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Doug Sulliman Research Paper

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During the summer of 1979, Doug Sulliman was part of a bumper crop of future NHLers chosen in the opening round of the league’s annual entry draft. Included were the likes of Mike Gartner, Rick Vaive, Ray Bourque, Paul Reinhart and Michel Goulet. Taken 13th overall by the New York Rangers, Sulliman played 11 NHL seasons with the Rangers, Hartford, New Jersey and Philadelphia. He then worked as an assistant coach for three seasons in New Jersey and also three with Phoenix.That works out to an impressive 17 years in the “show.” Sulliman’s story begins in the former coal-mining town of Glace Bay. Born in 1959, his generation was perhaps one of the last in these parts that played hockey on backyard rinks and frozen ponds practically all winter long. “Yeah, the ponds were frozen and the reservoir was frozen in Glace Bay,” he …show more content…

“My father had the most influence on me,” Sulliman said. “We had that rink and we were on it all the time. Coming home from work, he’d always be out there shoveling it off and watering it down.” Buddy Sulliman, by the way, suited up with the 1955-56 Glace Bay ‘Cinderella’ Miners hockey team that we featured recently on these pages. “In his day, Dad was a real tough player who had a reputation,” said Sulliman. “I used to watch him play when I was a kid and I thought games only lasted one period because he’d always have his gear over his shoulder because he got thrown out for fighting or something. He once told me, ‘If you get into a fight on the ice, let the other guy know he was in one.’ That bit of advice lasted throughout my entire career.” Of course, minor hockey played an enormous role in Sulliman’s upbringing. The venue for his games and practice sessions was the once historic Glace Bay Miners Forum, which has since been replaced by the Bayplex Recreation

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