Doug Carpenter
Sport: Hockey: Year Inducted: 1984
Doug Carpenter was a near-perfect fit for the multi-talented athlete mould. As a teenager, Doug excelled in several sports: football, hockey, lacrosse, baseball, softball, basketball, and volleyball.
Doug’s hockey career has roots in the old Our Citizens of Tomorrow (O.C.O.T.) program, but started in earnest when he joined the Montreal Junior Canadians of the Ontario Hockey Asscoiation in 1962. The year before he was named to the Montreal Metro Hockey League All-Star team.
From junior hockey, he moved to the Eastern Hockey League where he played six years with the Greensboro Generals and two seasons as captain of the Roanoke Valley Rebels.
Doug’s coaching career began in 1974 with the Flint Generals of the International Hockey League. The next season he was named IHL Coach of the Year. Doug always enjoyed a challenge, as he encountered with the Cornwall Royals when he was appointed coach for the 1978-79 season. He took over a team that was being rebuilt, and finished about where most expected, sixth overall with a 29-36-7 record.
But in the quarter-final series against Verdun Black Hawks the Royals came very close to pulling off a tremendous upset. Verdun had won the Lebel Division, finishing 34 points in front of the Royals, but they had their hands full against the Royals, as the best-of-seven series went the distance.
The next season Doug guided the Royals to a stunning upset of the highly-touted Sherbrooke Beavers in the league Championships series. In the Memorial Cup at Brandon and Regina, the Royals were again cast as underdog. An overtime goal against the Peterborough Petes gave them the National title.
Doug left the Royals for the New Brunswick Hawks and the following season was named coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Central Hockey League farm club in Cincinnati – the Tigers.
They became the St. Catherine Saints in 1983 and Doug was named head coach. He was shocked in May when the Leafs announced they were not renewing his contract, but it was a blessing in disguise. In June, his dream of coaching in the NHL came true when the Devils gave him a one year contract. He was named coach of the National Hockey League New Jersey Devils in 1984.
In football, Carpenter was an outstanding fullback with St. Lawrence High School Saints and at McDonald College he once scored five touchdowns in a game.
In softball, he was a member of the New York Café Aces when they won the All-Ontario Softball Championship in 1958.
The highlight of his athletic career was winning the Jacques Richard Memorial Trophy in 1961 as Cornwall’s Outstanding Junior Athlete.