Reggie Leach

Infobox Ice Hockey Player


image_size =
position = Right Wing
played_for = Boston Bruins
California Golden Seals
Philadelphia Flyers
Detroit Red Wings
shot = Right
height_ft = 6
height_in = 0
weight_lb = 180
nationality = CAN
birth_date = birth date and age|1950|04|23
birth_place = Riverton, MB, CAN
draft = 3rd overall
draft_team = Boston Bruins
draft_year = 1970
career_start = 1970
career_end = 1984

Reginald Joseph Leach (born April 23, 1950 in Riverton, Manitoba, Canada) is a retired professional ice hockey winger who played in the NHL between 1970 and 1983.

Playing career

Nicknamed "The Riverton Rifle", Leach was drafted 3rd overall by the Boston Bruins in the 1970 NHL Amateur Draft. He played 934 career NHL games, scoring 381 goals and 285 assists for 666 points. His best season was the 1975–76 season, when he set career highs in goals (61), points (91), game-winning goals (11), and plus-minus with a +73 rating. The 61 goals gave him the goal-scoring title (now the Richard Trophy) for the season.

He is best remembered as being one of a very few number of players to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs as a member of the losing team in the Stanley Cup finals, playing with the Philadelphia Flyers when they were defeated by the Montreal Canadiens in 1976. He is the only non-goaltender to win this award in a losing cause. Leach won the trophy after setting the NHL record for most goals in the playoffs (19), a record that stands to this day. During that same playoff season Leach recorded a five-goal game vs. the Boston Bruins, a record shared with Maurice Richard and Darryl Sittler.

Coaching career

In late 2007, Leach joined the Manitoulin Islanders of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League as an associate coach. In the Spring of 2008, it was announced that Leach would return to Manitoulin for the 2008-2009 season as the full-time head coach and director of hockey operations.

Awards

*MJHL First All-Star Team (1967)
*Turnbull Cup MJHL Championship (1967)
*WCJHL First All-Star Team (1968, 1969, & 1970)
*WCJHL Goal Scoring Leader (1968 & 1970)
*WCJHL Scoring Champion (1970)
*WCJHL Player of the Year (1970)
*Stanley Cup Championship (1975)
*NHL Goal Scoring Leader (1976)
*NHL Second All-Star Team (1976)
*Conn Smythe Trophy (1976)
*Played in the Canada Cup Tournament for Team Canada (1976)
*Played in NHL All-Star Game (1976 & 1980)
*Inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in 1997
*Selected to Manitoba's All-Century Second All-Star Team
*“Honoured Member” of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame
* Inducted into Philadelphia Flyers (1992)

Career statistics

ee also

*List of NHL players
*List of NHL seasons

External links

* [http://www.hockeydraftcentral.com/1970/70003.html Profile at hockeydraftcentral.com]
*hockeydb|3042
*legendsofhockey|13337
* [http://www.halloffame.mb.ca/honoured/1997/rLeach.htm Reggie Leach’s biography] at [http://www.halloffame.mb.ca/ Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum]
* [http://www.mbhockeyhalloffame.ca/honoured/players.html?category=9&id=128 Reggie Leach's biography] at [http://www.mbhockeyhalloffame.ca/index.html Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame]