Goldie Goldthorpe
Goldie Goldthorpe | |||
---|---|---|---|
Born |
Hornepayne, Ontario , Canada | June 20, 1953||
Height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) | ||
Weight | 185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb) | ||
Position | Left wing | ||
Shot | Left | ||
Played for |
Syracuse Blazers Minnesota Fighting Saints Broome Dusters Michigan Stags/Baltimore Blades Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics San Diego Mariners | ||
WHA draft | Undrafted | ||
Playing career | 1973–1984 |
Bill "Goldie" (also "Harpo") Goldthorpe (born June 20, 1953
Career
Born in
Goldthorpe played junior hockey with the Port Arthur Marrs, Thunder Bay Vulcans and Thunder Bay Centennials from 1969 to 1973. Goldthorpe first met his junior coach, Albert Cava, at a midget tournament in Dauphin, Manitoba when Cava was wrestling with a referee who had slugged a spectator.[2] In his last season with the Centennials, he led the league with 189 penalty minutes.
Goldthorpe was signed by the minor-league Syracuse Blazers in 1973. He played 55 games that season, scoring a respectable 20 goals and a total of 46 points while piling up 285 penalty minutes. He played for the Blazers in the playoffs and was also called up to the WHA's Minnesota Fighting Saints for three playoff games. During his professional career, Goldthorpe would play for numerous teams in the minors, and a total of 36 games in the World Hockey Association. He was generally only used as an enforcer, but occasionally showed he had some skill as well; with the San Diego Hawks, Goldthorpe scored 13 goals and 28 points in 39 games (and led the league with 267 penalty minutes). He was given tryouts by both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Pittsburgh Penguins and appeared in exhibition contests, but never played a regular-season NHL game.[2]
In 1980, Goldthorpe was shot by a drug dealer while trying to intervene on behalf of an ex-girlfriend. His kidney and urinary tract were damaged, derailing his career; he spent the next two years recovering. Goldthorpe returned to professional hockey in 1983 with the Moncton Alpines for one game, then finished the season playing senior hockey in New Brunswick with the Riverview Trappers. It was his last season of competitive ice hockey.
His father, who had helped Goldthorpe recuperate from the shooting, died not long after. His death changed Goldthorpe, who then returned to school.[2] His hockey career was over, but he stayed in shape and became a bodybuilder, winning the 1985 "Mr. New Brunswick" competition. Later, Goldthorpe returned to San Diego, eventually becoming foreman at a construction company. As of 2017, he was living in Vancouver, British Columbia, working for the same firm.[3] Goldthorpe also does speaking engagements.[3]
Career Statistics
Regular season
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Playoffs | |||||||||||||
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Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
1971–72 | Thunder Bay Vulcans | MNTBHL | Statistics Unavailable | Statistics Unavailable | ||||||||||
1973–74 | Syracuse Blazers | NAHL | 55 | 20 | 26 | 46 | 285 | 15 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 50 | ||
1973–74 | Minnesota Fighting Saints | WHA | - | - | - | - | - | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | ||
1974–75 | Syracuse Eagles | AHL | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 57 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1974–75 | Syracuse Blazers | NAHL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1974–75 | Michigan Stags/Baltimore Blades | WHA | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1975–76 | San Diego Mariners | WHA | 14 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 30 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1975–76 | Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics | WHA | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1975–76 | Erie Blades | NAHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1975–76 | Broome Dusters | NAHL | 19 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 156 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1976–77 | Thunder Bay Twins | OHASr | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 69 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1976–77 | Richmond Wildcats | SHL | 25 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 169 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1977–78 | New Haven Nighthawks | AHL | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1977–78 | Toledo Goaldiggers | IHL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1978–79 | San Diego Hawks | PHL | 39 | 13 | 15 | 28 | 267 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
1979–80 | Spokane Flyers | WIHL | Statistics Unavailable | Statistics Unavailable | ||||||||||
1983–84 | Moncton Alpines
|
AHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | ||
WHA Total | 33 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 87 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | ||||
AHL Total | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 68 | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
NAHL Total | 77 | 29 | 34 | 63 | 463 | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
SHL Total | 25 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 169 | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
OHASr Total | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 69 | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
IHL Total | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
PHL Total | 39 | 13 | 15 | 28 | 267 | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
WIHL Total | Statistics Unavailable | Statistics Unavailable | ||||||||||||
MNTBHL Total | Statistics Unavailable | Statistics Unavailable |
Slap Shot
The comedy movie
Goldthorpe was well known for never backing down from any challenge, on or off the ice. He ended up in jail no less than eighteen times, incidents he now attributes mostly to his drinking.[2] Like the fictional "Ogie", Goldthorpe once was serving a jail sentence but was allowed out for practices and games.[2]
On January 1, 2008, during the first intermission of the NHL's
In the 2013 TV movie Mr. Hockey: The Gordie Howe Story, actor Bryan Clark (a former player who had appeared in the hockey comedy Goon) plays a character obviously inspired by Goldthorpe. (In Goldie's usual subtle style, the player threatens to "bury (Gordie's) entire family in the desert!" before referees drag him away.)
References
- ^ "Bill Goldthorpe". eliteprospects.com.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Maki, Allan (July 30, 2002). "Big, Bad Goldie". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
- ^ a b Maki, Allan (February 7, 2017). "The man behind Slap Shot's Ogie had his share of battles off-screen". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
External links
- Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or The Internet Hockey Database