Garry Unger
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Garry Douglas "Iron Man" Unger (born December 7, 1947 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada) is a former professional ice hockey centre who played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League from 1967 until 1983.
Unger holds the second longest consecutive games streak in NHL history, with 914 consecutive games played in the regular season between February 24, 1968 and December 21, 1979. Doug Jarvis holds the current record at 964 consecutive games. Unger ended up playing 1105 career NHL games, scoring 413 goals and 391 assists for 804 points, and he also registered 1075 career penalty minutes.
An excellent scorer and backchecker, Unger distinguished himself with the Detroit Red Wings with 42 goals after coming over in a trade from Toronto in the famous deal involving Frank Mahovlich. He injured his back in the summer of 1970, but did not miss a game in 1970-71. However, his talent slipped and an impatient general manager Ned Harkness traded him to the St. Louis Blues with Tim Ecclestone for crack center Red Berenson. It turned out to be a mistake for the Red Wings as Unger went on to have eight consecutive 30 goal seasons---including 41 in 1972-73--- for the Blues and was always the best forward on the team at both ends of the rink.
In 1975-76, Unger broke Andy Hebenton's record for consecutive games played by playing ---with a bad back---in his 631rst consecutive game. After a dispute with Blues general manager Emile Francis prior to the 1979-80 season in which he wanted out of St. Louis, he was traded to the Atlanta Flames where, not being in proper condition, he ran into injury problems and in a game against the Blues, he sat out his 915th game to end his record. Injuries were to plague him the rest of his career. He played with the Los Angeles Kings and then the Edmonton Oilers, retiring after the 1982-83 season.
He was honored by the Oilers in a game against the St.Louis Blues in 1983-84 and his number 77 was retired. Ironically, in the game, his former teammate on the Blues, Bernie Federko, scored his 41rst goal to equal Unger's record of goals by a Blues center.
Career Statistics
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1966-67 | London Nationals | OHA | 48 | 38 | 35 | 73 | 60 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1966-67 | Tulsa Oilers | CHL | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1966-67 | Rochester Americans | AHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1967-68 | London Nationals | OHA | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1967-68 | Tulsa Oilers | CHL | 9 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 6 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1967-68 | Rochester Americans | AHL | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1967-68 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 15 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1967-68 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 13 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1968-69 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 76 | 24 | 20 | 44 | 33 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1969-70 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 76 | 42 | 24 | 66 | 67 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 1970-71 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 51 | 13 | 14 | 27 | 63 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1970-71 | St. Louis Blues | NHL | 28 | 15 | 14 | 29 | 41 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 20 | ||
| 1971-72 | St. Louis Blues | NHL | 78 | 36 | 34 | 70 | 104 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 35 | ||
| 1972-73 | St. Louis Blues | NHL | 78 | 41 | 39 | 80 | 119 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ||
| 1973-74 | St. Louis Blues | NHL | 78 | 33 | 35 | 68 | 96 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1974-75 | St. Louis Blues | NHL | 80 | 36 | 44 | 80 | 123 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | ||
| 1975-76 | St. Louis Blues | NHL | 80 | 39 | 44 | 83 | 95 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | ||
| 1976-77 | St. Louis Blues | NHL | 80 | 30 | 27 | 57 | 56 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1977-78 | St. Louis Blues | NHL | 80 | 32 | 20 | 52 | 66 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1978-79 | St. Louis Blues | NHL | 80 | 30 | 26 | 56 | 44 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1979-80 | Atlanta Flames | NHL | 79 | 17 | 16 | 33 | 39 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | ||
| 1980-81 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 58 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 40 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1980-81 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1981-82 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 46 | 7 | 13 | 20 | 69 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 23 | ||
| 1982-83 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 16 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1982-83 | Moncton Alpines | AHL | 8 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1985-86 | Dundee Rockets | BHL | 35 | 86 | 48 | 134 | 64 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 44 | ||
| 1986-87 | Peterborough Pirates | BHL | 30 | 95 | 143 | 238 | 58 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1987-88 | Peterborough Pirates | BHL | 32 | 37 | 44 | 81 | 116 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| NHL Totals | 1105 | 413 | 391 | 804 | 1075 | 51 | 12 | 18 | 30 | 105 | ||||
Template:Canada-icehockey-centre-stub
Categories: Atlanta Flames players | Canadian ice hockey centres | Canadian sports announcers | Canadians of German descent | Detroit Red Wings players | Edmonton Oilers players | London Nationals alumni | Los Angeles Kings players | National Hockey League broadcasters | St. Louis Blues players | Toronto Maple Leafs players | Ice hockey personnel from Alberta | Alberta Junior Hockey League players | 1947 births | Living people
