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Bill Armstrong (ice hockey, born 1966)

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Bill Armstrong
Born (1966-06-25) June 25, 1966 (age 58)
London, Ontario, Canada
Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight 195 lb (88 kg; 13 st 13 lb)
Position Left wing
Shot Left
Played for NHL
Philadelphia Flyers
AHL
Hershey Bears
Utica Devils
Albany River Rats
IHL
Cincinnati Cyclones
Indianapolis Ice
Detroit Vipers
Grand Rapids Griffins
Orlando Solar Bears
Kansas City Blades
NHL draft Undrafted
Playing career 1989–1998

William Harold Armstrong (born June 25, 1966) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player.

Early life

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Armstrong was born in London, Ontario. As a youth, he played in the 1979 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from London, Ontario.[1] Armstrong played at Western Michigan University from 1986 to 1989.

Career

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Armstrong played in one National Hockey League (NHL) game for the Philadelphia Flyers during the 1990–91 NHL season and spent the rest of his professional career in the American Hockey League (AHL) and International Hockey League (IHL). His playing career was cut short due to a brain tumor which required surgery.[2]

He invented a move he called a "high wrap", a lacrosse-style shot he successfully used to score goals starting in the 1993–94 AHL season with the Albany River Rats. The move was later notably used by fellow London, Ontario-born player Mike Legg, who learned it while playing shinny with Armstrong at their hometown arena during the off-season.[3] Legg scored a goal with the Michigan Wolverines, in the high profile 1996 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament – as compared to the "maybe only 3,000 people [...] in the building" at a River Rats game – earning the move the name "Michigan goal" in the United States.[3] The high wrap / lacrosse-style goal / Michigan goal (names used interchangeably in reporting) later gained further attention when used by Sidney Crosby, Miks Indrašis, Mikael Granlund,[3] Andrei Svechnikov, Trevor Zegras, Kent Johnson and Connor Bedard.

Career statistics

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Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1984–85 London Diamonds OHA-B 43 17 21 38 102
1985–86 London Diamonds OHA-B 41 26 23 49 81
1986–87 Western Michigan Broncos CCHA 43 13 20 33 86
1987–88 Western Michigan Broncos CCHA 41 22 17 39 88
1988–89 Western Michigan Broncos CCHA 40 23 19 42 97
1989–90 Hershey Bears AHL 58 10 6 16 99
1990–91 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 1 0 1 1 0
1990–91 Hershey Bears AHL 70 36 27 63 150 6 2 8 10 19
1991–92 Hershey Bears AHL 64 26 22 48 186 6 2 2 4 6
1992–93 Cincinnati Cyclones IHL 42 14 11 25 99
1992–93 Utica Devils AHL 32 18 21 39 60
1993–94 Albany River Rats AHL 74 32 50 82 188
1994–95 Albany River Rats AHL 76 32 47 79 115 13 6 5 11 20
1995–96 Albany River Rats AHL 10 3 4 7 22
1995–96 Indianapolis Ice IHL 12 4 5 9 13
1995–96 Detroit Vipers IHL 54 34 25 59 66 12 6 2 8 15
1996–97 Grand Rapids Griffins IHL 35 1 8 9 39
1996–97 Orlando Solar Bears IHL 34 4 25 29 55 10 3 6 9 29
1997–98 Orlando Solar Bears IHL 62 19 18 37 106
1997–98 Kansas City Blades IHL 9 1 4 5 24 5 0 2 2 11
NHL totals 1 0 1 1 0

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-03-06. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  2. ^ "Bill Armstrong Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Salary, Title". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Hruby, Patrick (2010-04-08). "The coolest goal ever scored in hockey". ESPN. Retrieved 2011-05-18.
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