G W L T Pts Finish Result
LAK 1978–79 80 34 34 12 80 3rd in Norris Lost in preliminary round
LAK 1979–80 80 30 36 14 74 2nd in Norris Lost in preliminary round
LAK 1980–81 80 43 24 13 99 2nd in Norris Lost in preliminary round
MTL 1981–82 80 46 17 17 109 1st in Adams Lost in division semi-finals
MTL 1982–83 80 42 24 14 98 2nd in Adams Lost in division semi-finals
MTL 1983–84 63 28 30 5 60 4th in Adams (fired)
PIT 1984–85 80 24 51 5 53 6th in Patrick Missed playoffs
PIT 1985–86 80 34 38 8 76 5th in Patrick Missed playoffs
PIT 1986–87 80 30 38 12 72 5th in Patrick Missed playoffs
STL 1992–93 73 33 30 10 76 4th in Norris Lost in division finals
STL 1993–94 84 40 33 11 91 4th in Central Lost in quarter-finals
Total 860 384 355 121

Transactions

  • Sold by the Montreal Canadiens to the Los Angeles Kings, October 8, 1970.

References

  1. ^ "Bob Berry player profile". Hockey Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
  2. ISSN 0018-3016
  3. ^ Habs owner Geoff Molson says speaking French 'very important'. CBC Sports, 2011-12-19.
  4. ^ "Brian Sutter, a veteran leftwing for the St. Louis..." UPI. Retrieved 2021-07-13.
  5. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2021-07-13.

External links
Preceded by Head coach of the Los Angeles Kings
1978–81 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Head coach of the Montreal Canadiens
1981–84 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins
1984–87 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Head coach of the St. Louis Blues
1992–94 		Succeeded by
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