- Dale Hunter
-
Dale Hunter Born July 31, 1960
Petrolia, ON, CANHeight 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Weight 200 lb (91 kg; 14 st 4 lb) Position Centre Shot Left Played for Quebec Nordiques
Washington Capitals
Colorado AvalancheNHL Draft 41st overall, 1979
Quebec NordiquesPlaying career 1980–1999 Dale Robert Hunter (born July 31, 1960) is a Canadian former ice hockey player and current co-owner (with younger brother Mark) and head coach of the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League.
Contents
NHL career
He was selected by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft and played seven seasons in Quebec. He scored in overtime for Quebec in Game 5 of their 1982 opening round best-of-5 series vs. the Montreal Canadiens, and in 1988 scoring against Ron Hextall on a breakaway in overtime for Washington in Game 7 of their opening round best-of-7 series vs. the Philadelphia Flyers, making Hunter the first player in NHL history to score two overtime series-clinching goals in the playoffs. Hunter was traded to the Washington Capitals in return for a draft pick used to select Joe Sakic.
Hunter served as the team captain for the Capitals. In the 1993 Patrick Division Semifinals between the Capitals and New York Islanders, Hunter had led his team with eight postseason goals, and was suspended 21 games for checking and separating the shoulder of Isles star Pierre Turgeon.[1] He broke the 1000 points barrier (and is the NHL record holder for requiring the most games to do so by a forward, at 1308, as well having the most penalty minutes when reaching that scoring milestone) and played in the NHL All-Star game in 1997. The following year, he led the fourth seeded Capitals to their first appearance in the Stanley Cup finals, defeating the Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators, and Buffalo Sabres. In the finals, the Capitals were swept by the defending Cup champions, the Detroit Red Wings, with the first three games being decided by one goal.
Hunter finished off his career with the Colorado Avalanche, the successor to the Nordiques, and helped the team to reach the Western Conference finals, losing in seven games to the eventual cup winners Dallas Stars.
Hunter is the only NHL player ever to score over 1,000 points and rack up over 3,000 penalty minutes (1,020 points and 3,565 PIMs over 1,407 NHL games).
Post-NHL
Hunter's jersey number (#32) was retired by the Capitals on March 11, 2000. During the ceremony, the Capitals presented Hunter with one of the penalty boxes from the Capital Centre (the Capitals former home arena), symbolic of his exceptional amount of time served for penalties. Hunter became the co-owner, president and head coach of the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League, which won the 2005 Memorial Cup. On January 1, 2006, Hunter and his younger brother, fellow former NHLer Mark Hunter, as co-owners of the London Knights (Mark is the team's general manager), were named to the 2006 Mayor's New Year's Honours List for Sports by the City of London, Ontario. Hunter's older brother Dave Hunter is also a former NHLer. His son Dylan Hunter is a player for the Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL and his son Tucker also played for the London Knights before pursuing his education at the University of Western Ontario.
Notoriety
Hunter achieved notoriety for fouling other players. He holds one of the NHL's longest suspension records: 21 games for delivering a late hit to Pierre Turgeon from behind.
Late in the deciding Game 6 of the 1993 Patrick Division Semifinals between the Capitals and New York Islanders, Turgeon stole the puck from Hunter and scored, putting the game out of reach. Hunter, who was trailing Turgeon on the play, checked Turgeon well after the goal as he started to celebrate. Turgeon sustained a separated shoulder from the hit, causing him to miss all but Game 7 against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round, as well as most of the series against the Montreal Canadiens in the conference finals. New NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who had earlier promised to crack down on violence, suspended Hunter for the first 21 games of the 1993–94 season—at the time, the longest suspension in league history for an on-ice incident (in terms of games missed). Years later, Hunter admitted that he'd gone too far.[2]
However, according to his former Quebec Nordiques coach Michel Bergeron, even though Hunter was nicknamed the "Nuisance" on ice (La Petite Peste in French), he was known to be "humble" in the dressing room and a sort of "gentleman", close to all the players. He was the "perfect player", always the first to arrive at practice and ready to do all his best for the team. Thanks to his charisma, Hunter was a fan favourite in both Quebec and Washington. His leaving made Quebec very sad, and was seen as an obvious "mistake" linked to the team's future decline.[3]
With a amassing a staggering 3565 penalty minutes, Hunter currently has the second-most penalty minutes in NHL history, after Dave "Tiger" Williams (although Hunter played 1,407 games to Williams' 962). When the Capitals retired his No. 32 jersey, he was presented with the penalty box from the demolished Capital Centre at the retirement ceremony. As of the end of the 2005–06 NHL season, he holds the record for most number of playoff games played without playing for a Stanley Cup-winning team, at 186 games.
His notoriety continued after his retirement. In July 2006, Hunter was arrested and charged with DUI.[4] The charges were dropped when the presiding judge ruled that his rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms were violated for unlawful detention and being denied his right to his attorney.
In September 2005, Hunter was suspended by the Ontario Hockey League for 4 games after a player left the bench to initiate a fight in an exhibition game.
On January 20, 2006, Hunter was suspended for 2 games and his team was fined $5,000 for Hunter's off ice abuse of the officials. In May 2006, Hunter was fined $5,000 by the OHL for criticizing officials after the Knights were eliminated from the playoffs in 4 straight games. In September 2006, Hunter was suspended by the OHL for 2 games after forward Matt Davis left the bench to engage in a fight during a game; OHL rules state that there is an automatic suspension for both the player and the coach if a player leaves the bench to become involved in an altercation.
Career statistics
Playing career
Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1977–78 Kitchener Rangers OMJHL 68 22 42 64 115 9 1 0 1 32 1978–79 Sudbury Wolves OMJHL 59 42 68 110 188 10 4 12 16 47 1979–80 Sudbury Wolves OMJHL 61 34 51 85 189 9 6 9 15 45 1980–81 Quebec Nordiques NHL 80 19 44 63 226 5 4 2 6 34 1981–82 Quebec Nordiques NHL 80 22 50 72 272 16 3 7 10 52 1982–83 Quebec Nordiques NHL 80 17 46 63 206 4 2 1 3 24 1983–84 Quebec Nordiques NHL 77 24 55 79 232 9 2 3 5 41 1984–85 Quebec Nordiques NHL 80 20 52 72 209 17 4 6 10 97 1985–86 Quebec Nordiques NHL 80 28 42 70 265 3 0 0 0 15 1986–87 Quebec Nordiques NHL 46 10 29 39 135 13 1 7 8 56 1987–88 Washington Capitals NHL 79 22 37 59 240 14 7 5 12 98 1988–89 Washington Capitals NHL 80 20 37 57 219 6 0 4 4 29 1989–90 Washington Capitals NHL 80 23 39 62 233 15 4 8 12 61 1990–91 Washington Capitals NHL 76 16 30 46 234 11 1 9 10 41 1991–92 Washington Capitals NHL 80 28 50 78 205 7 1 4 5 16 1992–93 Washington Capitals NHL 84 20 59 79 48 6 7 1 8 35 1993–94 Washington Capitals NHL 52 9 29 38 131 7 0 3 3 14 1994–95 Washington Capitals NHL 45 8 15 23 101 7 4 4 8 24 1995–96 Washington Capitals NHL 82 13 24 37 112 6 1 5 6 24 1996–97 Washington Capitals NHL 82 14 32 46 125 — — — — — 1997–98 Washington Capitals NHL 82 8 18 26 103 21 0 4 4 30 1998–99 Washington Capitals NHL 50 0 5 5 102 — — — — — 1998–99 Colorado Avalanche NHL 12 2 4 6 17 19 1 3 4 38 OHA totals 188 98 161 259 492 28 11 21 32 124 NHL totals 1407 323 697 1020 3565 186 42 76 118 729 Coaching career
Team Year Regular season Post season G W L T OTL Pts Finish Result LDN 2001–02 68 24 27 10 7 65 5th in West Lost in second round LDN 2002–03 68 31 27 7 3 72 2nd in Midwest Lost in second round LDN 2003–04 68 53 11 2 2 110 1st in Midwest Lost in third round LDN 2004–05 68 59 7 2 0 120 1st in Midwest Won Memorial Cup LDN 2005–06 68 49 15 - 4 102 1st in Midwest Lost in OHL Finals LDN 2006–07 68 50 14 - 4 104 1st in Midwest Lost in third round LDN 2007–08 68 38 24 - 6 82 2nd in Midwest Lost in first round LDN 2008–09 68 49 16 - 3 101 1st in Midwest Lost in third round LDN 2009–10 68 49 16 - 3 101 1st in Midwest Lost in second round LDN 2010–11 68 34 29 - 5 73 5th in Midwest Lost in first round See also
- List of NHL players with 1000 points
- List of NHL players with 1000 games played
- List of NHL players with 2000 career penalty minutes
References
- ^ Crothers, Time (1993-12-06). "Dale Hunter". Sports Illustrated. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1138705/index.htm. Retrieved 2011-01-11.
- ^ Kuzmiak, Eric (2008-04-28). "A Trip Through Hockey History: Remembering the Dale Hunter Cheapshot". http://bleacherreport.com/articles/20314-A-Trip-Through-Hockey-History-Remembering-the-Dale-Hunter-Cheapshot.
- ^ "Les Nordiques, notre équipe", video documentary (French), Imavision, 1998 (see also DVD reed. 2006).
- ^ Kemick, April (2006-08-20). "Knights coach charged with drunk driving". http://lfpress.ca/cgi-bin/publish.cgi?p=148299&x=articles&s=knights.
External links
Preceded by
Kevin HatcherWashington Capitals captain
1994–99Succeeded by
Adam OatesCategories:- 1960 births
- Living people
- Canadian ice hockey centres
- Colorado Avalanche players
- Ice hockey people from Ontario
- Kitchener Rangers alumni
- London Knights coaches
- Memorial Cup winners
- National Hockey League All-Stars
- National Hockey League players with retired numbers
- People from Lambton County, Ontario
- Quebec Nordiques draft picks
- Quebec Nordiques players
- Sudbury Wolves alumni
- Washington Capitals captains
- Washington Capitals players
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
