Irv Spencer

Making the NHL is never easy, but it was especially difficult in the days of Original Six.

Take defenceman Irv Spencer, pictured to the right, for example. He played professional hockey from 1957 all the way through 1974. In all those years he only got into 230 NHL games.

"You could be around for three or four years and they could still say you didn't have enough experience," he lamented, adding "Of course there was only six teams in the league. You had to wait until somebody died to get a position."

Fortunately no one actually died. Spencer graduated to the NHL in 1960 skating the next two years with the New York Rangers. He would then move to Boston for a year before joining the Detroit Red Wings organization. Over the next ten years he bounced around the Wings' minor league affiliates, only occasionally getting a chance in Detroit.

But he wouldn't get much of a chance, as he was used sparingly for long stretches.

"If you sat there long enough, it just seemed that you would lose something. I know that's what happened to me somewhat."

In 1972 Spencer was all too happy to jump to the newly formed WHA. He would play the final two seasons in the WHA, playing for the Philadelphia/Vancouver Blazers.

He retired in 1974 under somewhat strange circumstances.

"Strangely enough the person who brought me into the major leagues, Phil Watson, asked me to quit. I was ready to quit. I was finished," said Spencer, pointing out how badly worn his knees were after all the years of hockey.

Spencer settled in San Diego where he had played some minor league hockey. He got into the mortgage and loans department of a local bank.