'He was Johnstown hockey': Jets legendary player, coach Dick Roberge dies at 91
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Decades after his prolific playing career and championship coaching tenure with the Johnstown Jets, Dick Roberge’s name and hockey legacy still resonate within the city. A Cambria County Sports Hall of Fame member whose jersey No.
11 hangs in the rafters at 1st Summit Arena @ Cambria County War Memorial, Roberge died early Wednesday. He was 91 and less than a week from his 92nd birthday. “He was Johnstown hockey,” said Dave Hanson, a rookie on coach Roberge’s 1974-75 Johnstown Jets team that won a league championship and inspired the motion picture “Slap Shot.
” “You had guys like Dick Roberge and Don Hall that stuck around and had such great careers in Johnstown. ” Known as “Johnstown’s Gordie Howe,” Roberge played 17 seasons as a high-scoring forward with the Johnstown Jets. He spent two years as a player-coach and two seasons as a head coach of the Johnstown franchise, including the memorable pro North American Hockey League Lockhart Cup championship season in 1974-75.
‘Not too much on records’ His 1,741 regular-season point total at one time ranked first among any minor league player in hockey history, even though inexplicably the mark officially isn’t recognized by sports historians. The Eastern Hockey League initially wasn’t considered a pro league by statisticians early during Roberge’s career, even though the players were paid for playing. That didn’t bother Roberge, who during an interview for The Tribune-Democrat 2007 book “Slapshots and Snapshots: 50 Seasons of Pro Hockey in Johnstown,” said, “I’m not too much on records.
If it’s that way, it doesn’t bother me. ” The remark typified Roberge. His actions spoke more than statistics.
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