Rod Langway

Infobox Ice Hockey Player


image_size = 200px
position = Defense
played_for = Birmingham Bulls
Montreal Canadiens
Washington Capitals
shot = Left
draft = 36^th overall
draft_year = 1977
draft_team = Montreal Canadiens
wha_draft = 6^th overall
wha_draft_year = 1977
wha_draft_team = Birmingham Bulls
height_ft = 6
height_in = 3
weight_lb = 218
nationality = USA
birth_date = birth date and age|mf=yes|1957|5|3
birth_place = Taipei, Taiwan
career_start = 1977
career_end = 1998
halloffame = 2002

Rod Cory Langway (born May 3, 1957 in Taipei, Taiwan and raised in Randolph, Massachusetts) is a former American professional ice hockey defenseman in the National Hockey League (NHL), elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002.

Amateur career

Rod Langway was born when his father, an American serviceman, was stationed in Taiwan, and he is the only NHL player to have been born in Taiwan. He grew up in Massachusetts, and did not begin playing hockey until age 13 in 1970, aside from pick-up street hockey games with the neighborhood boys. He then played for his high school team, the Randolph Blue Devils, which he led to state tourney appearances in 1973 and 1975. He was also the quarterback for the Randolph football team, and it was a football recruiter from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) who convinced him to play college hockey at UNH.

Professional career

A left-handed shot, Langway was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens of the NHL in 1977 and by the Birmingham Bulls of the WHA in the same year. He played one season for the Bulls (1977–78) before joining the Canadiens for the 1978–79 NHL season, and would win the Stanley Cup that year. He played for Montreal until he was traded to the Washington Capitals for the start of the 1982–83 season. The Capitals acquired Langway from the Canadiens in a blockbuster trade—going with Doug Jarvis, Craig Laughlin and Brian Engblom in exchange for Ryan Walter and Rick Green—that not only saved the franchise from moving out of D.C., but also stocked them for an extended string of postseason appearances. After not making the playoffs in their first eight seasons in the league, the Capitals competed in the postseason in every one of the 11 years that Langway was with the team.

Langway served as the long-time captain of the Capitals, being known as an accomplished leader who demanded greatness from himself and others, and earning the nickname "Secretary of Defence". Many people considered him the franchise's savior, despite not being the sort of player that one would expect to prevent the club from moving. Langway's predecessors as Norris Trophy winners were the dominant defencemen of the 1970s, like Bobby Orr, Larry Robinson, and Dennis Potvin, who had put up high scoring numbers. By contrast, Langway was a traditional defender whose shot was likened to a "cool summer breeze", scoring only three goals during one of his best seasons, though he is remembered by Capitals fans for the series-winning goal against the New York Rangers' Mike Richter in the 1990 playoffs, that sent the Washington to the conference finals for the first time in franchise history. Despite his lack of offensive production, his excellence at his position was credited with significantly reducing the Capitals' goals against average, which enabled them to finally make the playoffs.

Langway won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman in both 1983 and 1984. He earned two postseason All-Star First Team selections and one Second Team selection as a defenceman—the first American NHL All-Star since Frank Brimsek in 1948. Langway finished runner-up to Wayne Gretzky for the Hart Trophy in 1982. He was also part of the NHL All-Star team that played the Soviet national hockey team in Rendez-Vous '87. Upon his retirement from the NHL in 1993, Langway was the last active player that won a Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens during their late-70s dynasty. In international hockey, he represented the United States in the 1981, 1984 and 1987 Canada Cup as well as the 1982 Ice Hockey World Championship tournaments.

Coaching career

Langway served as player-coach for the San Francisco Spiders during their single season as an IHL team in 1995–1996. Langway began his career before helmets were mandatory and was the only member of the Spiders who played without a helmet under a league grandfather clause.

Langway was also an assistant coach under Tom McVie with the American Hockey League's Providence Bruins during the 1997-98 season. He played in ten games that year to assist with on-ice development, during which time he was not granted an exemption to play without a helmet. Providence finished with a mere 19 victories that season, and Langway did not return the following year after McVie was reassigned to be a scout by the Boston organization.

During the 2003–04 season, Langway coached the Richmond Riverdogs expansion franchise in the United Hockey League to a division championship, and a first-round playoff loss to the Elmira Jackals. Team management did not extend Langway's contract after the first season.

Awards and accomplishments

Langway's jersey number (#5) was retired by the Capitals on November 26, 1997, and he was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1999. His career was crowned with his election to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002.
* Norris Trophy: 1982–83, 1983–84 (Washington)
* NHL All-Star First Team: 1982–83, 1983–84 (Washington)
* NHL All-Star Second Team: 1984–85 (Washington)
* All-Star Game: 1981, 1982 (Montreal), 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 (Washington)
* Canada Cup 1984 All-Star First Team (Team USA)

ee also

* List of members of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame
* List of NHL players
* List of NHL seasons
* List of WHA seasons

External links

*Legendsmember|Player|P200203
*hockeydb|2952
*http://www.nhl.com/hockeyu/halloffame/langway.html
* [http://www.hockeydraftcentral.com/1977/77036.html Rod Langway's profile @ Hockeydraftcentral.com]