Gaye Cooley is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 former ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 goaltender

Goaltender

In ice hockey, the goaltender is the player who defends his team's goal net by stopping shots of the puck from entering his team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring...

.

After leaving Michigan State University

Michigan State University

Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...

 in 1967, Cooley began his professional career in the Eastern Hockey League

Eastern Hockey League

-Eastern Amateur Hockey League :The league was founded in 1933 as the Eastern Amateur Hockey League . The league was founded by Thomas Lockhart, who served as its commissioner from 1933 to 1972...

 with the Knoxville Knights

Knoxville Knights

The Knoxville Knights were a minor professional ice hockey team based in the James White Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Knights played for seven seasons in the Eastern Hockey League from 1961 to 1968. The Knights folded after the end of the 1967-68 season.The Knights had the...

 and then moved to the International Hockey League with the Port Huron Flags

Port Huron Flags

The Port Huron Flags were a minor league professional ice hockey team located in Port Huron, Michigan. The Flags competed in the International Hockey League between the 1962 and 1981 seasons. For three of those season from 1971 to 1974, Port Huron was a farm team of the Detroit Red Wings, and were...

 and the Des Moines Oak Leafs

Des Moines Oak Leafs

The Des Moines Oak Leafs were a minor league professional ice hockey team from Des Moines, Iowa, playing at Des Moines Ice Arena. The Oak Leafs were members of the United States Hockey League from 1961 to 1963, and the International Hockey League from 1963 to 1972...

. Cooley returned to the EHL with the Charlotte Checkers before moving to the American Hockey League

American Hockey League

The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League...

's Rochester Americans

Rochester Americans

The Rochester Americans are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League, and a top affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home games in Rochester, New York, at the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial...

 but after one season he returned to the Checkers who were now playing in the Southern Hockey League, one of two leagues formed after the EHL folded. After three seasons, he moved to the Philadelphia Firebirds of the North American Hockey League, the other league formed from the EHL's closure, and then the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association

World Hockey Association

The World Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major competition for the National Hockey League since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926...

 before finishing his career with one more season with the Checkers.

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