Bill Sweeney

Who was Bill Sweeney?

William Sweeney, was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, most notably for the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League, for whom he played nine seasons in all and is the all-time career leading scorer for the franchise. Sweeney also played four games during the 1959–60 NHL season for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League.

Sweeney led the OHA in scoring while playing for the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters in 1956–57, then followed that up winning the 1958 AHL rookie of the year award playing for the Providence Reds. Sweeney later won three consecutive Calder Cup championships with the Springfield Indians, also leading the league in scoring three consecutive seasons, an unprecedented and unequalled feat in the AHL as of 2013.

Alcoholism would come to dog Sweeney's career, and by the time league expansion opened up the NHL in 1967 to promising minor-league scorers, Sweeney's skills were in decline. He remained in the minors, and his rights sold by Springfield to the Vancouver Canucks of the Western Hockey League early in the 1968 season; he played only 26 more professional hockey games in his career.