ONE of the most talented and charismatic individuals to ever come out of the Lakehead hockey ranks was Benny Woit.
Be it as a player, or eventually a coach, he certainly made his mark in the game.
Starting off in the local junior ranks as a 15-year-old, the future NHL defenceman began his career locally with the Port Arthur Flyers in the fall of 1944.
In his second season, his Flyers’ side finished in first place in the city’s Jr. league and eventually dispatched their Port Arthur-rival, the West End Bruins, in a five-game final that saw them win three times, against one loss and a draw.
After falling to the eventual national championship-winning Winnipeg Monarchs, in the Western Canadian semifinals, Woit was recruited by the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors for the following campaign.
Neither he, nor Toronto would not disappoint, as the Majors rolled through an impressive season that saw St. Mike’s dominate play in the OHA before going on to claim the Eastern Canada crown.
That squad eventually swept the Moose Jaw Canucks, as part of a 14-game playoff winning streak and a postseason run of 18 victories, against just one defeat, as they went on to hoist the 1947 Memorial Cup.
Next up for Woit, saw him return to the northern shores of Lake Superior and win a second-straight Dominion title as a member of the fabled Port Arthur West End Bruins of 1948.
Turning pro after that, he spent the next three years skating with the Indianapolis Capitals of the AHL and won a Calder Cup with them in 1951.
With a championship pedigree already firmly in place, his arrival to the NHL and the Detroit Red Wings, under yet another Lakehead legend, Jack Adams, would continue to enhance his trophy case.
In four full seasons donning the ‘Winged Wheel’ in ‘The Motor City,’ Woit was part of a trio of Stanley Cup triumphs, giving him six major championships, as well as some significant others, in a span of a decade.
A place in the 1954 NHL All-Star Game also came his way during his time in Detroit.
After 72 contests with the Chicago Blackhawks, his time in the ‘Original 6’ came to a close, but he still had plenty of hockey left in him.
From stops with the Rochester Americans and Providence Reds in the AHL and Spokane of the WHL, he would eventually wrap-up his playing career in the Eastern Hockey League, mainly with the Clinton Comets in New York State, where he served as a player-coach.
Earning first team EHL all-star honours in 1962 & ’63, he went on to collect second-team laurels there in 1964.
Add in a couple of nods as the league’s top coach and an EHL championship in 1964, Woit’s time here, was much like most of his other stops – a winning one.
Returning home, he stepped behind the bench of the Fort William Westfort Hurricanes junior squad and guided the Herks to three-straight local crowns to earn his way on the list of those who had won a TBJHL championship as both a player and coach.
While never known as a prolific point-producer on the back-end, he was steady as the come defensively during a career of over 1,100 games on the ice, including 334 in the NHL.
He played alongside such fellow local greats as Alex Delvecchio, Rudy Migay, Dave Creighton and Lee Fogolin Sr., over than span.
With him providing indisputable facts of being a key cog on many winning clubs, either on defence, or as a coach, undoubtedly makes Benny Woit one of the best-ever to come out of the Lakehead.