Tom Mellor (ice hockey)
{{Short description|American ice hockey player (born 1950)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox ice hockey player
| image =
| image_size = 230px
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1950|1|27|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Cranston, Rhode Island, U.S.
| height_ft = 6
| height_in = 0
| weight_lb = 185
| position = Defense
| shoots = Right
| played_for = Detroit Red Wings
London Lions
Västra Frölunda IF
| ntl_team = USA
| draft = 68th overall
| draft_year = 1970
| draft_team = Detroit Red Wings
| career_start = 1973
| career_end = 1977
| medaltemplates =
{{MedalSport | Men's ice hockey }}
{{MedalCountry | {{USA}} }}
{{MedalCompetition | Olympic Games }}
{{MedalSilver | 1972 Sapporo | Team }}
}}
Thomas Robert Mellor (born January 27, 1950) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman. He played 26 games in the National Hockey League with the Detroit Red Wings during the 1973–74 and 1974–75 seasons. Internationally Mellor played for the American national team at the 1972 Winter Olympics, winning a silver medal.
Playing career
Before being drafted by the Detroit Red Wings, Mellor played hockey for Boston College. In the 1968–69 season, he scored nine goals and 19 points in his 17-game rookie season. In his sophomore season, he scored 21 goals and 44 points in 26 games. He scored a hat trick for Boston College in a 13–6 win over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.{{cite web | url = http://www.hockeydraftcentral.com/1970/70068.html | title = Tom Mellor | publisher = Hockey Draft Central}} In his junior year in the NCAA he had 40 points in 25 games for the Boston Eagles.{{cite web | url = http://www.hhof.com/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=13704 | title = Tom Robert Mellor | publisher = Hockey Hall of Fame.com}} During his years at Boston College, he led Boston College in assists on two occasions (1971: 30; 1973: 45) and was ranked third for most assists in a season at Boston College. He was also a two-time recipient (1971, 1973) of Boston College's Norman F. Dailey Memorial Award as the team's Most Valuable Player. He was inducted into the Boston College Varsity Club Athletic Hall of Fame in 1980.{{cite web | url = http://www.ecachockey.com/men/Top_50_Players/Group_9_Tom_Mellor | title = Mellor, Tom - Boston College - Defenseman - (1969-71, 1973) | publisher = ecachockey.com}}
Mellor was drafted 68th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in 1970 NHL Amateur Draft and played 26 regular season games in the National Hockey League for Detroit between 1973 and 1975. Mellor also played in the American Hockey League for the Virginia Wings; in the International Hockey League for the Toledo Goaldiggers; and in the Swedish Elitserien with Västra Frölunda. As a player in the IHL, he was named to the First-Team All-Star Team, he won the James Gatschene Memorial Trophy and the Governor's Trophy in 1977, his last season as a professional player before retiring.
As an amateur, Mellor represented the United States national team at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, winning a silver medal.{{cite web | url = http://www.usahockeyfoundation.com/news_article/show/283764?referrer_id=837594 | title = 1972 Olympics: Silver Medals and Friends of Gold | publisher = USAHockeyFoundation.com | author = Jessi Pierce | date = October 9, 2013}} Mellor also played in the 1971, 1972 and 1973 Ice Hockey World Championship tournaments.
Mellor was formally inducted into the Rhode Island Hockey Hall of Fame in 2022. At the same enshrinement ceremony, his 101-year-old father, Don Mellor, a pioneer youth hockey organizer, was honored by the Hall with the Malcolm Greene Chace Memorial Trophy for "Lifetime Achievement of a Rhode Islander to the game of hockey."
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 | ||||||||
| 1966–67
| HS-NY | — | — | — | — | —
| — | — | — | — | — |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1967–68 | Northwood School | HS-NY | — | — | — | — | —
| — | — | — | — | — |
| 1968–69
| ECAC | — | — | — | — | —
| — | — | — | — | — |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1969–70 | Boston College | ECAC | 26 | 21 | 23 | 44 | 40
| — | — | — | — | — |
| 1970–71
| Boston College | ECAC | 25 | 10 | 30 | 40 | 43
| — | — | — | — | — |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1970–71 | Intl | 18 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 8
| — | — | — | — | — |
| 1971–72
| United States National Team | Intl | 7 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 6
| — | — | — | — | — |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1972–73 | Boston College | ECAC | 30 | 6 | 45 | 51 | 50
| — | — | — | — | — |
| 1973–74
| NHL | 25 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 25
| — | — | — | — | — |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1973–74 | AHL | 23 | 5 | 18 | 23 | 40
| — | — | — | — | — |
| 1973–74
| Intl | 6 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 20
| — | — | — | — | — |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1974–75 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0
| — | — | — | — | — |
| 1974–75
| Virginia Wings | AHL | 73 | 17 | 35 | 52 | 147
| 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 17 |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1975–76 | SWE | 34 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 41
| — | — | — | — | — |
| 1975–76
| IHL | 13 | 3 | 12 | 15 | 19
| 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1976–77 | Toledo Goaldiggers | IHL | 75 | 13 | 61 | 74 | 118
| 19 | 4 | 17 | 21 | 16 |
| bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! colspan="3" | NHL totals ! 26 !! 2 !! 4 !! 6 !! 25 ! — !! — !! — !! — !! — |
=International=
| border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" ID="Table3" style="text-align:center; width:40em" | ||||
| bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! Year ! Team ! Event ! rowspan="102" bgcolor="#ffffff"| ! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM | ||||
| 1971
| WC | 10 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1972 | United States | OLY | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 1973
| United States | WC-B | 10 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! colspan="4"| Senior totals ! 26 !! 2 !! 6 !! 8 !! 8 |
Awards and honors
| class="wikitable"
! Award ! Year ! Ref |
| All-ECAC Hockey Second Team |
| All-ECAC Hockey First Team
| 1972–73 |
| AHCA East All-American
| 1972–73 |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{icehockeystats}}
- [http://www.hockeydraftcentral.com/1970/70068.html Tom Mellor @ hockeydraftcentral.com]
{{S-start}}
{{S-ach}}
{{Succession box| before = Joe Cavanagh| title = ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year| years = 1969–70| after = Bob Brown}}
{{Succession box| before = Bob Brown| title = ECAC Hockey Player of the Year| years = 1972–73| after = Randy Roth}}
{{S-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mellor, Tom}}
Category:AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans
Category:American men's ice hockey defensemen
Category:Boston College Eagles men's ice hockey players
Category:Detroit Red Wings draft picks
Category:Detroit Red Wings players
Category:Ice hockey players from Rhode Island
Category:Ice hockey players at the 1972 Winter Olympics
Category:London Lions (ice hockey) players
Category:Medalists at the 1972 Winter Olympics
Category:Olympic silver medalists for the United States in ice hockey
Category:Sportspeople from Cranston, Rhode Island
Category:Toledo Goaldiggers players
Category:Virginia Wings players
Category:20th-century American sportsmen
{{US-icehockey-defenceman-stub}}