Johnny McKenzie, 2-time Stanley Cup winner with Bruins, dies at 80
He was not on the list.
BOSTON -- Johnny McKenzie, a rough-and-tumble right wing who helped lead the Boston Bruins to two Stanley Cup titles, has died. He was 80.
The team says McKenzie died Saturday, citing its alumni department. A cause was not given.
McKenzie also played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers, as well as the New England Whalers. But he was mostly known for his time with the Bruins from 1965 to 1972, when he was a key part of teams that won the Stanley Cup in 1970 and 1972.
McKenzie was born in High River, Alberta, Canada. He was just 5-foot-9 and 175 pounds, but that did not deter his physical play. He had 169 goals and 227 assists with the Bruins, along with 710 penalty minutes over 454 games..
McKenzie made his NHL debut in 1958–59 with the Chicago Black Hawks. The following season he moved on to the Detroit Red Wings, where he lasted two years. He was then demoted again to the minors, where he played most of three seasons in the American Hockey League with the Hershey Bears and the Buffalo Bisons, and was named to the league's First All-Star Team in 1963. He returned to the NHL and the Black Hawks in 1963–64, and two years later played for the New York Rangers for part of the 1965–66 season, halfway during which he was traded to the Rangers' arch-rivals, the Boston Bruins. McKenzie scored his first goal as a Bruin on January 20, 1966 in Boston's 4-3 home victory over Chicago.
It was with the Bruins that the 5-foot-9-inch, 170 pound (77 kg) right wing had the most productive seasons of his career. He became a star in the 1967-68 season, scoring twenty-eight goals and gaining a reputation as a pesky, relentless hustler. He scored twenty-nine goals each of the next two seasons, and was named to the Second Team All-Star in 1969–70. In the playoffs that year he scored seventeen points in fourteen games, fourth on the team after Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito and John Bucyk and did so again in 1971-72. His best season was 1970–71, when he scored 31 goals and 77 points in 65 games. All in all, McKenzie scored 169 goals in his seven years in Boston and helped the Bruins win two Stanley Cup titles, in 1970 and 1972.
At the end of the sixth and last game in the 1972 Stanley Cup finals, when the Bruins defeated the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden 3-0 to take the Cup, McKenzie skated to center ice, raised one arm in mimicry of the Statue of Liberty, placed his other hand around his neck to appear as though he were choking, then jumped up and down in a circle several times. (Thus he implied, to the Rangers and their fans, that the Rangers had choked at their best chance of winning their first Stanley Cup since 1940). This became known as the "McKenzie Choke Dance," or simply the "choke dance."
In the summer of 1972, McKenzie was disgruntled at being left unprotected in the expansion draft, and he signed as player-coach with the Philadelphia Blazers of the newly formed World Hockey Association (WHA). In thirteen games he recorded only two wins and eleven losses, and he stepped down as coach in favor of veteran Phil Watson. He continued to play effectively for the Blazers, then for the Minnesota Fighting Saints, the Cincinnati Stingers and finally the New England Whalers. He finished his career in the WHA's final season in 1978-79, having played twenty-one seasons of professional hockey in the NHL and WHA.
McKenzie died at his home in Wakefield, Massachusetts, at age 80 on June 9, 2018, after a long illness.
His #19 was retired by the Hartford Whalers, making him one of only three players whose number was retired by an NHL franchise for which he never played (the other two being J. C. Tremblay by the Quebec Nordiques and Frank Finnigan by the modern-day Ottawa Senators).
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1953–54 Calgary
Buffaloes WCJHL 34 6 8 14 12 5 0 0 0 2
1954–55 Medicine
Hat Tigers WCJHL 39 14 4 18 33 5 0 0 0 4
1955–56 Nanton
Palominos FHHL — — — — — — — — — —
1955–56 Calgary
Stampeders WHL 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 2
1956–57 St.
Catharines Teepees OHA 52 32 38 70 143 14 9 11 20 50
1957–58 St.
Catharines Teepees OHA 52 48 51 99 227 8 8 4 12 19
1958–59 Chicago
Black Hawks NHL 32 3 4 7 22 2 0 0 0 2
1958–59 Calgary
Stampeders WHL 13 2 5 7 18 — — — — —
1959–60 Detroit
Red Wings NHL 59 8 12 20 50 2 0 0 0 0
1960–61 Detroit
Red Wings NHL 16 3 1 4 13 — — — — —
1960–61 Hershey
Bears AHL 47 19 23 42 84 8 3 6 9 10
1961–62 Hershey
Bears AHL 58 30 29 59 149 7 1 2 3 19
1962–63 Buffalo
Bisons AHL 71 35 46 81 122 13 8 12 20 28
1963–64 Chicago
Black Hawks NHL 45 9 9 18 50 4 0 1 1 6
1964–65 St.
Louis Braves CHL 5 5 4 9 17 — — — — —
1964–65 Chicago
Black Hawks NHL 51 8 10 18 46 11 0 1 1 6
1965–66 New York
Rangers NHL 35 6 5 11 36 — — — — —
1965–66 Boston
Bruins NHL 36 13 9 22 36 — — — — —
1966–67 Boston
Bruins NHL 69 17 19 36 98 — — — — —
1967–68 Boston
Bruins NHL 74 28 38 66 107 4 1 1 2 8
1968–69 Boston
Bruins NHL 60 29 27 56 99 10 2 2 4 17
1969–70 Boston
Bruins NHL 72 29 41 70 114 14 5 12 17 35
1970–71 Boston
Bruins NHL 65 31 46 77 120 7 2 3 5 22
1971–72 Boston
Bruins NHL 77 22 47 69 126 15 5 12 17 37
1972–73 Philadelphia
Blazers WHA 60 28 50 78 157 4 3 1 4 8
1973–74 Vancouver
Blazers WHA 45 14 38 52 71 — — — — —
1974–75 Vancouver
Blazers WHA 74 23 37 60 84 — — — — —
1975–76 Minnesota
Fighting Saints WHA 57 21 26 47 52 — — — — —
1975–76 Cincinnati
Stingers WHA 12 3 10 13 6 — — — — —
1976–77 Minnesota
Fighting Saints WHA 40 17 13 30 42 — — — — —
1976–77 New
England Whalers WHA 34 11 19 30 25 5 2 1 3 8
1977–78 New
England Whalers WHA 79 27 29 56 61 14 6 6 12 16
1978–79 New
England Whalers WHA 76 19 28 47 115 10 3 7 10 10
WHA totals 477 163 250 413 619 33 14 15 29 42
NHL totals 691 206 268 474 917 69 15 32 47 133
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