Jim Pritchard

James George Pritchard

Born: February 14, 1948 (Winnipeg, Manitoba)
Died: April 1, 2014 (Vancouver)

A rushing defenceman, Jim Pritchard was a first-round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 1968 NHL amateur draft. He spent nine seasons as a professional in the minors without getting a chance to play in the NHL.

After playing junior hockey with the hometown Winnipeg Monarchs, the 5-foot-9, 175-pound defenceman joined the Winnipeg Jets of the Western Canada Hockey League for the 1967-68 season. He had 30 goals and 34 assists, as well as 158 penalty minutes, in 53 games. He was loaned to the St. Boniface Mohawks for four Allan Cup games in 1968, scoring two goals with three assists.

The Canadiens selected him third overall in the 1968 NHL draft, the first player from Western canada to be taken. (The Canadiens also had the first two picks in the draft, taking goalie Michel Plasse and centre Roger Belisle.) Pritchard spent the 1968-69 season with the Houston Apollos.

The Habs kept Pritchard on their protected list for several seasons.

Meanwhile, the defenceman began a peripatetic career in the minors, skating in four different minor-pro leagues (CHL, WHL, EHL and NAHL) for such teams as the Kansas City Blues, Salt Lake Golden Eagles, Amarillo Wranglers, Jacksonville Rockets, Clinton Comets, Long Island Ducks, Long Island Cougars, Erie Blades and Johnstown Jets.

He was an Eastern Hockey League first-team all-star with the Ducks in 1971-72, and he was a North American Hockey League second-team all-star in 1974-75 with the Cougars and in 1975-76 with the Blades. In his only full season with the Blades, Pritchard had his most productive campaign with 16 goals and 54 assists in 71 games.

“Good defence wins hockey games and Jimmy Pritchard us a top flight defenceman,” Blades coach Nick Polano said after the free-agent defenceman signed with Erie.

Though he never made the NHL, Pritchard did play in two games for the Chicago Cougars of the World Hockey Association in 1974-75. He did not get on the scoresheet.

 Jim Pritchard (middle row, far right) was an EHL first team all-star with the Clinton Comets in 1971-72.

Tyler Lawson

Tyler W. Lawson

Born: May 19, 1983 (Barrie, Ontario)
Died: January 6, 2014 (Springwater, Ontario)

 

A rugged defenceman who liked to mix it up, Tyler Lawson spent six seasons throwing around his 6-foot-4, 230-pound frame.

In 19 games with his hometown Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League, he scored a single goal. He was also on his best behaviour, recording only 37 penalty minutes in 2002-03.

The previous season, he managed somehow to be penalized 213 minutes in just 34 games with the junior-A Parry Sound (Ont.) Shamrocks. Playing on the blue-line in Bobby Orr’s hometown, Lawson somehow found the time when not in the penalty box to record four assists.

Used as an enforcer wherever he played, Lawson wore many different sweaters in his brief career, as coaches inserted the bruiser into the lineup to intimidate opponents. He also played junior-A in his home province for the Aurora Tigers, Port Hope Clippers, Blind River Barons, and Espanola Screaming Eagles.

As a professional playing in the minors in the United States, he suited up for the Memphis RiverKings, Laredo (Tex.) Bucks, Richmond (Va.) RiverDogs, Quad City Mallards of Moline, Ill., and the Missouri River Otters of St. Charles, Mo. He played in 34 games in the minor pros for five teams, scoring one goal and adding one assist, while being punished with 217 penalty minutes. 

In two seasons in the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey, a Quebec circuit notorious for donnybrooks, Lawson scored four goals with three assists in 64 games for the Sorel-Tracy Mission and the CRS Express of St-Georges. The referees flagged him for 494 penalty minutes. 

His retired from the minor pros at the end of the 2006-07 season.

Lawson operated heavy equipment on construction sites. He died when his snowmobile collided with a SUV on Ontario County Road 27 in the township of Springwater, outside Barrie.