Eddie Giacomin

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CanadaCanada  Eddie Giacomin Ice hockey player
Hockey Hall of Fame , 1987
Date of birth June 6, 1939
place of birth Sudbury , Ontario , Canada
size 180 cm
Weight 82 kg
position goalkeeper
Catch hand Left
Career stations
1957-1958 Commack Comets
1958-1959 Washington Presidents
1959-1960 Clinton NY Rovers
1960-1965 Providence Reds
1965-1975 New York Rangers
1975-1988 Detroit Red Wings

Edward "Eddie" Giacomin (born June 6, 1939 in Sudbury , Ontario ) is a former Canadian ice hockey goalkeeper of Italian descent who played from 1965 to 1978 for the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings in the National Hockey League .

Career

Giacomin grew up near Sudbury and was a passionate ice hockey player in his youth. However, he failed to attract the attention of the big teams. As a teenager, a household accident caused great problems. He suffered second and third degree burns from a stove and had a skin graft on his arms and legs. He was constantly bandaged for a year, and doctors advised against playing ice hockey ever again. But he was determined to keep playing. He found a job and played in a league that played its games at midnight. He had to pay to play, but was happy to be able to play again.

In 1958 he was invited to the training camp by the Detroit Red Wings , but followed a call from a team from Washington to replace his injured brother. With good performances he drew attention to himself in the Eastern Hockey League and so the Providence Reds brought him to the American Hockey League in 1960 .

The next step in his career was when the Reds were bought by the New York Rangers . In his NHL debut in the 1965/66 season , he could not convince and was sent back to the AHL after a few games to the Baltimore Clippers . There he was allowed to play with NHL legend Doug Harvey . After returning to Rangers, he was substituted on when Cesare Maniago was injured. He was so upset about his substitution that he fell out with trainer Emile Francis . This time Giacomin was able to convince and consolidated his place in the NHL. That year, the Rangers missed the playoffs, but after five years Giacomin led the Rangers in the 1967/68 season with nine shutouts in the playoffs. In the next seven years he reached the finals with the Rangers. His style of moving out of the gate and launching attacks with offensive passes was reminiscent of Jacques Plante .

Together with Gilles Villemure they represented one of the best goalkeeping duos in the NHL and together they won the Vezina Trophy in 1971 . In the 1971/72 season he reached the final series of the Stanley Cup with the Rangers , but the Boston Bruins with Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito were too strong an opponent there. In the next two years he reached the semi-finals with the Rangers, but a title was denied him.

After four games in the 1975/76 season , the Rangers put him on the list for the Waiver Draft and the Detroit Red Wings let the chance to sign him not pass. Giacomin was very disappointed that they let him go so easily and that no one had bothered to hold him. His first game in the Red Wings jersey took place in Madison Square Garden of all places. The game became one of the most special in NHL history. Even during the national anthem, Rangers fans kept shouting “Eddie! Eddie! “ . Detroit won the game 6-4 and their former teammates apologized for every goal they conceded.

After one and a half seasons with the Wings, he started the 1977/78 season , but the team no longer relied on him and so he ended his active career.

He opened a sports bar in Detroit. In 1978 he hoped to get the coaching job with the Rangers, but to his disappointment Fred Shero was preferred . He worked as an assistant and goalkeeping coach for the New York Islanders and the Red Wings before returning to the Rangers' coaching staff in 1985. His jersey with the number 1 is no longer awarded in his honor by the Rangers.

In 1987 he was honored with the induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame .

NHL statistics

Seasons Games Victory cut Conceded goal Shutouts
Regular season 13 610 0.474 2.82 54
Playoffs 9 65 0.446 2.81 1

Sporting successes

Personal awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ niashf.org, Eddie Giacomin
personal data
SURNAME Giacomin, Eddie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Giacomin, Ed; Giacomin, Edward (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH June 6, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Sudbury , Ontario