Hec Lalande

Did You Know?

• Lalande was inducted into the North Bay Sports Hall of Fame in 1986.
• After his playing career, he coached local hockey and baseball teams in North Bay.
• He organized and coached sledge hockey for disabled athletes.

Professional career

Lalande began his junior career with the Belleville Bulls and Galt Black Hawks of the Ontario Hockey League Junior, where he showed promise as a playmaker. During the 1953–54 season, he was called up by the Chicago Black Hawks for two games, recording no points and two penalty minutes before being returned to Galt. The next season he played three games with the Buffalo Bisons of the American Hockey League but again failed to impress and was sent back to Galt, where he finished the season leading his team in points with 31 goals and 48 assists, placing fifth in the league in points and fourth in assists. This performance earned him a permanent spot with Chicago for the 1955–56 season, during which he played 65 games and recorded 26 points. He continued at a similar pace the following season, playing alongside linemates Forbes Kennedy and Harry Watson, and also spent time with the Rochester Americans in 1956. In the 1957–58 season, after 22 games with Chicago, Lalande was traded to the Detroit Red Wings on December 17, 1957, along with Nick Mickoski, Bob Bailey, and Jack McIntyre for Bill Dineen, Billy Dea, Lorne Ferguson, and Earl Reibel. He played 12 games for Detroit, recording only two assists, and was traded four months later on April 23, 1958, to the Hershey Bears of the AHL along with Don Poile and cash for Dunc Fisher. The trade proved beneficial as Lalande helped the Bears win back-to-back Calder Cup Championships in 1957–58 and 1958–59. He remained with Hershey for three more seasons, reaching the finals again in 1960–61, where they lost four games to none to the Springfield Indians. In 1961, he played a single game for the Montreal Royals of the Eastern Professional Hockey League during a rehab stint. After scoring 57 points in the 1961–62 AHL season and leading the Bears to a second-round playoff appearance, Lalande left Hershey for the St. Louis Braves of the EPHL, where he scored 30 points and 57 penalty minutes in 26 games.