1973-74 Portland Buckaroos Connie Madigan Jersey

Connie Madigan's career began in his hometown Port Arthur Bruins of the Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League in the 1952-53 season. After three seasons with the Bruins, Madigan moved up to the senior level in 1955 with the Peniction Vees of the Ontario Senior Hockey League for two seasons.

Madigan, a defenseman, also played for the Nelson Maple Leafs of the Western International Hockey League in 1958-59 where he was named to the WIHL First All-Star Team after helping lead the Maple Leafs to the Allan Cup as the champions of Canadian Senior Hockey. He then joined the Fort Wayne Komets of the International Hockey League for the following season, where he established a personal high with 57 points in 66 games.

After a second season with the Komets of Fort Wayne, Madigan moved west to play for the conventionally spelled Comets of Spokane in the Western Hockey League for the 1961-62 and 1962-63 seasons. Eventually Madigan was traded to the Los Angeles Blades after an argument with his Spokane coach that included a threat to trade Madigan, to which he responded "go ahead." Within the hour Madigan was on his way to Los Angeles!

After one season in Los Angeles, he was traded across the country to the Providence Reds of the American Hockey League. He would play in just ten games for Providence to begin the 1964-65 season before once more being traded for cash to the Portland Buckaroos back in the familiar WHL.

It was with Portland that Madigan's nomadic hockey career, which had seen him criss-crossing the North American continent would finally find a place to call home. Madigan became a stalwart on the Buckaroos blueline for the next nine seasons, never playing less than 60 games a year.

His first season with Portland would be a successful one, as the Buckaroos captured their second Lester Patrick Cup in franchise history as champions of the WHL. 1966-67 saw Madigan record his second 50 point season as a professional with 51 points and be named to the WHL First All-Star Team for the first of four consecutive seasons. Additionally, he was named the recipient of the Hal Laycoe Cup as the WHL's Outstanding Defenseman.

1964-65 WHL champion Portland Buckaroos

In 1969-70 Madigan left Portland for a ten game stint with the Dallas Black Hawks of the Central Hockey League, the fifth league he had now played in since turning professional back in 1958.

Back with Portland for the majority of the season, Madigan still had enough time to surpass the 100 penalty minute mark, keeping alive the rugged defenseman's streak that now stretched to 14th seasons and would eventually reach 18 consecutive seasons.

1970-71 would see the Buckaroos capture another Lester Patrick Cup following a season in which Madigan would establish a career high with 67 points which came in 72 games.

1970-71 WHL champion Portland Buckaroos

Following a 56 point season in 1971-72, Madigan began the season with Portland as usual, but on the final day of 1971, the unthinkable happened - he was sold.

While Madigan being traded for cash was not that unusual, as it had happened a number of times earlier in his career, the unthinkable element was to whom he was sold. The St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League.

So it came to be on this date in 1973 that Connie Madigan of the St. Louis Blues became the oldest rookie in NHL history when he made his debut in a 3-3 tie against the Montreal Canadiens at the age of 38 years old.

At the time of his debut, his coach Jean-Guy Talbot was only two years older than Madigan and some of his teammates had not even been born yet when his career began!

Filling in for a pair of injured Blues defensemen, Madigan played in 20 games for St. Louis, scoring three assists and seeing action in five playoff games.

That would be the extent of Madigan's NHL career, as the Blues would sell him to the San Diego Gulls of the WHL for the start of the 1973-74 season. After 39 games with the Gulls, he once again returned home to Portland when he was sold yet again in February of 1974. Back with the Buckaroos he finished out the regular season and one final playoff run in the spring of 1975 before closing out his career with ten games in 1974-75 at the age of 40.

At the time of his retirement, Madigan was second in penalty minutes in minor league history.

His retirement would not be his final time on skates however, as Madigan appeared as Ross "Mad Dog" Madison in the greatest hockey movie of all time, "Slap Shot" starring Paul Newman in 1977.

Ross "Mad Dog" Madison

Today's featured jersey is a 1973-74 Portland Buckaroos Connie Madigan jersey. The Buckaroos began play in 1960-61 and took the name of a previous franchise which played in Portland from 1928 to 1941.

The team had a smashing debut, winning the WHL title in it's very first season. They went on to capture two more championships in 1965 and 1971.

They remained in the WHL until it folded in 1974. The franchise lingered on for another two seasons in first a semi-professional league and then a new amateur league, which did not last a full season, bringing and end to the Buckaroos after 15 seasons.

Today's video segment begins with a feature on Connie Madigan presented by the Portland Winter Hawks, who saluted the Buckaroos on March 14, 2009.

In a a real unexpected find, Madigan slugs it out in a brief clip with Real Lemieux of the Los Angeles Kings during Madigan's time in the NHL.

This next video feature on the Portland Buckaroos, has some classic footage that is really a joy to see, and it's followed by some former Buckaroos, including Connie Madigan, talking about their time in Portland.

1958-59 New York Rangers Andy Hebenton Jersey

Andy "Spuds" Hebenton made his professional hockey debut with the Cincinnati Mohawks of the American Hockey League in 1949 and moved to his native Canada the following season to play for the Victoria Cougars in the Pacific Coast Hockey League, which was renamed the Western Hockey League for the third of Hebenton's five seasons with the Cougars.

While with the Cougars he won a President's Cup as league champion in 1951 and established himself as a reliable player known for not missing any games.

The 1950-51 WHL champion Victoria Cougars

He would play in every game of his final three seasons in Victoria. His personal best season with the Cougars was his last in 1954-55, when he was named to the league's First All-Star Team following his 46 goal, 80 point season.

Based on that success, his rights were purchased by the New York Rangers of the NHL for the 1955-56 season.

He continued his streak of consecutive games with the Rangers, playing in all 70 games for eight straight seasons while in Manhattan. His best season as a Ranger was 1958-59, when he scored 33 goals and 62 points. At the conclusion of the season Hebenton was named the recipient of the 1959 Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly play. While with the Rangers, he averaged less than 10 minutes in penalties per season. He was rewarded for his fine season with a spot in the 1960 NHL All-Star Game.

Hebenton was claimed by the Boston Bruins in the waiver draft for the 1963-64 season and once more played in every one of Boston's 70 games, giving him a streak of 630 straight NHL games, breaking all records for NHL games played up until that time.

Following his one season with Boston, his rights were sold to the Portland Buckaroos of the WHL for the 1964-65 campaign. His offensive game returned while in the WHL, reflected by his 34 goals and 74 points in a season where he yet again played in every game possible. He also competed in 10 playoff games and scored 13 points as the Buckaroos captured the Lester Patrick Cup as 1965 WHL champions. Following the season Hebenton was awarded the Fred Hume Cup for being the Most Gentlemanly Player in the WHL.

The 1964-65 WHL champion Portland Buckaroos

He returned to Victoria for the next two seasons, this time with the Victoria Maple Leafs, where he would capture his second consecutive championship in 1966 while extending his consecutive games streak to 1,062 consecutive professional games which began back in 1951.

Hebenton's streak, which remains the record for the longest streak in professional hockey history, would come to an end on this day in 1967 owing to the passing of his father when he went home to Winnipeg for the funeral. After missing two games, Hebenton was back in the lineup to begin a new streak, as he played in all 70 of the Buckaroos remaining games.

His point totals would begin to climb following that season, as he went from 45 to 77 then 78 and finally 81 in 1970-71 for his personal best of his career. Additionally, he began a run of five consecutive Fred Hume Cup awards from 1970 to 1974, giving him six in all. During this run of success, the Buckaroos would capture another league championship, this time in 1971.

The 1970-71 WHL champion Portland Buckaroos

Eventually he would play ten seasons in the WHL after the conclusion of his NHL career and his second games played streak would reach 510 games giving him a combined total of having played in 1,572 out of a possible 1,574 games! Unfortunately, the WHL would cease operations after the 1973-74 season due to increased competition from the battle between the NHL and the World Hockey Association, which depleted the WHL's talent pool and placed teams in many of the WHL's traditional markets, like San Francisco/Oakland, Denver, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego and Vancouver.

Hebenton's career would wind down with four games with the Seattle Totems of the Central Hockey League in 1974 after 26 seasons of professional hockey, a mark of longevity exceeded by only the legendary Gordie Howe. He would continue to play in semi-pro hockey with the Portland Buckaroos, who had moved to the Western International Hockey League for one season and then the Pacific Northwest Hockey League, which folded before the end of it's season, which brought Hebenton's playing days to a close at the age of 46

His final NHL totals were 630 (consecutive) games, 189 goals and 2020 assists for 391 points.

Today's featured jersey is a 1958-59 New York Rangers Andy Hebenton jersey. The Rangers jerseys began play in their first season in 1926, wearing essentially the same jersey style, which underwent some evolutionary changes until 1951 when this particular style with the lace up collar was adopted for use through the 1962-63 season.

I'm not even sure how to introduce this next video, but it does feature five minutes of Rangers footage from 1961 (if you even survive the first 40 second intro) that includes Andy Hebenton with the most unique commentary of any video we've posted since Marie Pier's French commentary on the Canadiens. It's up to you to decide if it's sheer genius or five minutes of your life you will never get back...

Actually, the longer it went on, the more we enjoyed it. It's rather like if Howard Cosell and Rick Jeanneret had an illegitimate offspring who drank to excess.

Here is a feature on the Portland Buckaroos, with some classic footage that is really a joy to see followed by some former Buckaroos talking about their time in Portland.