The American Hockey League’s Board of Governors has unanimously voted to honor one of the greatest players in American Hockey League history with the creation of the Willie Marshall Award, to be presented annually to the AHL’s top goal scorer in the regular season.
The most prolific scorer ever in the AHL, Willie Marshall retired in 1972 as the league’s all-time leader in points (1,375), goals (523), assists (852) and games played (1,205). One of only two AHL players ever to skate in 20 seasons, Marshall laced up the skates with the Pittsburgh Hornets, Hershey Bears, Providence Reds, Baltimore Clippers and Rochester Americans, winning three Calder Cup championships (1955, 1958, 1959) and one scoring title – in 1957-58 when he recorded a career-best 104 points.
Marshall played in a total of six Calder Cup Finals, and was named a First Team AHL All-Star twice and a Second Team All-Star once. He also appeared in five consecutive AHL All-Star Games from 1954-59. In addition to his regular season records, Marshall is the AHL’s all-time leader in postseason scoring with 119 points in 112 Calder Cup Playoff games.
A native of Kirkland Lake, Ont., Marshall also played 33 contests over parts of four seasons in the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The creation of the award and the unveiling of the plaque by American Hockey League President and CEO David Andrews took place at today’s Hockey Hall of Fame Luncheon, honoring AHL graduates Billy Smith and Grant Fuhr and featuring keynote speaker Scotty Bowman. Marshall, who is attending the 2004 Pepsi AHL All-Star Classic with his wife Barbara and his son William as special guests of the AHL, will drop the ceremonial first puck prior to tonight’s 2004 AHL All-Star Game.
The 2004 Pepsi AHL All-Star Classic will take place at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich., home of the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins. The event got underway on Sunday with the 2004 AHL All-Star Skills Competition at 7:00 p.m. (ET) and concludes with the annual All-Star Game at 7:00 p.m. (ET) on Monday, and will be televised live in the United States and Canada.
Willie Marshall, Career AHL Statistics
Willie Marshall Award unveiled
Regular Season Playoffs Season Team GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1952-53 Pittsburgh 62 27 39 66 58 10 1 8 9 13 1953-54 Pittsburgh 61 28 45 73 41 5 1 4 5 2 1954-55 Pittsburgh 46 23 25 48 37 10 9 7 16 6 (a)(e) 1955-56 Pittsburgh 58 45 52 97 47 4 2 1 3 0 (c)(e) 1956-57 Hershey 64 35 59 94 18 7 3 7 10 4 (e) 1957-58 Hershey 68 40 64 104 56 11 10 9 19 6 (a)(b)(c)(e) 1958-59 Rochester-Hershey 56 29 32 61 10 9 5 2 7 0 (a)(e) 1959-60 Hershey 72 38 40 78 99 — — — — — 1960-61 Hershey 56 25 44 69 36 7 3 5 8 2 1961-62 Hershey 70 30 65 95 24 7 0 6 6 0 (d) 1962-63 Hershey 72 36 56 92 12 15 3 7 10 10 1963-64 Providence 72 33 50 83 18 3 2 3 5 0 1964-65 Providence 69 12 44 56 12 — — — — — 1965-66 Providence 70 13 27 40 8 — — — — — 1966-67 Baltimore 68 33 56 89 22 9 6 7 13 0 1967-68 Baltimore 51 24 41 65 2 — — — — — 1968-69 Baltimore 74 26 52 78 18 4 1 2 3 0 1969-70 Baltimore 42 9 19 28 0 5 2 2 4 0 1970-71 Baltimore 64 15 40 55 0 6 0 1 1 0 1971-72 Rochester 10 2 2 4 2 — — — — — AHL Totals 1205 523 852 1375 520 112 48 71 119 43 (a) Won Calder Cup (b) Won scoring title (c) First Team All-Star (d) Second Team All-Star (e) Played in AHL All-Star Game AHL Goal Scoring Leaders by Season: 36-37 Bryan Hextall, Philadelphia 29 37-38 Phil Hergesheimer, Cleveland 25 38-39 Phil Hergesheimer, Cleveland 34 39-40 Norm Locking, Syracuse 31 40-41 Fred Thurier, Springfield 29 41-42 Lou Trudel, Washington 37 42-43 Harry Frost, Hershey 43 43-44 Pete Horeck, Cleveland 34 44-45 Lou Trudel, Cleveland 45 45-46 Joe Bell, New Haven-Hershey 46 46-47 Johnny Holota, Cleveland 52 47-48 Carl Liscombe, Providence 50 48-49 Sid Smith, Pittsburgh 55 Carl Liscombe, Providence 55 49-50 Roy Kelly, Cleveland 46 50-51 Fred Glover, Indianapolis 48 51-52 Steve Wochy, Cleveland 37 52-53 Ike Hildebrand, Cleveland 38 53-54 Lorne Ferguson, Hershey 45 54-55 Eddie Olson, Cleveland 41 55-56 Camille Henry, Providence 50 56-57 Paul Larivee, Providence 46 57-58 Dunc Fisher, Hershey 41 58-59 Ken Schinkel, Springfield 43 59-60 Stan Smrke, Rochester 40 60-61 Jimmy Anderson, Springfield 43 61-62 Floyd Smith, Springfield 41 Barry Cullen, Buffalo 41 62-63 Hank Ciesla, Cleveland 42 63-64 Yves Locas, Pittsburgh 40 Jimmy Anderson, Springfield 40 64-65 Len Lunde, Buffalo 50 65-66 Alain Caron, Buffalo 47 Dick Gamble, Rochester 47 66-67 Roger DeJordy, Hershey 52 67-68 Eddie Kachur, Providence 47 68-69 Guy Trottier, Buffalo 45 69-70 Guy Trottier, Buffalo 55 70-71 Doug Volmar, Springfield 42 71-72 Wayne Rivers, Springfield 48 72-73 Yvon Lambert, Nova Scotia 52 73-74 Murray Kuntz, Rochester 51 74-75 Jerry Holland, Providence 44 Barry Merrell, Rochester 44 Peter Sullivan, Nova Scotia 44 Doug Gibson, Rochester 44 75-76 Ron Andruff, Nova Scotia 42 76-77 Pierre Mondou, Nova Scotia 44 77-78 Richard Grenier, Binghamton 46 78-79 Rocky Saganiuk, N. Brunswick 47 79-80 Gordie Clark, Maine 47 80-81 Tony Cassolato, Hershey 48 Mark Lofthouse, Hershey 48 81-82 Richard David, Fredericton 51 82-83 Mitch Lamoureux, Baltimore 57 83-84 Mal Davis, Rochester 55 84-85 Paul Gardner, Binghamton 51 85-86 Paul Gardner, Rochester 61 86-87 Glenn Merkosky, Adirondack 54 87-88 Jody Gage, Rochester 60 88-89 Stephan Lebeau, Sherbrooke 70 89-90 John LeBlanc, Cape Breton 54 90-91 Michel Picard, Springfield 56 91-92 Dan Currie, Cape Breton 50 92-93 Chris Tancill, Adirondack 59 93-94 Patrik Augusta, St. John’s 53 94-95 Steve Larouche, P.E.I. 53 95-96 Brad Smyth, Carolina 68 96-97 Peter White, Philadelphia 44 97-98 Paul Brousseau, Adirondack 45 98-99 Jeff Williams, Albany 46 99-00 Mike Maneluk, Philadelphia 47 00-01 Brad Smyth, Hartford 50 01-02 Justin Papineau, Worcester 38 Eric Boguniecki, Worcester 38 02-03 Eric Healey, Manchester 42
