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Chico Resch

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Chico Resch
Resch in 1978
Born (1948-07-10) July 10, 1948 (age 76)
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada
Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight 195 lb (88 kg; 13 st 13 lb)
Position Goaltender
Caught Left
Played for New York Islanders
Colorado Rockies
New Jersey Devils
Philadelphia Flyers
National team  Canada and
 United States
NHL draft Undrafted
Playing career 1971–1987

Glenn Allan "Chico" Resch (born July 10, 1948) is a Canadian American former professional ice hockey goaltender and television sportscaster. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1973 to 1987, and won one Stanley Cup with the New York Islanders in 1979–80. He has served as the color commentator for telecasts of New Jersey Devils games on MSG Network and MSG Plus.

Playing career

Junior and minor pro hockey

Resch started his playing career as goalie for the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. After earning a degree in education, he turned pro with the Muskegon Mohawks of the IHL where he won three awards in his first season: the James Norris Memorial Trophy for the fewest goals allowed, rookie of the year honours, and selection to the First All-Star team.

The following year he graduated to the New Haven Nighthawks of the American Hockey League and then spent most of the 1973–74 season with the Fort Worth Wings of the CHL, where he won the league's MVP Honours and was voted a First Team All Star. He made his NHL debut with the New York Islanders on February 3, 1974 in a 4–2 loss to the California Golden Seals and earned his first NHL victory two nights later, with a 6–2 win over the Minnesota North Stars, before returning to the Wings for the remainder of the season.

New York Islanders

The next season, 1974–75 was Resch's first full year in the NHL. In 25 games, he had twelve wins, seven losses, and five ties, with three shut-outs and a 2.47 goals against average. He did well in the playoffs too, earning eight wins, four losses and a 2.17 goals against average. Resch was in goal as the Islanders overcame 3–0 deficits against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers. The Islanders defeated the Penguins in seven games, winning the decisive game 1–0 on a goal by team captain Ed Westfall. The comeback is considered one of the greatest in sports history[1] and is one of only five times in history that a North American professional sports team won a best-of-seven series after losing the first three games (the others were the 1941–42 Toronto Maple Leafs, the 2004 Boston Red Sox (Major League Baseball), the 2009–10 Philadelphia Flyers, and the 2013–14 Los Angeles Kings). In the following round, the Islanders again rallied from a 3–0 deficit to force a game seven, but the Flyers eliminated the Islanders with a 4–1 win in the deciding game.

In 1975–76, Resch played 44 games and earned 23 wins, 11 losses, eight ties, seven shut-outs and a 2.07 goals against average. Over the next few seasons, he shared the goaltending duties with another promising young goalie, Billy Smith. In 1978–79, Resch and Smith backstopped the Islanders to the best regular season record in the league, and Resch earned Second All-Star team honours. However, the team was beaten by the New York Rangers in the Stanley Cup semifinals.

In 1979-80, his sixth full season with the Islanders, Resch served as the backup through most of the team's successful playoff run to the Stanley Cup. He was one of the key players from the Islanders' 1979 first place team who left the team or had their roles diminished; before the end of the season, General Manager Bill Torrey had traded away longtime and popular veterans Billy Harris and Dave Lewis to the Los Angeles Kings in return for Butch Goring.

Colorado Rockies/New Jersey Devils

The next season, on March 10, 1981, Resch was traded to the struggling Colorado Rockies along with Steve Tambellini for Mike McEwen and Jari Kaarela. He returned to Long Island for the first time as an opponent on February 20, 1982. The Islanders defeated the Rockies 3–2 on a goal in the final minute by John Tonelli. The victory was the Islanders' 15th straight, which set an NHL record at the time. Resch played in Colorado for the rest of the 1980–81 season and the 1981–82 season before the franchise moved to New Jersey to become the New Jersey Devils. Resch shouldered a heavy load over the next few years, but the Devils did not win many games.

Philadelphia Flyers

Resch was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers on March 11, 1986, for a third-round pick in the 1986 NHL Entry Draft (who turned out to be Marc Laniel). He served as a backup to rookie sensation Ron Hextall in 1986–87. Resch did not play in the 1987 playoffs, when the Flyers defeated his old team, the New York Islanders, in seven games in the second round. In the pre-game warm-up of game six of the conference finals with the Montreal Canadiens, Resch was ejected from one of the games for his part in starting a pre-game brawl with Montreal's Claude Lemieux. The Flyers won that series but lost to the Edmonton Oilers in seven games in the Stanley Cup Finals. In 1986–87 he went 6–5–2 in 17 games, his first winning season since he left the Islanders. When he retired in 1987, he was the last active player who had been born in the 1940s.

International play

Resch is the only goaltender to represent two different countries at Canada Cup. In 1976, he was a member of the Canadian team, whereas in 1984 he represented the United States as he attained U.S. citizenship after marrying an American and being a legal resident for many years. In 1981, he turned down Don Cherry's offer to represent Canada at the 1981 World Ice Hockey Championships in Sweden, and represented the U.S. at the same tournament the following year in Finland.

Personal life

"Doc" and "Chico"

Resch resides in Lyndhurst, New Jersey during the NHL season and in Brainerd, Minnesota and Emily, Minnesota in the off-season. During his playing career with the Devils he lived in Little Ferry and Ridgewood, New Jersey. Resch and his wife chose Lyndhurst for its small town feel, public transportation access and proximity to both Manhattan and Newark, where the Devils play their home games.[2] His daughter, Holly is an artist and she illustrated of one of Resch's books, Tales from the Devils Ice. Resch is one of the supporters and coaches for Hockey Ministries International in the off-season, where he teaches young boys and girls hockey and ethic skills at Christian Hockey Camps.

Resch was given the nickname "Chico" by the Islanders' teammate Doug Rombough, after the character portrayed by Freddie Prinze on the 1970s sit-com Chico and the Man.[2] Chants of "Let's go, Chico!" rang out at every Devils' game when he played. In the early 2000s, the same nickname was given to the Phoenix Coyotes' goaltender Robert Esche, whose sticks were labeled 'R.ESCHE', which resembled "RESCH".

Awards and honors

Award Year
All-WCHA Second Team 1970–71 [3]
Stanley Cup champion 1979–80
Bill Masterton Trophy 1981–82

Resch played in the NHL All-Star game in 1976, 1977, and 1984; in the 1984 game he was the winning goaltender for the Wales Conference. Also, he was named to the Postseason Second All-Star team in 1979.

Broadcasting career

Resch was considered to be a good subject for interviews during his playing days, so it was no surprise that he became a television commentator. He began broadcasting during his playing days, often working as an analyst for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Hockey Night in Canada in the playoffs if his team missed the playoffs or have been eliminated from Stanley Cup contention.

After retiring as a player, he worked as a color commentator on the Minnesota North Stars' television broadcasts during the 1987–88 and 1988–89 seasons.

After working as a general manager for a Canadian junior hockey team and as a professional coach, mainly for the Ottawa Senators, Resch served for fifteen years on Fox Sports New York (later renamed MSG Plus) as a commentator on New Jersey Devils games with announcer Mike Emrick.[4] After Emrick left to work for NBC exclusively, Resch spent the next three years paired with Steve Cangialosi. Shortly before the end of the 2013–14 season, Resch announced that he would be leaving the Devils crew and moving to Minnesota at the wish of his wife. He called his last Devils game on April 13, 2014. On October 5, 2017, the New Jersey Devils announced that Resch would be joining their radio broadcast team as the color commentator alongside play-by-play announcer Matt Loughlin.[5]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
1966–67 Regina Pats SJHL 5 — — — 300 17 0 3.40 — 6 2 4 360 26 0 4.33 —
1967–68 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs WCHA — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
1968–69 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs WCHA 24 5 19 0 1424 117 0 4.93 — — — — — — — — —
1969–70 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs WCHA 25 12 12 1 1500 97 1 3.88 — — — — — — — — —
1970–71 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs WCHA 26 11 14 1 1518 107 0 4.23 — — — — — — — — —
1971–72 Muskegon Mohawks IHL 59 — — — 3488 180 4 3.09 — 11 — — 617 29 0 2.82 —
1972–73 New Haven Nighthawks AHL 43 — — — 2408 166 0 4.13 — — — — — — — — —
1973–74 New York Islanders NHL 2 1 1 0 120 6 0 3.00 .895 — — — — — — — —
1973–74 Fort Worth Wings CHL 55 24 20 11 3300 175 2 3.18 — 5 1 4 300 21 0 3.60 —
1974–75 New York Islanders NHL 25 12 7 5 1432 59 3 2.47 .915 12 8 4 692 25 1 2.17 .931
1975–76 New York Islanders NHL 44 23 11 8 2546 88 7 2.07 .928 7 3 3 357 18 0 3.03 .907
1976–77 New York Islanders NHL 46 26 13 6 2711 103 4 2.28 .917 3 1 1 144 5 0 2.08 .917
1977–78 New York Islanders NHL 45 29 8 7 2637 112 3 2.55 .907 7 3 4 388 15 0 2.32 .916
1978–79 New York Islanders NHL 43 26 7 10 2539 106 2 2.50 .913 5 2 3 300 11 1 2.20 .923
1979–80 New York Islanders NHL 45 23 14 6 2606 132 3 3.04 .901 4 0 2 120 9 0 4.50 .791
1980–81 New York Islanders NHL 32 18 7 5 1817 93 3 3.07 .894 — — — — — — — —
1980–81 Colorado Rockies NHL 8 2 4 2 449 28 0 3.74 .877 — — — — — — — —
1981–82 Colorado Rockies NHL 61 16 31 11 3424 230 0 4.03 .878 — — — — — — — —
1982–83 New Jersey Devils NHL 65 15 35 12 3650 242 0 3.98 .875 — — — — — — — —
1983–84 New Jersey Devils NHL 51 9 31 3 2641 184 1 4.18 .871 — — — — — — — —
1984–85 New Jersey Devils NHL 51 15 27 5 2884 200 0 4.16 .857 — — — — — — — —
1985–86 New Jersey Devils NHL 31 10 20 0 1769 126 0 4.27 .858 — — — — — — — —
1985–86 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 5 1 2 0 187 10 0 3.21 .881 1 0 0 7 1 0 8.57 .000
1986–87 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 17 6 5 2 867 42 0 2.91 .904 2 0 0 36 1 0 1.67 .917
NHL totals 571 231 224 82 32,279 1761 26 3.27 .891 41 17 17 2044 85 2 2.50 .914

International

Year Team Event GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA
1976 Canada CC DNP — — — — — — —
1982 United States WC 4 0 4 0 239 21 0 5.27
1984 United States CC 2 0 1 1 108 9 0 5.00
Senior totals 6 0 5 1 347 30 0 5.19

"Resch's stats". The Goaltender Home Page. Retrieved 2017-08-07.

References

  1. ^ WhoWins(tm) - GREATEST BEST-OF-7 COMEBACK EVER
  2. ^ a b Yorio, Kara. "Canadian born, former Islander, Flyer and Devil has become a Jersey guy", The Record (Bergen County), October 13, 2013. Accessed October 13, 2013. "Resch is well-known in his Lyndhurst neighborhood where he and his wife, Diane, have lived during the NHL season for the last decade."
  3. ^ "WCHA All-Teams". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  4. ^ "MSG.com - Chico Resch". Archived from the original on 2009-12-28. Retrieved 29 December 2009.
  5. ^ "Devils name Chico Resch new radio analyst". NJ.com. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
Preceded by CHL Most Valuable Player Award
1973–74 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Winner of the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy
1982 		Succeeded by
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