

It’s a sad day for this province. George Faulkner, one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s all-time greatest hockey players, passed away this morning. He was 91.
Faulkner was a hockey icon and widely regarded as the greatest senior hockey player this province has ever produced. He was actually the province’s first professional hockey player, skating with the Montreal Canadiens’ farm team in Shawinigan Falls for four seasons in the 1950s. He would have been a sure-bet NHLer, but those Canadiens’ lineups of the 1950s were stacked with legends, from Maurice Richard to Jean Beliveau.

Many say his greatest accomplishment, though, came in 1966 when he helped Canada to a bronze medal at the world hockey championships.
In fact, he led Canada in scoring in that tournament. Faulkner was still skating a decade ago, at age 81, when NTV’s Mark Dwyer featured his illustrious career.
The Faulkner brothers were all hockey stars. George’s younger brother, Alex, would become the province’s first NHLer back in the early 1960s, first with the Toronto Maple Leafs and then the Detroit Red Wings.
George Faulkner’s hall of fame career also included nine Herder Memorial Senior hockey titles, mostly with the Grand Falls Andcos and Conception Bay CeeBees.