Murray Bannerman

Murray Bannerman
Bannerman in 1985
Born (1957-04-27) April 27, 1957 (age 67)
Fort Frances, Ontario, Canada
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb)
Position Goaltender
Caught Left
Played for Vancouver Canucks
Chicago Blackhawks
NHL draft 58th overall, 1977
Vancouver Canucks
WHA draft 88th overall, 1977
Winnipeg Jets
Playing career 1977–1988

Murray Bannerman (born April 27, 1957) is a Canadian former ice hockey goaltender. He spent the majority of his career with the Chicago Blackhawks, though also briefly played for the Vancouver Canucks, who selected him in the 1977 NHL amateur draft.

Playing career

Bannerman was born in Fort Frances, Ontario. As a youth, he played in the 1969 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Winnipeg.[1]

His NHL career started with the Vancouver Canucks in the 1977 season, where he played one period for the team without allowing a goal making him the only goalie in Canucks history to not allow a goal. He spent most of his career with the Chicago Blackhawks. In 1983, he was a part of the Campbell Conference's roster at the 35th National Hockey League All-Star Game. Tony Esposito's backup for the early portion of his career, Bannerman finally got a chance to shine in the first round of the 1982 playoffs. He won his first two games-on the road-and powered his Chicago team to a series victory over the Minnesota North Stars. His career ended after the 1988 season.

He became the number one goaltender in Chicago the next season, with Esposito acting as his backup, and eventually tended goal twice in the NHL All-Star game for his yeoman work in the Chicago net. Bannerman was the 'player to be named later' when he came to Chicago in 1978. Pit Martin, once traded for Phil Esposito, was dealt by Chicago to Vancouver in 1977.

Bannerman sits fifth on the Blackhawks' all-time goaltender list with 116 wins and 288 games played. He finished with 3.83 goals against average and over 16,000 minutes played in a Chicago jersey. Bannerman is also fourth on the all-time Blackhawks' goaltender playoff statistics list with 20 wins and 40 games played.

Post-playing career

Bannerman resides and works in the Chicago area. He still follows the Hawks and has many great memories of his time wearing the Indianhead. He fondly recalls the intensity of the fans back at the old Chicago Stadium. He also does periodic work for the Blackhawk Alumni Association.

As of 2019, Bannerman is the vice president of US sales for Traffic Tech, Inc. a Montreal-based transportation and logistics provider.[2]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L T Min GA SO GAA SV% GP W L T Min GA SO GAA SV%
1972–73 St. James Canadians MJHL 31 — — — 1778 104 1 3.51 — — — — — — — — — —
1973–74 St. James Canadians MJHL 17 — — — 930 69 0 4.45 .895 — — — — — — — — —
1973–74 Winnipeg Clubs WCHL 6 — — — 258 29 0 6.74 .793 — — — — — — — — —
1974–75 Winnipeg Clubs WCHL 28 3 12 5 1351 113 0 5.02 .847 — — — — — — — — —
1975–76 Assiniboine Park Monarchs MJHL 8 — — — 480 22 1 2.75 .904 — — — — — — — — —
1975–76 Victoria Cougars WCHL 44 23 15 3 2450 178 1 4.36 .860 15 7 5 3 878 50 0 3.42 —
1976–77 Victoria Cougars WCHL 67 — — — 3893 262 2 4.04 .893 4 — — — 234 20 0 5.13 .861
1977–78 Fort Wayne Komets IHL 44 — — — 2435 133 1 3.28 — 6 — — — 335 26 0 4.66 —
1977–78 Vancouver Canucks NHL 1 0 0 0 20 0 0 0.00 1.000 — — — — — — — — —
1978–79 New Brunswick Hawks AHL 47 22 14 5 2557 152 0 3.57 .881 3 1 1 — 122 10 0 4.92 —
1979–80 New Brunswick Hawks AHL 61 32 20 5 3361 186 3 3.32 .874 17 10 6 — 1049 51 0 2.92 —
1980–81 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 15 2 10 2 863 62 0 4.31 .866 — — — — — — — — —
1981–82 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 29 11 12 4 1667 116 1 4.18 .867 10 5 4 — 555 35 0 3.79 .886
1982–83 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 41 24 12 5 2457 127 4 3.10 .901 8 4 4 — 480 32 0 4.01 .866
1983–84 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 56 23 29 4 3326 188 2 3.39 .887 5 2 3 — 299 17 0 3.41 .900
1984–85 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 60 27 25 4 3364 215 0 3.84 .883 15 9 6 — 903 72 0 4.79 .868
1985–86 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 48 20 19 6 2680 201 1 4.50 .869 2 0 1 — 82 9 0 6.65 .775
1986–87 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 39 9 18 8 2053 142 0 4.15 .873 — — — — — — — — —
1987–88 Baltimore Skipjacks AHL 41 6 21 5 2014 154 0 4.59 .865 — — — — — — — — —
1987–88 Saginaw Hawks IHL 3 0 2 0 140 15 0 6.43 — — — — — — — — — —
NHL totals 289 116 125 33 16,427 1051 8 3.84 .880 40 20 18 — 2319 165 0 4.27 .873

Awards and achievements

  • MJHL Second All-Star Team (1973)
  • MJHL top goaltender (1973)

References

  1. ^ "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  2. ^ Payeur, Joey (April 26, 2017). "Goalie named to Manitoba Hall of Fame". fftimes.com. Retrieved March 24, 2021. These days, Bannerman serves as vice-president of sales in the U.S. for Traffic Tech, Inc., a transportation and logistics provider based out of Montreal with offices in, among other places, Chicago.