Rick Blight
{{Short description|Canadian ice hockey player (1955–2005)}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=March 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox ice hockey player
| position = Right wing
| shoots = Right
| height_ft = 6
| height_in = 2
| weight_lb = 195
| birth_date = {{birth date|1955|10|17|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada
| death_date = {{death date and age|2005|4|3|1955|10|17|mf=y}}
| death_place = Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada
| career_start = 1975
| career_end = 1983
| draft = 10th overall
| draft_year = 1975
| draft_team = Vancouver Canucks
| wha_draft = 19th overall
| wha_draft_year = 1974
| wha_draft_team = Michigan Stags
| image =
| image_size =
| played_for = Vancouver Canucks
Los Angeles Kings
| ntl_team = CAN
|}}
Richard Derek Blight (October 17, 1955 – April 3, 2005) was a Canadian ice hockey player.
A native of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Blight had a long and varied hockey career as a Right wing for teams in the National Hockey League (NHL), Central Hockey League (CHL) and the American Hockey League (AHL). After playing junior hockey in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League and the Western Hockey League, Blight was selected by the Vancouver Canucks in the first round of the 1975 NHL Amateur Draft. Blight was also drafted by the Michigan Stags in the second round of the 1974 WHA Amateur Draft, but did not play in the WHA.{{cite web |title=1975 NHL Draft Pick: Rick Blight |url=http://www.hockeydraftcentral.com/1975/75010.html |website=HockeyDraftCentral.com |accessdate=March 4, 2020}} The name Blight is of Cornish origin.{{cite web|url=http://www.gould.com.au/Cornish-Family-Names-p/thp009.htm |title=Cornish Family Names |publisher=Gould Genealogy & History |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100820113233/http://www.gould.com.au/Cornish-Family-Names-p/thp009.htm |archivedate=August 20, 2010}}
Playing career
Blight was the Canucks' top scorer over his first three years in the NHL, finishing fifth, first and second in team scoring in 1975, 1976 and 1977 with a total of 187 points.
Blight was the recipient of the WCHL Rookie of the Year Award in 1973 and was a member of the CHL Second All-Star Team in 1981.
Blight retired from playing hockey in 1983 and began a career as a stockbroker and marketing consultant, as well as managing his family farm in his native Manitoba. In 1995, Blight was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. Blight also curled during this time, and was a member of the Don Spriggs curling team.{{cite news |title=FORMER WHEAT KING MISSING |url=https://chl.ca/whl-wheatkings/former-wheat-king-missing/|accessdate=April 13, 2024 |publisher=Brandon Wheat Kings |date=April 13, 2005}}
On April 3, 2005, Blight disappeared. Two weeks later, on April 18, after a Canada-wide search, Blight was found dead in a field on a farm near Lake Manitoba in his pickup truck.{{cite web |title=Ex-Canuck Star dead at 49|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ex-canuck-star-dead-at-49-1.559424 |publisher=CBC News |accessdate=October 26, 2018 |date=April 18, 2005}} He had died by suicide.{{cite web |last1=Hackel |first1=Stu |title=Wade Belak's death poses key questions |url=https://www.si.com/nhl/home-ice/2011/09/01/wade-belaks-death-poses-key-questions |website=SI.com |publisher=Sports Illustrated |accessdate=October 26, 2018 |language=en |date=September 1, 2011}}
Awards and achievements
- 1973: WCHL Rookie of the Year
- 1981: CHL Second All-Star Team
- Honoured Member of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame
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 | ||||||||
| 1970–71
| MJHL | 47 | 20 | 19 | 39 | 33
| — | — | — | — | — |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1971–72 | Portage Terriers | MJHL | 45 | 32 | 35 | 67 | 73
| — | — | — | — | — |
| 1971–72
| WCHL | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0
| 11 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1972–73 | Brandon Wheat Kings | WCHL | 68 | 31 | 62 | 93 | 70
| 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 1973–74
| Brandon Wheat Kings | WCHL | 67 | 49 | 81 | 130 | 122
| 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1974–75 | Brandon Wheat Kings | WCHL | 65 | 60 | 52 | 112 | 65
| 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 |
| 1975–76
| NHL | 74 | 25 | 31 | 56 | 29
| 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1976–77 | Vancouver Canucks | NHL | 78 | 28 | 40 | 68 | 32
| — | — | — | — | — |
| 1977–78
| Vancouver Canucks | NHL | 80 | 25 | 38 | 63 | 33
| — | — | — | — | — |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1978–79 | CHL | 15 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 7
| — | — | — | — | — |
| 1978–79
| Vancouver Canucks | NHL | 56 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 16
| 3 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1979–80 | Vancouver Canucks | NHL | 33 | 12 | 6 | 18 | 54
| — | — | — | — | — |
| 1980–81
| Dallas Black Hawks | CHL | 74 | 46 | 49 | 95 | 122
| 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1980–81 | Vancouver Canucks | NHL | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4
| — | — | — | — | — |
| 1981–82
| CHL | 37 | 16 | 23 | 39 | 21
| — | — | — | — | — |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1981–82 | SC Bern | NDA | — | — | — | — | —
| — | — | — | — | — |
| 1981–82
| CHL | 16 | 18 | 14 | 32 | 18
| 7 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1982–83 | AHL | 19 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 6
| — | — | — | — | — |
| 1982–83
| AHL | 47 | 17 | 24 | 41 | 8
| 12 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1982–83 | NHL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2
| — | — | — | — | — |
| bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! colspan="3" | NHL totals ! 326 !! 96 !! 125 !! 221 !! 170 ! 5 !! 0 !! 5 !! 5 !! 2 |
=International=
Personal
His niece, Halli Krzyzaniak, played in the Canadian Women's Hockey League for the Calgary Inferno.{{cite news |author1=Brad Elliott Schlossman |title=WOMEN'S HOCKEY: UND freshman defenseman makes immediate impact |url=http://www.grandforksherald.com/content/womens-hockey-und-freshman-defenseman-makes-immediate-impact |accessdate=November 8, 2018 |newspaper=Grand Forks Herald |date=October 17, 2013}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{icehockeystats}}
- [http://www.hockeydraftcentral.com/1975/75010.html Profile at hockeydraftcentral.com]
- [http://www.mbhockeyhalloffame.ca/people/rick-blight/ Rick Blight's biography] at the [http://www.mbhockeyhalloffame.ca/ Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame]
- {{Find a Grave|10820448}}
{{s-start}}
{{succession box | before = Bob Dailey | title = Vancouver Canucks first round draft pick | years = 1975 | after = Jere Gillis}}
{{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blight, Rick}}
Category:Brandon Wheat Kings players
Category:Canadian ice hockey right wingers
Category:Canadian people of Cornish descent
Category:Canadian stockbrokers
Category:Cincinnati Tigers players
Category:Ice hockey people from Manitoba
Category:Los Angeles Kings players
Category:Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States
Category:Michigan Stags draft picks
Category:Moncton Alpines (AHL) players
Category:NHL first-round draft picks
Category:New Haven Nighthawks players
Category:Sportspeople from Portage la Prairie
Category:Portage Terriers players
Category:Vancouver Canucks draft picks
Category:Vancouver Canucks players
Category:Canadian male curlers