George Sullivan (ice hockey player)

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Flag of Canada (1921–1957) .svg  George Sullivan Ice hockey player
George Sullivan (ice hockey player)
Date of birth December 24, 1929
place of birth Peterborough , Ontario , Canada
date of death 19th January 2019
Place of death Peterborough , Ontario , Canada
size 180 cm
Weight 73 kg
position center
Shot hand Left
Career stations
1947-1949 St. Catharines Teepees
1949-1954 Boston Bruins
Hershey Bears
1954-1956 Chicago Black Hawks
1956-1961 New York Rangers
1961–1962 Kitchener-Waterloo Beavers
1962-1963 Baltimore Clippers

George James "Red" Sullivan (born December 24, 1929 in Peterborough , Ontario ; † January 19, 2019 ibid) was a Canadian ice hockey player and coach . The center completed over 500 games for the Boston Bruins , Chicago Black Hawks and New York Rangers in the National Hockey League between 1949 and 1961 , where he led the Rangers as captain for three years . He then worked in the NHL as head coach of the Rangers, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals .

Career

As a player

George Sullivan ran in his youth for the St. Catharines Teepees in the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA), the highest junior division in his home province. After 80 scorer points from 46 games in the 1948/49 season, the center was committed by the Boston Bruins from the National Hockey League (NHL) during the following year . In the course of the following seasons, however, he did not succeed in establishing himself permanently in the NHL squad of the Bruins, so that he was mainly used in their farm team , the Hershey Bears , in the American Hockey League (AHL). In 1953/54 he increased his personal statistics with the Bears significantly, he recorded 119 points in 68 games and as a result received the Carl Liscombe Trophy as the best scorer in the AHL. He was also awarded the Les Cunningham Award as the most valuable player in the league and was appointed to the AHL First All-Star Team .

In September 1954, however, after about five years in the Bruins organization, Sullivan was given to the Chicago Black Hawks for financial consideration . There he promptly earned himself a regular place and from then on also appeared in the NHL as a regular scorer, so that between 1955 and 1960 he was represented in five NHL All-Star Games . However, the Canadian played three of them as a player in the New York Rangers , who had signed the attacker in June 1956 in exchange for Wally Hergesheimer . During his first season in New York, he was during a game against the Montreal Canadiens seriously injured, a spearing led (spearing) by Doug Harvey to a ruptured spleen . His condition seemed so poor that he had already received the final unction from a priest , but Sullivan recovered and took over the captaincy of the Rangers the following year . In addition, he recorded in the 1958/59 season with 63 points from 70 games, his career best. In 1961 he left the NHL and let his career end with the Kitchener-Waterloo Beavers in the Eastern Professional Hockey League and with the Baltimore Clippers in the AHL. Overall, Sullivan had completed 575 games in the NHL and scored 349 points.

As a trainer

CanadaCanada  George Sullivan
Coaching stations
1962-1965 New York Rangers
1967-1969 Pittsburgh Penguins
1975 Washington Capitals

After Sullivan had already worked as player-coach with the Kitchener-Waterloo Beavers and the Baltimore Clippers, he returned to the New York Rangers in the middle of the 1961/62 season, replacing head coach Muzz Patrick . He then led the Broadway Blueshirts to fifth place three times in a row, so that the team missed the playoffs. After five wins from 20 games at the beginning of the 1965/66 season, he was dismissed and replaced by Emile Francis . In 1967, Sullivan was introduced as the first head coach of the newly formed Pittsburgh Penguins . Even with the Penguins, he did not manage to reach the post-season in the following two years , so that Red Kelly succeeded him in the 1969/70 season. For the time being, he stayed with the team's management in a different role.

After a lengthy break, the Canadian took over the Washington Capitals during the 1974/75 season , which were also in their NHL debut season. The team should go down as one of the weakest expansion teams in league history, his predecessor Jim Anderson had won 4 of 54 games before Sullivan had two wins in 18 games and he was the third coach in the first year of the Capitals before the end of the season , Milt Schmidt , was replaced.

Sullivan died on January 19, 2019 at the age of 89 in his hometown of Peterborough.

Achievements and Awards

Career statistics

Player statistics

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp T V Pt +/- SM Sp T V Pt +/- SM
1947/48 St. Catharines Teepees OHA 26th 10 12 22nd 34 3 2 3 5 0
1948/49 St. Catharines Teepees OHA 46 32 48 80 53 5 6th 4th 10 6th
1949/50 St. Catharines Teepees OHA 13 14th 15th 29 19th - - - - - -
1949/50 Hershey Bears AHL 51 10 30th 40 36 - - - - - -
1949/50 Boston Bruins NHL 3 0 1 1 0 - - - - - -
1950/51 Hershey Bears AHL 70 28 56 84 36 6th 1 2 3 0
1950/51 Boston Bruins NHL - - - - - - 2 0 0 0 2
1951/52 Boston Bruins NHL 67 12 12 24 24 7th 0 0 0 0
1952/53 Hershey Bears AHL 36 10 40 50 18th - - - - - -
1952/53 Boston Bruins NHL 32 3 8th 11 8th 3 0 0 0 0
1953/54 Hershey Bears AHL 69 30th 89 119 54 11 2 7th 9 4th
1954/55 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 70 19th 42 61 51 - - - - - -
1955/56 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 63 14th 26th 40 58 - - - - - -
1956/57 New York Rangers NHL 42 6th 17th 23 36 5 1 2 3 4th
1957/58 New York Rangers NHL 70 11 35 46 61 1 0 0 0 0
1958/59 New York Rangers NHL 70 21st 42 63 54 - - - - - -
1959/60 New York Rangers NHL 70 12 25th 37 -23 81 - - - - - -
1960/61 New York Rangers NHL 70 9 31 40 -5 64 - - - - - -
1961/62 Kitchener-Waterloo Beavers EPHL 61 16 46 62 81 7th 1 6th 7th 4th
1962/63 Baltimore Clippers AHL 31 14th 22nd 36 25th - - - - - -
OHA total 85 56 75 131 106 8th 8th 7th 15th 6th
AHL total 257 92 237 329 169 17th 3 9 12 4th
NHL overall 557 107 239 346 437 18th 1 2 3 6th

NHL coaching statistics

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp S. N U Pt Pt% Place (division) Sp S. N result
1962/63 New York Rangers NHL 36 11 17th 8th 30th .417 5. - - - not qualified
1963/64 New York Rangers NHL 70 22nd 38 10 54 .386 5. - - - not qualified
1964/65 New York Rangers NHL 70 20th 38 12 52 .371 5. - - - not qualified
1965/66 New York Rangers NHL 20th 5 10 5 (15) .375 - Dismissed during the season
1967/68 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 74 27 34 13 67 .453 5. ( West ) - - - not qualified
1968/69 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 76 20th 45 11 51 .336 5. (West) - - - not qualified
1974/75 Washington Capitals NHL 18th 2 16 0 (4) .111 - Dismissed during the season
NHL overall 364 107 198 59 273 .375 0 division title - - - 0 Stanley Cups

( Legend for coach statistics: Sp or GC = total games; W or S = wins scored; L or N = losses scored; T or U = draws scored; OTL or OTN = losses scored after overtime or shootout ; Pts or Pkt = points scored ; Pts% or Pkt% = point rate; Win% = win rate; result = round reached in the play-offs )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rick Cole: 50 Years Ago in Hockey: The Coaches - Red Sullivan. thehockeywriters.com, September 23, 2015, accessed June 5, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Mike Davies: Peterborough hockey icon George (Red) Sullivan mourned. thepeterboroughexaminer.com, January 20, 2019, accessed January 21, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Sullivan, George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sullivan, George James (full name); Sullivan, Red
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ice hockey player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH December 24, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Peterborough , Ontario , Canada
DATE OF DEATH 19th January 2019
Place of death Peterborough , Ontario , Canada