On opening night of the 1972-73 NHL season, rookie forward Len Fontaine made a stunning first impression in his very first game with the Detroit Red Wings. Facing the New York Rangers at the Olympia, Fontaine needed less than eight minutes to score his first NHL goal, a power play marker on legendary goalie Ed Giacomin, assisted by Red Berenson and Ron Stackhouse.
Before the first period was over, Detroit held a 4-0 lead, and Fontaine had already picked up two assists, one on Guy Charron’s goal and another on Berenson’s. His debut performance was nothing short of spectacular: three points in his first NHL game.
Detroit followed up with another home win, 4-3 over the Boston Bruins, where Fontaine repeated his performance with another three-point game, setting up two goals by Charron and one by Berenson.
After just two games, fans were beginning to wonder if Detroit had found their next superstar. But as it turned out, those early fireworks would represent the peak of Fontaine’s NHL scoring. His six points in two games, plus a goal against Philadelphia in Game 3, would make up nearly 40% of his total NHL production.
Fontaine went on to play 39 games in 1972-73 and seven more in 1973-74, for a total of 46 NHL games. He then carved out a long and successful career in the International Hockey League (IHL), highlighted by a championship win with the Toledo Goaldiggers in 1977-78.
The PDF versions of some of our hockey books are now available for free download:
Take a look!
NHL Hockey Trivia: Len Fontaine
Much more NHL hockey trivia can be found at our website: World's Best Hockey Trivia
No comments:
Post a Comment