Richard St. Croix (born January 3, 1955) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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 ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

. He is formerly one of the assistant coaches of the

NHL 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 ...

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 ...

. He has previously been a goaltending coach for the

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and were founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minne ...

, and an assistant coach and goaltending coach for the

Manitoba Moose The Manitoba Moose are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and a member of the American Hockey League (AHL). The team plays its home games at Canada Life Centre, the home arena of its parent club, Winnipeg Jets ...

and St. John's IceCaps (of the AHL). He was a fourth round

draft pick, as were his two sons.

Playing career

St. Croix was drafted by the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...

in the fourth round of the

1975 NHL Amateur Draft The 1975 NHL Amateur Draft was the 13th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the NHL office in Montreal, Quebec. The two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers made the most noise at the draft, trading Bill Clement, Don McLean, and t ...

after a junior hockey career with the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA). He was also drafted by 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) ...

Houston Aeros in the 13th round of the

1975 WHA Amateur Draft The 1975 WHA Amateur Draft was the third draft held by the World Hockey Association. __NOTOC__ Selections by Round Below are listed the selections in the 1975 WHA Amateur Draft. Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round ...

. He had been a Second Team OHA All Star in 1973. St. Croix made his NHL debut for the Flyers during the 1977-78 season on February 16, 1978 at the

Spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors ...

against the

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

. He played 7 games for the Flyers that season, while playing most of the season with the Maine Mariners of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

(AHL). He played 2 games for the Flyers in 1978-79 and one game for the record-setting Flyer team of 1979-80. In 1979-80 he also won the Hap Holmes Memorial Award, awarded to goaltenders playing at least 25 games for the AHL team with the lowest

goals against average Goals against average (GAA) also known as "average goals against" or "AGA" is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending ...

, sharing the award with teammate Robbie Moore. He was also named a First Team AHL All-Star that season. 1980-81 was St. Croix's first full season in the NHL, in which he split time as the Flyers' goaltender with

Pete Peeters Pete Peeters (born August 17, 1957) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the eighth round (135th overall) of the 1977 NHL amateur draft. and went on to play 13 seasons in the Nat ...

and

Phil Myre Philippe Louis Myre (born November 1, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Montreal Canadiens, Atlanta Flames, St. Louis Blues, Philadelphia Flyers, Color ...

. He spent 2 1/2 years with the Flyers before being traded to the

during the 1982-83 season in exchange for goaltender Michel Larocque. St. Croix's final NHL season was 1984-85, which he split between the Maple Leafs and the AHL St. Catharines Saints. He spent one more season as a professional hockey player, 1985-86 with the International Hockey League (IHL)

Fort Wayne Komets The Fort Wayne Komets are a minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This team was previously a member of the Central Hockey League, the original Inte ...

. With the Komets that season, he shared the IHL

James Norris Memorial Trophy The James Norris Memorial Trophy, or simply the Norris Trophy, is awarded annually to the National Hockey League's top " defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position". It is named after Ja ...

with teammate

Pokey Reddick Eldon Wade "Pokey" Reddick (born October 6, 1964) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender in the National Hockey League from 1986–87 to 1993–94. Playing career As a youth, Reddick played in the 1977 Quebec International Pee ...

, awarded to the goaltender(s) having the fewest goals against during the season. He was also named an IHL Second Team All Star that season.

Coaching career

After retiring as a player, St. Croix became a coach. He served as an assistant coach for the

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, p ...

for the 1987–88 and 1988-89 seasons. He was later named goaltending coach for the

where he won the Stanley Cup with the team in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

. St. Croix was goaltending coach for the

from 2008 to 2011. Prior to the 2011–12 season, the team was relocated to Newfoundland and renamed the St. John's IceCaps where St. Croix continued to serve as an assistant coach/goaltending coach. In September 2012, with the resignation of Francois Allaire, St. Croix was hired as the Toronto Maple Leafs goaltending coach. St. Croix was fired in an organizational housecleaning on April 12, 2015. When the IceCaps returned as the Manitoba Moose in 2015, St. Croix rejoined the organization as developmental goaltending coach and scout until he retired in 2021.

Personal

St. Croix's youngest son, Michael played junior hockey as a forward for the

Edmonton Oil Kings The Edmonton Oil Kings are a major junior ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, that play in the Western Hockey League. As of July 2008, they are owned by Daryl Katz's Oilers Entertainment Group, which also owns the Edmonton Oilers ...

of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...

. He was drafted by the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

in the 4th round of the

2011 NHL Entry Draft The 2011 NHL Entry Draft was the 49th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 24–25, 2011, at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was the first time the Draft was held in the state of Minnesota since the Minnesota North Stars host ...

. His oldest son,

Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name *Chris Abani (born 1966), Nige ...

, was a 4th round draft choice of the

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

in the

1997 NHL Entry Draft The 1997 NHL Entry Draft was the 35th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 21, 1997. As of 2022, the only remaining active player in the NHL from the 1997 draft class is Joe Thornton. Selections ...

, and played professional hockey as a

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

in Germany, as well as in the AHL,

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

and CHL. He also has two daughters. In addition to his coaching duties, he also runs a goaltending school.

Awards

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

OHA Second Team All Star * 1980 Hap Holmes Memorial Award, AHL lowest goals against average, Maine Mariners *1980 AHL First Team All Star *

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

, IHL fewest goals allowed,

*1986 IHL Second Team All Star *

Stanley Cup Championship,

(as goaltending coach)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:St. Croix, Rick 1955 births Living people Canadian ice hockey goaltenders Dallas Stars coaches Flint Generals players Fort Wayne Komets players Houston Aeros draft picks Ice hockey people from Ontario Kenora Muskies players Maine Mariners players Manitoba Moose coaches Oshawa Generals players Sportspeople from Kenora Philadelphia Firebirds (AHL) players Philadelphia Flyers draft picks Philadelphia Flyers players St. Catharines Saints players Springfield Indians players Stanley Cup champions Toronto Maple Leafs coaches Toronto Maple Leafs players Winnipeg Jets (1972–1996) coaches Winnipeg Jets coaches Canadian ice hockey coaches