Former NCAA/NHL netminder and hall of famer Tony Esposito (Michigan Tech) passed away Tuesday at age 78 from pancreatic cancer.
Esposito, from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., starred at MTU from 1964 to 1967. According to school records, he went 38-10-3 in 51 career appearances with the Huskies, while also posting a 2.55 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage. A three-time All-America selection, he also led the Huskies to the 1965 NCAA national title in Providence, posting victories over both Brown and Boston College for MTU's second-ever national crown. He earned NCAA all-tournament honors that season, and was also a three-time All-WCHA first-team selection and a member of the conference's All-Decade Team of the 1960s.
A member of Montreal's 1969 Stanley Cup championship team, Esposito is best known for backstopping the Chicago Blackhawks from 1969 to 1984. In 15 NHL seasons, he went 423-306-151 with 76 shutouts in 886 NHL regular-season contests, and he also played in 99 Stanley Cup playoff contests with 45 victories and six shutouts. He also won the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie in his first full professional campaign before leading Chicago to within one win of the 1971 Stanley Cup title the following year. A six-time NHL all-star and a three-time choice for the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender, he represented Canada at the 1972 Summit Series and the 1977 World Championship, and the U.S. at the 1981 Canada Cup.
Esposito's iconic No. 35 was retired by the Blackhawks in 1988, the same year he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 2017, he was named of the 100 greatest NHL players of all time.
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