Bob Gassoff

Bob Gassoff
Date of birth	April 17, 1953
place of birth	Quesnel , British Columbia , Canada
date of death	May 27, 1977
Place of death	near Gray Summit , Missouri , USA
size	178 cm
Weight	86 kg
position	defender
Shot hand	Left
Draft
NHL Amateur Draft	1973 , 3rd lap, 48th position St. Louis Blues
WHA Amateur Draft	1973 , 3rd round, 33rd position Minnesota Fighting Saints
Career stations
1970-1971	Vernon Lakers
1971-1973	Medicine Hat Tigers
1973-1975	Denver Spurs
1973-1977	St. Louis Blues

Robert Allen "Bob" Gassoff (born April 17, 1953 in Quesnel , British Columbia ; † May 27, 1977 near Gray Summit , Missouri , USA ) was a Canadian ice hockey player who played for the St Louis Blues played in the National Hockey League . His brother Brad was also a professional ice hockey player.

Career

Gassoff played during his junior years in the Western Canada Junior Hockey League with the Medicine Hat Tigers together with Lanny McDonald . In his second year he was particularly noticeable for his 388 penalty minutes - most in the WCJHL and over 100 more than his pursuers, among whom Tiger Williams was also the future king of the penalty box of the NHL. In the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft , the St. Louis Blues secured the rights to him in the third round as 48th. The World Hockey Association also showed interest in him. The Minnesota Fighting Saints voted him 33rd in the third round of the WHA Amateur Draft .

In the senior division, he first played for the Denver Spurs in the Western Hockey League . In the 1973/74 season he made his debut with the St. Louis Blues, where he showed the toughness that was expected of him. No other player in the Blues reached his 306 penalty minutes in the 1975/76 season . On Memorial Day weekend, some of the Blues players met at Garry Unger's farm . Gassoff rode a motorcycle with some teammates and was killed in an accident. Gassoff did not wear a helmet, was not an experienced motorcyclist and had probably also drunk alcohol. Gassoff's widow Diane, who was pregnant at the time of the accident, sued Unger, his wife and the driver of the car her husband had crashed into.

The Blues honored Gassoff by not giving back his number 3 since then.

NHL statistics

	Seasons	Games	Gates	Assists	Points	Penalty minutes
Regular season	4th	245	11	47	58	866
Playoffs	3	9	0	1	1	16

Web links

• Bob Gassoff at legendsofhockey.net (English)
• Bob Gassoff at hockeydb.com (English)