Mikita, Torrey, Fisher among deaths in hockey world in 2018

The end of the year offers the chance to reflect on the previous 12 months.

For all the tremendous accomplishments that took place in hockey during 2018, the year was also defined by those we lost, including the NHL's fourth president, one of the greatest players in Chicago Blackhawks history, the architect of the New York Islanders dynasty in the early 1980s, a journalist honored by the Hockey Hall of Fame who covered the NHL for 58 years and three longtime referees.
Here's a look at some of those in the hockey world who left us during the past year, in chronological order:
Bruce Hood
Jan. 5, 2018 (Age 81)
Hood was an NHL referee for 21 seasons, working 1,033 regular-season games, 157 Stanley Cup Playoff games, three NHL All-Star Games and three Canada Cup tournaments before retiring in 1984. He was the last NHL referee to wear No. 1, and the last to work in all six Original Six arenas. Hood was on the ice for some of the NHL's most iconic moments, including Bobby Orr's Stanley Cup-winning goal in 1970. After retiring, he ran development camps for hockey officials and wrote two best-selling books -- "Calling the Shots" in 1988 and "The Good of the Game" in 1999.
Red Fisher
Jan. 19, 2018 (Age 91)
Fisher, a Montreal native, began covering the hometown Canadiens for the Montreal Star in 1954 and continued to cover the team and the NHL for 58 years. "He was the best of his time," longtime Canadiens goalie Ken Dryden wrote in an email to the Montreal Gazette, Fisher's journalistic home from 1979 until he retired in 2012, "and his time lasted a very long time." In 1985, Fisher received the Elmer Ferguson Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame, given "in recognition of distinguished members of the newspaper profession whose words have brought honor to journalism and to hockey." Fisher was appointed to the Order of Canada, one of the country's highest civilian honors, on Dec. 29, 2017, "for his contributions to sports journalism, notably for his iconic coverage of the Montreal Canadiens hockey franchise."

Jim Johannson
Jan. 21, 2018 (age 53)
Johannson, a two-time U.S. Olympian as a player (1998, 1992) and a member of Wisconsin's NCAA championship team in 1983, joined USA Hockey in 2000 and was part of the management team at every Olympics since 2002, when the United States won the silver medal at Salt Lake City. At the time of his death, he was assistant executive director of hockey operations with USA Hockey and general manager of the 2018 Olympic men's team. During his tenure at USA Hockey, teams representing the United States won 64 medals (34 gold, 19 silver, 11 bronze) in major international competition. He also helped launch and implement the highly acclaimed American Development Model and secured USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan, as a home for all U.S. teams.
Greg Smyth
Feb. 16, 2018 (Age 51)
Smyth, a defenseman, played for six teams during 10 seasons in the NHL, appearing in 229 games and finishing with 20 points (four goals, 16 assists) and 783 penalty minutes. The Philadelphia Flyers selected him in the second round (No. 22) of the 1984 NHL Draft. He also played for the Quebec Nordiques, Calgary Flames, Florida Panthers, Chicago Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs before retiring for good in 2000.
Larry Kwong
March 15, 2018 (Age 94)
Kwong, a native of Vernon, British Columbia, was the first Chinese-Canadian in the NHL. The 5-foot-6 center's NHL career began and ended on the same night; he played a single shift, lasting about a minute, for the New York Rangers against the Canadiens at the Forum on March 13, 1948. He was returned to the New York Rovers of the Eastern Hockey League immediately after the game. "When I had a chance to become a Ranger, I was excited," Kwong told The New York Times in 2013. "I said to myself: 'That's what I wanted to be since I was a young boy. I wanted to play in the NHL.'" He played senior hockey in Canada for several years and also played in England before retiring. He was inducted into the British Columbia Hall of Fame in 2013.
Greg Polis
March 17, 2018 (Age 67)
Polis, a forward, was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins with the No. 7 pick in the 1970 NHL Draft. He scored 18 goals as a rookie in 1970-71, then had 30 and 26 in the next two seasons and was selected for the NHL All-Star Game in each of his first three seasons with the Penguins. But Polis was traded to the St. Louis Blues midway through the 1973-74 season and to the Rangers prior to the start of 1974-75. Polis had 26 goals in his first season with New York, but his production dropped off after that and he was claimed on waivers by the Washington Capitals on Jan. 15, 1979. He left the NHL after playing 28 games for the Capitals in 1979-80, finishing with 343 points (174 goals, 169 assists) in 615 games.
Dick Gamble
March 22, 2018 (Age 89)
Gamble scored 23 goals for the Canadiens as a rookie forward in 1951-52 and had the only playoff goal of his NHL career in 1953, when he helped Montreal win the Stanley Cup. He played for the Canadiens, Blackhawks and Maple Leafs during eight seasons in the NHL, finishing with 82 points (41 goals, 41 assists) in 195 games. But Gamble spent the final 15 seasons of his career (except for two games with Toronto in 1965-66 and one in 1966-67) in the American Hockey League, helping Rochester win the Calder Cup three times. He scored at least 30 goals in a season 11 times, led the AHL in scoring at age 38 and finished with 892 points (468 goals, 424 assists) in 898 games.
Darcy Haugan
April 6, 2018 (Age 42)
Haugan, the coach of the Humboldt Broncos Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, was among 16 people killed when the bus carrying the team to a playoff game was involved in an accident in Nipawin, Saskatchewan. Two months later, Haugan won the inaugural
Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award
, presented to the person who best utilizes hockey as a platform for participants to build character and develop important life skills for a more positive family experience, at the 2018 NHL Awards in Las Vegas.
Earl Balfour
April 27, 2018 (Age 85)
Balfour, a defensive forward and penalty killer, broke into the NHL with the Maple Leafs in 1951-52 but didn't become a regular until 1955-56, when he had 19 points (14 goals, five assists) in 59 games. He found a home after being claimed by the Blackhawks in the 1958 intraleague draft. He played the next three seasons with Chicago and helped it win the Stanley Cup in 1961. But that was the end of his NHL career; he spent two seasons in the minors before being reinstated as an amateur and playing five seasons of senior hockey. Balfour had 52 points (30 goals, 22 assists) in 288 NHL games.
Bill Torrey
May 2, 2018 (Age 83)
Torrey played hockey at St. Lawrence College but became involved in management after graduating in 1957. His biggest success came after he was hired as the general manager of the expansion New York Islanders in 1972. Though the first-year team set NHL records for futility in 1972-73, the Islanders went on to win the Stanley Cup in 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983, and get to the Final in 1984. Their 19 consecutive playoff series victories is an NHL record. In 1993, Torrey was named president of the expansion Panthers, and once again he built a contender with astute draft choices. In three years, Florida reached the Stanley Cup Final. Remembered for his trademark bow tie, Torrey retired from active management in 2001, six years after being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a Builder in 1995.

Johnny McKenzie
June 8, 2018 (age 80)
McKenzie was a forward who played for the Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings and Rangers, but he blossomed after being traded to the Boston Bruins by New York on Jan. 10, 1966. He remained one of the NHL's feistiest players but turned into an offensive force after being placed on right wing with center Fred Stanfield and left wing Johnny Bucyk. McKenzie had at least 22 goals and 56 points for five consecutive seasons, from 1967-68 through 1971-72, and helped the Bruins win the Stanley Cup in 1970 and 1972. He was an NHL Second-Team All-Star in 1969-70, when he had 70 points (29 goals, 41 assists). McKenzie left Boston after the 1971-72 season and signed with the WHA, spending seven seasons there before retiring in 1979. He had 474 points (206 goals, 268 assists) in 692 NHL games.
Ray Emery
July 15, 2018 (age 35)
Emery, a goalie selected by the Ottawa Senators in the fourth round (No. 99) of the 2001 NHL Draft, was 145-86-28 with a 2.70 goals-against average, .906 save percentage and 16 shutouts in 287 NHL games (252 starts) in 11 seasons. He made his NHL debut with the Senators during the 2002-03 season and won his first nine games, breaking the League record for victories at the start of an NHL career, that had been held by Bob Froese. He was 21-17 with a 2.64 GAA, .902 save percentage and three shutouts in 39 Stanley Cup Playoff games, including 13-7 with a 2.26 GAA and .907 save percentage in 2007 to help the Senators advance to the Final, when they lost to the Anaheim Ducks in five games. He and Corey Crawford combined to win the William Jennings Trophy in 2012-13, when he went 17-1-0 with a 1.94 GAA and .922 save percentage with the Blackhawks. Emery won the Cup with Chicago in 2013 but did not appear in a postseason game.
Stan Mikita
Aug. 7, 2018 (Age 78)
Mikita played his entire 22-season NHL career as a forward with the Blackhawks and is their all-time leader in points (1,467), assists (926) and games played (1,396). He became the first Chicago player to have his number retired when No. 21 was raised to the rafters of Chicago Stadium in 1980. Mikita is the only player in NHL history to win the Art Ross, Hart and Lady Byng trophies in the same season, and he did it in back-to-back seasons (1966-67, 1967-68). Mikita was born Stanislav Gvoth on May 20, 1940, in what was then Czechoslovakia. His life changed in 1948 when the country was taken over by a communist government; his parents allowed his aunt and uncle, Joe and Anne Mikita, to adopt their son and take him to St. Catharines, Ontario. His hockey career began at age 13, when he was signed by Rudy Pilous, a farm system coach for Chicago. He got the call to Chicago in 1958-59, became a regular the following season and never left, retiring in 1980 and later serving as a Blackhawks ambassador.

Ab McDonald
Sept. 4, 2018 (Age 82)
McDonald played 762 games during 14 seasons in the NHL and is probably best remembered as one of the original members of Chicago's "Scooter Line" with Mikita and Ken Wharram. After winning the Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in 1958, 1959 and 1960, he was traded to the Blackhawks and in 1961 helped Chicago win the Cup for the first time since 1938. McDonald had five 20-goal seasons and finished his NHL career with 430 points (182 goals, 248 assists) in 762 games with the Canadiens, Blackhawks, Bruins, Red Wings, Penguins and Blues.
Danny Lewicki
Sept. 25, 2018 (Age 87)
Lewicki joined the Maple Leafs as a 19-year-old rookie forward in 1950-51 and had 34 points (16 goals, 18 assists), finishing third in voting for the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie, then was part of Toronto's Stanley Cup-winning team in 1951. His scoring dropped off in 1951-52 and he spent most of the next two seasons in the American Hockey League before being traded to the Rangers on July 20, 1954. Lewicki, then 23, had 53 points (29 goals, 24 assists) in his first season with New York and was named an NHL Second-Team All-Star. He spent three more seasons with the Rangers and one with the Blackhawks, finishing his time in the NHL with 240 points (105 goals, 135 assists) in 461 games.
Greg Terrion
Sept. 28, 2018 (Age 58)
Terrion was selected by the Los Angeles Kings in the second round (No. 33) of the 1980 NHL Draft. He spent his first two seasons with the Kings before being traded to the Maple Leafs on Oct. 19, 1982. Terrion, used mainly as a checking center for most of his career, spent his final six NHL seasons with Toronto, finishing in 1988 with 243 points (93 goals, 150 assists) in 561 games.
John Ziegler
Oct. 24, 2018 (Age 84)
Ziegler succeeded Clarence Campbell as NHL president in 1977 and oversaw the growth of the League from 18 to 24 teams during the next 15 years, as well as helping to implement an expansion plan that saw the NHL grow from 21 teams to 30 from 1990 to 2000. The native of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, served as vice president, general counsel and alternate governor of the Detroit Red Wings from 1970-77 before becoming the NHL's fourth president and the first American to hold the post. He helped broker the deal that brought four World Hockey Association teams (Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets) into the NHL. Ziegler also helped the NHL transition to becoming a more international league and was president when the first players from the former Soviet Union entered the NHL. He stepped down in June 1992, five years after being elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builders category. After leaving the NHL, Ziegler served as an alternate governor for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Dan Maloney
Nov. 19, 2018 (Age 68)
Maloney, a power forward selected by Chicago with the No. 14 pick in the 1970 NHL Draft, had 451 points (192 goals, 259 assists) and 1,489 penalty minutes in 737 NHL games during 11 seasons with the Blackhawks, Kings, Red Wings and Maple Leafs. Maloney had back-to-back seasons of 66 points (27 goals, 39 assists) with Los Angeles in 1974-75 and Detroit in 1975-76. He was 45-100 with 15 ties as coach of Toronto from 1984-86, and 91-93 with 28 ties as coach of the Jets from 1986-89. Maloney also served as an assistant with the Rangers in 1992-93.
Mick McGeough
Nov. 23, 2018 (Age 62)
McGeough worked 21 seasons, from 1987-2008, refereeing 1,083 regular-season games and 63 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He was one of the last referees to officiate without a helmet. Most recently, McGeough had most recently worked with the NHL behind the scenes as an officiating supervisor, including during the Eastern Conference First Round last season between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman called him "one of the League's top referees" whose "passion for the game shone through on a nightly basis" and said McGeough earned leaguewide respect for his "unique style that that combined humility and humor with decisiveness and fairness."
Dave Newell
Dec. 16, 2018 (Age 73)
Newell was an NHL referee from 1967-90, working 1,169 regular-season games and 106 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He officiated in the Cup Final in 1981, 1984 and 1976, the 1980 NHL All-Star Game and Rendez-Vous '87, a two-game series between the Soviet Union and a team of NHL all-stars. Following his retirement, Newell spent 15 years with the NHL as an officiating coach, mentoring and developing young officials. "Dave Newell was among the top referees in the NHL," NHL senior executive vice-president of hockey operations Colin Campbell said.