Rick Lapointe

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CanadaCanada  Rick Lapointe Ice hockey player
Rick Lapointe
Date of birth 2nd August 1955
place of birth Victoria , British Columbia , Canada
date of death October 17, 1999
Place of death Victoria , British Columbia , Canada
Nickname jumbo
size 189 cm
Weight 92 kg
position defender
Shot hand Left
Draft
NHL Amateur Draft 1975 , 1st lap, 5th position
Detroit Red Wings
WHA Amateur Draft 1975 , 1st round, 11th position
Toronto Toros
Career stations
1971-1972 Nanaimo Clippers
1972-1975 Victoria Cougars
1975-1977 Detroit Red Wings
1977-1979 Philadelphia Flyers
1979-1982 St. Louis Blues
1982-1984 Nordiques de Québec
Fredericton Express
1984-1986 Los Angeles Kings

Richard Paul "Rick" Lapointe (born August 2, 1955 in Victoria , British Columbia ; † October 17, 1999 ibid) was a Canadian ice hockey player who played 710 games for the Detroit Red Wings between 1972 and 1986, among other things . Philadelphia Flyers , St. Louis Blues , Nordiques de Québec and Los Angeles Kings played in the National Hockey League (NHL) on the position of defender . With the Canadian U20 national team , he won the silver medal at the unofficial Junior World Championship in 1975 .

Career

Lapointe spent his junior years between 1972 and 1975 in the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) with the Victoria Cougars , the team from his hometown Victoria in the province of British Columbia . He had previously played one season with the Nanaimo Clippers in the British Columbia Junior Hockey League (BCJHL) before joining the Cougars. At the Victoria Cougars, the defender became the team's best player alongside Mel Bridgman over the course of three seasons . After collecting 15 and 26 scorer points in his first two years , he was able to score 70 times in his third and final year. At the end of the season, this earned him the Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy for the best defensive player in the WCHL and the election to the League's First All-Star Team. Finally, at the end of his time in the junior division, Lapointe was in fifth overall position in the 1975 NHL Amateur Draft by the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL) and in the 1975 WHA Amateur Draft of the World Hockey Association, which was then competing with the NHL ( WHA) selected 11th by the Toronto Toros . Decisive for the early selection in both entry drafts was the combination of Lapointes qualities in the opening and his robustness in the defensive game.

The defensive player then switched immediately to the Detroit Red Wings organization for the 1975/76 season and, at the age of 20, was in the regular squad from the start of the season. The talented defender was only a member of this group for about a year and a half. In February 1977, Lapointe and Mike Korney joined the ambitious Philadelphia Flyers in a six-player transfer business , who gave Terry Murray , Bob Ritchie , Steve Coates and Dave Kelly to Motor City . With the Flyers, Lapointe, who had collected 33 points scorer alongside Terry Harper in his rookie season, took on a more defensive role, which was mainly reflected in his plus / minus balance in the following three seasons. In June 1979 he was transferred again after two and a half years in Philadelphia. This time the Canadian moved to the St. Louis Blues with Blake Dunlop in exchange for Phil Myre . There he spent another three years playing in the NHL before he was part of a transfer deal for a third time. The Nordiques de Québec secured his services in August 1982 and sent Pat Hickey to the Blues as compensation .

With the French Canadians, the now 27-year-old was no longer able to keep himself permanently in the NHL, and so he commuted repeatedly between the NHL squad of Québec and that of the farm team Fredericton Express in the following two seasons until the summer of 1984 from the American Hockey League (AHL). There he was elected to the AHL First All-Star Team at the end of the 1983/84 season after he had booked 30 scorer points in 54 games. The Nordiques did not extend his expiring contract in the summer of 1984, whereupon Lapointe accepted an invitation to the training camp of the Los Angeles Kings , who provided the free agent with a contract a little later. With the Kings he ran from then on again permanently in the NHL. When he was to be sent back to the AHL for the New Haven Nighthawks farm team in January 1986 , the defense attorney refused and was subsequently suspended. As a result of the suspension, the 30-year-old resigned from active sport immediately.

Lapointe died in October 1999 at the age of 44 as a result of a heart attack in his native Victoria. In 2004 he was posthumously inducted into the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame .

International

For his home country Canada, Lapointe took part with the Canadian U20 national team in the unofficial Junior World Cup in 1975 , which took place in Canada and the United States . He finished second with the team in the final ranking and thus won the silver medal, to which he contributed as many scorer points in five tournament games. There were two gates underneath. Because of his performance, he was elected to the all-star team of the competition at the end of the tournament.

Achievements and Awards

International

Career statistics

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp T V Pt SM Sp T V Pt SM
1971/72 Victoria Cougars WCHL 4th 0 0 0 0 - - - - -
1972/73 Victoria Cougars WCHL 39 3 12 15th 21st - - - - -
1973/74 Victoria Cougars WCHL 66 8th 18th 26th 207 - - - - -
1974/75 Victoria Cougars WCHL 67 19th 51 70 177 12 1 12 13 26th
1975/76 Detroit Red Wings NHL 80 10 23 33 95 - - - - -
1976/77 Detroit Red Wings NHL 49 2 11 13 80 - - - - -
1976/77 Kansas City Blues CHL 6th 0 0 0 6th - - - - -
1976/77 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 22nd 1 8th 9 39 10 0 0 0 7th
1977/78 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 47 4th 16 20th 91 12 0 3 3 19th
1978/79 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 77 3 18th 21st 53 7th 0 1 1 14th
1979/80 St. Louis Blues NHL 80 6th 19th 25th 87 3 0 1 1 6th
1980/81 St. Louis Blues NHL 80 8th 25th 33 124 8th 2 2 4th 12
1981/82 St. Louis Blues NHL 71 2 20th 22nd 127 3 0 0 0 6th
1982/83 Nordiques de Québec NHL 43 2 9 11 59 - - - - -
1982/83 Fredericton Express AHL 31 4th 14th 18th 50 12 0 6th 6th 8th
1983/84 Nordiques de Québec NHL 22nd 2 10 12 12 3 0 0 0 0
1983/84 Fredericton Express AHL 54 8th 22nd 30th 79 - - - - -
1984/85 Los Angeles Kings NHL 73 4th 13 17th 46 - - - - -
1985/86 Los Angeles Kings NHL 20th 0 4th 4th 18th - - - - -
WCHL overall 176 30th 81 111 405 12 1 12 13 26th
AHL total 85 12 36 48 129 12 0 6th 6th 8th
NHL overall 664 44 176 220 831 46 2 7th 9 64

International

Represented Canada to:

year team event result Sp T V Pt SM
1975 Canada June World Cup 2nd place, silver 5 2 3 5 17th
Juniors overall 5 2 3 5 17th

( 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 )

family

Lapointes son Dan was also a professional ice hockey player. Between 2007 and 2012 he was active in the ECHL , International Hockey League (IHL) and Central Hockey League (CHL). Like his father, he had spent his junior years in the Western Hockey League (WHL). Rick Lapointes brother-in-law Brad Maxwell also played in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1977 and 1987 , where he played for the Minnesota North Stars , Nordiques de Québec , Toronto Maple Leafs , Vancouver Canucks and New York Rangers .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lapointe, Rick
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lapointe, Richard Paul (full name); LaPointe, Rick; Jumbo (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd August 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Victoria , British Columbia , Canada
DATE OF DEATH October 17, 1999
Place of death Victoria , British Columbia , Canada