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Bruce Gamble

For the American historian, see Bruce Gamble (author).
Bruce Gamble
Born (1938-05-24)May 24, 1938
Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada
Died December 29, 1982(1982-12-29) (aged 44)
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position Goaltender
Caught Left
Played for New York Rangers
Boston Bruins
Toronto Maple Leafs
Philadelphia Flyers
Playing career 1958–1972

Bruce George Gamble (May 24, 1938 – December 29, 1982) was a professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1962 and 1972, with some stints in the minor leagues during that time.

Junior career

Gamble played three seasons with the Port Arthur Bruins of the Thunder Bay Junior A Hockey League between 1953 and 1955. In the 1955–56 season, he backstopped the Port Arthur North Stars to a berth in the Memorial Cup. He did so again the following season with the Guelph Biltmores of the OHA, and was elected to the 1957 OHA first All-Star team. He made it to the Memorial Cup a third time with the Hull-Ottawa Canadiens the following year.

Professional career and after

Gamble played his first year as a pro with the Vancouver Canucks of the WHL, and also played two games in the NHL for the New York Rangers. His performance impressed other NHL teams, and the Boston Bruins chose him in the 1959 intra-league draft. After a year with the Providence Reds in the AHL, Gamble became the team's starting goalie in 1960–61. During the next four seasons he played mainly in the minors with the Portland Buckaroos, Kingston Frontenacs and Springfield Indians, and was called up by the Bruins for 28 games in 1961–62.

Gamble refused to go back to the minors in 1964–65, and so the Bruins suspended him from Springfield for the entire season. The following year he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In his first few seasons in Toronto, Gamble was a back-up to Hall of Famers Johnny Bower and Terry Sawchuk. He recorded four shutouts in six games in March 1966. In 1966–67, when the Leafs won the Stanley Cup, he played in 23 regular season games and rang up a record of 5–10–4 and a GAA of 3.39. However, he was sent to the minors to the Tulsa Oilers before the trading deadline; as a result, he did not spend the whole season with Toronto, and his name was left off the Stanley Cup. With the loss of Sawchuk in the 1967 NHL expansion draft, Gamble saw more action with the Leafs and established himself as a solid, workhorse goalie. He played in 41 games in 1967–68, 62 in 1968–69 and 52 in 1969–70. He played in the 1968 NHL All-Star game and was named its Most Valuable Player. He was the last Leaf goalie to play without a mask, finally donning one in 1970-71. Gamble, along with a first-round selection (Pierre Plante) in the 1971 NHL Amateur Draft, was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers for Bernie Parent and a second-round pick (Rick Kehoe) in the same draft as part of a three-way deal which also involved the Boston Bruins on January 31, 1971. The Leafs also sent Mike Walton to the Bruins who shipped Rick MacLeish and Danny Schock to the Flyers.[1]

Gamble served mainly as a back-up to Doug Favell with the Flyers for the rest of that season, appearing in 11 regular season games and two playoff games. The following year he began to compete for the starting role. He put in a run of solid performances which ended when he suffered a heart attack during a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on February 8, 1972. Although he fell at one point during the game,[2] he did not complain of problems until afterward, and traveled with the team to Oakland on February 9 for a game that evening against the California Golden Seals. As his chest pains continued, Gamble was admitted to an Oakland hospital where it was found that he had had a heart attack.[3] Gamble did not play in the NHL again.

On December 29, 1982, after a practice session the evening before with an old-timers hockey team, the Niagara Falls Flames, Gamble woke up with chest pains, and died at a hospital in Niagara Falls, Ontario at the age of 44.[4]

Urban legends regarding Gamble

Because Gamble suffered both heart attacks after playing or practising hockey, accounts have been written that he was taken to a hospital during the 1972 NHL game, or that he "died during an old-timers game". Neither of Gamble's heart attacks forced him from the ice; he finished the game after the first attack and suffered the second one the morning after a practice session.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
1952–53 Port Arthur Bruins TBJHL 11 — — — 660 82 0 7.45 — — — — — — — — —
1953–54 Port Arthur Bruins TBJHL 36 20 15 1 2160 150 0 4.17 — 9 — — 540 42 0 4.67 —
1954–55 Port Arthur Bruins TBJHL — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
1955–56 Port Arthur North Stars TBJHL 31 19 10 2 1860 97 0 3.13 — 9 8 1 540 27 0 3.00 —
1955–56 Port Arthur North Stars MC — — — — — — — — — 13 7 6 800 53 0 4.74 —
1956–57 Guelph Biltmores OHA 40 — — — 2360 102 6 2.59 — 10 — — 600 34 0 3.40 —
1956–57 Guelph Biltmores MC — — — — — — — — — 6 1 4 370 28 0 4.54 —
1957–58 Guelph Biltmores OHA 50 13 32 5 3000 205 1 4.10 — — — — — — — — —
1957–58 Providence Reds AHL 1 1 0 0 60 1 0 1.00 — — — — — — — — —
1957–58 Hull-Ottawa Canadiens MC — — — — — — — — — 13 10 3 610 30 2 2.95 —
1958–59 New York Rangers NHL 3 0 3 0 180 11 0 3.67 .894 — — — — — — — —
1958–59 Vancouver Canucks WHL 65 29 26 10 3900 199 7 3.06 .891 5 2 3 300 11 2 2.20 —
1959–60 Providence Reds AHL 71 37 32 2 4280 231 4 3.24 — 5 1 4 328 19 0 3.48 —
1960–61 Boston Bruins NHL 52 12 33 7 3118 193 0 3.71 .892 — — — — — — — —
1960–61 Providence Reds AHL 19 6 13 0 1140 85 0 4.47 — — — — — — — — —
1961–62 Boston Bruins NHL 28 6 18 4 1680 121 1 4.32 .879 — — — — — — — —
1961–62 Portland Buckaroos WHL 41 28 11 2 2476 108 2 2.62 — — — — — — — — —
1962–63 Kingston Frontenacs EPHL 68 39 18 11 4080 220 1 3.23 — 5 4 1 300 13 1 2.60 —
1963–64 Springfield Indians AHL 21 5 12 3 1230 80 0 3.90 — — — — — — — — —
1965–66 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 10 5 2 3 502 21 4 2.51 .925 — — — — — — — —
1965–66 Tulsa Oilers CPHL 54 21 24 9 3240 155 4 2.87 — — — — — — — — —
1966–67 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 23 5 10 5 1181 67 0 3.40 .900 — — — — — — — —
1966–67 Tulsa Oilers CPHL 7 2 4 1 420 24 0 3.43 — — — — — — — — —
1966–67 Rochester Americans AHL 5 2 3 0 300 25 0 5.00 — — — — — — — — —
1967–68 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 41 20 14 2 2194 85 5 2.32 .934 — — — — — — — —
1968–69 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 61 28 20 11 3439 161 3 2.81 .914 3 0 2 86 13 0 9.08 .803
1969–70 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 52 19 24 9 3054 156 5 3.06 .915 — — — — — — — —
1970–71 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 23 6 14 1 1280 83 2 3.89 .882 — — — — — — — —
1970–71 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 11 3 6 2 658 37 0 3.37 .901 2 0 2 120 12 0 6.01 .821
1971–72 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 24 7 8 2 1184 58 2 2.94 .912 — — — — — — — —
NHL totals 328 111 152 46 18,470 993 22 3.23 .906 5 0 4 206 25 0 7.28 .809

References

  1. ^ O'Hara, Dave. "Mike Walton Traded to Bruins," The Associated Press, Monday, February 1, 1971.
  2. ^ Damien Cox and Gord Stellick, 67: The Maple Leafs, Their Sensational Victory, and the End of an Empire (J. Wiley & Sons Canada, 2006), p73; ("He asked teammate Barry Ashbee who had hit him, and Ashbee told him that nobody had")
  3. ^ "Heart Attack Sidelines Bruce Gamble", Winnipeg Free Press, February 10, 1972, p46
  4. ^ Cox and Stellick, at p73-74
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