Before there were lockouts and strikes: Dave Schultz

76-77 OPC #150

"The Hammer".  Maybe one of the best nicknames that the sports world will ever come up with.  Anyone that has followed hockey over the years has likely heard of the exploits of Dave Schultz.  Part of both of the Flyers Stanley Cup winning teams in the mid 70's, Schultz was the enforcer.  You didn't mess with Clarke, Barber, Leach, Bridgman or any of the top players, or you had to answer the bell with Dave.

Dave wasn't just a fighter, he did OK when it came to putting the puck in the net, actually potting 20 goals during the 73-74 season.  As you can see from the card, Dave was traded just before the 76-77 season started to the Kings for a pair of draft choices.

I did a quick Google search for Dave and turned up the official Dave Schultz website.  Dave is actually an anti-bullying speaker now, going to schools and asking students to "Put Bullying on Ice".  A fabulous way to use his persona and try and right a very serious wrong happening in the schoolyards/chatrooms today, bullying.

Scary stat:  I'm sure that everyone who follows hockey is aware of the record that Dave holds for the most penalty minutes during the regular season, with 472 during the 74-75 season.   Let's go one better than that.  During the 73-74 Stanley Cup run, Dave amassed a whopping 139 penalty minutes in just 17 games.   Spread that through an 80 game season, and Dave would have been on pace to accumulate 654 penalty minutes!!  That's almost 11 full games in the sin bin. 

Talk about a record that will never be broken.....

Before there were lockouts and strikes, there was Dave Schultz

thanks for reading, Robert