Jeffrey died Monday on the age of 81.
A virtually indestructible ahead, Jeffrey performed in 368 common season video games for the Detroit Purple Wings, Maple Leafs and New York Rangers. He scored 101 factors (39 objectives, 62 assists) and 14 factors (4 objectives, 10 assists) in 38 Stanley Cup Playoff video games.
That Jeffrey even made it to the NHL was a small miracle.
He was enjoying junior hockey for the Purple Wings affiliate in Hamilton, Ontario in 1960-61 when he suffered a charley horse so unhealthy he could not bend his knee. It was the primary in a protracted checklist of accidents that Jeffrey would recuperate from; he underwent between 9 and 14 knee surgical procedures, in line with the supply.
Detroit’s Larry Jeffrey slides into the goalpost behind Toronto goalie Johnny Bower. Graphic Artists/Hockey Corridor of Fame
“It simply continued to trigger me issues yearly after that, most likely as a result of they did not have the tools in these days to take care of critical accidents,” Jeffrey mentioned of the charley horse, quoted by hockey historian Joe Pelletier. “That they had a bathe and a hose, and that was like a whirlpool. You held the hose to stimulate the charley horse.”
When calcium deposits developed, Jeffrey was flown to Detroit for remedy. He remembered the fun of that.
“One physician grabbed my shoulder and held me down, the opposite acquired on my leg and actually grabbed it and bent it together with his weight,” he mentioned. “They gave me a gentle sedative. I keep in mind every thing about it. When he gave me the stress on my knee, it was like breaking bones. It was very painful. I heard the crack. I believed they broke my leg as a substitute of the adhesions.” “
A physician recommended that Jeffrey wouldn’t have the ability to stroll with out assist, however he had different concepts. He turned skilled with Edmonton of the Western Hockey League in 1961-62 and was named the league’s Rookie of the Yr after scoring 42 factors (20 objectives, 22 assists) and 80 penalty minutes in 48 video games.
Detroit’s Larry Jeffrey tries to push the puck previous Toronto goalie Johnny Bower throughout the 1964 Stanley Cup Remaining, with the assistance of Maple Leafs ahead Frank Mahovlich. Michael Sr. Burns/Hockey Corridor of Fame
He additionally made his NHL debut that season with the Purple Wings. He performed 18 video games, however the first one actually was one for the books.
Arriving from Edmonton on February 11, 1962, Jeffrey was pushed from the airport by police to Olympia Stadium for a recreation towards the Maple Leafs, arriving minutes earlier than the showdown. He laced up his skates, ran to the dugout after which scored his first NHL objective at 2:33 into the second interval, assisted by Invoice Gadsby and Norm Ullman. It was the Purple Wings’ fourth objective in a 5-0 victory.
It would not be Jeffrey’s most notable objective for Detroit.
In 1963-64, in a line largely with Ullman and Floyd Smith, he scored 28 factors (10 objectives, 18 assists) in 58 video games. That in itself was notable, on condition that Jeffrey had undergone surgical procedure the earlier season after his knee was shattered in a collision with Boston defenseman Ted Inexperienced.
Jeffrey wore numerous knee braces for the following half dozen years.
Larry Jeffrey poses for a Detroit Purple Wings portrait at Maple Leaf Gardens. That photograph would go on for use for the 1963-64 (heart) and 1964-65 Bee Hive Golden Corn Syrup promotional giveaways. Turofsky/Hockey Corridor of Fame; Bee hives courtesy of Aubrey Ferguson
Jeffrey, trailing the Maple Leafs 1-0 within the 1964 Stanley Cup Remaining, scored on a go from Gordie Howe at 7:52 of additional time in Recreation 2, beating Toronto goaltender Johnny Bower. , to provide Detroit a 5-4 win. The Maple Leafs, nevertheless, received their third straight championship, beating the Purple Wings in a seven-game remaining after defeating them in 5 the earlier yr.
Jeffrey can be a part of a blockbuster commerce on Could 20, 1965, included in an eight-player deal that despatched him to Toronto with Aut Erickson, Eddie Joyal, Lowell MacDonald and Marcel Pronovost in change for Andy Bathgate, Billy Harris and Gary Jarrett. .
Jeffrey performed 20 video games for the Maple Leafs in 1965-66 and spent a lot of the season with Rochester within the American Hockey League. In 1966-67 he performed 56 video games for the Maple Leafs and matched his NHL greatest with 28 factors (11 objectives, 17 assists).
However he can be out of the ultimate towards the closely favored Montreal Canadiens, having undergone surgical procedure for torn knee ligaments after dealing with Chicago’s Stan Mikita within the semi-final. On crutches, Jeffrey would have fun Toronto’s shock championship.
Larry Jeffrey (second row down, second from proper) was a member of the 1967 Stanley Cup-winning Toronto Maple Leafs. MacDonald Stewart/Hockey Corridor of Fame
Unprotected within the 1967 enlargement draft, Jeffrey was chosen by the Pittsburgh Penguins on June 6 and was traded to the New York Rangers that very same day for 4 gamers.
Jeffrey performed two seasons with the Rangers earlier than being traded to the Purple Wings on June 17, 1969, for Terry Sawchuk and Sandy Snow. One remaining damage would finish his profession at age 29, when he crushed his kneecap throughout a preseason recreation towards Cleveland.
“His kneecap is the dimensions of 1 / 4,” Purple Wings coach Sid Abel instructed columnist Joe Falls, as reported by Bob Duff of Detroithockeynow.com. “I doubt Larry will have the ability to play once more.”
Jeffrey disagreed.
“Sid is mistaken, the kneecap is the dimensions of a nickel,” he mentioned. “However I’ll play once more. No less than I hope to. I simply can’t hand over. I am too younger for that.”
Jeffrey educated all season with the Purple Wings however by no means noticed recreation motion.
He listened for the NHL for the following eight years earlier than leaving the sport in 1978, working together with his household on a 120-acre farm north of his hometown of Goderich, Ontario, the place he raised racehorses and Hereford cattle. Jeffrey was bigger than life all over the place he went due to his devotion to Huron County, his good humor and his work for charity.
“Everybody in our group was touched ultimately by Larry Jeffrey and we misplaced, I suppose, our hockey hero,” Goderich Mayor John Grace mentioned of Jeffrey’s demise. “There isn’t any one locally who hasn’t met Larry and he actually was a real icon at Goderich.”