Michael Joseph Pelyk (born September 29, 1947) is a Canadian former professional

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 h ...

player who played 441 games in the

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

(NHL) and 150 games in the

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

(WHA). He played with 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 ...

Vancouver Blazers The Vancouver Blazers were a professional ice hockey team that played in the World Hockey Association from 1973 to 1975. The Blazers played at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, sharing the facility with the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hocke ...

, and

Cincinnati Stingers The Cincinnati Stingers were an ice hockey team based in Cincinnati that played in the World Hockey Association from 1975 to 1979 and in the Central Hockey League during the 1979–80 season. Their home arena was Riverfront Coliseum. They are t ...

. Pelyk attended Michael Power St. Joseph High School in Etobicoke, Ontario. Although a gifted skater, Pelyk struggled with inconsistency early in his NHL career with the

. In the 1973–74 season he seemed to be finally reaching his potential, leading Leaf defensemen with 12 goals, when he was lured away from the Leafs with a million-dollar contact to the

of the WHA. However, he was never quite able to return to the potential shown in the 1973–74 season either in his two years in the WHA, or with his return to the NHL with the Maple Leafs in 1976. After two years alternating between the NHL and CHL he retired in 1978. Mike Pelyk was captain of the WHA Cincinnati Stingers for the 1975–76 season.

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* 1947 births Living people Canadian ice hockey defencemen Cincinnati Stingers players Sportspeople from Etobicoke Ice hockey people from Toronto Toronto Maple Leafs draft picks Toronto Maple Leafs players Vancouver Blazers players {{Canada-icehockey-defenceman-1940s-stub