Groove of the Old Volume 1 - Dan Quinn

Remember Dan Quinn? 

Probably not, if you do the audience reading can reminisce as the point of brining up random players in the "Groove of the Old" series will do, and introduce newer hockey fans to unheralded players in the NHL Past.

Dan Quinn 

Scored 147 points in 70 games combined with 59 goals for the Bellville Bulls of the OHL. The Calgary Flames made him a first round selection 13th overall in 1983.

He played 24 more games in the OHL before the Flames called him up to the NHL at age 18, when he was of age to play professional hockey that season. 

In 54 games for the 1983-84 Flames as a rookie he scored almost a point per game with 19 goals and 52 points. It was his clutch that made him stick. That post season in 8 games, he had 8 points on a 3rd line role kid from the OHL.

Quinn progressed steadily, but like every Flames prospect (Brett Hull and the like) he was traded before hitting his real prime in Pittsburgh in 1987 when he snapped home 40 goals in 70 games. The next season his goals dropped off but his point production hit 94.

Dan Quinn spent a couple seasons after with the Vancouver Canucks scoring 16 goals in 34 games. Another with the expansion Senators on a line with Alexandre Daigle to start the year as he scored 7 goals in 14 games.

His last hurrah in the NHL was in Philadelphia where his points were inflated filling in for the injured John Leclair on the Legion of Doom with Eric Lindros and Mikael Renberg. Getting 21 points in 34 games, but all 21 points coming in his first 11 games with Lindros and Renberg. 

So what happened? In 1992 Dan Quinn was arrested and went to trial for raping a woman in Vancouver. While playing for the Minnesota NorthStars at the time, it was a devastating event, the team released him. And in the end police dropped all charges due to lack of any evidence. Damage was already done.

In hockey terms he might be better known for the classic Mike Lange call in Pittsburgh:

"Heeeee Shots and Scores! Danny Quinn has tied the game!!! Ohhh, Hallelujah Hollywood"... after Gretzky first joined the Kings. And the Penguins shut the crowd up.

He embarked on a golf career after his 1997 comeback try with the Penguins, and is now often the caddy for John Daly on the PGA circuit.

Dan Quinn lives in Florida currently with a wife, 2 daughters and a son.