Garry Douglas Unger (born December 7, 1947) is a former

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and sk ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

who played 16 seasons in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

from

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

until

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

Playing career

Unger set an NHL record by playing 914 consecutive games in the regular season between February 24, 1968, and December 21, 1979, doing so with four teams: the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference, and are ...

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

and

Atlanta Flames The Atlanta Flames were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta from 1972 until 1980. They played home games in the Omni Coliseum and were members of the West and later Patrick divisions of the National Hockey League (NHL). Along with t ...

. Unger passed

Andy Hebenton Andrew Alexander "Spuds" Hebenton (October 3, 1929 – January 29, 2019) was a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger, and holds the record for the longest streak without missing a game in professional hockey history. Playing career Af ...

, who had the record of 630 consecutive games played that had stood since the 1963-64 NHL season. Unger's streak came to an end after Flames' coach

Al MacNeil Allister Wences MacNeil (born September 27, 1935) is a former National Hockey League player and coach. He was the first native of Atlantic Canada to serve as a head coach in the NHL. Career He played parts of eleven seasons in the National Hockey ...

benched him on December 21, 1979 (the only game he would miss that season). His record has since been surpassed by Phil Kessel who has played over 1000 consecutive games as of 2022 Unger finished his career with 1105 career NHL games, scoring 413 goals and 391 assists for 804 points, and he also registered 1075 career penalty minutes. Unger was the MVP of the 1974 NHL All-Star Game played in Chicago. He had an assist and scored a shorthanded goal in the West Division's 6-4 victory over the East Division. After retiring from the NHL he went to play for three seasons in the British professional league. During a season for the

Peterborough Pirates The Peterborough Pirates were an English ice hockey team. It was established in 1982, as the senior adult semi-professional team of the newly formed Peterborough Ice Hockey Club. ''The Pirates'', based at the East of England Ice Rink, Peterbor ...

he racked up 95 goals and well over 200 points while playing in only 30 games.

Personal

Garry was the oldest of four children of Jakob and Olive (Wheeler) Unger. Unger's younger sister used a wheelchair; she proved to be an inspiration to Unger during his playing career. After being traded to Atlanta in 1979, Unger encountered a group of

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

players, including

Paul Henderson Paul Garnet Henderson, (born January 28, 1943) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. A left winger, Henderson played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs and Atlanta Fla ...

, whom Unger credits with helping him discover spirituality and giving meaning to his life. He and his wife Beverly have three children. Garry presently works with the Banff Hockey Academy in Banff, Alberta, Canada.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* *http://oldtimehockeyuk.com/gu1-wp - Garry Unger talks about his career in a podcast interview 1947 births Living people Atlanta Flames players Canadian Christians Canadian ice hockey centres Canadian Mennonites Canadian sports announcers Detroit Red Wings players Edmonton Oilers players Sportspeople from Calgary London Nationals players Los Angeles Kings players Moncton Alpines (AHL) players National Hockey League broadcasters Rochester Americans players St. Louis Blues players Toronto Maple Leafs players Ice hockey people from Alberta Edmonton Oilers announcers {{Canada-icehockey-centre-1940s-stub