Height: 6-0
Weight: 170
Shoot: R
Born: 29 Jul 1945, Red Deer AB
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1972-73 | Alberta | |||||||||||
| 1973-74 | Edmonton | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
• Scored first regular season goal in WHA history, 11 Oct 1972
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History and Ron Anderson • by Terry Jones • The Hockey Spectator • November 3, 1972
There is a tradition in the sport of hockey that borders on being a hobby. Whenever a hockey player scores a goal that is in any way something of a personal milestone, the player will be found digging into the net to retrieve the puck for his personal collection. And sometimes the collections get rather large. It usually works like this: First goal of career, first hat trick of career, first 20-goal season of career, one hundredth goal of career, two hundredth goal of career, first playoff goal of career ... well, it can go on and on. Trouble is, though, that one hockey puck pretty much looks like another hockey puck. The first goal of career puck looks exactly the same as the 200th goal of career puck. And if the wife goes and mixes them up on you while dusting the trophy case... The danger of that happening to Ron Anderson of Alberta Oilers is rather remote. He has a collection of one puck for starters. And his puck is blue. Until the World Hockey Association came along all pucks were black. When Anderson scored a milestone goal earlier in the month it was immediately inserted into a small trophy made especially for the occasion and presented to him later in the game. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which telecast the game throughout Canada, created the trophy to commemorate the WHA's first goal. Ron Anderson of the Alberta Oilers scored the first goal of the first game of the first season of the World Hockey Association October 11 in Ottawa. That's some kind of milestone. There was another game in progress on opening night for the league but Anderson's goal was the first in either game. It came at 6:19 of the first period on a pass from Jim Harrison that beat Les Binkley in the Ottawa net. "It was nice of them to make it," said Anderson of his trophy. "It's one heck of a souvenir." Since that time Anderson has decided to take up the hobby. Until now the thought hadn't much crossed his mind. In 59 games with the Buffalo Sabres last year, Anderson scored only four goals, In his first four games as an Oiler he had three and scored a hat trick in an exhibition game. "This year from the first day at training camp I seemed to be getting everything together," said Anderson. "One of the biggest helps is that I'm playing with a top center in Jim Harrison. It makes all the difference in the world." In previous years of pro hockey Anderson has been known to miss far more scoring chances than he ever scored on. Suddenly he's finding the target. "Glenn Hall and I have been working with him to help him relax when he has the puck," said Oiler Coach Ray Kinasewich. "Now he isn't fighting the puck. We've been telling him to relax when he shoots. Don't try picking the corner so much as just getting the puck on the net. I think it's working." Kinasewich has another theory on Anderson's success. "For the first time in pro hockey he feels wanted," said the coach who Anderson played for as a junior with the Edmonton Oil Kings. "Before this season he was drafted and traded all over the country." Anderson began his pro career with Memphis of the Central League in 1966 and has since played for Detroit, Los Angeles, St. Louis and Buffalo. In Edmonton he's back home, He came to the junior Oil Kings at 14-years-old from nearby Red Deer. |
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