Remembering Jack McIlhargey

Jack McIlhargey, a two-stint Flyers defenseman, who later served the organization as an assistant coach and then as a scout, passed away in British Columbia on Saturday at the age of 68 after a battle with cancer. McIlhargey, who attended last year's NHL Draft in Vancouver along with the rest of the Flyers contingent, worked for as long as possible while battling his illness.

As a player, McIlhargey spent two NHL-level stints with the Flyers (1974-75 to 1976-77 and 1979-80 to 1980-81) over parts of five seasons. In total, McIlhargey dressed in 128 regular season games for the Flyers (497 penalty minutes, 10 points) and 24 playoff matches (66 penalty minutes, three assists).

In an official statement, the organization said, "The Flyers are saddened to hear of the passing of Jack McIlhargey. Jack began his NHL career with our organization and contributed to our success in a variety of ways, which included player, assistant coach and current scout. He helped our team to three Conference Championships, including two as a player. Jack will be deeply missed, but his legacy with our team will be felt for years to come. He was a large part of drafting the players on today's team and the ones currently in our system who will make up a new generation of Flyers. Our condolences go out to Jack's wife Karyne, and his three daughters, Erin, Georgia and Anna."

McIlhargey, nicknamed "Bucky", had a reputation as a tough guy on the ice who fought willingly and often. Away from the ice, he was a kindly man with a wry sense of humor. There are a legion of stories told about McIlhargey that never fail to make fellow NHL Alumni chuckle in the retelling.

"Bucky was a good man. Good sense of humor, down to earth and a good hockey guy, too. Told funny stories and was fun to be around. I played against him, and he was a tough customer. Only the top heavyweights would tangle with him," recalled Brad Marsh, the president of the Flyers Alumni Association.

Legend has it it that the first time legendary New York Islanders coach Al Arbour saw McIlhargey -- who wore his hair unkempt and sported a thick horseshoe mustache in his early NHL playing days -- step on the ice with the other Broad Street Bullies, Arbour exclaimed, "Oh, no! Not another one!"

John "Cecil" McIlhargey was born in Edmonton on March 7, 1952. After playing his minor hockey and junior hockey in Western Canada, including a stint with the famed Flin Flon Bombers, he turned pro in 1972. Unselected in the NHL Draft, he battled his way up through the minor leagues.

After starting out with the Eastern Hockey League's Jersey Devils, McIlhargey joined the Richmond Robins (the Flyers' American Hockey League affiliate of the mid-1970s). He quite literally fought his way onto the NHL radar of legendary Flyers general manager Keith Allen by taking on all comers at the AHL level and compiling a combined 479 penalty minutes over two seasons.

"I remember when he was working his way up the Flyers from Richmond. He was at the Class of 1923 Rink when I was a student at Penn and a rink attendant at the Flyers' practices. What I specifically remember is that his legs and backside were so thick that they didn't have hockey pants that fit him," recalls United States Hockey Hall of Famer Paul Stewart.

McIlhargey made his NHL debut for the Flyers on Feb. 8, 1975. On a rare bad night for the defending Stanley Cup champions (who were on their way to a second straight championship), the Flyers suffered a 5-0 road loss at the hands of the Minnesota North Stars. With the Flyers trailing 4-0 late in the first period, McIlhargey made his presence felt by delivering a thundering check, which referee Bruce Hood deemed illegal and issued a charging minor.

As soon as McIlhargey exited the penalty box, he made a beeline for Dennis Hextall (the uncle of Flyers Hall of Famer Ron Hextall) and dropped the gloves. "Bucky" picked up an extra roughing minor on top of the fighting major.

Two nights later, McIlhargey was back in Fred Shero's lineup again against St, Louis. It would be until the next season, though, that McIlhargey would crack the Flyers' NHL lineup as a semi-regular. In 57 games for the Flyers in 1975-76, "Bucky" compiled 205 penalty minutes. He also dressed in 15 playoff games (three assists, 41 PIM) as the team returned to the Stanley Cup Final for the third straight year, before their championship reign was ended by the Montreal Canadiens.

McIlhargey remained with the Flyers until midway through the 1976-77 campaign. On Jan 20, 1977, the Flyers traded McIlhargey and fellow defenseman Larry "Izzy" Goodenough to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for long-coveted defenseman Bob "the Count" Dailey.

While in Vancouver, McIlhargey became an instant fan favorite for his pugnacious style on the ice and his off-ice fan friendliness. He later became a longtime minor league head coach, NHL assistant coach (under Tom Watt, Bob McCammon, Pat Quinn and, during a second go-around, under Marc Crawford) and scout for the Canucks.

Philly reacquired McIlhargey from Vancouver via cash transaction on Jan. 2, 1980. He became a semi-regular starter under Quinn in a season that saw the Flyers set a North American professional sports record 35-game unbeaten streak and later come within two wins of the Stanley Cup.

A few weeks after his return to the Flyers, McIlhargey got a warm pregame ovation from Canucks fans when he stepped onto the Pacific Coliseum ice for a game against Philadelphia. The game was notable for a massive line brawl with 5:30 left in the third period of a 7-3 Flyers win.

McIlhargey was not a combatant in the brawl in Vancouver, but he was right in the thick of another donnybrook a few weeks later when the Quebec Nordiques visited the Spectrum.

"Brian Propp started it, and Bucky finished it," recalled Stewart, who by then was a winger and enforcer for the Nordiques.

"The back story is that we had just played Vancouver, and I had sustained a scratched cornea from Brent Ashton, so I had to wear a visor. So we're in Philadelphia, at the Spectrum, and Propp pulled a hit-and-run on me; butt-ended me and going right for the bench. I went right after Brian, who was one of their skill guys, and I immediately saw McIlhargey, Behn Wilson and John Paddock -- three big, tough guys -- all stepping in for Propp. Someone said, 'Take off the bucket,' because of the visor. I said, 'OK, who am I fighting?" Well, I don't recall Jack saying, 'Me!' He just cracked me as hard as I ever got hit in my entire career. Busted me wide open. Thirty-two stitches later, our coach, Jacques Demers, told me I was done for the night."

McIhargey's second stint ended on Nov. 21, 1980, when he and defenseman Norm Barnes were traded to the Hartford Whalers for a 1982 second-round pick (later traded to Toronto). He finished up his playing career with 48 games (142 PIM) with the Whalers that season and 50 the next.

After his playing days ended, McIhargey turned to coaching, first as a minor league assistant in the Whalers organization and then returned to the Canucks organization for the better part of 20 years. He became a fixture in the Vancouver community and Canucks Alumni events.

Stewart, who refereed 1,010 NHL games in the National Hockey League after his own playing days, recalls a humorous exchange with Vancouver assistant coach McIlhargey that became an inside joke between the two,

"Quinner was a coach who really worked the refs, whereas Bucky generally was pretty quiet on the bench. One night in Vancouver, I really got into it with Pat and it looked like Jack wanted to have his say. I said to him. 'Don't YOU start on me, too, because I'm still [mad] at you.' I tapped where the scar was from all the stitches from that night in Philly years before. After that, he'd grin at me whenever I'd tap the spot, and I'd wink back. I liked Jack. Good guy," Stewart said.

On June 22, 2006, after the Canucks announced the hiring of Alain Vigneault as head coach, McIlhargey's long coaching tenure with the Vancouver organization ended as spaces were opened for Vigneault to assemble his own assistant coaching staff.

McIlhargey returned to the Flyers organization in 2007, when he was recruited to serve as an assistant coach under John Stevens. He remained in his post until Dec. 4, 2009 when Stevens was replaced by Peter Laviolette. Lavy brought along his own longtime assistant, Kevin McCarthy (himself a two-stint Flyers player), to serve as the coach for the defense corps.

In 2011, McIhargey was rehired by the Flyers as a scout; beginning a tenure that spanned the rest of his life. That same year, he was inducted in the British Columbia Hockey Hall of Fame.

Although he was very much an old-school tough guy as a player, McIhargey as a scout realized that times were changing. Even as he battled cancer, McIlhargey continued to work for as long as he possibly could. Fittingly, his last NHL Draft was the 2019 edition in Vancouver's Rogers Arena, where he was seated at the Flyers Draft table with the rest of the Flyers' scouts.