Leonard Wayne Merrick is a retired 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...

 player who played 774 career 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...

 games for the St. Louis Blues

St. Louis Blues

The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The team is named after the famous W. C. Handy song "St. Louis Blues", and plays in the 19,150-seat Scottrade...

, California Seals/Cleveland Barons

Cleveland Barons (NHL)

The Cleveland Barons were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League from 1976–78. They were a relocation of the California Golden Seals franchise, which had played in Oakland since 1967...

 and New York Islanders

New York Islanders

The New York Islanders are a professional ice hockey team based in Uniondale, New York. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...

.

Playing career

Wayne Merrick helped provide toughness and grit to the talent-laden New York Islanders of the late seventies and early eighties. He played on the famed "Banana Line" centering John Tonelli

John Tonelli

John A. Tonelli is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey forward. He was a four-time Stanley Cup champion with the New York Islanders, and also played with the Calgary Flames, Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks, and the Quebec Nordiques of the National Hockey League.-Bio:In 1982 and 1985,...

 and Bob Nystrom

Bob Nyström

Robert Thore Nystrom is a retired professional ice hockey right winger. He played for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League from 1972 to 1986. He is best remembered as having scored the winning goal at the 7:11 mark of overtime to give the New York Islanders the 1980 Stanley Cup...

. He won four 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...

s with the Islanders between 1980 and 1983. He scored the Cup-clinching goal in Game Five of the 1981 Finals.

Career statistics

                                            --- Regular Season ---  ---- Playoffs ----

Season   Team                        Lge    GP    G    A  Pts  PIM  GP   G   A Pts PIM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1969-70  Ottawa 67's                 OHA    51   10   17   27   10  --  --  --  --  --

1970-71  Ottawa 67's                 OHA    62   34   42   76   41  --  --  --  --  --

1971-72  Ottawa 67's                 OHA    62   39   56   95   21  --  --  --  --  --

1972-73  St. Louis Blues             NHL    50   10   11   21   10   5   0   1   1   2

1972-73  Denver Spurs                WHL    22    6   13   19    6  --  --  --  --  --

1973-74  St. Louis Blues             NHL    64   20   23   43   32  --  --  --  --  --

1974-75  St. Louis Blues             NHL    76   28   37   65   57   2   1   1   2   0

1975-76  St. Louis Blues             NHL    19    7    8   15    0  --  --  --  --  --

1975-76  California Seals            NHL    56   25   27   52   36  --  --  --  --  --

1976-77  Cleveland Barons            NHL    80   18   38   56   25  --  --  --  --  --

1977-78  New York Islanders          NHL    37   10   14   24    8   7   1   0   1   0

1977-78  Cleveland Barons            NHL    18    2    5    7    8  --  --  --  --  --

1978-79  New York Islanders          NHL    75   20   21   41   24  10   2   3   5   2

1979-80  New York Islanders*         NHL    70   13   22   35   16  21   2   4   6   2

1980-81  New York Islanders*         NHL    71   16   15   31   30  18   6  12  18   8

1981-82  New York Islanders*         NHL    68   12   27   39   20  19   6   6  12   6

1982-83  New York Islanders*         NHL    59    4   12   16   27  19   1   3   4  10

1983-84  New York Islanders          NHL    31    6    5   11   10   1   0   0   0   0

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

         NHL Totals                        774  191  265  456  303 102  19  30  49  30

• *Stanley Cup champion

External links