Bill Needham - Misplaced Pages

Canadian ice hockey player and coach (1932–2022)

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Ice hockey player

Bill Needham
Born	(1932-01-12)January 12, 1932 Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Canada
Died	January 25, 2022(2022-01-25) (aged 90)
Height	5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight	175 lb (79 kg; 12 st 7 lb)
Position	Wing
Shot	Left
Played for	IHL Grand Rapids Rockets Toledo Hornets WHL New Westminster Royals AHL Cleveland Barons
Playing career	1952–1972

Bill Needham (January 12, 1932 – January 25, 2022) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward and coach.

Playing career

Needham played for the following minor league teams during his career: Grand Rapids Rockets, Valleyfield Braves, Glace Bay Miners, New Westminster Royals, North Bay Trappers, Toledo Hornets and Cleveland Barons. He holds the franchise record of most games played for the Cleveland Barons, a total of 981, where he spent 15 seasons of his career. In this span, Needham scored 62 goals and 246 assists.

Later life

Needham assumed the role of Coach-Player for the 1971/72 Toledo Hornets, but suited up to play in less than half of their games that year. From 1972-1974 he was the Cleveland Crusaders head coach in the World Hockey Association Goaltender Gerry Cheevers emerged as a star for The Crusaders, after several All-Star years with the NHL Boston Bruins.

Needham died January 25, 2022, at the age of 90.

Coaching record

WHA

Team	Year	Regular season						Post season
Team	Year	G	W	L	T	Pts	Division rank	Result
Cleveland Crusaders	1972-73	78	43	32	3	89	2nd in East	Lost in Division Finals
Cleveland Crusaders	1973-74	78	37	32	9	83	3rd in East	Lost in Semifinals
WHA Total		156	80	64	12

College

Statistics overview
Season	Team	Overall
Massachusetts Redmen Independent (1950–1951)
1950–51	Massachusetts	0–7–0
Massachusetts:		0–7–0
Total:		0–7–0

References

"WILLIAM NEEDHAM Obituary (2022) - Strongsville, OH - the Plain Dealer".

External links

Biographical information and career statistics from The Internet Hockey Database

v t e UMass Minutemen ice hockey
Formerly the Massachusetts Agricultural Aggies, Massachusetts State Aggies and UMass Redmen
Playing venues	Campus Pond (1908–1939, 1947–1951, 1953–1979) Mullins Center (1993–present)
Head coaches	Elton J. Mansell (1917–1922) Herbert Collins (1922–1923) Howard R. Gordon (1923–1924) Lorin Ball (1924–1939) Thomas Filmore (1947–1949) Walter Fitzgerald (1949–1950) Bill Needham (1950–1951) Mel Massucco (1953–1954) Steve Kosakowski (1954–1967) Jack Canniff (1967–1979) Joe Mallen (1993–2000) Don Cahoon (2000–2012) John Micheletto (2012–2016) Greg Carvel (2016–present)
Seasons	1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Conference affiliations	Independent (1908–39, 1947–51, 1953–61, 1993–94) ECAC Hockey (1961–1964) ECAC 2 (1964–1979) Suspended program (1939–47, 1951–53, 1979–93) Hockey East (1994–present)
All-time leaders	Statistical leaders Pat Keenan (180 Points) Pat Keenan (105 Goals) Matt Murray (52 Wins)
National championships	2021
Frozen Four appearances	2019 2021
NCAA Tournament appearances	2007 2019 2021 2022 2024
Conference Tournament titles	ECAC 2: 1972 Hockey East: 2021 2022
Hobey Baker winners	Cale Makar (2019)
University of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst, MA

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