Height: 6-2
Weight: 195
Shoot: L
Born: 5 Jul 1947, St Catherines ON
| 
| 
| 
|
Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1972-73 | Los Angeles | |||||||||||
| Minnesota | ||||||||||||
| Totals (2 teams) | ||||||||||||
| 1973-74 | Cleveland | |||||||||||
| Los Angeles | ||||||||||||
| Totals (2 teams) | ||||||||||||
| Totals: |
|
Young Likes Warm Weather • by Charley Hallman • The Hockey Spectator • March 9, 1973
A Canadian who avoids cold weather? That's kind of like a Brazilian who likes to winter in Edmonton. Yet, William Andrew (Bill) Young is very much that way. Even in May and June, when the hockey season is over, it's still too cold for Young to meander back to his home town of St. Catherines, Ontario. "It's rainy and nippy and I'm just not used to that any more," said the Minnesota Fighting Saints' left winger from his bed at the Capp Towers Motel in St. Paul. While the Fighting Saints were in Houston, Young was coping with the chills because of a bout with the flu. His low resistence to the frigid air in Minnesota had kept him out for 10 days. Young hadn't played for a team north of the Mason-Dixon line since turning pro in 1968. He spent a season and a half with Greensboro in the Eastern League, fashioning 50 goals and 66 assists in 71 games before being brought to Dallas of the Central League halfway through the 1969-70 season. After a career as a CHL tough guy, Young bolted to the fledgling World Hockey Association with first Chicago, then Los Angeles and now Minnesota. While he "actually signed with the Cougars, I really knew I was going to Los Angeies to play," said Young. "Chicago had already worked out the arrangement which was to send Bob Liddington and Bobby Whitlock from L.A. for me. And I really liked the idea of playing on the West Coast." The 25-year-old bachelor took a house on the ocean at Newport Beach. "It was a beautiful place, and just 10 minutes from the rink where we practiced. I enjoyed watching the birds and sand and boats but really didn't get into swimming in the ocean." But though he enjoyed the climate inthe Los Angeles area, Young says it's difficult for the Sharks to think about hockey. "It's really like being a visiting chub in your home rink. You don't get that much of an opportunity to practice and the weather does spoil things. It's pretty hard to get up for a game." Thus, he was quite happy when traded to the Fighting Saints for Fred Speck. "Although I was treated very well by Dennis Murphy (L.A. President and General Manager) out there, I'm happy to be back in a hockey area." He says "it really wasn't that great the first couple of days, though, it was pretty cold. Then, I pulled a groin in a collision with one of the Ottawa players. He went one way and I went the other. It was the first time I'd ever had that kind of injury." Immediately after recovering from the groin injury, he contacted the flu. "I could have really made the Houston trip but I'd only skated for a day or so and the Saints' people told me they'd rather have me at 100 percent when I was able to olay. So I stayed behind and worked out with one of the high school teams (St. Paul Academy)." Despite the injury and illness problems, Young has 16 goals and 14 assists at this writing. He hopes to hit 25 for the season. "I'm really not that much of a goal scorer. Nothing outstanding. I just go up and down my wing. But I take a iot of pride in what I do. I'm a big guy (6-2, 195 pounds) and it took me awhile to come around in pro hockey. I really learned a lot in the Eastern League and when I did join Dallas, I didn't take a regular shift until my second year. Most of professional hockey is just confidence, and I'm at the point now where I have quite a bit of it." Young thinks the Saints playoff chances "are quite good, We have a good team bere with good support and if we make the playoffs and I pass the 20-22 goal mark I'd be quite happy." Being a bachelor, Young was asked if he has any marriage plans. "A single man is what I'd like to remain," he said with a twinkle. "Actually, when we finish the season I'll go to L. A., then to the Carolinas, then up home for awhile, then back to the Twin Cities. Do you really think that's the good life for a wife and family?" He thus ended up living in a hotel. "It really isn't that bad. The hotel manager, Earl Scott, and his staff take pretty good care of Blaine (Rydman) and me. Next year, I'll probably get an apartment, though. It's easier, I guess. But hotel living can be more convenient." |
_______________________________________
Home • Book • Credits & Legal Stuff
(c) Scott Surgent