Terry Ruskowski

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CanadaCanada  Terry Ruskowski Ice hockey player
Date of birth December 31, 1954
place of birth Prince Albert , Saskatchewan , Canada
Nickname Roscoe
size 175 cm
Weight 76 kg
position center
number #8th
Shot hand Left
Draft
WHA Secret
Amateur Draft 		1974 , 2nd round, 30th position
Houston Eros
NHL Amateur Draft 1974 , 4th round, 70th position
Chicago Black Hawks
Career stations
1971-1974 Swift Current Broncos
1974-1988 Houston Eros
1978-1979 Winnipeg Jets
1979-1982 Chicago Black Hawks
1982-1985 Los Angeles Kings
1985-1987 Pittsburgh Penguins
1987-1988 Minnesota North Stars

Terrence Wallace "Terry" Ruskowski (born December 31, 1954 in Prince Albert , Saskatchewan ) is a former Canadian ice hockey player , coach and official who played 651 games for the Chicago Black Hawks during his active career between 1971 and 1988 . Los Angeles Kings , Pittsburgh Penguins and Minnesota North Stars in the National Hockey League (NHL) and 421 others for the Houston Eros and Winnipeg Jets in the World Hockey Association (WHA) on the position of the center . He celebrated his greatest career success in the WHA, where he won the Avco World Trophy in 1975 with both the Houston Eros and 1979 with the Winnipeg Jets . After the end of his career, Ruskowski, who served as team captain in four franchises in the NHL and WHA - and thus more often than any other player - worked as a coach in the minor leagues for over 25 years .

Career

Playing career (1971–1988)

Ruskowski spent his junior career between 1971 and 1974 with the Swift Current Broncos in the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL). There the striker has been able to improve continuously over the three years and increased his points count from initially 51 points in his rookie year to 133 in his third and final year in the league. He led the team as the best points player in the squad in the 1973/74 season after a two-year absence together with Bryan Trottier and Tiger Williams back into the playoffs, where the Broncos advanced into the semi-finals. With 23 assists he was the best preparer of the playoffs and his 28 goal participations in total secured him third place among the scorers. As a result, the 19-year-old was selected during the current 1973/74 season, initially in the second round in the second round of the Houston Aerosaus of the World Hockey Association (WHA) in the 1974 WHA Secret Amateur Draft . After the end of the season, the selection in the NHL Amateur Draft 1974 by the Chicago Black Hawks from the National Hockey League (NHL) followed in the fourth round in 70th place.

Before the 1974/75 season, Ruskowski received an offer from Chicago for their Dallas Black Hawks farm team in the Central Hockey League (CHL) to gain a foothold there in the professional field. The Canadian decided against a move to the minor leagues and instead signed - like Rich Preston , who was also a junior player in Chicago's system - a contract with the Houston Eros, which he moved to the WHA, which was competing with the NHL at the time . In the service of the Texan franchise , the Canadian was able to win the Avco World Trophy in his rookie game year after the team had clearly prevailed in the final series of the WHA playoffs against the Nordiques de Québec . In the following years Ruskowski, although he was not a fast skater, developed into one of the best strikers of the Eros, who also made a name for himself in the league through his tough game. He had his best year for Houston in the 1976/77 season when he scored 84 points. In the last year of its existence, he was team captain , before he was sold in July 1978 to league competitor Winnipeg Jets , which signed a number of former Eros players. At the same time he turned down a renewed contract offer from the Chicago Black Hawks for the NHL. At the Winnipeg Jets, the attacker completed the final WHA game year before the league was dissolved. However, he managed to win the Avco World Trophy with the team for the second time in his career after the Edmonton Oilers had been defeated 4-2 in the final series. He prepared four of Winnipeg's seven goals in the decisive sixth game. In the course of the season he had already set a personal record with 86 scorer points and secured a place among the ten best scorers of the game year.

With the dissolution of the WHA and the takeover of four franchises in the National Hockey League, Ruskowski's transfer rights under the NHL Reclaim Draft in 1979 went back to the Chicago Black Hawks, who had actually acquired his NHL rights in 1974 via the draft. Thus, the center forward did not go on the ice for the Winnipeg Jets, but for the Chicago Black Hawks for the first time in the NHL. In Chicago Ruskowski spent three seasons, in which his offensive yield, however, decreased from season to season. Nevertheless, he was named team captain of the Black Hawks in November 1979, when he succeeded the retired Keith Magnuson . Shortly after the start of the game year 1982/83 in October 1982 - and still captain of the team - the then 27-year-old was given to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Larry Goodenough and a third-round vote in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft . There Ruskowski was named the seventh team captain in franchise history in October 1983 after not even a year on the team. The experienced striker held this position until his contract ended in the summer of 1985.

Ruskowski then signed in October 1985 as a free agent a contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins , where he completed his best season in six years in the 1985/86 season with 73 points scorer. Before the start of the 1986/87 season , he was also appointed team captain there, after he had already acted as assistant captain to Mike Bullard the previous year . This makes Ruskowski the only player in North American ice hockey who has held this position in four different WHA and NHL franchises. With another change as a free agent, he finally played from July 1987 for the Minnesota North Stars , where he missed large parts of the season due to back problems. After he had run three times for Minnesota at the beginning of the 1988/89 season , he announced the premature end of his active career a few weeks before his 34th birthday due to ongoing injury problems.

Trainer and functionary career (1989-2017)

CanadaCanada  Terry Ruskowski
Coaching stations
1989-1991 Saskatoon Blades
1991-1994 Columbus Chill
1994-1996 Houston Eros
1999-2001 Knoxville Speed
2001-2011 Laredo Bucks
2011–2012 Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees
2012-2017 Quad City Mallards

Almost immediately after the end of his career, Ruskowski began to work as a coach at the beginning of the 1989/90 season after he had accepted an offer from the Saskatoon Blades from the Canadian Junior Western Hockey League (WHL). He looked after the team over a period of two seasons with moderate success. After leading the team into the second playoff round in the first season, he narrowly missed the playoffs the following year. The engagement then ended and the Canadian moved back to the United States , where he found a job in the professional sector. For the following three game years Ruskowski acted as head coach of the Columbus Chill from the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL), which had been newly included in the league for the 1991/92 season . In his third and final season there, he led the Chill for the first time in their franchise history in the playoffs, where the team failed in the second round but on the eventual champions Toledo Storm .

For the season 1994/95 Ruskowski changed to the organization of the Houston Eros , a reincarnation of his former employer in the WHA, which now took part in the game operations of the International Hockey League (IHL). With the move from the ECHL, he was the first coach ever to make the leap into the IHL. Back in Houston Ruskowski succeeded in his first year to reach the playoffs again, before he was dismissed in the course of the 1995/96 season in January 1996 and replaced by Dave Tippett . Following the dismissal, the ex-player took a more than three-year break and only returned to the coaching bench in the 1999/2000 season .

Ruskowski was committed in the summer of 1999 by the Knoxville Speed from the United Hockey League (UHL). There he held the post of head coach and general manager for the next two seasons . At the end of his sophomore year as coach, he was named Coach of the Year by the league after the team finished the regular season 20 points better than last year. This was followed by Ruskowksi's most successful time as a coach. Already after his time in Knoxville, the ex-player was committed in the second half of 2001 by the management of the Laredo Bucks , which should start playing in the revived Central Hockey League (CHL) for the 2002/03 season . In 2004 and 2006 he led the team to win the Ray Miron President's Cup , the championship trophy of the CHL. In addition, he reached the final series again in both seasons after winning the title. In 2006 Ruskowski received the Commissioner's Trophy as the league 's best trainer. Ultimately, the Canadian spent ten years as coach of the Bucks before being replaced by Serge Dubé before the 2011/12 season , after missing the playoff qualification for the first time in his tenure and also resigning due to the economic downturn in the franchise. Ruskowski himself then moved behind the gang of league rivals Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees . The engagement was not continued beyond the 2011/12 season.

Nevertheless, Ruskowski remained as a trainer within the CHL and from the 2012/13 season looked after the Quad City Mallards , where he - as in Knoxville - was employed as head trainer and general manager. In total, he worked there for five years in both offices and was thus primarily responsible for the Mallards to be included in the ECHL as one of seven franchises for the 2014/15 season after the Central Hockey League was dissolved after the 2013/14 season . Ruskowski was unable to continue the success of his time in Laredo in the five years he worked for Quad City Mallards. Although he managed to qualify for the playoffs in all seasons, the team failed four times in the first round. This is also the case in all three years of membership in the ECHL, which fell under Ruskowski's aegis. The collaboration with him was therefore ended after the 2016/17 season . The now 62-year-old then ended his more than 25-year career as a coach and functionary. During this time, in 2010, he was one of the first 41 people to be inducted into the newly formed Hall of Fame of the World Hockey Association .

Achievements and Awards

Career statistics

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp T V Pt SM Sp T V Pt SM
1971/72 Swift Current Broncos WCHL 67 13 38 51 177 - - - - -
1972/73 Swift Current Broncos WCHL 53 25th 64 89 136 - - - - -
1973/74 Swift Current Broncos WCHL 68 40 93 133 243 13 5 23 28 23
1974/75 Houston Eros WHA 71 10 36 46 134 13 4th 2 6th 15th
1975/76 Houston Eros WHA 65 14th 35 49 100 16 6th 10 16 64
1976/77 Houston Eros WHA 80 24 60 84 146 11 6th 11 17th 67
1977/78 Houston Eros WHA 78 15th 57 72 170 4th 1 1 2 5
1978/79 Winnipeg Jets WHA 75 20th 66 86 211 8th 1 12 13 23
1979/80 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 74 15th 55 70 252 4th 0 0 0 22nd
1980/81 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 72 8th 51 59 225 3 0 2 2 11
1981/82 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 60 7th 30th 37 120 11 1 2 3 53
1982/83 Los Angeles Kings NHL 71 14th 30th 44 127 - - - - -
1983/84 Los Angeles Kings NHL 77 7th 25th 32 89 - - - - -
1984/85 Los Angeles Kings NHL 78 16 33 49 144 3 0 2 2 0
1985/86 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 73 26th 37 63 162 - - - - -
1986/87 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 70 14th 37 51 145 - - - - -
1987/88 Minnesota North Stars NHL 47 5 12 17th 76 - - - - -
1988/89 Minnesota North Stars NHL 3 1 1 2 2 - - - - -
WCHL overall 188 78 195 273 556 13 5 23 28 23
WHA total 369 83 254 337 761 52 18th 36 54 174
NHL overall 630 113 313 426 1354 21st 1 6th 7th 86

( 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 Ruskowski, Terry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ruskowski, Terrence Wallace (full name); Roscoe (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ice hockey player, coach and official
DATE OF BIRTH December 31, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Prince Albert , Saskatchewan , Canada