MANY players over the years remain etched in the memory banks of the local hockey faithful. One such well thought of individual is Ralph Stewart.
From seeing him dash down the ice with the Thunder Bay Twins and unleashing blistering slap shots that opposing goaltenders could only flinch at, after having already flown into the net, to learning more about his early playing career, Stewart certainly made his mark.
Still only 15, he earned himself a place on the roster with the Fort William Canadiens junior side in the fall of 1964, under the guidance of coach Mickey Hennessy.
Playing on the local Habs side that featured the likes of Bob (Battleship) Kelly, John Schella and Dave Siciliano, Fort William had a gruelling best-of-nine playoff final affair against the rival Port Arthur North Stars, that actually needed a 10th game before Port Arthur prevailed.
Despite his youth, Stewart had a knack of scoring goals and had a number of key markers in the series, including one on a Game 3 penalty shot.
The North Stars were quick to avail themselves of Stewart’s services as a pick-up in a Memorial Cup playdown match-up with the Winnipeg Braves.
He went on to tally four times in five outings before Winnipeg won, thanks in part to the stalwart goaltending of Wayne Stephenson, who was born in Fort William and later went on to win a Stanley Cup with the Philadelphia Flyers.
Heading into the following campaign, scouting reports mailed in by Hennessy, one of the leading birddogs for the Montreal Canadiens, professed that Stewart was the real deal.
That led to him playing three seasons with the big club’s Jr. Canadiens squad and supply a combined 107 points in his time there.
Turning pro in 1968, Stewart put up positive numbers in the Central Hockey League.
This saw him catch the eye of Vancouver Canucks general manager Bud Poile, himself a Lakehead native, who scooped him up from Montreal in the 1970 NHL Expansion Draft.
Earning a brief stint with the Canucks in 1971, the big center made his NHL debut in Montreal on January 6 and collected his initial point, with an assist.
Heading back to the minor pro ranks for a couple of campaigns, Stewart continued to show promise.
One such sign of that was back on November 15, 1972, when had a game for the ages with the CHL’s Fort Worth Wings.
There he banged in a league record-tying five goals, and added an assist, in a convincing 9-4 road victory in an interlocking scheduled contest over the Portland Buckaroos of the Western Hockey League.
He began with a first period natural hat trick and ended up being on the ice for eight of the nine tallies the Wings notched.
Efforts like that had earlier secured himself a contract with another NHL side, the New York Islanders.
Another solid performance saw him notch his first NHL goal, to go along with three assists, against the California Golden Seals on Jan. 23 of ’72.
Spending four years with the Islanders, the well-respected forward was named one of their assistant captains.
Supplying over 53 tallies in his time there, he later returned to Vancouver for his final 50 NHL contests.
Still contributing offensively, Stewart had a couple more productive years in the CHL.
Following six 20-goals seasons as a pro, he headed home to provide veteran leadership on the ice, as well as behind the bench as an assistant coach in four Allan Cup crowns for the senior Twins to cap off a successful career.
Like so many of the Lakehead’s hockey legends, Ralph Stewart remains as cordial off the ice as he was skilled on it.
He was inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame for his contributions to the game back in September of 1996.