Curt Bennett

For the American football coach, see Curt Bennett (American football).

Curt Bennett
Born	(1948-03-27) March 27, 1948 (age 76) Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Height	6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Weight	195 lb (88 kg; 13 st 13 lb)
Position	Center
Shot	Left
Played for	St. Louis Blues New York Rangers Atlanta Flames
National team	United States
NHL draft	16th overall, 1968 St. Louis Blues
Playing career	1970–1982

Curt Alexander Bennett (born March 27, 1948) is a Canadian-born American former professional ice hockey forward, who played in the National Hockey League as well as for the United States national ice hockey team in the 1970s.

Biography

Early life

Bennett came from a family of hockey players. His father Harvey Bennett, Sr. and two of his brothers (Harvey Bennett Jr. and Bill Bennett) also played in the NHL. His nephew Mac Bennett was selected in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft (79th overall by the Montreal Canadiens).

Bennett played in the 1961 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a team representing Cranston High School East in Cranston, Rhode Island. ^[1] He was drafted by the St. Louis Blues with the 16th pick in the 1968 NHL Entry Draft and joined the Blues in 1971 after three very successful seasons with the Brown University men's hockey team as a defenseman. Bennett is a member of the Brown University Athletic Hall of Fame, holding the school records for goals by a defenseman in a game (7), season and career. He graduated with a degree in Russian Studies from Brown, where he was also a captain of the men's tennis team and nominated for a Rhodes scholarship.

At one point, Bennett was married to Susan Bennett who later provided the voice of the Apple assistant "Siri".

Playing career

Bennett appeared in four NHL games in his rookie season before becoming a regular player for the Blues in the 1972 Stanley Cup playoffs. He was traded to the New York Rangers during the off-season. After 16 games with the Rangers he was dealt to the expansion Atlanta Flames where he became one of their premier forwards. Bennett provided leadership, defensive skills (he frequently guarded the opposing team's star player) and toughness that a young team needed and represented the Flames in the 1975 and 1976 NHL All Star game after scoring a career-high 65 points in the 1975–1976 NHL season. He served as one of the assistant captains on the United States team in the inaugural 1976 Canada Cup tournament. He struggled in the following two NHL seasons. He returned to the Blues along with Phil Myre and Barry Gibbs from the Flames for Bob MacMillan, Dick Redmond, Yves Bélanger and a second‐round selection in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft (23rd overall–Mike Perovich) on December 12, 1977. ^[2] Bennett spent the next two seasons with the Blues and during those years played for the US national team at the 1978 and 1979 Ice Hockey World Championship tournaments. In the summer of 1979, he was traded back to the Flames where he played a final 21 games in 1979/80, scoring just one goal.

Bennett ended his NHL career with 334 points in 580 games. He was the first American to reach the 30 goal plateau in a season.

Post career

Bennett chose not go with the Flames when the team relocated to Calgary in 1980. Instead, he emigrated to Nikko, Japan to be a player/coach (along with his brother Harvey) for the Furukawa Denko club. While in Japan, Bennett filed television reports and wrote a number of articles for Goal magazine about his experience living in Japan and the local ice hockey culture. He had previous journalistic experience from working as a part-time Atlanta sportscaster during his career with the Flames and had also served as a national television color commentator during the 1977 Stanley Cup playoffs. He and Harvey both retired from hockey in 1982 after two years with Furukawa.

After moving back to Atlanta, he became involved in commercial real estate and continued his work with the NHL Players' Association to help players transition to life after hockey. In 1992-93, he was an assistant coach for the International Hockey League Atlanta Knights and led a group of local businessmen working to bring NHL hockey back to Atlanta.

In 2000, he moved to Maui where he owns a company that designs and builds water features both in the Hawaiian Islands and on the U.S. mainland.

Awards and honors

• Played in NHL All-Star game (1975,1976)

Award	Year
All-ECAC Hockey Second Team	1968–69
All-ECAC Hockey First Team	1969–70
AHCA East All-American	1969–70
Inducted into RI Hockey Hall of Fame	2018

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1965–66	Cranston High School East	HS-RI		—	—	—	—	—		—	—	—	—	—
1966–67	Cranston High School East	HS-RI		—	—	—	—	—		—	—	—	—	—
1967–68	Brown University	ECAC		24	15	28	43	34		—	—	—	—	—
1968–69	Brown University	ECAC		22	9	20	29	36		—	—	—	—	—
1969–70	Brown University	ECAC		24	26	37	63	22		—	—	—	—	—
1970–71	St. Louis Blues	NHL		4	2	0	2	0		2	0	0	0	0
1970–71	Kansas City Blues	CHL		63	19	23	42	63		—	—	—	—	—
1971–72	St. Louis Blues	NHL		31	3	5	8	30		10	0	0	0	12
1971–72	Denver Spurs	WHL		32	13	19	32	52		—	—	—	—	—
1972–73	New York Rangers	NHL		16	0	1	1	11		—	—	—	—	—
1972–73	Atlanta Flames	NHL		52	18	17	35	9		—	—	—	—	—
1973–74	Atlanta Flames	NHL		71	17	24	41	34		4	0	1	1	34
1974–75	Atlanta Flames	NHL		80	31	33	64	40		—	—	—	—	—
1975–76	Atlanta Flames	NHL		80	34	31	65	61		2	0	0	0	4
1976–77	Atlanta Flames	NHL		76	22	25	47	36		3	1	0	1	7
1977–78	Atlanta Flames	NHL		25	3	7	10	10		—	—	—	—	—
1977–78	St. Louis Blues	NHL		50	7	17	24	54		—	—	—	—	—
1978–79	St. Louis Blues	NHL		74	14	19	33	62		—	—	—	—	—
1979–80	Atlanta Flames	NHL		21	1	3	4	0		—	—	—	—	—
1979–80	Birmingham Bulls	CHL		7	3	0	3	14		—	—	—	—	—
1980–81	Furukawa Electric	JPN		20	10	10	20	—		—	—	—	—	—
1981–82	Furukawa Electric	JPN		20	11	19	30	—		—	—	—	—	—
NHL totals				580	152	182	334	347		21	1	1	2	57

International

Year	Team	Event		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1976	United States	CC		5	0	3	3	0
1978	United States	WC		10	3	0	3	0
1979	United States	WC		8	0	1	1	2
Senior totals				23	3	4	7	2

References

1. "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-03-06. Retrieved 2019-01-01.
2. "Sports News Briefs," The New York Times, Tuesday, December 13, 1977. Retrieved January 22, 2023.

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com , or  Eliteprospects.com , or  Hockey-Reference.com , or  The Internet Hockey Database
• Curt Bennett's homepage
• Bennett's player profile at HockeyDraftCentral.com