Larry Wilson (ice hockey player)

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Flag of Canada (1921–1957) .svg  Larry Wilson Ice hockey player
Date of birth October 23, 1930
place of birth Kincardine , Ontario , Canada
date of death August 16, 1979
Place of death Queensbury , New York , USA
size 180 cm
Weight 79 kg
position center
Shot hand Left
Career stations
1947-1949 Windsor Spitfires
Windsor Hettche Spitfires
1949-1950 Omaha Knights
1950-1952 Indianapolis Capitals
1952-1953 Edmonton Flyers
1953-1955 Chicago Black Hawks
1955-1968 Buffalo bison
1968-1970 Dayton Gems

Lawrence "Larry" Wilson (born October 23, 1930 in Kincardine , Ontario ; † August 16, 1979 in Queensbury , New York , USA ) was a Canadian ice hockey player and coach who, during his active career between 1947 and 1970, among others 156 Has played games for the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Black Hawks in the National Hockey League on the position of the center . Wilson celebrated his greatest success in the service of the Detroit Red Wings, with whom he celebrated winning the Stanley Cup in 1950 . But mainly he played for the Buffalo Bisons in the American Hockey League , in whose Hall of Fame he was posthumously inducted in 2011. After the end of his career, Wilson worked as a trainer and briefly looked after his ex-team Detroit Red Wings.

Career

Player career

Wilson spent the beginning of his career together with his one year older brother Johnny Wilson in the franchise of the Windsor Hettche Spitfires , for which they were active between 1947 and 1949 in both the junior division of the Ontario Hockey Association and in the International Hockey League . Larry Wilson increasingly ran for the Spitfires in the OHA. It was not until the end of the 1949/50 season that both were an important part of the IHL squad and Larry Wilson, as the second best scorer with 21 points in 13 playoff games, had a significant share in winning the Turner Cup . His brother Johnny Wilson was best in the category with 23 points and 16 goals. After the success, both left the Spitfires and moved to the United States Hockey League for the Omaha Knights , where they spent the 1949/50 season. Both made their debut at the end of the season in the squad of the Detroit Red Wings in the National Hockey League , with which they won the Stanley Cup at the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs in 1950 .

The brothers then moved together in the American Hockey League to the Indianapolis Capitals , which were in a cooperation agreement with the Detroit Red Wings. The Wilsons ran in the course of the two seasons up to the summer of 1952 for the most part for the Capitals in the AHL, but were also given time and again with the Red Wings in the NHL. With the beginning of the 1952/53 season , the paths of the two strikers began to part. While Johnny Wilson began to establish himself at the end of the preseason in the NHL and was part of Detroit's squad from this season onwards, Larry Wilson's operating times remained limited. He played mainly for the Edmonton Flyers in the Western Hockey League before he was sold to league rivals Chicago Black Hawks in August 1953, along with Larry Zeidel and Lou Jankowski .

In the squad of the Chicago Black Hawks, the center forward was able to assert himself for the following two years and he played 131 of his 156 league appearances by the beginning of the 1955/56 season . With 65 points, Wilson also knew how to convince. Nevertheless, he was in the course of the 1955/56 season - in which he ran up twice with him for the Black Hawks after the change of his brother - initially loaned to the Buffalo Bisons . There Wilson knew how to impress with 78 points in 62 games, so that at the end of the season he was appointed to the AHL Second All-Star Team for the first time and was bought from the Black Hawks after another year on loan in August 1957. Another appointment to the AHL Second All-Star Team took place four years later at the end of the 1959/60 season , still wearing the bison jersey. In the end, the Canadian had a total of 13 playing years for Buffalo. The team celebrated its greatest success during this time by winning the Calder Cup at the end of the 1962/63 season .

In the summer of 1968, Wilson's time in Buffalo came to an end when he was hired by the Dayton Gems in the International Hockey League, where he held the post of player-coach for the next two years. In the summer of 1970, the attacker withdrew from active sport shortly before his 40th birthday.

Coaching career

CanadaCanada  Larry Wilson
Coaching stations
1968-1970 Dayton Gems
1970-1972 Providence Reds
1972-1976 Richmond Robins
1976-1977 Baltimore Clippers
1977 Detroit Red Wings
1977-1979 Kansas City Red Wings

After 13 years with the Buffalo Bisons, Wilson left the team in the summer of 1970 and began pursuing a career as a coach - as his brother Johnny Wilson had already done after his retirement. He was hired by the Dayton Gems from the International Hockey League and was responsible for the franchise as a player-coach for two years. Wilson's time with the Dayton Gems was extremely successful. With over 60 scorer points each, he was one of the team's best scorers. He also led it to two consecutive wins of the Turner Cup.

Wilson's successes behind the gang did not go unnoticed by other teams and so he moved in the summer of 1970 - now resigned as a player - to the Providence Reds in the American Hockey League. Even with the Reds, the successes of previous years continued and he reached the final series of the Calder Cup in the first season, but where Providence was subject to the Springfield Kings , who were trained by his brother. The following year, the Providence Reds were eliminated in the first round of playoffs, after which Wilson moved within the league to the Richmond Robins . He worked there for a total of four years.

For the 1976/77 season Wilson then moved to the Baltimore Clippers in the Southern Hockey League . However, his engagement there did not last an entire season. During the season, Wilson was signed by the Detroit Red Wings, where Alex Delvecchio had resigned after 44 games and worked exclusively as general manager . The signing of Wilson was unsuccessful for the team. Of the remaining 36 games of the season, Detroit won only three games under his ex-player and scored ten of a possible 72 points. As a result, the Red Wings missed the playoffs and Wilson was replaced by Bobby Kromm before the 1977/78 season . Wilson was demoted to head coach of the Kansas City Red Wings farm team of the Central Hockey League and worked for another two years until his sudden death in August 1979.

Wilson died while jogging at the age of 48 of a heart attack in Queensbury , New York . In 2011, he was posthumously inducted into the American Hockey League Hall of Fame for his services.

Achievements and Awards

Career statistics

Player statistics

Regular season Play-offs
season team league Sp T V Pt SM Sp T V Pt SM
1947/48 Windsor Spitfires OHA 12 4th 13 17th 2 12 3 3 6th 9
1947/48 Windsor Hettche Spitfires IHL 25th 13 29 42 6th - - - - -
1948/49 Windsor Spitfires OHA 45 23 37 60 22nd 4th 1 1 2 2
1948/49 Windsor Hettche Spitfires IHL 9 10 7th 17th 6th 13 4th 17th 21st 20th
1949/50 Omaha Knights USHL 70 22nd 57 79 51 7th 2 6th 8th 10
1949/50 Detroit Red Wings NHL 1 0 0 0 2 4th 0 0 0 0
1950/51 Indianapolis Capitals AHL 53 12 23 35 14th 3 0 1 1 0
1951/52 Detroit Red Wings NHL 5 0 0 0 4th - - - - -
1951/52 Indianapolis Capitals AHL 62 19th 40 59 30th - - - - -
1952/53 Detroit Red Wings NHL 15th 0 4th 4th 6th - - - - -
1952/53 Edmonton Flyers WHL 49 17th 29 46 24 14th 6th 7th 13 4th
1953/54 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 66 9 33 42 22nd - - - - -
1954/55 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 63 12 11 23 39 - - - - -
1955/56 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 2 0 0 0 2 - - - - -
1955/56 Buffalo bison AHL 62 39 39 78 74 5 0 2 2 4th
1956/57 Buffalo bison AHL 64 22nd 45 67 71 - - - - -
1957/58 Buffalo bison AHL 70 26th 53 79 48 - - - - -
1958/59 Buffalo bison AHL 66 24 39 63 26th 11 0 5 5 7th
1959/60 Buffalo bison AHL 64 33 45 78 18th - - - - -
1960/61 Buffalo bison AHL 72 30th 54 84 62 4th 0 2 2 0
1961/62 Buffalo bison AHL 68 9 25th 34 28 10 3 0 3 4th
1962/63 Buffalo bison AHL 72 16 29 45 30th 13 1 3 4th 0
1963/64 Buffalo bison AHL 71 17th 26th 43 38 - - - - -
1964/65 Buffalo bison AHL 31 0 7th 7th 12 - - - - -
1965/66 Buffalo bison AHL 38 13 12 25th 8th - - - - -
1966/67 Buffalo bison AHL 65 28 37 65 60 - - - - -
1967/68 Buffalo bison AHL 41 10 18th 28 24 - - - - -
1968/69 Dayton Gems IHL 50 19th 42 61 36 - - - - -
1969/70 Dayton Gems IHL 68 20th 43 63 54 13 2 4th 6th 0
OHA total 57 27 50 77 24 16 4th 4th 8th 11
AHL total 899 298 492 790 543 46 4th 13 17th 15th
IHL total 152 62 121 183 102 26th 6th 21st 27 20th
NHL overall 152 21st 48 69 75 4th 0 0 0 0

( 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 )

NHL coaching statistics

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp S. N U Pt space Sp S. N result
1976/77 Detroit Red Wings NHL 36 3 29 4th (10) 5th, Norris - - - not qualified
NHL overall 36 3 29 4th 10 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 )

family

Wilson's older brother Johnny also made the leap into the National Hockey League as a player and coach . As a player, he completed a total of 754 games between 1950 and 1962 for the Detroit Red Wings , with whom he won the Stanley Cup four times , Chicago Black Hawks , Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers . Like his brother, he coached the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL. He was also responsible for the Los Angeles Kings , Colorado Rockies and Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL. In the World Hockey Association he held this post with the Michigan Stags or Baltimore Blades and the Cleveland Crusaders .

Larry Wilson's three sons Ron , Brad and Randall also all made the leap into the professional arena. While Brad and Randall's careers were short-lived, Ron preserved the legacy of the Wilson family in the NHL. The former defender made a name for himself as a coach in particular and, with almost 1,500 games and nearly 700 wins, was one of the most successful of all.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wilson, Larry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wilson, Lawrence (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ice hockey player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH October 23, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Kincardine , Ontario
DATE OF DEATH August 16, 1979
Place of death Queensbury , New York