By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – Réginald (Reggie) Savage, 53, a hockey pioneer, has passed away after a battle with cancer in Florida on Christmas Eve.
Savage had a son, Félix-Antoine, who played for the same major junior team his father did in the QMJHL, the Victoriaville Tigres. He had 329 points on 179 goals in 185 games. His son ended his career playing in Canadian college hockey.
Savage played for Team Canada in the 1989 WJC tournament held in Anchorage, Alaska, before it held the status it currently does. He was the second on the team in scoring, with nine points in seven games.
Professionally, Savage played in the AHL with the Baltimore Skipjacks, Cornwall Aces, Milwaukee Admirals, and the Springfield Falcons, amassing six 30-goal seasons in his career.
Savage reached the AHL conference finals three times. He achieved it with Cornwall, Syracuse, and Springfield, compiling 442 points in 481 games in ten seasons.
Esteemed and now retired Springfield Indians beat writer Fran Sypek, then with the Springfield Republican-American newspaper, relayed an interesting anecdote about Savage.
“He was a very good player and a super personable individual. He should have been on a Calder Cup team in ‘97 in Springfield, if not for a horrendous non-call against Hershey (Bears) in their series. It’s (Game 7), (former Beast of New Haven forward) Kevin Brown scores, but referee Denis Larue waved it off because Reggie’s skate was one inch in the crease (in the non-video replay era),” Sypek commented.
Given his excellent stats and the place he plays in the history of the game, Savage deserves to be one of the names on the list for induction in the 2024 AHL Hall of Fame Class to take place in San Jose in two months.
Savage was drafted by the Washington Capitals in 1988 in the first round (15th overall). He played 34 games in the NHL between the Caps and Quebec Nordiques, where he scored five goals and had 12 points.
His first NHL goal came on a penalty shot against the Minnesota North Stars (nee Dallas Stars) on November 18, 1992.
He had some time in the old IHL with the Atlanta Knights, Kansas City Blades, San Antonio Dragons, and Orlando Solar Bears.
He played three years in Italy with Asiago AS and one season in Switzerland.
He closed out his career playing with the UHL version of the Rockford IceHogs, now in the AHL, and the ECHL Toledo Storm, which included 15 teams in eight North American minor pro leagues.
He lamented over being pigeonholed as a small forward (5’10) in the NHL big man obsession era. In the way the game is now, he would have been celebrated for the way he played the game.
He is one of 11 black Capitals players in a permanent display in Washington erected in 2022 at the Capital One Arena.
His stick and jersey are in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. He credited one-time New Haven Nighthawk Willie O’Ree’s perseverance as a catalyst in his career development.
He was the third such player after Mike Marson and Bill Riley in Caps history.
As the player rep in Atlanta, Savage explained in detail, trying to find out the source of the team’s finances, when its payroll was missed, and how it was a laborious, under-appreciated, time-consuming project.
He forecasted the end of the league five years before it happened because of the financial chicanery he uncovered that marked the league in its final years of existence, such as contracts that were hidden on sponsor’s payroll like a team doctor or medical specialist, before the salary cap era.
He tipped off this reporter that an ownership group was being formed with several league owners to get a team in Hartford when the Whalers were then in the process of exiting Hart City, which gave birth to the Wolf Pack.
The IHL combo bid, Howard Baldwin (with the defunct Cornwall Aces in hand, the team eventually became the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins), and the Rangers were the finalists. The Rangers were selected by the CDA (the Connecticut Development Authority, the forerunner of today’s CRDA (Capital Regional Development Authority).
The IHL folded four years later.
Howlings and this reporter send our most sincere condolences to Savage’s family and friends.
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