Obituary: Bill White, 77, helped Team Canada reach Summit in ’72
Bill White, a former Chicago Blackhawks defenceman who played in six all-star games and the 1972 Summit Series, died at 77, the Blackhawks confirmed Monday. The cause of death wasn’t released.
The Toronto-born White began his NHL career at age 28 with the expansion Los Angeles Kings in 1967 after toiling in the AHL, receiving his break when the league expanded from six to 12 teams. White spent parts of three seasons with the Kings before the Hawks traded for him in February of 1970 in a six-player deal. White combined with Pat Stapleton to form the Hawks’ top defensive pairing on teams that reached the Stanley Cup final in 1971 and 1973.
Stapleton was more of an offensive force, while White was a defensive defenceman whose value was not recorded in the game summary.
“Pat and I just seemed to click right away,” White told the Hawks’ website in 2010. “I was more of a stay-athome type, and Pat liked to rush the puck. It was like we always knew what each other was thinking and was going to do.”
White also had a reputation around the dressing room as a prankster.
He joined Canada’s squad for the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union after Game 1, finishing with a series-best plus-7 defensive rating while acting as a key part of Canada’s formidable penalty-killing unit.
In an interview with the Star’s Paul Hunter on the 40th anniversary of Canada’s triumph over the Russians, White recalled the scene for the deciding game in Moscow:
“I’ve heard so many stories about how kids were let out of school for the game or TVs were brought in, businesses were shut down. The whole country just shut right down. We didn’t experience that, but we had a ton of telegrams that were sent over to us that we put on the corridor room outside the dressing room. And, of course, the 3,000 Canadian fans there singing ‘O Canada’ on occasion really made it good.”
White earned second-team honours on the NHL’s year-end all-star team and finished third in voting for the Norris Trophy after the ’72, ’73 and ’74 seasons. His career ended due to a neck injury at age 36 in 1976.
White also served as head coach for 46 games in 1976-77, compiling a 16-24-6 record, and Bob Pulford replaced him the next season.
White scored 50 goals with 215 assists in 604 career games, including 30 goals and 149 assists over his seven seasons with the Hawks.