Steve Payne (ice hockey)

Steven John Payne (born August 16, 1958) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger who played for the Minnesota North Stars of the NHL. He played his entire NHL career with Minnesota and was forced into retirement by multiple cervical spine injuries.

Steve Payne
Payne in 1981
Born (1958-08-16) August 16, 1958
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Height 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Weight 220 lb (100 kg; 15 st 10 lb)
Position Left Wing
Shot Left
Played for Minnesota North Stars
National team  Canada
NHL Draft 19th overall, 1978
Minnesota North Stars
Playing career 19781988

Biography

As a youth, he played in the 1971 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Toronto.[1]

Payne was drafted 19th overall by Minnesota in the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft. Payne played 613 career NHL games, scoring 228 goals and 238 assists for 466 points. His best season statistically was the 1979–80 season. He set career highs in goals (42), points (85), power-play goals (16), and plus minus with a +37 rating. He retired as the team's all-time highest scoring left wing as well as the all-time leading playoff scorer and lead the North Stars to their first Stanley Cup final appearance in 1981 with 17 goals + 12 assists in 19 games. In his book "Minnesota North Stars History and Memories with Lou Nanne", Nanne stated, "The best clutch goal scorer we ever had was Steve Payne. He got more big goals than anyone.".

He played in the 1980 and 1985 NHL All-Star games. He also played for Team Canada in the 1979 World Championship and the 1981 Canada Cup.

Payne is a long time supporter of the US military. He sits on the Advisory Board of the United Heroes League, a non-profit that helps children of active military families participate in hockey, baseball, football and basketball. He is also the Director of the UHL Outdoors program that takes military parents and their children fishing with sports celebrities from the NHL, NFL and MLB at various locations around the US and Canada.

Payne has also supported the non-profit, Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, as the Founder/Director of the "Battle at Boxwood", a fundraising fly fishing event held 2011 - 2018 at the Boxwood Gulch Ranch near Shawnee, CO. The event featured 20 recovering military members fishing with celebrities from the NHL, NFL and music industry and was featured on the outdoor TV series', Fly Rod Chronicles and Sportsman360, as well as in the special feature, "Embracing Our Troops".

He has two adult children, and lives with his wife in rural Wisconsin.

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1976–77Ottawa 67'sOMJHL612126472219414185
1977–78Ottawa 67'sOMJHL525737942216128204
1978–79Oklahoma City StarsCHL53472
1978–79Minnesota North StarsNHL7023174029
1979–80Minnesota North StarsNHL80424385401577149
1980–81Minnesota North StarsNHL7630285888191712296
1981–82Minnesota North StarsNHL743345787644262
1982–83Minnesota North StarsNHL8030396953936919
1983–84Minnesota North StarsNHL78283159491536918
1984–85Minnesota North StarsNHL762922516191236
1985–86Minnesota North StarsNHL2284128
1986–87Minnesota North StarsNHL48461019
1987–88Kalamazoo WingsIHL53586
1987–88Minnesota North StarsNHL913412
NHL totals 613 228 238 466 435 71 35 35 70 60

References

  1. "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Retrieved 2019-01-10.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.