5 Time Stanley Cup winner (John Ferguson Sr.)

5 Time Stanley Cup winner

John Bowie “Fergy” Ferguson Sr. was a professional ice hockey player and executive who played for the Montreal Canadiens of the NHL from 1963 to 1971. He also acted as a coach and general manager for the New York Rangers and Winnipeg Jets.

Childhood

As a boy growing up in Vancouver, British Columbia, Ferguson had many interests in addition to hockey. He had a love for equestrians and played lacrosse. While working as a stick boy for the Vancouver Canucks, Ferguson took a keen interest in the enforcer role when he began to notice how star players on the Canucks were being bullied on the ice without protection from their teammates.

NHL Career

Ferguson began his climb to the pros while playing three seasons in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) with the Melville Millionaires, then one season with the Fort Wayne Komets of the International Hockey League (IHL), and rounding out his minor league career with three seasons with the Cleveland Barons of the American Hockey League (AHL).

In 1963 Fergy got the call to join the Montreal Canadiens. At the time, the Canadiens were in need of an enforcer; opposition players were talking liberties with Canadiens star Jean Beliveau. It didn’t take long for Ferguson to drop the gloves; only twelve seconds into his first NHL game, he found himself squaring off against Boston Bruins pugilist Ted Green; after disposing of Green, the league was served notice.

Ferguson was not a one-dimensional player; sure, he could fight, but he could also score. He had a passion for the game of hockey, and that passion drove him to be a formidable competitor. Playing alongside Beliveau, he led all rookies in scoring in his Freshman season and finished second in Calder voting to his teammate and 1963-64 Calder Trophy winner Jacques Laperriere. At 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, he would be considered small in comparison to today’s heavyweights, but his heart and determination were second to none. Ferguson was a 5-Time Stanley Cup winner (1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, and 1971) and scored the cup-clinching goal in the 1969 Stanley Cup Final against the St. Louis Blues. That season saw him record a career-high 29 goals and 52 points in 71 games with a plus-30 rating. He was twice selected for the NHL All-Star Game. In 85 post-season games, he collected 20 goals and 18 assists. Ferguson was no stranger to the penalty box. Every season of his NHL career, he spent no less than 117 minutes in the sin bin, with a career-high of 185 minutes in the box in 1968-69.

Post-NHL Playing Career

In 1972, Ferguson was named assistant coach of Team Canada and helped guide the team to a historic win against the Soviet Union team during the Summit Series. During the series, Soviet Union star Valeri Kharlamov had been giving Team Canada fits. Team Canada head coach Harry Sinden remarked of Kharlamov, “He had the skill and ability of any player in the NHL at the time.”

It was during the sixth game of the series that assistant coach John Ferguson called Bobby Clarke over to the bench and looked across the ice at Kharlamov, and said, “I think he needs a tap on the ankle.” “That guy is killing us.”

Ferguson would later become the head coach and general manager of the New York Rangers for two seasons (1975-76 and 1976-77) and was instrumental in obtaining Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson from the Winnipeg Jets of the WHA to the Rangers. Both were considered to be the Jet’s top players and formed two-thirds of the “Hot Line” the line was considered one of the best lines in hockey history, with Bobby Hull being the other third. Ferguson would later become the head coach and general manager of the Winnipeg Jets of the WHA and later for a season in the NHL in 1985-86.

He closed out his NHL career working for the Ottawa Senators during the early Nineties as director of player personnel. He is acknowledged as acquiring Daniel Alfredsson. He later worked as a special consultant to the general manager of the San Jose Sharks.

Death

Ferguson was diagnosed with prostate cancer in September 2005. He passed away at the age of 68 on July 14, 2007, in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Ferguson’s son Hohn Jr. is the former general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Career statistics 5 Time Stanley Cup winner

		Regular season		Playoffs
Season	Team	League	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1956–57	Melville Millionaires	SJHL	51	11	17	28	49	—	—	—	—	—
1957–58	Melville Millionaires	SJHL	50	14	30	44	100	—	—	—	—	—
1958–59	Melville Millionaires	SJHL	44	32	34	66	83	—	—	—	—	—
1959–60	Fort Wayne Komets	IHL	68	32	33	65	126	13	1	1	2	17
1960–61	Cleveland Barons	AHL	62	13	21	34	126	—	—	—	—	—
1961–62	Cleveland Barons	AHL	70	20	21	41	146	6	2	2	4	6
1962–63	Cleveland Barons	AHL	72	38	40	78	179	7	3	3	6	17
1963–64	Montreal Canadiens	NHL	59	18	27	45	125	7	0	1	1	25
1964–65	Montreal Canadiens	NHL	69	17	27	44	156	13	3	1	4	28
1965–66	Montreal Canadiens	NHL	65	11	14	25	153	10	2	0	2	44
1966–67	Montreal Canadiens	NHL	67	20	22	42	177	10	4	2	6	22
1967–68	Montreal Canadiens	NHL	61	15	18	33	117	13	3	5	8	25
1968–69	Montreal Canadiens	NHL	71	29	23	52	185	14	4	3	7	80
1969–70	Montreal Canadiens	NHL	48	19	13	32	139	—	—	—	—	—
1970–71	Montreal Canadiens	NHL	60	16	14	30	162	18	4	6	10	36
AHL totals	204	71	82	153	451	13	5	5	10	23
NHL totals	500	145	158	303	1214	85	20	18	38	260

Coaching record

Team	Year	Regular season	Postseason
G	W	L	T	Pts	Division rank	Result
NYR	1975–76	41	14	22	5	(67)	4th in Patrick	Missed Playoffs
NYR	1976–77	80	29	37	14	72	4th in Patrick	Missed Playoffs
WPG	1985–86	14	7	6	1	(59)	3rd in Smythe	Lost in the First round
Total	135	50	65	20	120

Keep Your stick on the Ice.

5 Time Stanley Cup winner

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