Bernie Federko

{{Infobox ice hockey player

| image = Bernie Federko 1981.JPG

| image_size = 230px

| caption = Federko with the St. Louis Blues in 1981

| position = Centre

| played_for = St. Louis Blues
Detroit Red Wings

| shoots = Left

| draft = 7th overall

| draft_year = 1976

| draft_team = St. Louis Blues

| wha_draft = 6th overall

| wha_draft_year = 1976

| wha_draft_team = Edmonton Oilers

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 0

| weight_lb = 195

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|mf=yes|1956|5|12}}

| birth_place = Foam Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada

| career_start = 1976

| career_end = 1990

| halloffame = 2002

}}

Bernard Allan Federko (born May 12, 1956) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played fourteen seasons in the National Hockey League from 1976 through 1990.

Playing career

Federko began playing hockey at a young age in his home town of Foam Lake, Saskatchewan. He was captain of the 1971 Bantam provincial champions. He also played Senior hockey with the local Foam Lake Flyers of the Fishing Lake Hockey League, winning the league scoring title as a bantam-aged player. Federko continued his career with the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL where he set and still holds the team record for assists. He played three seasons with the Blades, and in his final year with the club he led the league in assists and points in both the regular season and playoffs. Federko was drafted 7th overall by the St. Louis Blues in the 1976 NHL Amateur Draft. He started the next season with the Kansas City Blues of the Central Hockey League and was leading the league in points when he was called up mid-season to play 31 games with St. Louis. He scored three hat tricks in those 31 games. In the 1978–79 NHL season, Federko developed into a bona fide star, as he scored 95 points.

Federko scored 100 points in a season four times, and was a consistent and underrated performer for the Blues. Federko scored at least 90 points in seven of the eight seasons between 1978 and 1986, and became the first player in NHL history to record at least 50 assists in 10 consecutive seasons. However, in an era when Wayne Gretzky was scoring 200 points a season, Federko never got the attention many felt he deserved. In 1986, in a poll conducted by GOAL magazine, he was named the most overlooked talent in hockey. His General Manager Ron Caron said he was "A great playmaker. He makes the average or above average player look like a star at times. He's such an unselfish player."

On March 19, 1988, Federko became the 22nd NHL player to record 1000 career points. After he had a poor season as a captain in 1988–89, he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings with Tony McKegney for future Blues star Adam Oates, and Paul MacLean.{{Cite web |title=Federko traded to Red Wings - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/06/15/Federko-traded-to-Red-Wings/9520613886400/ |access-date=2023-12-10 |website=UPI |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Eno |first=Greg |title=Forced or Not, Detroit Red Wings' Jimmy Devellano Got Rooked in Federko Trade |url=https://bleacherreport.com/articles/260064-whether-forced-or-not-red-wings-devellano-got-rooked-in-federko-trade |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=Bleacher Report |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Wolak |first=Tony |date=2023-12-17 |title=Worst Trades in Red Wings History |url=https://thehockeywriters.com/worst-trades-in-detroit-red-wings-history/ |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=The Hockey Writers |language=en-us}} In Detroit, Federko re-united with former Blues head coach Jacques Demers, but he had to play behind Steve Yzerman and did not get his desired ice time. After his lowest point output since his rookie season, Federko decided to retire after the 1989–90 season, having played exactly 1,000 NHL games with his final game on April 1, 1990.{{cite web |title=Detroit Red Wings at Philadelphia Flyers Box Score — April 1, 1990 |url=https://www.hockey-reference.com/boxscores/199004010PHI.html |website=Hockey Reference |access-date=14 April 2020 |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Archives |first=L. A. Times |date=1990-08-14 |title=THE SIDELINES : Center Bernie Federko to Retire |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-08-14-sp-911-story.html |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}

Post-NHL career

Less than a year after retiring as a player, the Blues retired number 24 in his honour on March 16, 1991.{{Cite web |last=Hebel |first=Alli |date=2023-03-16 |title=32 years ago: Blues retire Bernie Federko's No. 24 |url=https://www.ksdk.com/article/sports/nhl/blues/bernie-federkos-number-retired-blues/63-844de3ce-eada-4441-b74d-294232f3c766 |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=ksdk.com |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Carter |first=Ethan |date=2020-12-17 |title=St. Louis Blues' 8 Retired Numbers |url=https://thehockeywriters.com/blues-retired-jersey-numbers/ |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=The Hockey Writers |language=en-us}} Federko was eventually inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002, the first Hall of Famer to earn his credentials primarily as a Blue.{{Cite web |title=In Sports from United Press International |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/2002/06/19/In-Sports-from-United-Press-International/2091024459200/ |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=UPI |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Timmermann |first=Tom |date=2022-10-04 |title=Even for a Hockey Hall of Famer such as Federko, being in a Blues Hall of Fame is special |url=https://www.stltoday.com/sports/even-for-a-hockey-hall-of-famer-such-as-federko-being-in-a-blues-hall/article_04ab21c1-7566-5ed0-a9ce-771b2e48b24c.html |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=STLtoday.com |language=en}}

Currently, Federko is a television colour commentator and studio analyst for Bally Sports Midwest during Blues broadcasts.{{Cite web |title=Darren Pang Joins Broadcast Booth |url=https://www.nhl.com/blues/news/darren-pang-joins-broadcast-booth/c-436728 |access-date=2023-06-10 |website=NHL.com |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2009-07-13 |title=The Story Behind Why Darren Pang Left Phoenix |url=https://puckthemedia.wordpress.com/2009/07/13/the-story-behind-why-darren-pang-left-phoenix/ |access-date=2023-12-10 |website=Puck The Media |language=en}} He was the head coach/general manager of the St. Louis Vipers roller hockey team of the Roller Hockey International for the 1993 and 1994 seasons.{{Cite web |date=2018-11-18 |title=ST. LOUIS VIPERS |url=https://www.stltoday.com/sports/st-louis-vipers/article_6dd8ed31-6f94-56c9-a68d-444cd1eea13b.html |access-date=2023-12-10 |website=STLtoday.com |language=en}}

Career statistics

=Regular season and playoffs=

border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; width:60em"
bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff"\| ! rowspan="100" bgcolor="#ffffff"\| ! colspan="5"\|Regular season ! rowspan="100" bgcolor="#ffffff"\| ! colspan="5"\|Playoffs
bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! Season ! Team ! League ! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM ! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM
1973–74 \| Saskatoon Blades \| WCHL \| 68	22	28	50	19 \| 6	0	0	0	2
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 1974–75 \| Saskatoon Blades \| WCHL \| 66	39	68	107	30 \| 17	15	7	22	8
1975–76 \| Saskatoon Blades \| WCHL \| 72	72	115	187	106 \| 20	18	27	45	8
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 1976–77 \| Kansas City Blues \| CHL \| 42	30	39	69	41 \| —	—	—	—	—
1976–77 \| St. Louis Blues \| NHL \| 31	14	9	23	15 \| 4	1	1	2	2
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 1977–78 \| St. Louis Blues \| NHL \| 72	17	24	41	27 \| —	—	—	—	—
1978–79 \| St. Louis Blues \| NHL \| 74	31	64	95	14 \| —	—	—	—	—
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 1979–80 \| St. Louis Blues \| NHL \| 79	38	56	94	24 \| 3	1	0	1	2
1980–81 \| St. Louis Blues \| NHL \| 78	31	73	104	47 \| 11	8	10	18	2
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 1981–82 \| St. Louis Blues \| NHL \| 74	30	62	92	70 \| 10	3	15	18	10
1982–83 \| St. Louis Blues \| NHL \| 75	24	60	84	24 \| 4	2	3	5	0
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 1983–84 \| St. Louis Blues \| NHL \| 79	41	66	107	43 \| 11	4	4	8	10
1984–85 \| St. Louis Blues \| NHL \| 76	30	73	103	27 \| 3	0	2	2	4
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 1985–86 \| St. Louis Blues \| NHL \| 80	34	68	102	34 \| 19	7	14	21	17
1986–87 \| St. Louis Blues \| NHL \| 64	20	52	72	32 \| 6	3	3	6	18
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 1987–88 \| St. Louis Blues \| NHL \| 79	20	69	89	52 \| 10	2	6	8	18
1988–89 \| St. Louis Blues \| NHL \| 66	22	45	67	54 \| 10	4	8	12	0
bgcolor="#f0f0f0" \| 1989–90 \| Detroit Red Wings \| NHL \| 73	17	40	57	24 \| —	—	—	—	—
bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! colspan="3" \| NHL totals ! 1,000 !! 369 !! 761 !! 1,130 !! 487 ! 91 !! 35 !! 66 !! 101 !! 83

Awards

Bob Brownridge Memorial Trophy (WCHL leading scorer) - 1976
Named to the WCHL First All-Star Team (1976)
Named WCHL MVP (1976)
Named to the CHL Second All-Star Team (1977)
Won Ken McKenzie Trophy as CHL Rookie of the Year (1977)
Played in the NHL All-Star Game (1980, 1981)
Named NHL Player of the Week (For week ending December 3, 1984)

Records

St. Louis Blues team record for career games played (927)
St. Louis Blues team record for career assists (721)
St. Louis Blues team record for career points (1073)
Shares St. Louis Blues team record for assists in one game (5 on February 27, 1988)
St. Louis Blues team record for career playoff assists (66)
First NHL player to get 50 assists in 10 consecutive seasons.

References

=Citations=

=General references=

{{cite book |last1=Diamond |first1=Dan |last2=Duplacey |first2=James |title=Total Hockey: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Hockey League |date=1998 |publisher=Total Sports |isbn=978-0-8362-7114-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jrdZAAAAYAAJ }}

External links

{{Ice hockey stats |legendsm=P200201 |legendstype=Player}}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060324105749/http://www.stlouisblues.com/history/retired/retired_ferderko.html St. Louis Blues Website]

{{s-ttl|title = St. Louis Blues first round draft pick|years = 1976}}

{{s-ttl|title = Edmonton Oilers first round draft pick|years = 1976}}