Edward Charles Van Impe (born May 27, 1940) 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 rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

defenceman 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 t ...

who played 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 ...

(NHL) for the

Chicago Black Hawks (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

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 Wel ...

and

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have play ...

Playing career

After playing his first five professional seasons with the

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen ...

of the AHL, Ed Van Impe saw his first NHL action with the Chicago Black Hawks in 1966–67. He had a solid rookie season as he was voted the runner-up to

Bobby Orr Robert Gordon Orr (born March 20, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest of all time. Orr used his ice skating speed, scoring, and play-making abilities to revolutionize the pos ...

for the

Calder Memorial Trophy The Calder Memorial Trophy is an annual award given "to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the National Hockey League (NHL)." It is named after Frank Calder, the first president of the NHL. Serving as ...

. Left unprotected for the

expansion draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or franchises. This occurs mainly in North American sports. One of the ways of stocking the new team or teams is an expansio ...

that off-season, the

picked Van Impe off the Black Hawks' roster. He played eight and a half seasons with the Flyers and was one of the team's best defensive blueliners, serving as the second

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in franchise history, from 1968 to 1973. His forte was hitting and shot-blocking, as well as clearing opponents from the area of his team's net. He was part of the Broad Street Bullies teams that won two Stanley Cups, in 1974 and 1975. On January 11, 1976, at the Spectrum, Van Impe's Flyers, as part of Super Series '76, played a memorable exhibition game against the Soviet Union's dominant Central Red Army team. Having just finished serving a hooking penalty, Van Impe left the penalty box and immediately placed a devastating hit on the Soviet Union's

Valeri Kharlamov The French name Valery () is a male given name or surname of Germanic origin ''Walaric'' (see Walric of Leuconay), that has often been confused in modern times with the Latin name ''Valerius''—that explains the variant spelling Valéry (). The S ...

, knocking the latter unconscious and causing him to lay prone of the ice for a short while. Van Impe's hit was not penalized and it resulted in the Soviets leaving the ice midway through the first period in protest. After a 17-minute delay, the Soviets finally returned to the ice after they were warned that they would lose their salary for the entire series (200,000 USD) if they did not. Van Impe's Flyer career came to an end midway through the 1975–76 season as he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins along with Bobby Taylor for

Gary Inness Gary George Inness (May 28, 1949 – February 23, 2021) was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender and teacher. Playing career Gary Inness took an unusual route to the NHL. After playing Junior B with the Weston Dodgers, Inness then went ...

and cash. His Penguins career lasted 22 games, as he retired in 1976–77.

Awards

*Won two Stanley Cups with the

(1974, 1975) *Played in

NHL All-Star Game The National Hockey League All-Star Game (french: Match des Étoiles de la Ligue Nationale de Hockey, links=no) is an exhibition ice hockey game that is traditionally held during the regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL), with many o ...

three times (1969, 1974, 1975) *Inducted into Flyers Hall of Fame (1993)

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

External links

*
Flyers History Flyers Hall of Fame profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Impe, Ed 1940 births Living people Buffalo Bisons (AHL) players Calgary Stampeders (WHL) players Canadian ice hockey defencemen Canadian people of Dutch descent Chicago Blackhawks players Sportspeople from Saskatoon National Hockey League All-Stars Philadelphia Flyers captains Philadelphia Flyers players Pittsburgh Penguins players Stanley Cup champions Ice hockey people from Saskatchewan