Height: 5-9
Weight: 170
Shoot: L
Born: 21 Sep 1954, Kingston ON (d. 1995)
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1974-75 | Chicago | |||||||||||
| 1975-76 | Denver-Ottawa | |||||||||||
| Cleveland | ||||||||||||
| Totals (2 teams) | ||||||||||||
| 1976-77 | Indianapolis | |||||||||||
| New England | ||||||||||||
| Totals (2 teams) | ||||||||||||
| 1977-78 | Edmonton | |||||||||||
| 1978-79 | Indianapolis | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
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Needle a Day for Spurs' MacGregor, Diabetic (excerpt) • by Reyn Davis • The Sporting News • November 1975
Gary MacGregor is shadowed every day by one of life's little interruptions, It's been that way since he was 17, the year before he knew he could be a hockey player. Gary has diabetes. "Aw, there's not much to it,"' he said, sitting in a corner of the Denver Spurs' expansive dressing room. "It means a needle every day, but that's just like brushing your teeth. I just have to be careful not to get over-tired and in an 80-game schedule that's never very hard sometimes." He keeps his weight around 170, rests as much as possible and drinks a Coke between periods. MacGregor is the prize in the package that Ivan Mullenix brought to Denver this past summer from Chicago, where the Cougars croaked. He was named The Sporting News' rookie of the year and narrowly missed winning the league award that went to Hedberg, who is 24 years old with experience in world championships behind him in Sweden. "Hedberg's great," said MacGregor. "No matter how old he is, 24, 25 or 26, he was a good choice." Pat Stapleton became a MacGregor believer last season. Stapleton called him "a wonder kid with the perfect attitude who is going to be a great hockey player." Stapleton had no qualms about putting him between two other young players, Frankie Rochon, 22, and Mark Lomenda, 21. Together they formed a pure kid line. But they were more than cute and quick. They swarmed all over teams. MacGregor ended the season with 44 goals and 34 assists. Rochon had 27 goals and 28 assists and Lomenda had 16 goals and 33 assists. They were easily the Cougars' best line. Diabetes posed the threat to a boy's dream in 1972. "For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a hockey player," MacGregor said. "I can't remember my first pair of skates. It seemed I always had skates on my feet. "My parents made a rink in the back yard and the park was nearby and it had a rink." Home is Kingston, Ontario, settled largely by Scottish immigrants, many of whom played instrumental roles in the building of Canada as a major country. MacGregor is from that stock. In 1973, it was becoming fashionable to try to sign juniors under the age limit established by a Canadian Amateur Hockey Association agreement with the National Hockey League. The Cougars were willing to take a chance if MacGregor was game. After all, Stapleton and then director of player personnel Jacques Demers recalled how the pros dangerously overlooked Bobby Clarke because he was a diabetic, too. Clarke has been an inspiration to diabetics around the world. MacGregor elected to wait until his junior tenure was over. After all, he was anxious to see where he stood in the eyes of the NHL. The Montreal Canadiens picked him in the second round. That wasn't big enough. Chosen in the first round by Chicago of the WHA, he elected to sign with the Cougars. A year ago, he reported to camp expecting to see stumblebums all over the place. "I badly underestimated the league," he said. "Everybody was skating faster than me, it seemed." When word came down that the Cougars were leaving Chicago, he was only a bit sad. "You know in Chicago I believe we were really well known," he said. "Known but unseen." Denver hasn't exactly welcomed the team with open arms. Crowds are not flooding through the gates of beautiful new McNichols Arena. Attendance floats near the 3,000 mark. And the Spurs have been playing equally as unimpressive, dropping all four of their exhibition games and their first two league games, both on home ice. A 7-1 shellacking at the hands of the Indianapolis Racers rattled the Spurs. Stapleton, now a Racer, effectively contained MacGregor, whose line is not clicking as it did a year ago. MacGregor blames it on poor communication on the ice. "Before long I think we'll be appreciated in Denver and the crowds will improve," he said. "I know people here are no different than people anywhere else. They want a winner, I don't blame them. We do, too." |
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Excerpts from Zander Hollander Complete Hockey Handbook, 1975-76 (by Reyn Davis) What can you say about him — he's super ... Just missed winning the Lou Kaplan award for WHA Rookie of the Rear in 1974-75 ... Polled 94 votes compared to Winnipeg rookie Anders Hedberg's 104 ... Led his team in goals, 44, and points, 78, while centering two second-year pros, Frankie Rochon and Mark Lomenda ... Had six game winners and eight power-play goals ... Nickname is "Mac" ... lived with an ex-bachelor teammate, Jan Popiel ... Owns a boat and cottage in Ontario ... Earnest worker ... Former coach Pat Stapleton called him years ahead of his time as far as moxie goes ... A gem of a player and person. |
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Excerpts from Pro Hockey, WHA 1976-77 (by Dan Proudfoot)
At the farewell party of the Cleveland Crusaders, a long talk developed between Gary MacGregor and coach Johnny Wilson that undoubtedly will prove significant as the 1976-77 season progresses. MacGregor scored 44 goals in his rookie year with Chicago Cougars, suggesting plenty of potential, but when the Cougars disappeared and his next team, the Denver Spurs, failed to last the 1975-76 season, the young center seemed to falter. The Crusaders picked him up but he never got rolling. One reason for his failure to get much notice in Cleveland was that he was the team's fourth center, behind Jim Harrison, Ron Ward and Richie Leduc. Now, with Leduc gone, Wilson will be expecting MacGregor to participate — and produce — as a regular. |
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