Rick Middleton: Perennial Lady Byng Candidate Starts 1980-81 With A Gordie Howe Hat Trick

Rick Middleton was the Lady Byng Trophy winner in 1981-82 and finished second to Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders for the following two campaigns. Over the 1980-81 season, Rick sat just 16 minutes in penalties while playing in all 80 regular season games for the Boston Bruins. He finished third in voting for the Lady Byng, behind Rick Kehoe and Wayne Gretzky.

Yet, in the first game of the season for the Bruins, Middleton dropped the gloves. Not unheard of, Rick also put up a Gordie Howe Hat Trick at the start of the 1978-79 campaign. On October 9, 1980, he did it again.

The Game

It was the first game of the 1980-81 NHL season for both Boston and the New York Rangers. The Bruins played host at the Boston Garden and, early on, it looked like they were going to be nice to their guests. The Rangers jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the first period with goals by Mike Allison (2:44) and Walt Tkaczuk (3:18).

However, that early shock lit a fire under the Bruins and the team came back with seven consecutive goals to win the game 7-2. Bob Miller had a pair of goals for Boston and sophomore defenseman Ray Bourque had a pair of assists. Brad Park scored a goal against his former team and goaltender Rogie Vachon even got in the action, assisting on a third period goal by Stan Jonathan.

John Davidson simply did not have a good night in goal for the Rangers, allowing seven goals on just 28 shots. Leading the way in the shot category for the Bruins was Middleton with six. Vachon overcame the early two goals to make 23 saves on 25 shots.

The Goal

At 16:03 of the second period, Rick Middleton scored his first of the season, unassisted. The goal made the score 4-2 and was the first of 44 Rick would score in 1980-81.

The Assist

At 13:59 of the third period, Rick assisted on Peter McNab's first of the season with Wayne Cashman also getting a helper. The goal made the score 6-2 and was scored on the powerplay with Walt Tkaczuk in the box, serving a two minute minor for hooking.

The Fight

Mario Marois of the Rangers took exception to McNab's goal and at 13:59 of that third period dropped the gloves with Middleton. Unlike Rick, Marois was NEVER a candidate for the Lady Byng. He amassed 1,746 penalty minutes over 955 regular season games in the National Hockey League.

1980-81 involved a lot of travel for Mario. He would play just eight games with the Rangers before being shipped to the Vancouver Canucks. Before the season was over, he was playing for the Quebec Nordiques.

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Gordie Howe Hat Trick

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