DAN
NEWMAN
ATHLETE
HOCKEY
CLASS OF 2023
Dan Newman’s ability to score and willingness to fight for the puck took him to the highest level of professional hockey. The pride of Cottam was never drafted but played more than 100 games in the National Hockey League for the New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens and the Edmonton Oilers between 1976-1980.
His combination of skill and grit caught the eye of NHL front-office heavyweights such as John Ferguson, Jimmy Skinner and Scotty Bowman.
Newman played minor hockey in Leamington and Essex and midget and juvenile for his hometown Cottam Clippers. He starred on a talented high school team at Essex District that went all the way to the OFSAA final before losing to a perennial powerhouse in Toronto St. Michael’s.
Legendary St. Clair College coach Jack Costello, himself inducted into the Windsor/Essex County Sports Hall of Fame, convinced Newman to play for the three-time OCAA champion Saints in 1970. In his second year, Newman was the team’s second-leading scorer (28 goals, 13 assists in 30 games) as the Saints reached the OCAA semi-finals.
At Costello’s urging, Detroit Red Wings’ scout Jimmy Skinner gave Newman a tryout with their IHL affiliate in Port Huron.
He took the IHL by storm in 1975-76, scoring 39 goals and 47 assists for 86 points. The Flags made it to the Turner Cup finals where the six-foot-one, 195-pound winger grabbed the attention of Ferguson, then general manager of the Rangers.
Newman split the next two seasons between the Rangers and their AHL team in New Haven. He was claimed off waivers by the Montreal Canadiens and appeared in 16 games in 1978-79. He was traded to Edmonton the following year.
Bowman, then GM of the Buffalo Sabres, wanted Newman to try out there but he opted to retire from the game in 1980. He now joins another elite team as a member of the Windsor/Essex County Sports Hall of Fame.