Ron Flockhart (ice hockey)

Infobox Ice Hockey Player


image_size = 230 px
position = Centre
shoots = Left
height_ft = 5
height_in = 11
weight_lb = 185
nationality = CAN
birth_date = Birth date and age|1960|10|10|mf=y
birth_place = Smithers, BC, CAN
career_start = 1980
career_end = 1991
played_for = Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
Montreal Canadiens
St. Louis Blues
Boston Bruins|

Ron Flockhart (born October 10, 1960 in Smithers, British Columbia) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player.

Playing career

Ron Flockhart scored over 300 NHL points in the 1980s playing mostly with the Philadelphia Flyers and St. Louis Blues. After an impressive season with the Regina Pats during the 1979–80 Western Hockey League season, he was signed as a free agent by the Philadelphia Flyers. While he played most of the '80–81 season with the Flyers AHL affiliate Maine Mariners team, he appeared in 14 regular season and 3 playoff games for the parent team. His best NHL season came the following year, as Flockhart averaged a point a game scoring 33 goals and assisting on another 39 for 72 points. Though he enjoyed another solid year in 1982–83 with 29 goals and 60 points in 73 games, the Flyers as a team continued to have trouble advancing in the playoffs. After a slow start at the beginning of the '83–84 season, Flockhart was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins as part of the trade that brought Rich Sutter to Philadelphia.

Flockhart spent the next two seasons playing for the Penguins and Montreal Canadiens, and in 1985–86 joined the St. Louis Blues where he tallied 22 goals and added 45 assists. It was his highest point total since his first season with the Flyers. Over the next few years, Flockhart's playing time fell with the Blues, and he ended his NHL career with a brief 4 game stint on the Boston Bruins. Although Flockhart's NHL career was at an end, his professional career continued for a few more years with SG Cortina and Bolzano HC in Italy.

Flockhart's style was often called "Flocky (or Flockey or Flockie) Hockey", for his tendency to rag the puck rather than move it quickly up ice.

Awards

According to Gene Hart, former play-by-play television and radio commentator for the Philadelphia Flyers, Flockhart won the "Grizzly Award" each year he played for the Flyers. As recollected in his autobiography "Score: My 25 Years With the Broad Street Bullies", Hart created this "award" for the NHL player born in Smithers, BC who had the highest point total at the end of each NHL season. Hart originally coined the award as a joke between Joe Watson and his younger brother Jimmy Watson, both low scoring Flyers defensemen who were born and raised in Smithers (and at the time were the only 2 players from this small British Columbia town). With the emergence of Flockhart, he became a lock for the award during his NHL playing days.

Records

*Holds Philadelphia Flyers record for fastest two goals (8 seconds) during a game against the St. Louis Blues on December 6, 1981. The Flyers won the game 8–2.

Career statistics

Coaching

Flockhart also coached the Dallas Freeze of the Central Hockey League for 3 seasons (1992–93 through 1994–95) as well as the Reno Renegades (later called the Reno Rage) of the WCHL between 1995–96 and 1997–98.

External links

*hockeydb|1717|Ron Flockhart
* [http://www.oldtimershockey.com/players/flockhart.html Oldtimers' Hockey Challenge player page]