Bob Ricci

 1 WHA Game

November 26, 1977 Edmonton Oilers vs New England Whalers. 3-1 win.

*No Photo Available*

    Late November, 1977 the Edmonton Oilers traded goalie Ken Broderick to the Edmonton Oilers in a deal that saw them get another goalie, Don McLeod, in return. Bad weather stopped McLeod from immediately joining his new team and the Oilers were forced to sign a local netminder as an emergency backup for a game in New England against the Whalers. A November 29, 1977 Detroit Free Press article summarized the situation that saw Ricci dress as Dave Dryden's backup goalie... 

Some athletes have a mantle full of trophies, pictures and other mementoes. Bob Ricci, well, he has a pair of Edmonton Oiler socks. Ricci, an amateur hockey player from Pawtucket, R.I., was minding his own business in Pawtucket when the Oilers, in Hartford, Conn., for a game against the New England Whalers, found themselves in desperate straits for a back-up goalie. Edmonton had sent one its two goalies to Quebec in a trade and the new goalie got stranded in Canada by a storm. The Oilers made frantic inquiries for an emergency back-up for the night and Ricci suddenly found himself in Hartford in the Oiler locker room. "They all stared at me," said Ricci, who is 18. "Then they started needling me and it made me more relaxed." It would nice to say Ricci went tended the twine with glory, but, alas, Edmonton didn't need him in their 3-1 victory. "I wonder if I'll believe this really happened," he said " ... the socks I'm wearing that's how I'll remember. I'll look at the socks they gave me, then I'll know it happened."

   Bob Ricci later went on to study at Elmira College where he played for the school's hockey team. He graduated from the school in 1982.