- Steve Durbano
Infobox Ice Hockey Player
image_size = 240px
position = Defence
played_for = "AHL"Rhode Island Reds
"CHL"Omaha Knights
"NHL"
Colorado RockiesKansas City Scouts Pittsburgh Penguins
St. Louis Blues
"WHA"Birmingham Bulls
shot = Left
height_ft = 6
height_in = 1
weight_lb = 201
nickname = Durby
nationality = CAN
birth_date = December 12, 1951
birth_place =Toronto ,Ontario , CAN
death_date = November 16, 2002
death_place = Yellowknife, NT, CAN
draft = Rnd 1, 13th overall
draft_year = 1971
draft_team =New York Rangers
career_start =1971
career_end = 1979
halloffame =Harry Steven Durbano (born
December 12 ,1951 inToronto ,Ontario ; diedNovember 16 ,2002 inYellowknife, Northwest Territories ) was a professionalice hockey player noted for his villainous behavior on the ice and his larger-than-life persona off it.Career
Born in Toronto, Durbano rose through minor hockey to a place on the
Toronto Marlboros of the Ontario Hockey Association. He was drafted by theNew York Rangers in the first round of the1971 NHL Amateur Draft . He never played a game for the Rangers, though, and was traded to the St. Louis Blues where he began his career. Durbano quickly gained a reputation for being one of the toughest players in the league, amassing 1,411 major league-careerpenalty minutes , including an NHL-leading 370 PIM in the 1975–76 season. [hockeydb.com, [http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php3?pid=1495 Steve Durbano's profile at the HockeyDB.com] , accessed February 1, 2008]He played 220 NHL games over the course of his career for St. Louis as well as the
Pittsburgh Penguins ,Kansas City Scouts and Colorado Rockies, along with 45 games in theWorld Hockey Association for theBirmingham Bulls .Retirement
In 1983, shortly after he retired, Durbano was implicated in a scheme to import half a million dollars worth of
cocaine into Canada and was sentenced to seven years in prison. After his release, Durbano still couldn't keep straight - he was arrested once for shoplifting, and, in 1995, he was sent back to prison after he attempted to recruit an undercover police officer into anescort service inWelland, Ontario . "The Rebel League: The Short and Unruly Life of the World Hockey Association", p.204] He moved to theNorthwest Territories late in life in an effort to find peace, but died there of liver cancer in November 2002.Notes
References
*Willes, Ed (2004). "The Rebel League: The Short and Unruly Life of the World Hockey Association." Toronto, Ontario: McClelland and Stweart Ltd. ISBN 0–7710–8947–3
External links
* [http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php3?pid=1495 Steve Durbano] on the [http://www.hockeydb.com HockeyDB.com]
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