Maple Leafs are Saddened to Learn of the Passing of Former Legend Pete Conacher
Former NHLer Pete Conacher, member of the legendary Conacher hockey family, has passed away at the age of 92.
Pete Conacher, the son of former NHL great and Hockey Hall of Famer Charlie Conacher, was a seven-year NHL veteran who played for the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs. The latter team was home to his father, Charlie, for his first nine seasons, where Charlie found fame as part of one of hockey's first legendary trios on «The Kid Line,» playing right wing alongside left winger Busher Jackson and center Joe Primeau.
Charlie's older brother, Lionel, was one of Canada's most accomplished athletes, a champion in the NHL, as well as in the Canadian Football League with the Toronto Argonauts as well a successful career in baseball, boxing & lacrosse, as well as outside of sports as a Canadian Member of Parliament. He even has an award named after him as The Lionel Conacher Award is an annual honor for Canada's top athlete presented by the Canadian Press.
Youngest brother Roy was like his two brothers; a Hockey Hall of Famer, as well as a two-time Stanley Cup Champion and Art Ross Winner in 1949.
The younger Conacher debuted in the NHL in 1952 after dominating in the Ontario Hockey Association, the precursor to the Ontario Hockey League, with the Blackhawks-owned Galt Black Hawks, having 53 goals and 120 points in 51 games apart of a dominant duo with teammate Ken Wharram who would join Conacher with Chicago.
Conacher played parts of four NHL seasons with the Black Hawks before being traded alongside star defenseman Bill Gadsby to the New York Rangers in a deal that acquired fellow star defender Allan Stanley the other way. Conacher would not find more consistent playing time in the Big Apple, traded in 1957 to father Charlie's old stomping grounds in Toronto.
Despite the name value, Pete wouldn't stamp the same impact at Maple Leaf Gardens as his father had years prior, appearing in just 5 games before being traded back to the Rangers, although he would not appear with the club, and marked the end of his NHL career.
Conacher would go on to find some offensive prowess in the American Hockey League with the Hershey Bears, playing there until his retirement in 1966. Conacher won a gold medal for Canada in the 1959 World Championship held in Czechoslovakia.
After hockey, Conacher worked full-time at the Toronto Stock Exchange, retiring in 1995. Conacher was inducted into the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame in 2010.
