We have some sad news to report.
According to a report from the Peterborough Examiner this morning, long time member of the National Hockey League George "Red" Sullivan has passed away. The former NHLer was reportedly surrounded by members of his family at the St. Joseph’s at Fleming, the health care facility where he had been living for the past several years, when he passed on from this world. He lived a full life and was 89 years old at the time of his passing.
“When he passed it was a relief to see he was not suffering,” said his wife of 67 years Marion Sullivan as per the Examiner. “He died very peacefully.”
Red will leave behind his wife Marion, their children an, Jane, Suzanne and Kate – 12 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren, so there's little doubt that his legacy will far outlive the man himself. Although Sullivan will be best remembered for his exploits on the ice as a long time figure in the National Hockey League his wife stated that hockey was always a very difficult life for Sullivan himself.
“It was a job,” she said. “There were six teams and Red worried about it all the time. In those days there were two-way contracts and if you didn’t produce you were sent down.”
In spite of those concerns however Sullivan would have a very solid NHL career as a player. Over the course of his time in the NHL he would play for the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, and New York Rangers appearing in a total of 556 games, recording 107 goals, adding 239 assists and collecting a total of 346 career points in the league. Shortly following his playing career he would become a coach for the team he last played for, the New York Rangers, eventually coaching the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals as well.
Perhaps the most infamous moment of Sullivan's career was when he nearly died after he was speared by Doug Harvey of the Montreal Canadiens. The spear ruptured his spleen and things were so bad a priest was even called in to read him his last rites, however Sullivan would recover and would continue his playing career in spite of that very scary incident.
Our thoughts go out to the Sullivan family in this difficult time.
