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Les Binkley • Leslie John Binkley

Height: 6-0
Weight: 170
Catch: R
Born: 6 Jun 1934, Owen Sound ON

 

Regular Season Goaltending Record (key)

year team
gp
min
ga
sho
w-l-t
gaa
a
pim
1972-73 Ottawa
30
1709
106
0
10-17-1
3.72
0
0
1973-74 Toronto
27
1412
77
1
14-9-1
3.27
0
0
1974-75 Toronto
17
772
47
0
6-4-0
3.59
0
0
1975-76 Toronto
7
335
32
0
0-6-0
5.73
0
0
Totals:
81
4228
262
1
30-36-2
3.72
0
0

Playoff Goaltending Record

year team
gp
min
ga
sho
w-l
gaa
a
pim
1973 Ottawa
4
223
17
0
1-3
4.57
0
0
1974 Toronto
5
182
17
0
2-2
5.93
0
0
1975 Toronto
1
59
5
0
0-1
5.08
0
0
Totals:
10
464
39
0
3-6
5.17
0
0

Shutouts

Date Opponent Home/Away Score Saves
Jan 1, 1974ClevelandHome3-027

• Shared shutout with Gilles Gratton on Oct 16, 1973.

 

Standing Room Crowd Cheers Nats to Victory (excerpt) • by Bob Mellor • The Hockey Spectator • March 23, 1973

...At 36, Binkley may be in the twilight of his career, but in that stretch alone, be proved it's not over, as some people were beginning to think. And that's a repeat of an old story for Les Binkley.

Often been down, but he's never been out.

"Bink", as he's known universally, is something of a legend in hockey. That legend as they so frequently are, makes better reading than the whole truth.

The legend has it that one night, the Cleveland Barons' only goalie was hurt, they were in desperate straights, and had to call on the only body available in the person of their trainer — one Les Binkley. And as the legend has it, he stepped out from behind the tape rolls and linament bottles to grab instant stardom, because for the rest of that year, the regular guy never got his job back.

Well, it's only partially true. It happened like they said, except that Bink wasn't exactly without experience.

He'd come out of junior hockey with the Galt Black Hawks in Canada's top junior league, but was hardly regarded as a top pro prospect because his set of the tools of ignorance included contact lenses.

"There were hockey players around who wore contacts," recalls Bink, "but no goalies. They wouldn't take a chance on me."

He did catch on for a year at Baltimore, then down to the Eastern League in Charlotte, and over to the International at Toledo for two more. But it looked like a road leading nowhere.

Binkley was at the point of quitting when the breaks started happening. Cleveland's goalie got hurt, and his replacement couldn't make it in time for a game they had coming up. They sent a distress call to Toledo, 100 miles away, and Bink went in for one game to beat Buffalo, which was the league leader that year.

Teams didn't carry spare goalies in those days, but the Barons were impressed. So they invited him to come in and be their trainer and spare goalie. "I'd do anything to make it in pro hockey," Bink says, so he took the job. And after almost a full season, Bink's break — the famous one — finally came.

Well, he gave up only 11 goals in the 15 games that were left of that season, and played four more in the playoffs. And the next year, he won the job on a regular basis, finishing the seasom as the AHL's Rookie of the Year at age 25.

He had four more seasons with Cleveland, one with San Diego in the Western League, and went to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL, where he put in five seasons before coming to the Ottawa Nationals.

Up until quite recently, he'd been severely bothered by a bad knee, and just when he got over that, lost his contacts and had to break in new ones. But with his knee healed and his eyes in focus notwithstanding the momentary flu problem, Bink is back in business, And it couldn't have happened at a better time.

"I'm an old pro," says Bink, "I'm smelling that playoff money."

 

Excerpts from Zander Hollander's Guide to Pro Hockey, 1973-74 (by Reyn Davis & Charley Hallman)

Jumped to Nats from the Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL ... Played five seasons for the Penguins ... Best season was in 1967-68 when he had 2.88 goals-against average in 53 games ... was American League rookie of the year in 1962 and league's leading goalie in 1964-65 ... Doubled as trainer and backup goalie one year in Cleveland ... Has sharp sense of humor and is reputed to be one of the game's best storytellers.

 

 

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