Charlie Hodge obit

Hockey All-Star Charlie Hodge Has Died 

He was not on the list.

Hodge was a  Canadian ice hockey player who played as a goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks, and Oakland Seals of the National Hockey League between 1954 and 1971.

Charlie Hodge was born in Lachine, Quebec. Hodge was devoted to becoming a member of the Montreal Canadiens. Charlie Hodge began his hockey career with the Montreal Jr. Canadiens in 1950. In 1952, Hodge began showing his true skills finishing with a 2.22 GAA. The next year, he led the Quebec Junior Hockey League with 35 wins and 5 shutouts. Hodge then moved on to the Cincinnati Mohawks in the International Hockey League. There, he led the league in wins and shutouts and helped the Cincinnati Mohawks win the Turner Cup. In the 1954–55 season, he played his first game with the Montreal Canadiens.

Hodge and Gary Bauman were two of four goaltenders for the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL's final season before expansion, sharing the net with veteran Gump Worsley and rookie Rogie Vachon.

With Vachon in the minors, still two months from making his League debut, and Worsley recovering from a surgically repaired knee, Canadiens coach Toe Blake turned to Hodge and Bauman for the 20th NHL All-Star Game on Jan. 18, 1967.

Before a Montreal Forum crowd of 14,284, Hodge made 14 saves in the first period and nine in the third, and Bauman stopped all 10 shots he saw in the second, fending off three All-Star power plays. They combined to help the defending Stanley Cup-champion Canadiens to a 3-0 victory against a stacked team coached by Sid Abel of the Detroit Red Wings.

It would be the first, and still the only, three-period, 60-minute shutout in All-Star Game history, a fact Hodge knew only upon reading the obituary of Bauman, who lost his battle with cancer in 2006.

The pair's historic shutout came in the NHL's first midseason All-Star Game. Before that, the game had been played just before the start of the regular season and was an often highly competitive match between a team of All-Stars and the defending Stanley Cup champion.

Hodge's first NHL game occurred in 1954 with Montreal. Because teams in that era only carried one goalie, and Montreal had perhaps the best goalie of the era in Jacques Plante, Hodge was only used in emergency situations. During this time, he played mostly in the American Hockey League. When Plante was traded in 1963, Hodge got his chance to play full-time. He twice won the Vezina Trophy for being the goaltender of the team allowing the fewest goals during the regular season, once outright in 1963–64 and shared with Gump Worsley in 1965–66. Hodge's name appears on the league championship Stanley Cup six times, although he only actually played in one of those finals. He also played 1 game in the finals in 1955, but lost to Detroit. In 1967, young goaltender Rogatien Vachon was called up by the Canadiens. Vachon played superbly, and there was no more room for Hodge. Hodge was left unprotected in 1967 and he was picked up by the Oakland Seals in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft.

In Oakland, Hodge earned 13 wins, including 3 shutouts. Next season, he saw his playing time greatly reduced and was sent down to the Western Hockey League where he played for the Vancouver Canucks. Hodge was an expansion pick again when the Vancouver Canucks entered the NHL in 1970. He posted a winning record while sharing netminding duties with George Gardner and Dunc Wilson. He retired after being unable to come to contract terms with General Manager Bud Poile.

Hodge sold real estate for a decade until Winnipeg Jets GM John Ferguson recruited him for the team's scout in Western Canada.

Hodge thereafter was an amateur scout for the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning after two decades with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He received Stanley Cup rings with Pittsburgh in 1991 and 1992. He primarily scouted the Vancouver Giants and Chilliwack Bruins of the Western Hockey League and the Lower Mainland clubs in the British Columbia Hockey League.

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season             Playoffs

Season Team            League            GP            W            L            T            MIN            GA            SO            GAA            SV%            GP            W            L            MIN            GA            SO            GAA            SV%

1949–50            Montreal Junior Canadiens            QJHL            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1949–50            Montreal Junior Canadiens            M-Cup            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            2            0            2            122            11            0            5.41            —

1950–51            Montreal Junior Canadiens            QJHL            23            14            8            0            1320            57            1            2.59            —            9            4            5            564            31            0            3.30            —

1951–52            Montreal Junior Canadiens            QJHL            45            32            10            3            2700            100            3            2.22            —            11            9            2            669            19            0            1.70            —

1951–52            Montreal Royals            QMHL            1            0            0            0            40            3            0            4.50            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1951–52            Montreal Junior Canadiens            M-Cup            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            8            4            4            480            32            1            4.00            —

1952–53            Montreal Junior Canadiens            QJHL            44            35            9            0            2640            100            5            2.27            —            7            —            —            560            18            0            2.57            —

1952–53            Montreal Royals            QMHL            1            0            1            0            60            4            0            4.00            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1953–54            Cincinnati Mohawks            IHL            62            —            —            —            3720            145            10            2.34            —            11            8            3            660            19            2            1.73            —

1953–54            Buffalo Bisons  AHL            3            2            1            0            180            10            0            3.33            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1954–55            Montreal Canadiens            NHL            14            6            4            4            820            31            1            2.27            .918            4            1            2            84            6            0            4.29            .867

1954–55            Providence Reds            AHL            5            3            2            0            300            18            1            3.60            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1954–55            Montreal Royals            QHL            35            17            17            1            2100            113            2            3.23            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1955–56            Seattle Americans            WHL            70            31            37            2            4245            239            6            3.38            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1955–56            Montreal Canadiens            NHL            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1956–57            Rochester Americans            AHL            41            18            18            4            2460            132            2            3.22            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1956–57            Shawinigan Cataracts            QHL            14            7            5            2            859            39            2            2.72            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1957–58            Montreal Canadiens            NHL            12            8            2            2            720            31            1            2.58            .912            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1957–58            Montreal Royals            QHL            48            23            21            4            2880            153            4            3.19            —            7            2            4            380            25            1            3.95            —

1958–59            Montreal Royals            QHL            24            15            8            1            1440            67            1            2.79            —            2            2            0            120            4            0            2.00            —

1958–59            Rochester Americans            AHL            4            0            4            0            240            12            0            3.00            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1958–59            Montreal Canadiens            NHL            2            1            1            0            120            6            0            3.00            .880            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1959–60            Montreal Royals            EPHL            33            15            12            6            1980            96            5            2.91            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1959–60            Hull-Ottawa Canadiens            EPHL            26            15            6            5            1560            74            2            2.85            —            7            3            4            430            24            0            3.35            —

1959–60            Montreal Canadiens            NHL            1            0            1            0            60            3            0            3.00            .880            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1960–61            Montreal Canadiens            NHL            30            18            8            4            1800            74            4            2.47            .917            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1960–61            Montreal Royals            EPHL            22            5            13            4            1320            74            0            3.36            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1961–62            Quebec Aces    AHL            65            28            33            4            3900            185            5            2.85            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1962–63            Quebec Aces    AHL            67            31            25            11            4020            190            4            2.84            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1963–64            Montreal Canadiens            NHL            62            33            18            11            3720            140            8            2.26            .920            7            3            4            420            16            1            2.29            .920

1963–64            Quebec Aces    AHL            10            4            6            0            600            32            1            3.20            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1964–65            Montreal Canadiens            NHL            53            26            16            10            3180            135            3            2.55            .905            5            3            2            300            10            1            2.00            .925

1965–66            Montreal Canadiens            NHL            26            12            7            2            1301            56            1            2.58            .906            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1966–67            Montreal Canadiens            NHL            37            11            15            7            2055            88            3            2.57            .910            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1967–68            Oakland Seals NHL            58            13            29            13            3311            158            3            2.86            .905            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1968–69            Oakland Seals NHL            14            4            6            1            781            48            0            3.69            .881            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1968–69            Vancouver Canucks            WHL            13            7            2            4            779            32            0            2.54            —            8            8            0            497            12            1            1.45            —

1969–70            Oakland Seals NHL            14            3            5            2            738            43            0            3.50            .891            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

1970–71            Vancouver Canucks            NHL            35            15            13            5            1967            112            0            3.42            .892            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

AHL totals            195            86            89            19            11,700            567            13            2.91            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —            —

NHL totals            358            150            125            61            20,753            925            24            2.70            .907            16            7            8            804            32            2            2.39            .915