Gary Croteau

Gary Croteau
Date of birth	June 20, 1946
place of birth	Sudbury , Ontario , Canada
Nickname	Crow
size	183 cm
Weight	93 kg
position	wing
Shot hand	Left
Career stations
1964-1968	St. Lawrence University
1968-1970	Los Angeles Kings Springfield Kings
1970	Detroit Red Wings
1970-1974	California Golden Seals
1974-1976	Kansas City Scouts
1976-1980	Colorado Rockies
1980	Fort Worth Texans

Gary Paul Croteau (born June 20, 1946 in Sudbury , Ontario ) is a retired Canadian ice hockey player who played 695 games for the Los Angeles Kings , Detroit Red Wings , California Golden Seals , Kansas City during his active career between 1964 and 1980 Scouts and Colorado Rockies has contested in the National Hockey League on the winger position .

Career

Croteau struck the unusual for a Canadian junior player on the US college system and played from 1964 for the following four seasons at St. Lawrence University . There he was active alongside his studies for the ice hockey team in ECAC Hockey , a division in the game operations of the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Over the course of four years, the winger completed 84 missions in which he scored 140 points . In addition, he was elected to the First All-Star Team of the ECAC in 1968 after collecting 40 points in just 19 games and thus completing his best year in college gaming.

Although the level in the former US college sports was not considered particularly high, which took Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League Croteau under contract, but transferred him before his first assignment in the franchise in September 1968, Brian Murphy and Wayne Thomas to Los Angeles Kings . In return, Grant Moore and Lou Deveault moved to Toronto. With the Los Angeles Kings, Croteau was only very sporadic in the NHL at the beginning of his professional career. Mainly came the striker until February 1970 for the Springfield Kings in the American Hockey League to use. For Los Angeles, he completed only 25 games during this period, including eleven in the Stanley Cup playoffs in 1968 . However, he also scored eleven points. In February 1970, another transfer followed, which brought him to the Detroit Red Wings together with Dale Rolfe and Larry Johnston , while Garry Monahan , Matt Ravlich and Brian Gibbons moved to California. Croteau's time in Detroit only lasted ten games until June 1970.

Due to the selection in the intra-league draft , the Canadian returned to California , but from then on played for the California Golden Seals . There the attacker made his breakthrough in the NHL at the beginning of the 1971/72 season and he was an integral part of the team for the following four seasons. Croteau played 270 games for the Golden Seals before he was selected in the 1974 NHL Expansion Draft by the Kansas City Scouts . For the expansion franchise, he completed 156 missions in the two years of its existence, making him the record holder in this category. When the team moved in the summer of 1976, Croteau played for the Colorado Rockies from the 1976/77 season . There, the experienced offensive player acted in the 1978/79 season as the third team captain in franchise history. He also completed his best NHL year two seasons earlier with 51 points. His NHL career finally came to an end after the game year 1979/80 after he was only able to play 15 games during the season due to injury. He then moved to the Fort Worth Texans in the Central Hockey League , where he declared his career ended after sporadic missions during the 1980/81 season in the summer of 1981 at the age of 35.

Achievements and Awards

• 1968 ECAC First All-Star Team

Career statistics

				Regular season						Play-offs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1964/65	St. Lawrence University	ECAC		14th	18th	13	31
1965/66	St. Lawrence University	ECAC		24	20th	11	31	12
1966/67	St. Lawrence University	ECAC		27	21st	17th	38
1967/68	St. Lawrence University	ECAC		19th	21st	19th	40
1968/69	Springfield Kings	AHL		53	24	20th	44	27		-	-	-	-	-
1968/69	Los Angeles Kings	NHL		11	5	1	6th	6th		11	3	2	5	8th
1969/70	Springfield Kings	AHL		52	23	21st	44	22nd		-	-	-	-	-
1969/70	Los Angeles Kings	NHL		3	0	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-
1969/70	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		10	0	2	2	2		-	-	-	-	-
1970/71	California Golden Seals	NHL		74	15th	28	43	12		-	-	-	-	-
1971/72	California Golden Seals	NHL		73	12	12	24	11		-	-	-	-	-
1972/73	California Golden Seals	NHL		47	6th	15th	21st	8th		-	-	-	-	-
1973/74	California Golden Seals	NHL		76	14th	21st	35	16		-	-	-	-	-
1974/75	Kansas City Scouts	NHL		77	8th	11	19th	16		-	-	-	-	-
1975/76	Kansas City Scouts	NHL		79	19th	14th	33	12		-	-	-	-	-
1976/77	Colorado Rockies	NHL		78	24	27	51	14th		-	-	-	-	-
1977/78	Colorado Rockies	NHL		62	17th	22nd	39	24		-	-	-	-	-
1978/79	Colorado Rockies	NHL		79	23	18th	41	18th		-	-	-	-	-
1979/80	Colorado Rockies	NHL		15th	1	4th	5	4th		-	-	-	-	-
1980/81	Fort Worth Texans	CHL		4th	1	1	2	2		-	-	-	-	-
NCAA overall				84	80	60	140
AHL total				105	47	41	88	49		-	-	-	-	-
NHL overall				684	144	175	319	143		11	3	2	5	8th

( 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

• Gary Croteau at legendsofhockey.net (English)
• Gary Croteau at eliteprospects.com (English)