Don Spring
{{Short description|Venezuelan-born Canadian ice hockey player}}
{{Infobox ice hockey player
| image =
| caption =
| image_size = 225px
| position = Defence
| shoots = Left
| height_ft = 5
| height_in = 11
| weight_lb = 194
| played_for = Winnipeg Jets
EHC Essen-West
| ntl_team = Canada
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1959|6|15}}
| birth_place = Maracaibo, Venezuela
| death_date =
| death_place =
| draft = Undrafted
| career_start = 1979
| career_end = 1985
}}
Donald Neil Spring (born June 15, 1959) is a Venezuelan-born Canadian former ice hockey defenceman.
Spring was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela and raised in Edson, Alberta.
Spring was a 2 time national champion with the University of Alberta Golden Bears hockey team. Spring represented Canada at the 1980 Winter Olympics held in Lake Placid, where he scored one assist in six games.{{cite book |last=IIHF|title=IIHF Media Guide & Record Book 2011|year=2010 |publisher=Moydart Press |page= 113|isbn= 978-0-9867964-0-1}}
Spring started his National Hockey League career with the Winnipeg Jets in 1980. He would play his entire career with the Jets. He would leave the NHL after the 1984 season. Spring still holds the record for the most career games in the NHL (259) by a player with only one career goal.{{cite news|last1=Macleod|first1=Robert|title=Meet the NHL's one-goal wonders|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/hockeys-one-goal-wonders/article16081489/?page=all|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=20 December 2013 |accessdate=13 September 2016}}
He finished his hockey career with one season with EHC Essen-West in West Germany. Presently he is president of Spring Fuel Distributors Inc. in Kelowna, B.C.
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 | ||||||||
| 1976–77
| CIAU | 34 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 24
| — | — | — | — | — |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1977–78 | University of Alberta | CIAU | 30 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 12
| — | — | — | — | — |
| 1978–79
| University of Alberta | CIAU | 42 | 7 | 29 | 36 | 27
| — | — | — | — | — |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1979–80 | Intl | 51 | 1 | 23 | 24 | 20
| — | — | — | — | — |
| 1980–81
| NHL | 80 | 1 | 18 | 19 | 18
| — | — | — | — | — |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1981–82 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 78 | 0 | 16 | 16 | 21
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 1982–83
| Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 80 | 0 | 16 | 16 | 37
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1983–84 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 21 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4
| — | — | — | — | — |
| 1983–84
| AHL | 50 | 0 | 17 | 17 | 21
| — | — | — | — | — |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1984–85 | GER | 36 | 8 | 19 | 27 | 32
| 18 | 3 | 13 | 16 | 12 |
| bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! colspan="3"| NHL totals ! 259 !! 1 !! 54 !! 55 !! 80 ! 6 !! 0 !! 0 !! 0 !! 10 |
=International=
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{icehockeystats}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spring, Don}}
Category:Alberta Golden Bears ice hockey players
Category:Canadian ice hockey defencemen
Category:Essen Mosquitoes players
Category:Ice hockey people from Alberta
Category:Ice hockey players at the 1980 Winter Olympics
Category:Olympic ice hockey players for Canada
Category:People from Edson, Alberta
Category:Sportspeople from Maracaibo
Category:Sherbrooke Jets players
Category:Undrafted National Hockey League players
Category:Winnipeg Jets (1979–1996) players
Category:20th-century Canadian sportsmen
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