In Memoriam, Dale Hawerchuk was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on April 4, 1963, and passed away on August 18, 2020. Hawerchuck was a professional NHL hockey player for 16 years, playing for four teams, Winnipeg Jets, Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year in 1982 and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001. He was also the head coach of the Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League from 2010 to 2019.
Playing career
Hawerchuk was introduced to hockey when at the age of two, his father bought him his first pair of skates. By the age of four, he was skating; it was evident at an early age that Dale had exceptional talent. He began breaking records when he scored all eight goals in an 8-1 victory at the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament Finals, destroying the previous record set by Guy Lafleur. By age 15, Hawerchuk received an invitation to try out for the Oshawa Generals. However, he didn’t make the team he didn’t have to wait long for another opportunity, in 1979 he was selected 6th overall by the Cornwall Royals of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Hawerchuk registered 103 points in his rookie year, earning him Rookie of the year honors. Hawerchuk would go on to lead the Royals to back to back Memorial Cup championships, in doing so he was playoff MVP in the first year and was crowned QMJHL First Team All-Star, the Canadian Major Junior Player of the year and Memorial Cup MVP.
At the 1981 NHL entry draft, Hawerchuk was selected first overall by the Winnipeg Jets, ahead of future NHL Hall Famers Chris Chelios, Ron Francis, and Grant Fuhr. Hawerchuk was an instant success in Winnipeg; he helped rejuvenate a struggling Winnipeg franchise by catapulting them 48 points in the standings, the most substantial single-season point improvement at the time. In his rookie campaign, Hawerchuk amassed 103 points, making him the youngest player to crack 100 points in a season, a record that stood until 2006 when Sydney Crosby broke the record. Hawerchuk won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year and was selected to play in the NHL All-Star game that season. He would prove to be an elite NHLer throughout the next six season’s; after narrowly missing the 100 point plateau with 91 points in his sophomore season, he would crack the 100 point barrier over the next five season’s, setting a career-high in 1984-1985 with 53 goals, 77 assists for an outstanding 130 point season.
At the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, Hawerchuk was a central piece in a blockbuster trade. Winnipeg sent Hawerchuk along with a first-round pick (14th overall Brad May), to Buffalo for Phil Housley, Scott Arniel, Jeff Parker and Buffalo’s 1st round pick (19 overall Keith Tkachuk). Over the next four seasons, Hawerchuk remained a reliable point producer, never producing less than 86 points. In 1995, the year after the shortened lockout season, Hawerchuk decided to sign with the St. Louis Blues, he would spend one season with the Blues before moving on to finish two more seasons and ending his playing career with the Philadelphia Flyers. It was with the Flyers at the end of Hawerchuk’s playing career in 1997 where he had his greatest playoff success, unfortunately for him; they fell to the Detroit Red Wings in a four-game sweep that year.
Hawerchuk played an integral role for team Canada in the 1987 Canada Cup tournament, notching a goal and two assists and winning the faceoff that led to Wayne Gretzky setting up Mario Lemieux for the series-clinching goal. He was also instrumental in Canada’s 1991 Canada Cup Victory as well.
An interesting fact to ponder, when in the mid-1980’s NHL GM’s were asked in a poll which player would be their first choice to build a new team around, Hawerchuk was voted third, behind Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey. Dale Hawerchuk retired from the NHL with 518 goals, 891 assists, and 1409 points for 18th on the NHL career points list. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001.
Dale Hawerchuk’s No. 10 jersey was retired by the Phoenix Coyotes organization, formerly the original Winnipeg Jets during the 2006-2007 season.
Post-playing career
On June 4, 2010, Hawerchuk was named head coach and director of hockey operations of the Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League. In his first season with Barrie, the team went 15-49-2-2, missing the 2010-2011 playoffs, the following season the team made a remarkable improvement going 40-23-3-2 for the 2011-2012 season.
In Memoriam Dale Hawerchuk
In 2019, Hawerchuk announced that he would be taking a leave of absence for health reasons, it was later revealed that he had stomach cancer. In April of 2020, he underwent a regiment of chemotherapy. Dale Hawerchuk died on August 18, 2020. He was 57 years old.
In Memory
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