Ross Lonsberry
Encyclopedia
David Ross Lonsberry is a Canadian
former professional ice hockey
left winger
who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League
(NHL) for the Boston Bruins
, Los Angeles Kings
, Philadelphia Flyers
and Pittsburgh Penguins
. He had his best seasons in a Flyers uniform and was a member of Philadelphia's back-to-back Stanley Cup
championship teams in the mid-1970s.
organization as a teenager, Lonsberry enjoyed an outstanding junior career with the Estevan Bruins junior club of the SJHL, winning the scoring championship his final season with 144 points in only 60 games, and following with 23 goals in 25 playoff games en route to the Memorial Cup
semifinals. Starting in 1966, Lonsberry had a three-year professional apprenticeship with the Bruins' Oklahoma City Blazers
Central Hockey League
farm team, while spending some time with the NHL club in each of the three seasons.
Coveted by the Los Angeles Kings
, they traded for him in 1970 for two first round draft picks, and he became a steady two-way performer for Los Angeles, scoring twenty or more goals each of his two full seasons with the Kings and being named to play in the NHL All-Star Game in 1972.
Shortly thereafter, however, he was traded in a seven-player deal that was at the time the largest in league history to the Philadelphia Flyers
, with whom he would meet with the most success. Playing on a line with Rick MacLeish
and Gary Dornhoefer
, his hard-nosed two-way style fit in perfectly with the "Broad Street Bullies," scoring over twenty goals in three of his six and a half seasons in Philadelphia and participating in both of the Flyers' Stanley Cup championships. His best season was 1974, the first such championship, where he had a career high 32 goals and followed with 13 points in 17 playoff games.
In 1978, Lonsberry was dealt for the final time to the Pittsburgh Penguins
, remaining an effective player for his three years with that club. With Pittsburgh in a youth movement and declining to renew his contract, he retired after the 1981 season.
Lonsberry finished his career with 256 goals and 310 assists for 566 points in 968 games, adding 806 penalty minutes. He played in 100 playoff matches, scoring 21 goals and 25 assists.
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 professional 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...
left winger
Winger (ice hockey)
Winger, in the game of hockey, is a forward position of a player whose primary zone of play on the ice is along the outer playing area. They typically work by flanking the centre forward. Originally the name was given to forward players who went up and down the sides of the rink...
who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
(NHL) for the Boston Bruins
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...
, Los Angeles Kings
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
, Philadelphia Flyers
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
and Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
. He had his best seasons in a Flyers uniform and was a member of Philadelphia's back-to-back Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
championship teams in the mid-1970s.
Playing career
Signed with the Boston BruinsBoston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...
organization as a teenager, Lonsberry enjoyed an outstanding junior career with the Estevan Bruins junior club of the SJHL, winning the scoring championship his final season with 144 points in only 60 games, and following with 23 goals in 25 playoff games en route to the Memorial Cup
Memorial Cup
The Memorial Cup is a junior ice hockey club championship trophy awarded annually to the Canadian Hockey League champion. It is awarded following a four-team, round robin tournament between a host team and the champions of the CHL's three member leagues: the Ontario Hockey League , Quebec Major...
semifinals. Starting in 1966, Lonsberry had a three-year professional apprenticeship with the Bruins' Oklahoma City Blazers
Oklahoma City Blazers
The Oklahoma City Blazers were a professional ice hockey team that played in the Northwest Division of the Central Hockey League. The Blazers played at the Ford Center, located in downtown Oklahoma City. Their colors were burgundy, gold and white...
Central Hockey League
Central Hockey League
The Central Hockey League is a mid-level professional hockey league, owned by Global Entertainment Corporation. Its current champions are the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, which defeated the Colorado Eagles four games to three in the 2011 playoffs....
farm team, while spending some time with the NHL club in each of the three seasons.
Coveted by the Los Angeles Kings
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
, they traded for him in 1970 for two first round draft picks, and he became a steady two-way performer for Los Angeles, scoring twenty or more goals each of his two full seasons with the Kings and being named to play in the NHL All-Star Game in 1972.
Shortly thereafter, however, he was traded in a seven-player deal that was at the time the largest in league history to the Philadelphia Flyers
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
, with whom he would meet with the most success. Playing on a line with Rick MacLeish
Rick MacLeish
Richard George MacLeish is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League with the Philadelphia Flyers, Hartford Whalers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Detroit Red Wings...
and Gary Dornhoefer
Gary Dornhoefer
Gerhardt Otto Dornhofer , better known as Gary Dornhoefer, is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player, known for winning two Stanley Cups with the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League in 1973-74, and 1974-75....
, his hard-nosed two-way style fit in perfectly with the "Broad Street Bullies," scoring over twenty goals in three of his six and a half seasons in Philadelphia and participating in both of the Flyers' Stanley Cup championships. His best season was 1974, the first such championship, where he had a career high 32 goals and followed with 13 points in 17 playoff games.
In 1978, Lonsberry was dealt for the final time to the Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
, remaining an effective player for his three years with that club. With Pittsburgh in a youth movement and declining to renew his contract, he retired after the 1981 season.
Lonsberry finished his career with 256 goals and 310 assists for 566 points in 968 games, adding 806 penalty minutes. He played in 100 playoff matches, scoring 21 goals and 25 assists.
Career statistics
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season Season (sports) In an organized sports league, a season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session. For example, in Major League Baseball, one season lasts approximately from April 1 through October 1; in Association football, it is generally from August until May In an... |
Team | League | GP | G Goal (ice hockey) In ice hockey, a goal is scored when the puck completely crosses the goal line between the two goal posts and below the goal crossbar. A goal awards one point to the team attacking the goal scored upon, regardless of which team the player who actually deflected the puck into the goal belongs to... |
A Assist (ice hockey) In ice hockey, an assist is attributed to up to two players of the scoring team who shot, passed or deflected the puck towards the scoring teammate, or touched it in any other way which enabled the goal, meaning that they were "assisting" in the goal. There can be a maximum of two assists per goal... |
Pts Point (ice hockey) Point in ice hockey has three official meanings:* A point is awarded to a player for each goal scored or assist earned. The total number of goals plus assists equals total points. In some European leagues, a goal counts as two points, and an assist counts as one... |
PIM Penalty (ice hockey) A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for inappropriate behavior. Most penalties are enforced by detaining the offending player within a penalty box for a set number of minutes, during which, the player can not participate in play. The offending team usually may not replace the player on the ice,... |
GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1964–65 | Minneapolis Bruins Minneapolis Bruins The Minneapolis Bruins were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the Central Hockey League from 1963 to 1965. Minneapolis operated as a farm team to the National Hockey League's Boston Bruins. The team originated as the Kingston Frontenacs of the Eastern Professional Hockey League, which... |
CPHL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 1964–65 | Estevan Bruins Estevan Bruins The Estevan Bruins are a junior ice hockey team playing in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. The team is based out of Estevan, Saskatchewan and plays at the brand new Spectra Place. Radio station CJSL AM 1280 broadcasts Bruins games.-History:... |
SJHL | 56 | 40 | 56 | 96 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1965–66 | Estevan Bruins | SJHL | 59 | 67 | 77 | 144 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1966–67 | Oklahoma City Blazers Oklahoma City Blazers The Oklahoma City Blazers were a professional ice hockey team that played in the Northwest Division of the Central Hockey League. The Blazers played at the Ford Center, located in downtown Oklahoma City. Their colors were burgundy, gold and white... |
CPHL | 46 | 12 | 10 | 22 | 83 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 31 | ||
| 1966–67 1966–67 AHL season The 1966–67 AHL season was the 31st season of the American Hockey League. Nine teams played 72 games each in the schedule. The Pittsburgh Hornets finished first overall in the regular season, and won their first Calder Cup championship since being resurrected in 1961–62... |
Buffalo Bisons Buffalo Bisons (AHL) The Buffalo Bisons were an American Hockey League ice hockey franchise that played from 1940 to 1970 in Buffalo, New York. They replaced the original Buffalo Bisons hockey team, which left the area in 1936 after its arena collapsed... |
AHL 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... |
7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1966–67 | Boston Bruins Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the... |
NHL | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1967–68 | Oklahoma City Blazers | CPHL | 19 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 22 | ||
| 1967–69 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 19 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 12 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1968–69 | Oklahoma City Blazers | CPHL | 65 | 28 | 39 | 67 | 169 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 21 | ||
| 1968–69 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1969–70 | Los Angeles Kings Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League... |
NHL | 76 | 20 | 22 | 42 | 118 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1970–71 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 76 | 25 | 28 | 53 | 80 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1971–72 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 50 | 9 | 14 | 23 | 39 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1971–72 | Philadelphia Flyers Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League... |
NHL | 32 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 22 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1972–73 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 77 | 21 | 29 | 50 | 59 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 9 | ||
| 1973–74 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 75 | 32 | 19 | 51 | 48 | 17 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 18 | ||
| 1974–75 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 80 | 24 | 25 | 49 | 99 | 17 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 10 | ||
| 1975–76 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 80 | 19 | 28 | 47 | 87 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 2 | ||
| 1976–77 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 75 | 23 | 32 | 55 | 43 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 29 | ||
| 1977–78 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 78 | 18 | 30 | 48 | 45 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | ||
| 1978–79 | Pittsburgh Penguins Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original... |
NHL | 80 | 24 | 22 | 46 | 38 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 9 | ||
| 1979–80 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 76 | 15 | 18 | 33 | 36 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | ||
| 1980–81 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 80 | 17 | 33 | 50 | 76 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| NHL totals | 968 | 256 | 310 | 566 | 806 | 100 | 21 | 25 | 46 | 87 | ||||