Rick Middleton

SPORTS

Scarborough native Rick Middleton began his professional hockey career as a first round draft pick of the New York Rangers in 1973. He finished off the ’73-’74 season with a flourish as Rookie of the Year in the American Hockey League with the Providence Reds. Rick then went on to play right wing with the Rangers for two years before being traded to the Boston Bruins in 1976 for Ken Hodge, where he scored a hat trick in his first ever game as a Bruin. After going to the Stanley Cup finals two years in a row against the Montreal Canadiens in 1977 and ’78, Rick wouldn’t see the finals for another 10 years. He reached the 50 goal plateau in 1982 scoring 51 goals that year, and almost did it two years in a row, scoring 49 the next. He was also voted onto the second all-star team that year at right wing. By 1985 Rick had earned his place as captain of the Bruins by being named co-captain with Ray Bourque. Middleton, who was recognized as one of the very few players in the NHL that was strong on both the power play and as a penalty killer, credits much of his success in hockey to his old Bruin coach Don Cherry, who very early in his career encouraged him to work on his defense. In 1981 and 1984 Rick was a member of the Canadian team in the Canada Cup tournaments. He always said that one of his great memories in his hockey career was winning the Canada Cup in 1984 while playing on a line with Michel Goulet and Wayne Gretzky! In 1988 Rick went to the Stanley Cup Finals for a third and final time in his career, as he would retire later that year after 14 seasons in the NHL where he recorded 448 goals and 540 assists in 1005 games. Rick went into private business during the 90’s, but got back into hockey as the coach of the US National Sled Hockey team in the 2002 Paralympics where they went on to win the gold medal as the last seeded team in the tournament. Rick is currently the President of the Boston Bruins Alumni who schedule and play 20-25 charity hockey games each year around the New England area.