Ralph Klassen

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CanadaCanada  Ralph Klassen Ice hockey player
Date of birth September 15, 1955
place of birth Humboldt , Saskatchewan , Canada
size 180 cm
Weight 79 kg
position center
Shot hand Left
Draft
NHL Amateur Draft 1975 , 1st round, 3rd position
California Golden Seals
WHA Amateur Draft 1975 , 1st round, 5th position
Cleveland Crusaders
Career stations
1970-1975 Saskatoon Blades
1975-1976 California Golden Seals
1976-1988 Cleveland Barons
1978-1979 Colorado Rockies
1979-1983 St. Louis Blues

Ralph L. Klassen (born September 15, 1955 in Humboldt , Saskatchewan ) is a retired Canadian ice hockey player who played 523 games for the California Golden Seals , Cleveland Barons , Colorado Rockies and St. Louis in the course of his active career between 1970 and 1983 Blues has contested in the National Hockey League on the position of the center .

Career

Klassen spent his junior years between 1970 and 1975 over five seasons with the Saskatoon Blades in the Western Canada Hockey League , where he played regularly in the regular squad as a 15-year-old. The striker could not win any titles with the team during this period, but reached the final series of the President's Cup in his last season with the team , in which the blades were subject to the New Westminster Bruins . With 28 scorer points in 17 playoff appearances - the most among all players - Klassen played a major role in making it into the finals. Overall, he collected 320 points scorer in 350 games over the course of five years, including 311 points in 286 appearances in his last four seasons in the league. Because of the playmaker's great talent, he was finally in third overall position in the 1975 NHL Amateur Draft by the California Golden Seals of the National Hockey League and in fifth position in the 1975 WHA Amateur Draft by the Cleveland Crusaders in the NHL competing World Hockey Association .

The attacker then decided to sign a contract with the California Golden Seals and made his professional debut at the start of the season in their farm team , the Salt Lake Golden Eagles , from the Central Hockey League . After four missions and six scorer points, however, he was ordered to the Golden Seals in the NHL. In his rookie year , Klassen completed 71 games for the Oakland, California franchise and scored 21 times. However, this would also be his last season for the Golden Seals, since the franchise moved to Cleveland , Ohio in the summer of 1976 . Thus, the Canadian played from then on for the Cleveland Barons , who kept him busy until January 1978, before they handed him over to the Colorado Rockies together with Fred Ahern and in exchange for Rick Jodzio and Chuck Arnason . The Rockies finished classes in the 1977/78 season and also played the following - with the exception of 18 games for the farm team Philadelphia Firebirds from the American Hockey League  - there in the NHL.

In June 1979, a two-day exchange odyssey for the center forward finally followed. First he was, as a result of the fact that he had been left unprotected by the Colorado Rockies, selected on June 13 in the NHL Expansion Draft 1979 by the newly inducted Hartford Whalers . The next day they transferred him to the New York Islanders in exchange for Terry Richardson , who in turn immediately handed him over in another transfer between three teams. Klassen was sent to the St. Louis Blues while the Islanders made up for a transfer that had included Barry Gibbs , Terry Richardson and, later in August, Tom Williams five days earlier . At the St. Louis Blues, Klassen found a new sporting home for the next four years. In the course of time, the coaching team refrained from using the attacker more and more often, so that in the course of the 1982/83 season he was used again after seven years in the CHL and again for the Salt Lake Golden Eagles. After five NHL appearances for the St. Louis Blues at the beginning of the 1983/84 season , the 28-year-old ended his career prematurely in October 1983.

International

On an international level, Klassen played for his home country at the Junior World Cup in 1975 in Canada and the United States and two years later for the senior team at the 1977 World Cup in the Austrian capital, Vienna . He won the silver medal at the Junior World Championship, where the Canadians were represented by an all-star team from the Western Canada Hockey League. The 1977 World Cup finished the Canadian selection in fourth place, with classes with six scorer points playing a good tournament in ten missions.

Achievements and Awards

Career statistics

Regular season Play-offs
season team league Sp T V Pt SM Sp T V Pt SM
1970/71 Saskatoon Blades WCHL 61 1 8th 9 29 3 0 0 0 0
1971/72 Saskatoon Blades WCHL 62 17th 38 55 64 8th 1 5 6th 7th
1972/73 Saskatoon Blades WCHL 68 19th 47 66 80 16 5 3 8th 16
1973/74 Saskatoon Blades WCHL 68 23 54 77 110 6th 0 3 3 7th
1974/75 Saskatoon Blades WCHL 41 21st 47 68 34 17th 5 23 28 14th
1975/76 Salt Lake Golden Eagles CHL 4th 3 3 6th 4th - - - - -
1975/76 California Golden Seals NHL 71 6th 15th 21st 26th - - - - -
1976/77 Cleveland Barons NHL 80 14th 18th 32 23 - - - - -
1977/78 Cleveland Barons NHL 13 2 1 3 6th 2 0 0 0 0
1977/78 Colorado Rockies NHL 44 6th 9 15th 8th - - - - -
1978/79 Colorado Rockies NHL 64 6th 13 19th 12 - - - - -
1978/79 Philadelphia Firebirds AHL 18th 3 9 12 2 - - - - -
1979/80 St. Louis Blues NHL 80 9 16 25th 10 3 0 0 0 0
1980/81 St. Louis Blues NHL 66 6th 12 18th 23 11 2 0 2 2
1981/82 St. Louis Blues NHL 45 3 7th 10 6th 10 2 2 4th 10
1982/83 St. Louis Blues NHL 29 0 2 2 6th - - - - -
1982/83 Salt Lake Golden Eagles CHL 21st 9 10 19th 8th 6th 2 6th 8th 5
1983/84 St. Louis Blues NHL 5 0 0 0 0 - - - - -
WCHL overall 300 81 194 275 317 50 11 34 45 44
CHL total 25th 12 13 25th 12 6th 2 6th 8th 5
NHL overall 497 52 93 145 120 26th 4th 2 6th 12

International

Represented Canada to:

year team event result Sp T V Pt SM
1975 Canada June World Cup 2nd place, silver 4th 0 3 3 0
1977 Canada WM 4th Place 10 1 5 6th 0
Juniors overall 4th 0 3 3 0
Men overall 10 1 5 6th 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 )

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Classes, Ralph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Classes, Ralph L.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH September 15, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Humboldt , Saskatchewan