By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – Hartford Whaler legend Gordie Roberts took an unconventional route to pro hockey. Now, at 65, he returned to Hartford for the first time since participating in that infamous frozen Whale Bowl on a Saturday in January 2012.
The Roberts family is heavily vested in pro hockey. Gordie is the youngest of four hockey-playing brothers and the uncle to two more former pros. He is also the only one of his siblings not to go to Michigan State.
He played one year with the Detroit Jr. Red Wings, then in the Southern Ontario Hockey League (SOJHL) to start his career.
“It’s funny Mark and Marty Howe were ahead of me by a few years in the league. The Junior Red Wings got in to start and was the only team to play just over the border in Southern Ontario then.
“I can say the Canadian teams and fans didn’t like an American team playing there that much. We had a few fights then, we developed some strong rivalries back then. You had to earn their respect.”
Roberts reversed course and took an unusual path in the mid-1970s. He ventured North to play in the rough and tumble Canadian major junior Western Canadian Hockey League (WCHL-now the WHL). The league featured legendary brawlers like ex-Whaler Archie Henderson, one-time New York Ranger Barry Beck, and the big and tough Rick Dorman.
He landed with the Victoria Cougars posting 64 points in 53 games.
Roberts had the playing ability with skill and finesse and was tough enough to handle the nightly brawn and brawling of the WCHL.
“I was originally drafted by Sudbury (Wolves) of the Ontario Hockey. I went to a weekend in Sudbury, then a weekend in Victoria. It was a big difference between those two towns. I really liked Victoria. It’s a really beautiful city, and we had a very good team that year.
“We had a strong team. Mel (Bridgeman) could play it tough and score. Kim Clackson was one of the toughest players I played with or against, period; and (Curt) Fraser was a warrior out there.
“We had a good team. I was very fortunate to play on a first-place team. We beat a really good, tough New Westminster (Bruins) team that year. I couldn’t have asked for a better team to be with. I was the only American in the league at that time. You had to earn your spurs back then,” Roberts said.
The following season, he made another radical change. He was still 17 but signed an 18-year-old contract as an underage free agent. He wasn’t drafted by either the NHL or WHA, so he exploited a loophole in the 20-year-old NHL draft system then and signed with the New England Whalers as an “underage” player. It allowed him to bypass the NHL and start with the upstart WHA New England Whalers.
Because Roberts had an early October birthday, once he turned 18, he could begin to play for the Whalers.
“The WHA was trying to stay one step ahead of the NHL all the time and that worked in my favor. My brother Doug signing with the Whalers was a big factor too. He was able to help show me the way a little bit, because I was so young then. Ironically, all of the underage guys who came after me, Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, and Rod Langway, were just some of them.”
Four years later, five underage players, all like Roberts at age 18 and undrafted, signed with the WHA Birmingham Bulls. They challenged the pro hockey draft system and won their court case, overturning the 20-year-old draft system and forcing the NHL to change how they drafted players. That ruling is still in effect.
“I wasn’t ready for the NHL then, but Hartford and WHA Whalers gave me an important valuable experience on and off the ice. Hartford was the launching pad for my career.”
Once signing, Gordie had the opportunity to play with his older brother Doug for two seasons in Hartford at the start of his career.
“Naturally, I looked up to him. He was 15 years older than I was. We had that extra bond between us and it brought us closer together. I came in early as an offensive player in my career, I was 80% of a player then and really the WHA Whalers were a great proving ground early on,” remarked Roberts.
Four of his six years in Hartford were with the WHA Whalers, and then the first two with the Whalers in the NHL as an anchor of their defense.
Tim Sheehy, an original New England Whaler who played against Doug Roberts, Sr. in Edmonton, got a chance to play with Gordie in his last WHA season for the Whalers when he was reacquired. “Gordie had very good size, moved the puck well, and both Roberts played an experienced game. He (Doug) was college educated, and both had good heads on their shoulders, and both had a great feel for the game.”
Gordie was taken “back” by the Whalers from the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL-WHA 1979 Expansion draft. His NHL draft rights reverted to Montreal, who had selected him as their seventh choice in the third round (54th overall) in 1977. There was no place in Montreal for the young Roberts to play, and one of the reasons he stayed with the NHL Whalers.
On December 16, 1980, after six seasons in Hartford, Gordie was traded to the Minnesota North Stars for Mike Fidler. During his Hartford stay, he was a teammate of “Mr. Hockey” Gordie Howe and assisted on his last NHL goal in April of 1980. For Howe, it was ironic that the final goal came against Detroit, where he was a living legend.
“It was really a treat not only to have played with Gordie, but playing against him my rookie year in a series with Houston. It was an even more intimidating experience than when I played with him. You really could realize then how good he was, despite he had been retired for five years by then. When Gordie Howe was on the ice you knew it, let’s put it that way,” Roberts said with a laugh. “I had the privilege to also play with legends like Dave Keon, Johnny McKenzie, Rick Ley, and Bobby Hull. I was so lucky to play with these icons of the game.
The Whalers gave me a very memorable experience. I didn’t have a college degree, but I got a master’s in hockey, playing from age 18-22 with guys like that. I learned so much,” Roberts stated.
Roberts would go on to play six years with Minnesota. He was a solid contributor at both ends of the ice. He was eventually dealt twice in a month. On February 8, 1988, he was sent to the Philadelphia Flyers for future considerations.
“As time went on, I became a more-steady stay-at-home defenseman. I was able to adapt and change my role. My passing and skating were always my strength, and I used them well to keep myself in the NHL. It was a combination of the good Lord looking after you out there, and I also was a bit of a fitness buff in the summer as I learned more of what it took to be a pro. I prided myself on having played 20 -years in the NHL,” commented Roberts.
Then after 11 games in Philadelphia, Roberts was packing again—this time to St. Louis to join the Blues on March 8, 1988. The trade, again, was for the euphemistic future considerations in pre-CBA times.
“I was in Philly a short time; it didn’t work out. I was lucky to go to St. Louis just as Bobby Hull’s son Brett arrived there and had the pleasure to play with him. I was traded once in my first 13 years; then everybody wanted me,” Roberts said with a laugh.
Roberts found himself in Pittsburgh for the next two seasons and helped the Penguins win two Stanley Cups with Mario Lemieux.
“That capped my career to play with another legend and win a Stanley Cup, I couldn’t have asked for more,” said Roberts.
At the end of his career, in his last two seasons, he played for the Boston Bruins, going over 1,000 games. He played game 1,000 on December 9, 1992, in Buffalo against the Sabres and became the first American player to accomplish that feat.
“I took great pride in it. As you got older as a player, it’s a unique milestone, but to be the first American player was very special, and in Boston, where my brother had played too. All my brothers had played at Michigan State when there were no other Americans playing there. That made it extra special for me,” Roberts added.
Over his 15-year career, Roberts played in 1,097 NHL games totaling 420 points and 1,258 PIM. In addition to his NHL career, he had 300 WHA games and just over 600 games with Hartford between the WHA-NHL.
He also represented the US at two World Championships and the 1984 Canada Cup.
He finished his playing career playing in the old IHL, coming out of retirement first as a playing/assistant coach with the Chicago Wolves.
“That was the first year of the Wolves’ existence, and that was special, starting out with a brand-new team. I got to play with another icon in Al Secord, who had a prolific career with NHL Blackhawks and goalie Wendell Young (the team’s GM, the past 14 years and 20 total with the team).
“The IHL was kind of like the old WHA, a mixture of older and younger players, and allowed me to extend my career a few more years. I was able to get into coaching a little bit that year, but like the WHA, the league went out of business.”
Roberts came out of retirement a second time to play the following year with the IHL Minnesota Moose before the team was relocated to Winnipeg to become the first edition of the Manitoba Moose. Roberts would add another 111 IHL games to his playing resume.
“That was a lot fun the Moose gave me one more crack it, and I got in about 50 (37) games that year.”
Like his brother Doug before him, Gordie gave coaching a whirl in his post-playing days.
He became an assistant coach for two years and one as Director of Player Development for the Arizona Coyotes (nee Phoenix Coyotes) in their first three years after the team had relocated from Winnipeg.
“It was very brand new to me when the team was in Arizona. I gained a lot experience that I didn’t have at all in the management portion of the game.”
He was honored to be elected to the US Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000.
“I take a lot of pride as an American player, who made it when it was really a Canadian player dominated game back then. To be one of those first players right up there with NHL players at that time, was tremendous sense of accomplishment I felt,” said Roberts.
Roberts settled in Minnesota with his late wife Marlo and became a scout for Montreal for nine years before leaving the program.
“I finally got with Montreal after they drafted me, so many years ago, so it was really ironic. I went into scouting with them and used the experiences I had with Arizona and really got into scouting, which, I loved and flourished in it.”
Following his NHL career, Roberts began earnestly to use his hockey career master’s degree as an assistant coach with Division III Hamline (Saint Paul, MN) University.
He continued his hockey journey diving into the challenging world of Minnesota high school hockey. He was the head coach for Elk River, where he ran the bench for four years. While there, he coached current Hartford Wolf Pack defenseman/forward Blake Hillman in his first year and Hershey Bear Benton Maas in his last year.
Then Roberts moved on to Maple Grove, where he was an assistant coach for three years. He finished out his involvement in hockey as a coach in the pandemic year of 2020 and retired from the game after coaching prospects Conor Kelly (Chicago), Cal Thomas (Arizona), and Kyle Kukkonen (Anaheim).
“There aren’t too many openings at this level and I was very fortunate to get one. Elk River was a very wonderful experience as was Maple Grove. It’s the very beginning stage of hockey and was lucky I coached a few players, who went on to play college, minor pro and pro hockey.”
Induction to the NHL Hall of Fame would be a fitting final stamp on a long pro hockey career that started in Hartford for Gordie Roberts.
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