THE WAYNE STEPHENSON COLLECTION
About Wayne Stephenson
Wayne Stephenson was born January 29, 1945 and passed away June 22, 2010.
After playing junior hockey for the Winnipeg Braves, Wayne Stephenson was asked to play for the Edmonton Oil Kings in the 1965 Memorial Cup. After that, he spent the next five years with the Canadian National Team and Father David Bauer. He played in several international tournaments including the World Championships in both 1967 and 1969, as well as the 1968 Olympics where he and his Canadian teammates won bronze medals. Playing hockey at this level allowed Stephenson, and many of his teammates, to go to university and advance their education while playing hockey.
The Canadian National team was gearing up for a gold medal run at the 1972 Olympics and had assembled a very talented team, but in January 1970 Canada announced that it was withdrawing from all international hockey competition in response to the International Ice Hockey Federation’s opposition to allowing professional players to take part. The decision cost Canada the opportunity to host the IIHF World Championship for the first time and well as participation in the 1972 Olympics in Japan. At that stage, 25 year old Wayne Stephenson decided to retire from hockey and focus on his accounting career in Winnipeg.
Then late in the 1971-72 season, St. Louis Blues General Manager Lynn Patrick called the retired Wayne Stephenson and the Blues signed him as a free agent. Wayne made his NHL debut shortly thereafter as a 27 year old rookie. He played in St. Louis for the next two seasons before being traded to the Flyers in 1974. He represented the Flyers in the All-Star Game in both 1976 and 1978. After five seasons in Philadelphia, Stephenson was dealt to the Washington Capitals where he spent two seasons before retiring from the game in 1980-81 at 36 years of age.
Stephenson finished his NHL career with an impressive 146 wins, 103 losses and 49 ties (a handsome .572 winning percentage), and also went 11-12 in the playoffs.
Wayne passed away in 2010 at 65 years of age.
Primary Source: The Hockey Hall Of Fame’s Player Search
Here is what our friends at Wikipedia have to say about Wayne.
Here are Wayne’s lifetime stats courtesy of HockeyDB.com.