John Harrington (ice hockey)
John Harrington | |||||||||||||||||
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Born |
Virginia, Minnesota, U.S. | May 24, 1957||||||||||||||||
Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) | ||||||||||||||||
Weight | 180 lb (82 kg; 12 st 12 lb) | ||||||||||||||||
Position | Right wing | ||||||||||||||||
Shot | Right | ||||||||||||||||
Played for |
CHL Oklahoma City Stars Birmingham South Stars Colorado Flames AHL Rochester Americans NDA HC Lugano | ||||||||||||||||
National team | United States | ||||||||||||||||
Playing career | 1979–1984 | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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John "Bah" Harrington (born May 24, 1957) is an American former ice hockey forward and is currently the head coach of the Minnesota State Mavericks women's ice hockey of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
Playing career
Harrington was a stand-out
Following his collegiate playing career, Harrington was invited to try out for the 1979–80 US National team coached by the Minnesota Golden Gophers' Herb Brooks. Harrington made every cut and was placed on the Olympic roster for the 1980 Lake Placid games. The team went on to defeat the highly favored Soviet Union 4–3 in the first game of the Medal Round in an event named the "Miracle on Ice". The team defeated Finland 4–2 two days later to capture the Gold Medal for the US. Harrington is credited with an assist on Mike Eruzione's go-ahead game-winning goal against the USSR.
Undrafted by the NHL, Harrington had a try-out with the Buffalo Sabres following the Olympics. The Sabres immediately assigned him to the Rochester Americans of the AHL, where he scored seven points in twelve games despite being a marked man. "Some Canadian-born kids resent the fact that the Americans did so well in the Olympics and they're a bit jealous of them," claimed Buffalo defenseman Larry Playfair. In one game Harrington was struck in the face and needed six stitches to close a bloody gash on his chin. In another game against the Hershey Bears Harrington was attacked from behind by Lou Franceschetti and knocked unconscious for five minutes, lying in a pool of blood on the ice. He had to spend the night in a hospital with a concussion, fractured jaw, broken nose and four loosened teeth. Franceshetti was not penalized, insisting it was a "clean" check. "My shoulder just connected with the back of his neck." "If it was a clean check, how did I get it in the back of my head?" asked Harrington. "Lying in my hospital bed, I had all sorts of mixed emotions, especially when my teeth ached and my heart throbbed. I kept thinking of the cleaner game in Europe, that I could have gone to Switzerland to play hockey. Something like this can't help but discourage you. But this is the way it is in the pros and I'll make it one way or the other ... even if I have to face a few goofballs."[1]
Harrington played the 1980–81 season for
Coaching career
Following 1984, Harrington retired from playing and rejoined his college roots as an assistant coach under former
From 1993-2008, Harrington was the
It was announced on March 31, 2008 that Harrington would step down as head coach at Saint John's to become head coach for
In May 2015, after serving four years as an amateur scout for the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, Harrington was named the head coach of the Minnesota State Mavericks women's ice hockey of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA).
In the movies
As part of the 1980 Olympic team, Harrington has been portrayed in movies twice, with the more recent being
Prior to Miracle, Harrington was portrayed by Bill Schreiner in the 1981 made-for-TV movie Miracle on Ice.
Personal life
Harrington is married and has three children. He is the father of
"Bah"
Among family, friends and those who knew him in his high school and college playing days, Harrington is known almost exclusively as "Bah". He earned the nickname from his older brother who was barely a year old when John was born. The brother couldn't enunciate the word baby and instead referred to his new sibling as "bah." The name stuck. The rest of his siblings have nicknames too, including "TP", "Tootie", and "Muggs."
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
Regular season
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Playoffs | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | |||||||||||||
1974–75 | Virginia-Mountain Iron-Buhl | HS-MN | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | - bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 1975–76 | University of Minnesota Duluth
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WCHA | 36 | 9 | 12 | 21 | 14 | — | — | — | — | — |
1976–77 | University of Minnesota Duluth | WCHA | 27 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 16 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
1977–78 | University of Minnesota Duluth | WCHA | 31 | 22 | 9 | 31 | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
1978–79 | University of Minnesota Duluth | WCHA | 40 | 29 | 43 | 72 | 16 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
1978–79 | Oklahoma City Stars | CHL | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
1979–80 | American National Team | Intl | 51 | 14 | 18 | 32 | 14 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
1979–80 | Rochester Americans | AHL | 12 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||||||||||
1980–81 | HC Lugano | SWI-2
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28 | 33 | 18 | 51 | 22 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
1982–83 | American National Team | Intl | 51 | 27 | 36 | 63 | 38 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
1982–83 | Birmingham South Stars | CHL | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||||
1983–84 | Colorado Flames | CHL | 10 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | |||||||||||||
WCHA totals | 134 | 65 | 73 | 138 | 66 | — | — | — | — | — |
International
Year | Team | Event | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1980 | United States | OLY | 7 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 2 | |
1981
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United States | WC
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1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
1982
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United States | WC | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
1983
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United States | WC-B | 7 | 5 | 6 | 11 | — | |
1984 | United States | OLY | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
Senior totals | 20 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 14 |
References
- ^ The Complete Handbook of Pro Hockey by Zander Hollander, 1981 Season, Signet books 1980
- ^ Rostislav Cada é il nuovo allenatore dell'HCAP Archived 2008-12-21 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ [backPid]=2277&cHash=bb67c196bf Slovenia tabs Harrington Archived 2011-05-26 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ John Harrington guiderà l'Asiago Archived 2009-08-29 at the Wayback Machine
External links
- Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or Eurohockey.com, or The Internet Hockey Database