Frank St. Marseille

Joseph Francis Léo (Frank) St-Marseille (born December 14, 1939) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played right wing in the National Hockey League for the St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings from 1967 to 1977. St. Marseille is of Ojibwe-Métis , French-Canadian and Finnish descent. He is from Levack, which is situated in the Sudbury regional municipality in Ontario, Canada.[1][2]

Frank St. Marseille
St-Marseille as a member of the St. Louis Blues in 1971
Born (1939-12-14) December 14, 1939
Levack, Ontario, Canada
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 180 lb (82 kg; 12 st 12 lb)
Position Right Wing
Shot Right
Played for St. Louis Blues
Los Angeles Kings
NHL Draft Undrafted
Playing career 1967–1977

Playing career

After not being drafted because he was considered too slow for the big leagues, St-Marseille played the early stages of his career starting with the Chatham Maroons. During the fall of 1962, he tried out with the Chatham Maroons of the Senior Ontario Hockey Association and made the team; he got 39 points. The Maroons then moved to the International Hockey League (1945–2001), and St-Marseille moved with the team. He compiled a respectable 64 points in 70 games during the 1963-1964 season. The next season Chatham Maroons (IHL) dropped out of the league and St- Marseille was picked up by the Port Huron Flags, in the IHL. St-Marseille had three impressive seasons with Port Huron between 1964–67, including winning an International Hockey League playoff title, known as the Turner Cup, in 1966. He scored 97, 90 and 118 points for a total of 305 points in only 210 games.[3]

At this point, he had worked his way through the minors and was coming off the 1967 season with Port Huron; he was named to the league second all-star team and had been signed by the expansion team St. Louis Blues.[4] The 1967 NHL expansion opened up a whole new world of opportunities for eager young newcomers, many of whom likely would have taken far different career paths if the league had remained a closed Original Six entity. St-Marseille began playing for a minor-league team, the Kansas City Blues, mainly as an affiliate of the St. Louis Blues. However, only 11 games in with the team, St-Marseille was called up by Scotty Bowman along with his line mates Gary Sabourin and Terry Crisp. Bowman was quoted as saying they "were better than our third line in St. Louis" referring to Frank, Gary and Terry.[5] Known as a defensive-minded forward, St-Marseille often played on checking lines that were assigned to play against the opponent's top scoring line. Despite this, he still averaged 16 goals per season during a 5-year stretch with St. Louis that saw the Blues reach three straight Stanley Cup finals (losing to the Montreal Canadiens twice and the Boston Bruins).[4][6] He made the 1970 West Division All-Star team playing with great hockey legends such as Bobby Clarke and teammate Jacques Plante, who was the first NHL goaltender to wear a goaltender mask.[7] From 1970-72 St-Marseille captained the team.[8] He also played on both the penalty killing and power play units for the Blues, had a plus/minus rating of +37 during that 5-year period and sits tied for 6th on the all-time game-tying goals list for the Blues.[9] In 62 playoff games with the Blues, St- Marseille tallied 19 goals and 24 assists.

Midway through the 1972–73 season, St-Marseille was traded to the Los Angeles Kings for Paul Curtis on January 27, 1973,[10] and played the final four and a half years of his career in the NHL. St-Marseille continued his defensive forward and penalty killing roles with the Kings, but no longer played on the power play. He scored 54 goals in his tenure with the Kings, and the club made the playoffs in each of his final four seasons with them. His best performance in Los Angeles was a 53 point performance in 1974-75. His career high came in St. Louis in 1969-70 (59 points). St-Marseille finished his hockey career in 1977-78 when he played one season in the American Hockey League for the Nova Scotia Voyageurs before retiring as a player to become the Voyageurs coach; he also spent one year as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Kings. His NHL totals in 10 NHL seasons were 140 goals and 285 assists for 425 points in 707 games.[11]

Personal life

St-Marseille grew up in the mining town of Levack, Ontario, which is now in the City of Greater Sudbury. His father Stéphane was a violinist, his grandfather, Adélard, was a baritone and his aunt also sang.[12] Frank's older brother Frédéric Stéphane St-Marseille died at the age of 73 from congestive heart failure; he performed all over the world with major opera companies.[12] While St-Marseille would become a professional hockey player, he left the game of hockey when he decided to move back to Canada to help his sons Rob St-Marseille and Chris St-Marseille develop as a hockey player.[4] Rob was drafted in 1982 by Kingston of the Ontario Hockey League.,[13] He also played at Lake Superior State University. He now is a constable for the Sudbury detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police.[14]Chris played junior hockey for the Rayside Balfour Canadians (NOJHL) and tried out for the North Bay Cententials (OHL). Chris has two sons, Ben and Alex, who both play junior hockey.[11] Frank's Grandson Joseph Ranger plays in goal for the Missisauga Steelheads (OHL).

In 1988, a Hall of Fame was established in Valley East, and St-Marseille and Ron Duguay were the first athletic members to be inducted.[15][16] Frank’s career has been celebrated with a Major Peewee Championship being named after him in the Nickel District Minor Hockey League.[17]

Career statistics
Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1960–61 Levack Huskies NOHA
1961–62 Levack Huskies NOHA
1961–62 New Haven Blades EHL 3 0 0 0 9 — — — — —
1962–63 Sudbury Wolves EPHL 3 0 2 2 0 — — — — —
1962–63 Chatham Maroons OHA-Sr. 45 17 22 39 49 10 4 1 5 4
1963–64 Chatham Maroons IHL 70 31 33 64 21 — — — — —
1964–65 Port Huron Flags IHL 70 38 59 97 57 7 2 5 7 24
1965–66 Port Huron Flags IHL 68 45 45 90 28 9 6 6 12 12
1966–67 Port Huron Flags IHL 72 41 77 118 46 — — — — —
1967–68 Kansas City Blues CPHL 11 7 8 15 0 — — — — —
1967–68 St. Louis Blues NHL 57 16 16 32 12 18 5 8 13 0
1968–69 St. Louis Blues NHL 72 12 26 38 22 12 3 3 6 2
1969–70 St. Louis Blues NHL 74 16 43 59 18 15 6 7 13 4
1970–71 St. Louis Blues NHL 77 19 32 51 26 6 2 1 3 4
1971–72 St. Louis Blues NHL 78 16 36 52 32 11 3 5 8 6
1972–73 St. Louis Blues NHL 45 7 18 25 8 — — — — —
1972–73 Los Angeles Kings NHL 29 7 4 11 2 — — — — —
1973–74 Los Angeles Kings NHL 78 14 36 50 40 5 0 0 0 0
1974–75 Los Angeles Kings NHL 80 17 36 53 46 3 0 1 1 0
1975–76 Los Angeles Kings NHL 68 10 16 26 20 9 0 0 0 0
1976–77 Los Angeles Kings NHL 49 6 22 28 16 9 1 0 1 2
1976–77 Fort Worth Texans CHL 16 6 12 18 4 — — — — —
1977–78 Nova Scotia Voyageurs AHL 74 14 14 28 38 11 3 2 5 0
IHL totals 280 155 214 369 152 16 8 11 19 36
NHL totals 707 140 285 425 242 88 20 25 45 18

[11]

Coaching Record
    Regular season
Season Team League Games CoachedWLTWin PercentageResults
1976–77 Fort Worth Texans CHL: Assistant Coach ———
1977–78 Nova Scotia Voyageurs AHL: Head Coach81 3728160.556Lost in round 2
1978–79 Nova Scotia Voyageurs AHL: Head Coach80 393740.513Lost in round 2
1979–80 Los Angeles NHL: Assistant Coach ———

[11]

Notes
  1. "Indigenous Hockey | Promoting, motivating and bringing news". Indigenous Hockey | Promoting, motivating and bringing news. Archived from the original on 2017-04-19. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  2. Team, Maplandia.com. "Levack Map | Canada Google Satellite Maps". www.maplandia.com. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  3. "Frank St- Marseille hockey statistics and profile at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  4. "Legends of Hockey -- NHL Player Search -- Player -- Frank St- Marseille". www.legendsofhockey.net. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  5. "Scotty Bowman shares milestone memories". NHL.com. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  6. "Experiment Time For Maple Leafs". betweentheposts.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  7. "1970 NHL All-Star Game Rosters | Hockey-Reference.com". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  8. "Blues Captains". St. Louis Blues. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  9. "All-Time Offense Leaders". St. Louis Blues. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  10. "Frank St-Marseille trades - NHL Trade Tracker". www.nhltradetracker.com. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  11. "Frank St. Marseille". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  12. nurun.com. "Opera singer remembered as great performer". Sudbury Star. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  13. "1982 Ontario Hockey League Draft -- Round 6". hockeydraftcentral.com. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  14. nurun.com. "Sudburians stuffed a cruiser". Sudbury Star. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  15. "Heritage Museums". www.sudburymuseums.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  16. "Fame". valleyeasttoday.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  17. nurun.com. "PASCAL: NDHL championship weekend wrap". Sudbury Star. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
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