Height: 5-9
Weight: 170
Shoot: R
Born: 28 Nov 1941, Montmartre SK
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1972-73 | Winnipeg | |||||||||||
| 1973-74 | Winnipeg | |||||||||||
| 1974-75 | Winnipeg | |||||||||||
| 1975-76 | Winnipeg | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
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Norm Beaudin — The First Jet • by Vic Grant • The Hockey Spectator • May 4, 1973
At the going rate of points these days Normie Beaudin should win the playoff scoring championship with a grand total of 45. The calculation has worked out on Beaudin's prolific contribution through one playoff series. It was 15 points in five games for Beaudin as he and his Winnipeg Jet teammates pushed the Minnesota Fighting Saints over the cliff of elimination. Taking for granted that the Jets play in three playoff series, taking for granted that all series go a minimum of five games, and taking for granted that Beaudin averages 15 points per series, then we'll take for granted that Beaudin will win the scoring crown with 45 points. Beaudin led all shooters in four league playoff series, which shouldn't come as a surprise for a left winger who scored 103 points during the regular season. Those 103 regular season points were a surprise to many as it topped — by 22 — his previous point high for any given season. Since Beaudin started playing in the World Hockey Association, the oft-repeated question he's asked is why he never made it in the National Hockey League. Carl Brewer asked it. Bobby Hull asked it. Dennis Hull asked it. Wren Blair has the answer. Beaudin is doing all of his scoring with the right wrist that will go under a surgeon's knife during the offseason. It's an old injury which never healed properly and it has sapped the strength in the wrist. Beaudin's been one of the key Jets during the playoffs and in the regular season and rates as a mammoth surprise. Things weren't always gravy for the 32-year-old right winger though. There were times not long ago when he seriously considered quitting the ranks of professional hockey players. He was up down and around the minor leagues for 10 years without getting a solid shot in the NHL. "After eight or nine years you take things for granted," he said, thinking back to the days of riding buses. "You sort of accustom yourself at training camp each year to the fact you'll be playing in the minors." When the WHA was formed Beaudin was ready. He was the first player to sign with Winnipeg and he did it without benefit of an agent. "Maybe it was bad on my part," added Beaudin, referring to the fact that he didn't make use of a lawyer. "When the league was formed, I thought what the hell, I'm not making any money in Cleveland, so if I'm making a few dollars more in Winnipeg I'm ahead." "I was confident the WHA was going to prove itself and I wanted to prove myself. Now I have a better bargaining position. "I didn't think I'd get 100 points this year but I thought I'd get at least thirty goals. When you're working with Bobby Hull and Chris Bordeleau you can't help but score." The success of the line put together permanently after the WHA All Star game lies in the skating and forechecking. It was generally acknowledged at first that Hull would be the scorer, Bordeleau the passer, and Beaudin the forechecker. As it happened, all three were able to do each of the jobs. "Several times we've managed to steal the puck in their end and score a goal to get us going." Bordeleau was presented the O'Keefe award for being the Jets most popular player decided by public vote. Bordeleau received a stereo set for the honor. He should buy another speaker and wire Beaudin in on the sound because without Beaudin this season, neither Bordeleau or Hull would have done quite as much as they did. |
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