By Tom Annelin / HockeyThunderBay.com
AN overall solid player on the ice, Bob Ellett was certainly among the contingent of overall consistent performers who hailed from the Lakehead.
Not necessarily flashy, the Port Arthur-born Ellett caught the keen eye of Fort William Columbus Club Canadiens junior squad head coach Mickey Hennessy, who was also a long-time scout for the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens.
Signed by Hennessy as a 16-year-old, Ellett joined Columbus Club, playing left wing to commence the 1954-55 campaign.
In four seasons with the Canadiens, Ellett was a stalwart two-way player, helping them win a trio of Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League championships in 1955, ’57 and ’58.
The only time Ellett and the Habs were denied of a TBJHL title was in the spring of 1956, when a young netminder, and future NHLer, by the name of Bruce Gamble stymied them and backstopped the Port Arthur North Stars to the crown.
In playdowns, Ellett and the Canadiens lost out to the eventual Memorial Cup-champion Flin Flon Bombers in the 1957 western final, with semifinal setbacks versus the Winnipeg Monarchs in ’56 and the St. Boniface Canadiens in ’58.
Ellett’s stellar play in the 1957-58 season earned him most valuable player honours in the TBJHL.
With his time in junior behind him and under contract to the Montreal
organization, he went on to suit-up for the Hull-Ottawa Canadiens, spending four years in the Eastern Professional Hockey League.
There he took to the ice with the likes of J.C. Tremblay; Jacques Laperriere; Bobby Rousseau; Barclay Plager; Jimmy Roberts and Cesare Maniago, who all went on to compete in the NHL.
While there, Ellett and Hull-Ottawa went on with win two EPHL championships.
Next for him came being part of a sixth title-winning side in the span of 10 years.
That crown came in the American Hockey League as a member of the 1963-64 Clevland Barons.
Skating with fellow local forward Joe Szura, the Barons found their stride in the playoffs after finishing fourth in the overall in the nine-team regular season standings.
In the postseason, Cleveland was unbeatable as they ran the table with series sweeps over the Rochester Americans (2-0) and Hershey Bears (3-0) before going on to hoist the AHL’s Calder Cup in cracking the Quebec Aces in four straight.
Ellett closed it out with a goal as part of a 5-2 Cleveland triumph in the finale.
Of note, Szura tallied 13 times in the playoffs, which at the time was an AHL record for most goals in the postseason.
In all, Ellett spent six seasons with the Barons to sit seventh all-time in games played with the franchise at 416 and 19th in total points with 259.
Moving west from there, he played three years in the old Western Hockey League, including time spent with the Salt Lake Golden Eagles.
He also skated for the Seattle Totems, who featured the likes of Larry Cahan and Ralph Stewart in their line-up.
Returning to the AHL, Ellett concluded his on-ice career in Rochester, wearing the ‘C’ for the Amerks, while playing under head coach Don Cherry.
Later turning to coaching himself, he was behind the bench for the Ottawa 67s of the Ontario Hockey League in the mid-80s.
Incidentally, he was not the only member of the Ellett family to make his mark in the game.
His son Dave went on to have an impressive run, playing 1,129 games on defence in the National Hockey League with the Winnipeg, Toronto, New Jersey, Boston and St. Louis. He was also a two-time NHL All-Star.
Himself appearing in nearly 1,200 contests, Bob Ellett was a member of a half-dozen title-winning sides over the span of his career, surpassing the 700-point plateau, while scoring 297 times.
A well-respected forward, who was widely thought of by teammates and management, his noteworthy contributions in every facet of the game, brought admiration from the teams he played for.
Yet another steady player from the Lakehead, no better example of Bob Ellett’s leadership was him serving as a captain, or an assistant captain, on nearly every club he was a member of.
While not overly flashy, he was just that type of individual that most teams needed to succeed.