FROM National Hockey League record holder and award recipient, to a two-time Stanley Cup winner and championship coach, Gus Bodnar certainly accomplished more than his fair share in the game.
Beginning his junior career as a 17-year-old with his hometown Fort William Hurricane-Rangers in 1940, Bodnar would shine on the ice from the outset.
In his three seasons there, his contributions led his club to Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League titles in both 1942 and ’43.
His first campaign in the TBJHL saw him finish eighth in scoring with 21 points, in 18 outings, including 13 tallies.
Improving on that in his sophomore campaign, Bodnar was third in offensive numbers with 36 points before leading the league in numbers with 39, on 10 goals and 29 assists in 1942-43.
After hoisting the local trophy twice, Fort William went on to face formidable competition in the western playdowns.
In both years they would go on to be swept in three games by the Portage Terriers (1942) and Winnipeg Rangers (1943) to bring their respective seasons to a close.
The teams they fell to were no slouches however, as Portage and Winnipeg each went on to win the Memorial Cup, after dispatching the Hurricane-Rangers.
Averaging nearly over a point-per-game in those two playoff runs, along with exceptional regular seasons, drew the interest of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Making an immediate impression in Toronto, Bodnar needed just 15 seconds to notch his first-ever NHL goal, in his league debut on October 30, 1943, against the New York Rangers, to establish the record for fastest goal by a player in his initial game.
That mark held up for nearly eighty years before being surpassed in February of 2020 when Gabriel Vilardi eclipsed the feat with a goal 10 seconds into his NHL debut, as a member of the Los Angeles Kings.
That first season in the league saw Bodnar register 62 points during the regular season and earn him the Calder Memorial Trophy in 1943–44, as NHL Rookie of the Year.
This was part of seven-year run where Gaye Stewart (1943), Edgar Laprade (1946) and Pentti Lund (1949) also garnered top rookie laurels.
Bodnar’s 40 assists in his first season stood as a Maple Leafs’ rookie record for seven-plus decades before Mitch Marner surpassed it.
In four years with Toronto, he was part of two Stanley Cup-winning teams in 1945 and ‘47.
Skating alongside fellow local legends, Stewart and Bud Poile on the ‘Flying Forts’ line, they, along with two others, were shipped to the Chicago Blackhawks in a massive seven-player deal that brought future Hockey Hall of Fame honouree Max Bentley to the Leafs.
After earning a berth to compete in the 1951 NHL All-Star Game, along with Stewart, Lidio (Lee) Fogolin and Kenora’s Don Raleigh, Bodnar went on to later etch his name in the NHL Records Book once more.
It was 70 years ago, that on March 23, 1952, he set another NHL feat for the fastest three assists in league history, at 21 seconds, as he helped set-up Bill Mosienko for his trio of tallies in Chicago 7-6 triumph over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Each of those achievements still stands today.
Wrapping up his NHL career in 1955 with the Boston Bruins, Bodnar went on to appear in 667 contests while scoring 142 times and doling out 254 helpers for 396 points in the league.
Getting into coaching in southern Ontario after hanging up the blades, his time behind the bench was spent mainly with two iconic junior franchises, the Toronto Marlboros and the Oshawa Generals.
His Marlboros side in 1967 went on to dash the hopes of local fans as they defeated the western Canadian title-winning Port Arthur Marrs in five games in the Memorial Cup Final.
Coaching for a decade in the Ontario Hockey Association with the Marlboros and Generals, Bodnar helped many of his players move on to the NHL, including Lee Fogolin Jr.
His finale behind the bench came as an assistant with Team Canada at the 1978 World Junior Hockey Championship in Montreal, where with a young Wayne Gretzky in the line-up, he was part of a bronze-medal-winning squad.
Inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1983, Gus Bodnar’s achievements in the game rightfully place him on the Lakehead’s honour roll of hockey greats.