Editing Andy Bathgate (section)

==Playing career==
As a youth Bathgate was offered scholarships to both the [[University of Denver]] and [[University of Colorado]] to join their hockey teams, but turned them down and instead joined the [[Guelph Biltmores]] of the [[Ontario Hockey Association]] (OHA) in 1949.<ref name="Ranger Greats">{{cite book|url= https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6860998-100-ranger-greats#bookDetails |title=100 Ranger Greats: Superstars, Unsung Heroes and Colorful Characters |first1=Russ |last1=Cohen |first2=John |last2=Halligan |first3=Adam |last3=Raider |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |isbn= 978-0470736197 |date=2009 |access-date=February 3, 2020|pages=200–201}}</ref>

Andy Bathgate was a popular star player of the [[New York Rangers]] and also held the honour of being declared the Most Valuable Player of both the NHL and [[Western Hockey League (1952–1974)|Western Hockey League]] (WHL). He started his professional career with the [[Cleveland Barons (1937–73)|Cleveland Barons]] of the [[American Hockey League]] (AHL) in the [[1952–53 AHL season|1952–53 season]]. He bounced between the WHL's [[Vancouver Canucks (WHL)|Vancouver Canucks]] (not to be confused with the later NHL team [[Vancouver Canucks|of the same name]]) and the Rangers for two seasons before settling with the Rangers in [[1954–55 NHL season|1954–55]]. He played 10 full seasons with the Rangers, where he became a popular player in New York as well as a top-tiered player in the NHL.

In [[1961–62 NHL season|1961–62]], Bathgate and [[Bobby Hull]] led the league in points, but Bathgate lost the [[Art Ross Trophy]] to Bobby Hull because Hull had more goals.

Bathgate's career was frustrated by the mediocre play of the Rangers and a nagging knee problem. He was traded to the [[Toronto Maple Leafs]] during the [[1963–64 NHL season|1963–64 season]], where he immediately helped Toronto to a [[Stanley Cup]] championship. In May 1965, the Maple Leafs traded Bathgate, [[Billy Harris (ice hockey, born 1935)|Billy Harris]], and [[Gary Jarrett]] to the [[Detroit Red Wings]] for [[Marcel Pronovost]], [[Aut Erickson]], [[Larry Jeffrey]], [[Ed Joyal]], and [[Lowell MacDonald]] who went to the [[Toronto Maple Leafs]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105984197/unhappy-with-leafs-bathgate-joins-wings/ |title=Unhappy With Leafs, Bathgate Joins Wings In Giant Swap |publisher=Newspapers.com |date=1965-05-21 |accessdate=2022-07-20}}</ref> Bathgate helped the team reach the Stanley Cup Finals in 1965–66. Bathgate was chosen by the [[Pittsburgh Penguins]] in the [[1967 NHL Expansion Draft]], scoring the first goal in the team's history. However after one season, he returned to the WHL's Vancouver Canucks, where he would help lead the team to two consecutive [[Lester Patrick Cup]] victories, in 1969 and 1970. His best professional year was 1969-70, scoring 108 points for the Canucks.  That performance earned him the [[George Leader Cup]], the top player award in the WHL. Bathgate returned to the NHL's Penguins, playing his last year of North American professional hockey for them in 1970-71.

He served in 1971–1972 as playing coach for [[HC Ambri-Piotta]] in Switzerland. He came briefly out of retirement three seasons later to play for the [[Vancouver Blazers]] of the [[World Hockey Association]] (WHA), which he had coached the previous season, but retired for good after 11 games.

Bathgate won the [[Hart Memorial Trophy]] for the MVP of the NHL in 1958–59 after scoring 40 goals. He is also known for his contribution to the in-game use of masks for goaltenders during games. Renowned for the strength of his slapshot, during a game against the [[Montreal Canadiens]], Bathgate shot the puck into the face of [[Jacques Plante]], forcing Plante to receive stitches. When Plante returned to the ice, he was wearing a [[hockey mask|mask]]. That started a trend that led to it and other protective gear becoming mandatory equipment.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}}

===Stance against spearing===
In December 1959, Bathgate produced a controversial article for ''[[True (magazine)|True]]'' magazine in which he warned that hockey's "unchecked brutality is going to kill somebody".<ref name="ottawa">{{cite news|title=Hockey's "Unchecked Brutality" Will Kill Claims Andy Bathgate|work=[[Ottawa Citizen]]|location=[[Ottawa]]|date=December 10, 1959|page=17}}</ref> The article, titled "Atrocities on Ice", was [[Ghostwriter|ghostwritten]] by [[Dave Anderson (sportswriter)|Dave Anderson]], who was then a sports journalist with the now defunct ''[[New York Journal-American]]'', and it appeared in ''True'' magazine's January 1960 edition. Bathgate focused mostly on the tactic of [[Penalty (ice hockey)#List of infractions|spearing]], where a player stabs at an opponent with the blade or point of his stick. In a section titled "Andy Bathgate's rogues gallery", six players were highlighted as the most brutal, with their photographs captioned with a short description by Bathgate. These were Detroit's [[Gordie Howe]] ("meanest player in the league; uses all the tricks—plus"); Chicago's [[Ted Lindsay]] ("seldom drops his stick in a fight"); Montreal's [[Tom Johnson (ice hockey)|Tom Johnson]] ("one of the five notorious spearing specialists in the NHL"); Montreal's [[Doug Harvey (ice hockey)|Doug Harvey]] ("lucky he doesn't have a spearing death on his conscience"); Boston's [[Fern Flaman]] ("he's had too many accidents to believe") and New York's [[Lou Fontinato]] ("likes to use the stick but uses his fists in a real fight").<ref name=ottawa/><ref>{{cite news|title=Dan Parker Says|work=[[Montreal Gazette|The Gazette]]|location=Montreal|date=December 18, 1959|page=27}}</ref>

Responding to the article, [[Toe Blake]], the Montreal Canadiens' head coach, admitted that Montreal players used spearing, but claimed it was purely a defensive tactic "necessary to defend against an illegal play pattern used often by the Rangers." Blake said: "They like to skate into our zone against the defence and drop the puck for a teammate following right behind. Then they skate into our defenceman, blocking him out of the play illegally through interference. Our players have sometimes had to spear to fend off the interfering player and keep in play."<ref name=ottawa/><ref name="ottawa2">{{cite news|title=Habs Admit Spearing But Only In Self Defense|work=[[Montreal Gazette|The Gazette]]|location=Montreal|date=December 10, 1959|page=25}}</ref> Doug Harvey also admitted spearing, saying: "Sure, we will spear on occasion. We've got to when they run interference," and that he used it "only for defensive purposes."<ref name=ottawa/><ref name=ottawa2/><ref>{{cite news|title=Spear Carrier|work=[[The Spokesman-Review]]|location=Spokane|date=May 6, 1960|page=19}}</ref>

Bathgate wrote of the offenders: "None of them seems to care that he'll be branded as a hockey killer."<ref>{{cite news|title=Atrocities on Ice and the Good Old Days|first=Jeff Z.|last=Klein|date=March 19, 2009|access-date=March 24, 2015|url=http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/atrocities-on-ice-and-the-good-old-days/|work=[[The New York Times]]|location=New York}}</ref> In response the NHL fined him for "comments definitely prejudicial to the league and the game."<ref>{{cite news|title=Editorial Notes And Comments|work=[[Ottawa Citizen]]|location=[[Ottawa]]|date=December 28, 1959|page=6}}</ref> Speaking in 2010, Bathgate said: "We had an episode where fellas were spearing other players. So I wrote an article with Dave Anderson of ''The New York Times'' [sic] called 'Atrocities on Ice.' Red Sullivan, I saw him speared right in front of our bench and have his spleen punctured. It was getting out of hand. I wrote this article and got fined for it. I got fined $1,000—and I was only making $18,000 at the time—so you take that, plus the $1,000 we had to pay into our pension, that's a lot of money out of your pocket. They changed the rule at the end of the year but they still didn't give me my $1,000 back. It burns my (butt) at times, but you have to stand up for it. Sometimes, you've got to speak up for the betterment of hockey because someone was going to get seriously hurt."<ref>{{cite web|title=Mellon Arena memories: Andy Bathgate|work=Sitting Ringside|url=http://blog.triblive.com/sitting-ringside/2010/04/08/mellon-arena-memories-andy-bathgate/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402115541/http://blog.triblive.com/sitting-ringside/2010/04/08/mellon-arena-memories-andy-bathgate/|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 2, 2015|access-date=March 24, 2015|date=April 8, 2010}}</ref>