1983-84 O-Pee-Chee 54 Rick Middleton Hockey Card (Front)
1983-84 O-Pee-Chee 54 Rick Middleton Hockey Card (Back)
1983-84 O-Pee-Chee NHL Hockey Card Checklist
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Card Notes
Audio Version:
Was AHL Rookie of the Year with Providence in 1973-74. Won Lady Byng Trophy in 1981-82 with 12 penalty minutes.
En Français
Recrue de l’Année 1973-74 de la LAH avec Providence. Rick mérita le Trophée Lady Byng pour 1981-82, car ses pénalités totalisèrent seulement 12 minutes.
Details
Rick Middleton was the Dudley Red Garrett Award winner in 1973-74 with the Providence Reds. He scored 36 goals and assisted on 48 for 84 points over just 63 games. He was a first round pick by the New York Rangers at the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft but the Blue Shirts waited until 1974-75 to bring him up and he was off to the Boston Bruins by the time the 1976-77 season started.
Middleton was an easy choice for the Rangers after his outstanding 1972-73 season with the Oshawa Generals. His 67 goals led the league and he finished third with 137 points, behind just Blake Dunlop and Dennis Ververgaert. He was named the Red Tilson Trophy winner as the league’s most valuable player.
The 1981-82 Lady Byng winner actually dropped his penalty minute total to eight in 1982-83 but finished second in voting to Mike Bossy by a very slim margin. The following year, the two were again 1-2 with Bossy taking the award for the second consecutive season.
Mostly an angel throughout his NHL career, Middleton sat just 157 minutes over 1,005 regular season games. However, in the third game of the 1978-79 campaign, Rick dropped the gloves. Hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston took out their foes 4-2 at the Boston Garden. At 16:01 of the third period, Middleton took on Leafs star Darryl Sittler with both receiving five for fighting.
In the second period of that game, Rick scored Boston’s second goal of the game, his first of the young season, assisted by Don Marcotte. Later in the period, he assisted on Marcotte’s third of the season, the game winning goal. With the goal, assist and fight, Middleton achieved the Gordie Howe Hat Trick. He would do it again early in the 1980-81 season.
Between 1974-75 and 1987-88, Rick Middleton appeared in 1,005 regular season and 114 playoff games in the National Hockey League with the Rangers and Bruins. In 2018, Boston retired Rick’s jersey number 16.