Height: 6-0
Weight: 185
Shoot: L
Born: 15 Nov 1948, Dryden ON
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1972-73 | Chicago | |||||||||||
| 1973-74 | Chicago | |||||||||||
| 1974-75 | Cleveland | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
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Sometimes Ron Anderson Forgets • by Reid Grosky • The Hockey Spectator • December 22, 1972
Every once in a while, the old left winger in Chicago Cougars' defenseman Ron Anderson comes shining through. Such a time was a recent game in Minnesota when Anderson uncorked a 60-foot slap shot in overtime that won it for the Cougars. "That's helluva shot for a defenseman," someone remarked. A couple years ago they were saying of Anderson, "He plays a helluva defensive game for a forward." Anderson looks back with fondness to those times with Greensboro of the Eastern Hockey League. There were games that tested his courage. "Once I had my ankle cut open and drained and went out on the ice and played because we were shorthanded. That was the worst pain I ever had to go through." There were other games that tested his sinew. "We had a brawl on the ice in Long Island once and the fans wanted to get into the act. One of them threw a beer in our trainer's face and while he was wiping his eyes, this fan hit him in the face and broke his nose. They were real animals." And there were games last year when Anderson switched from left wing to defense, a move he now says probably saved his career. "My first two years I was a forward," he says, "and I was getting discouraged because I guess I should have been playing defense a long time ago. "I was thinking of going back to Canada and going to school, Then last year I went to defense and I started enjoying the game all over again. Now I'm really having a ball out there." This is not to imply Anderson was incompetent as a forward. When Greensboro placed second in its division two years ago, Anderson produced 80 points on 29 goals and 51 assists. But even then he could feel the pull from the goal-getter to the goal-stopper. "I always got more enjoyment out of breaking up a play and playing defensive hockey than offensive hockey, even as a forward," he says. "I like to score goals, but I also like to stop people from scoring them." And so, the 24-year-old Anderson has become a valuable asset as a defenseman for the Cougars. On a team that has trouble scoring, he can help out from the point. On a team that often has trouble clearing from its end of the ice, he can control the puck and carry it out himself. On a team that is respected physically, his 190 pounds on a 6-foot frame add considerably to the reputation. Praises Cougar Coach Marcel Pronovost: "He's very, very mobile and uses his weight to his advantage." Pronovost, it turns out, recommended Anderson to the Cougars. In a success story almost rivaling the drug store discoveries of movie stars, Ron Anderson was discovered on the basis of only one game he played for Pronovost at Tulsa last year. Toronto purchased Anderson's contract and sent him from Greensboro to Phoenix of the Western Hockey League. "Then I went from Phoenix to Tulsa for one game and Marcel was coaching," Anderson recalls. Pronovost saw Anderson play only that one game there, and he liked what he saw enough to recommend the converted left winger for defense position with the Cougars. "I was really lucky," Anderson says. "I got a break. Some guys never get this chance." Anderson, admittedly, is still learning the defenseman trade. Every so often, he'll forget and try to control the puck like a left winger again. "A lot of time, I'll get myself in trouble," he says, "but I have to learn when to get rid of it and when to lug it. Some of the guys get upset with me because I lug it too much. But I say, 'If you want to give me hell, I'll take it', because I know I'm making mistakes." After the game-winner against Minnesota, Ron Anderson caught no hell. |
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