Height: 5-8
Weight: 170
Catch: R
Born: 3 May 1951, Montreal PQ
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Regular Season Goaltending Record (key)
| year | team | ||||||||
| 1973-74 | Chicago | ||||||||
| 1974-75 | Chicago | ||||||||
| 1975-76 | Cincinati | ||||||||
| Totals: |
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Kid Coutu Makes Strong Debut • by Reid Grosky • The Hockey Spectator • December 28, 1973
A headline writer called him Kid Coutu, and why not? It was an apt title for young Richard Coutu, who arrived in Chicago one evening at 4 p.m., and at 7:30 p.m. was the goaltender for the Chicago Cougars against Edmonton. A fast start indeed. And Coutu almost responded with a shutout. Oh, he was scored upon — once — on & two-man breakaway. "Maybe I could have done something about it," he wondered afterward. But no one knew what more Kid Coutu could have done to improve his debut with the Cougars. Perhaps his teammates could have done more, The Cougars lost the game 2-0, the last goal being scored after Coutu was lifted for a sixth attacker in the final minute of the game. But the kid made his impression. "I think he played a fine game," said Pat Stapleton, who had recalled Coutu from the Cougars' minor league team in Long Island. "I'd been hearing some good things about him," Stapleton continued, "so I decided to have a look. If that one game meant anything, he's proved he can play up here." Coutu, 22 years old, said: "l was nervous, but I just tried to think to myself that it was just another game. I'd just played three games (with Long Island) over the weekend and had plenty of work. There were 63 shots at me in one of them (a 3-3 tie)." Well, the North American Hockey League is wide open, and hopefully Coutu will find the Cougars' defense an improvement. The kid had looked good in the fall training practices, but the team decided to stick with its veteran backup goaltender, Andre Gill. Now Gill is being pressed for his job, and perhaps that was the idea all along, to shake Gill up somewhat mentally. Cam Newton, after all, cannot play every night. But then, maybe Coutu will stick and Gill will be sent down to Long Island. Only Stapleton knows for sure. "I'm not even certain why they brought me up," Kid Coutu said. "But I hope I stay awhile." Said Stapleton: "I think he's earned at least another game." Thus, the Cougars may have themselves an excellent young prospect for a goaltender, if not for the rest of this season then certainly for the future, in Kid Coutu. |
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