By: Steve McClure | Follow me on Twitter / X at stmcclure1993
Happy 77th birthday to Don Marcotte! Don played fifteen seasons in the NHL—all for the Boston Bruins. He was a prominent player on the 1970 and 1972 Stanley Cup champion teams and reached the Cup finals in three other seasons.
The left-winger was one of the best defensive forwards of his era. He was a strong penalty killer and was often tasked with shutting down other teams’ top goal scorers; in fact, Montreal’s Guy Lafleur considered Marcotte “the toughest checker” he ever faced. In both the 1977-78 and 1978-79 seasons, Marcotte finished in the top three of voting for the NHL’s Selke Award for best defensive play by a forward. Marcotte, a two-way player, had offensive punch as well, scoring 20 or more goals seven times in his career. His best offensive numbers came in the 1974-75 campaign, where he registered 31 goals and 33 assists for 64 points.
Don retired from the NHL in the fall of 1982, having played in 868 regular season games, posting 230 goals and 254 assists for 484 points. Marcotte’s 21 shorthanded goals in the regular season rank him fourth in Bruins’ history behind only Brad Marchand, Rick Middleton, and Derek Sanderson. Marcotte loved his time playing for the Big Bad Bruins. In reference to the glory years, he recalled, “It was a good bunch of guys and we had a lot of good times together. When it came time to play hockey the guys were all business and wanted to win. It was a great time.”
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