A Look At Andy Hebenton (Part One)

Winnipeg's Andy Hebenton was the NHL's original iron-man of the 1950s and 1960s.

Here is part one of a two-part series on Winnipeg’s Andy Hebenton. Enjoy!

Andy Hebenton was hockey's original Iron Man. He never missed a game, seldom missed a shift, and rarely took penalties. "Nobody works harder or complains less," once said his old Rangers general manager Muzz Patrick. Hebenton found his place in the NHL and was widely respected as a persistent right winger with a left-hand shot, a steady professional who played the game as he understood it, without shoving and grabbing and clutching an opponent.

An article from The Globe and Mail featured on Andy in 1966 talked about his athletic anonymity despite being a key player for the New York Rangers over the course of eight seasons. "Many hockey players in the National Hockey League live in a spectacular obscurity. They may last in the big time a long time, but they are inconspicuous even when their skills are adequate. Andy Hebenton, on the edge of fame, is the kind of player who autograph hounds don't recognize or pester. He survives within the dimensions of the game, and dwell in secrecy once he leaves the rink."

During his 27-years in the pros, including nine seasons in the NHL, Andy's motto was relatively simple: "The tough guys never bothered me so I might as well stay out of their way and play my game." Recalling a moment when Hebenton decided he was better off scoring goals, he said "Just before I got traded to the New York Rangers, I played against a tough guy and he told me 'You better stick to your game because you're not a very good fighter.' So then I stuck to playing hockey.

A true gentleman on and off the ice, Hebenton was recognized as the most gentlemanly player in his league on seven occasions. With the NHL's New York Rangers he won the Lady Byng Trophy in 1957, and then he won the Fred J. Hume Cup in the WHL for the Portland Buckaroos six times (1964, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974).