For the article on the baseball umpire, see: Doug Harvey (umpire)

Douglas Norman Harvey (December 19, 1924 in Montreal, Quebec - December 26, 1989) was a hockey player in the National Hockey League (NHL), considered by many to be one of the greatest defencemen to ever play the game. ^{[1] [2]}

[edit] Minor leagues

Harvey played minor league hockey in Oxford Park, Notre Dame de Grace in his native Montreal, Quebec, Canada, then began his professional career with the Montreal Royals of the Quebec Senior Hockey League where he played from 1945 to 1947, helping them win the Allan Cup. He then played one season with the Buffalo Bisons of the American Hockey League. He made the jump to the Montreal Canadiens of the NHL in the 1947'48 NHL season and remained with the team until 1961.

[edit] NHL star

Under coach Dick Irvin, Harvey was named to the All-Star team 11 consecutive times, beginning in the 1951'52 NHL season. He won his first of seven James Norris Memorial Trophies in 1955, as the league's best defenceman. In an era when the defenceman's role did not include scoring points, Harvey used his skating speed and passing ability to become a factor in making the Canadiens a high-scoring team.

He earned six Stanley Cups, all with Montreal. In 1954, however, he scored a Cup-losing own-goal when he tipped the puck with his glove, after a deflected shot by Tony Leswick of the Detroit Red Wings and past goalie Gerry McNeil. McNeil was so crushed by the goal, he retired to coach junior hockey the next season, but returned to the Habs in 1956.

Harvey became an outspoken critic of the hockey establishment who "owned" players for life. In Harvey's day, players were paid a pittance compared to the millions being earned by the team owners. A superstar such as Harvey, who today would be paid millions, was earning less than $30,000 a season ($274,634 in 2008 dollars)^[3] at the peak of his career while playing every game in front of sell-out crowds. Harvey was one of the first to help organize the players association which so infuriated the Canadiens' owners that in 1961 they traded him to the then lowly New York Rangers. One of the individuals secretly blacklisted by the league owners,^{[citation needed]} Harvey responded by winning still another Norris Trophy as a Ranger. He remained with New York until 1963 then played for several teams before finishing his NHL career in 1969 with the St. Louis Blues. He was actually listed as Coach of the New York Rangers in his first season in New York. REF http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nhl/nyr/nyrangers.html (( RE: Coaching Listings Half way down the page on the web reference. In Addition, he was also listed as Coach for the Kanas City Blues, which was the farm team affiliate for the NHL St Louis Blues 1967 - 68. (( Web Reference Hockydb.com....;; http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0003531968.html

[edit] Post-NHL career

Well into his forties, and with limited education and no other skills besides hockey, Harvey eked out a living playing in the minor-pro leagues and with an assistant coaching tenure in the World Hockey Association. Although he was unanimously voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1973, because of his involvement with the players' association, his sweater number wasn't retired by the Montreal Canadiens until 1985.^{[citation needed]}

For years, Harvey battled alcoholism while suffering from bipolar disorder. In 1985 he was offered a job with the Montreal Canadiens as a scout. For 3 years, Harvey lived in the private railway car of Olive and John Diefenbaker, which was purchased years earlier by Joe Gorman, T. P. Gorman's son, and placed at the Connaught Park Racetrack entrance. Harvey's last Stanley Cup victory came in 1986, when the Montreal Canadiens were once again the winners of Lord Stanley's Cup. He died a few years later due to cirrhosis of the liver and was interred in the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery in Montreal.

In 1998, he was ranked number 6 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.

The government of Canada honoured Doug Harvey in 2000 with his image placed on a Canadian postage stamp.

In 2002, a book on his life was published. Titled Doug: The Doug Harvey Story, it was written by William Brown with a foreword by his former teammate, Jean Béliveau. His jersey number (#2) was retired on October 26, 1985.

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] See also

• List of members of the Hockey Hall of Fame

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Doug Harvey's biography at Legends of Hockey
• Doug Harvey's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Stole This from a Hockey Card: A Philosophy of Hockey, Doug Harvey, Identity and Booze