Dean Talafous

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United StatesUnited States  Dean Talafous Ice hockey player
Dean Talafous
Date of birth August 25, 1953
place of birth Duluth , Minnesota , USA
size 193 cm
Weight 82 kg
position center
Shot hand Right
Draft
NHL Amateur Draft 1973 , 4th lap, 53rd position
Atlanta Flames
WHA Amateur Draft 1973 , 1st lap, 13th position
Cincinnati Stingers
Career stations
1971-1974 University of Wisconsin – Madison
1974-1975 Atlanta Flames
Omaha Knights
1975-1988 Minnesota North Stars
1978-1981 New York Rangers
United StatesUnited States  Dean Talafous
Coaching stations
1982-1984 University of Minnesota (Assistant Coach)
1984-1985 St. Paul Vulcans
1985-1989 University of Minnesota (Assistant Coach)
1989-1996 University of Wisconsin – River Falls
1996-2001 University of Alaska Anchorage

Dean Charles Talafous (born August 25, 1953 in Duluth , Minnesota ) is a former American ice hockey player and coach who played 518 games for the Atlanta Flames , Minnesota North Stars and New York between 1971 and 1981 Rangers in the National Hockey League (NHL) on the position of the center . Talafous represented the United States national ice hockey team in a total of four international tournaments, including the Canada Cups in 1976 and 1981 .

Career

After Talafous had attended Hastings High School in his home state Minnesota , he began from the summer of 1971 to study at the University of Wisconsin – Madison . Parallel to his courses, the tall striker was active in the ice hockey team, the Wisconsin Badgers . With the team he took part in the game operations of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA), which was a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As Most Valuable Player , Talafous led the team to win the national college championship in the 1972/73 season. In 40 games of the season he had collected 53 points scorer . In addition, he scored the winning goals for the Badgers in both the semifinals and finals of the championship tournament. He was then selected in the fourth round of the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft in 53rd place by the Atlanta Flames of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was the first college player and the second American whose rights were awarded in this talent draw. At the same time, the Cincinnati Stingers selected him from the World Hockey Association (WHA), which was competing with the NHL at the time, in the 1973 WHA Amateur Draft in the first round in 13th position. Talafous stayed at the university for another year and left it in the spring of 1974 after a total of 111 missions, in which he scored 133 times.

For the 1974/75 season , the American moved to the professional field after a contract offer from the Atlanta Flames. After he was used 18 times for the Flames in the NHL at the beginning of the season until December 1974, he only found himself in the Omaha Knights farm team in the Central Hockey League (CHL) by the end of the year . In early January 1975 the talent was given to the Minnesota North Stars together with Dwight Bialowas in exchange for Barry Gibbs . There the rookie managed to establish himself in the NHL. In his first two complete seasons between 1975 and 1977, the attacker scratched the mark of 50 scorer points. After his offensive yield in the 1977/78 season but significantly collapsed, Talafous' expiring contract was not extended beyond the season, so he signed a contract with the New York Rangers in July 1978 as a free agent .

In the service of the Rangers, the American was repeatedly incapacitated by protracted injuries in the neck area and only played more than 55 games in his first of three full years of play. At the end of the 1981 calendar year, the Rangers transferred the 28-year-old together with Jere Gillis to the Nordiques de Québec , while Robbie Ftorek moved to New York. Talafous refused the transfer and decided to immediately withdraw from active sport. However, the league maintained the transfer and asked both franchises to agree on a replacement for Talafous, who should move from New York to Québec City. Failing to do so, an independent arbitrator decided in March 1982 that the Nordiques received Pat Hickey from the Rangers.

After his abrupt end to his career, Talafous returned to Minnesota and worked for two years as the assistant coach of the Michigan Wolverines , the ice hockey team of the University of Minnesota, starting the 1982/83 season . This was followed in the 1984/85 season a short interlude as head coach of the St. Paul Vulcans from the United States Hockey League (USHL), before he was again active as an assistant at the University of Minnesota between 1985 and 1989. Thereafter, the ex-player was between 1989 and 1996 for seven seasons head coach of the ice hockey team of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls , which was based in Division III of the NCAA. In 1994 he won the division championship with the team. Overall, he reached the final tournament of the four best teams four times in a row between 1993 and 1996. At the end of his seven-year career, he was named Trainer of the Year by the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) in the spring of 1996 . In the 1996/97 season, Talafous received an offer from the University of Alaska Anchorage , whose ice hockey team he supervised for five years until the spring of 2001 at the WCHA. He then retired from ice hockey and only appeared again briefly in the 2015/16 season as assistant coach at his former high school .

International

Even as a college player - and thus demonstrably an amateur  - Talafous was active for the national ice hockey team of the United States . He was nominated as one of the best college players in the country for the 1973 B World Championship in Graz, Austria . There the team missed promotion to the A group after a defeat against the later promoted GDR and a draw against Yugoslavia as second in the tournament. In seven games, the striker scored eight points and was therefore recommended for the 1974 B-World Cup in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia . As part of the competition, the Americans returned unbeaten in the A-World Championship after three years in the second division. Talafous was directly involved in five goals this time.

As a professional, Talafous first played in the 1976 Canada Cup , in which the US team finished fifth. The striker scored two goals in five tournament appearances and was involved in a total of four goals. He scored both goals in the opening game against Sweden . Five years later he was also a member of the US squad at the 1981 Canada Cup and with three goals and a total of five points was another ray of hope in the team that finished the competition in fourth place. In the game against Czechoslovakia , like in 1976 against Sweden, he scored two goals in one game.

Achievements and Awards

International

Career statistics

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp T V Pt SM Sp T V Pt SM
1971/72 University of Wisconsin – Madison NCAA 37 10 24 34 42
1972/73 University of Wisconsin – Madison NCAA 40 21st 32 53 34
1973/74 University of Wisconsin – Madison NCAA 34 17th 29 46 29
1974/75 Atlanta Flames NHL 18th 1 4th 5 13 - - - - -
1974/75 Omaha Knights CHL 11 3 5 8th 10 - - - - -
1974/75 Minnesota North Stars NHL 43 8th 17th 25th 6th - - - - -
1975/76 Minnesota North Stars NHL 79 18th 30th 48 18th - - - - -
1976/77 Minnesota North Stars NHL 80 22nd 27 49 10 2 0 0 0 0
1977/78 Minnesota North Stars NHL 75 13 16 29 25th - - - - -
1978/79 New York Rangers NHL 68 13 16 29 29 - - - - -
1979/80 New York Rangers NHL 55 10 20th 30th 26th 5 1 2 3 9
1980/81 New York Rangers NHL 50 13 17th 30th 28 14th 3 5 8th 2
1981/82 New York Rangers NHL 29 6th 7th 13 8th - - - - -
NCAA overall 111 48 85 133 105
NHL overall 497 104 154 258 163 21st 4th 7th 11 11

International

Represented the USA at:

year team event result Sp T V Pt SM
1973 United States B-WM 2nd place 7th 2 6th 8th 10
1974 United States B-WM 1st place 7th 2 3 5 13
1976 United States Canada Cup 5th place 5 2 2 4th 8th
1981 United States Canada Cup 4th Place 6th 3 2 5 0
Men overall 25th 9 13 22nd 21st

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; 1  play-downs / relegation )

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Talafous, Dean
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Talafous, Dean Charles (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American ice hockey player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH August 25, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Duluth , Minnesota , USA