Victor Zamick (16 August 1926 – 8 October 2007), better known as Chick Zamick, was a Canadian

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

best known for his success as a player at the

Nottingham Panthers The Nottingham Panthers are a British professional ice hockey club based in Nottingham, England. They are members of the Elite Ice Hockey League. RHPS are the Panthers' major sponsor for 2024–25. The Nottingham Panthers have won four league ...

. He is a member of the British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame and the

Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame The Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum is a hall of fame and museum for ice hockey in Manitoba, located on the main level of the Canada Life Centre in downtown Winnipeg. It was established in 1985, when the first honoured members were named ...

.Harvey Rosen (10 January 2008)
"Prolific scorer ‘Chick’ Zamick starred in England,"
''The Canadian Jewish News''."Chick Zamick; Canadian who played for Nottingham Panthers in the postwar heyday of English ice hockey,"
Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame.

Early life

Zamick was born in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, Manitoba, and was

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

.Bob Wechsler (2008)
''Day by Day in Jewish Sports History''
/ref> He was one of 10 surviving children (of 13) born to Jewish parents originally from Ukraine.">Full text of "''The Ottawa Jewish Bulletin'', vol. 72 iss. 9"
/ref> The children often went by the nickname "Chick", in reference to the number of pieces in a pack of

Chiclets Chiclets is an American brand of candy-coated chewing gum owned by Perfetti Van Melle. The brand was introduced in 1900 by the American Chicle Company, a company founded by Thomas Adams. History The Chiclets name derives from the Mexican Spanis ...

brand chewing gum (10). This nickname stuck to Victor. He began playing ice hockey at the age of 15 and played for the Cleveland Barons in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

and St Catherine Teepees in the

Ontario Hockey Association The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) is the governing body for the majority of junior and senior level ice hockey teams in the province of Ontario. Founded in 1890, the OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern ...

, and served in the

Canadian Army The Canadian Army () is the command (military formation), command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also re ...

, before his move to Europe.

Nottingham Panthers

In 1947 he was asked by Sandy Archer, who had grown up in Winnipeg, to join the

, who were in their second season. Zamick went on to play for the English club for 11 seasons. He won seven scoring titles, and had 778 career goals with the Panthers with 645 assists in 624 games. He finished as the club's top point scorer in every season and only failed to score above 100 points twice. His best season came in 1954-55 when he scored 169 points in 62 games. During the 1955–56 season he coached the Panthers to the Autumn Cup,

Ahearne Cup Ahearne Cup or Ahearne Trophy is the name of two ice hockey tournaments, the first played from 1952 to 1977 and the second created in 2001. Both are named after United Kingdom, British ice hockey promoter, Bunny Ahearne, J. F. "Bunny" Ahearne. Th ...

and league treble. He was voted on to nine consecutive All-Star teams. Zamick left Nottingham in 1958 to take up a three-year coaching position in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, Switzerland. After returning to the United Kingdom he spent time playing for the

Altrincham Aces The Altrincham Aces are a semi-professional and amateur ice hockey team of the English National Ice Hockey League, based out of the Altrincham Ice Dome, situated on Oakfield Road in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, England. The team was initia ...

and

Wembley Lions The Wembley Lions were an English ice hockey team. History The team were founded in 1934 but showed a continuity with the London Lions team which had played at various venues since 1924. The Wembley team were based at the newly built Empire ...

Later life and death

After retiring from playing, Zamick opened several business in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

including a dry cleaners, a sauna, and a squash club. Eventually Zamick moved to London. In 2005, a plaque was unveiled at the

National Ice Centre The National Ice Centre (NIC) is located in Nottingham, England. It is situated just east of the city centre, close to the historic Lace Market area. The NIC was the first twin Olympic-sized (60m x 30m) ice pad facility in the UK, "heralding ...

commemorating his achievements. Zamick died after a short illness on 8 October 2007 at 81 years of age. He was survived by his wife Vera, four children, and six grandchildren.

Legacy

He scored 1,423 points in 778 appearances and remains one of the Nottingham Panthers' all-time leaders. His scoring records have only been surpassed by Paul Adey, who is the only other player to have amassed more than 1,000 points for the club.

References

External links

*
Chick Zamick's biography
a

a
Obituary in ''The Times'', 17 November 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zamick, Chick 1926 births 2007 deaths British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Canadian emigrants to England Canadian people of Russian-Jewish descent Canadian people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Cleveland Barons (1937–1973) players Jewish Canadian sportspeople Nottingham Panthers players Nottingham Panthers coaches Ice hockey people from Winnipeg Wembley Lions players St. Boniface Athletics players British people of Russian-Jewish descent British people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Canadian ice hockey centres Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England 20th-century Canadian sportsmen