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Buster Harvey
Harvey was prolific scorer with Hamilton Red Wings When Buster Harvey came to the Hamilton Red Wings in 1968, the Fredericton, NB native had packed his bags three times by January 1968 ready to head home. But with the help of Red Wings Coach Eddie Bush, Harvey was able to get over his homesickness and go on to a great career in hockey. “I was an only child from a small city and I missed my parents and friends,” said Harvey in a 1969 Spectator interview. “But I’ve made new ones now and the games, practices, and school work keep me busy. I’m glad I stayed. If it hadn’t been for Mr. Bush I’d probably have lived and died within the limits of Fredericton, New Brunswick.” Born in that eastern city in April of 1950, Harvey spent many years hunting and fishing with his father, an RCMP officer. Starting in junior hockey in his hometown in 1964, he led the league in goal scoring with 33 markers in 25 games with the Fredericton Hawks. He played in Fredericton and Halifax before coming west to Hamilton, where he not only played right wing with the Red Wings; he finished off his secondary schooling at Cathedral High School. Harvey had planned to play in his hometown, but the team folded, and he managed to get through the first few months in Hamilton. “I was planning to play this year with the junior club in Fredericton but it folded,” he said. “And so when I arrived here on October 14, I had two problems – loneliness and lack of condition. It took two weeks to get my wind and three weeks to get my legs. It was mid-November before I felt strong on the ice.” While it may have taken Harvey some time to get used to playing, he became one of the team’s top players, scoring 23 goals in 49 games during the 1968-69 season. In his second and final year with Hamilton, he scored 26 goals in 54 games. His performance was noted by the Minnesota North Stars, who drafted him number one and 17th overall in the 1970 NHL Amateur Draft. He picked up 20 points with the North Stars that year, and then went to the AHL’s Cleveland Barons the next season before returning to Minnesota full-time for the 1971-72 season. He scored 21 times in the 1972-73 season, and 16 times the next season before a trade to Atlanta where he spent the next two seasons with the Flames. For the 1975-76 season, Harvey was living out of a suitcase, as he skated up for the Flames, the Kansas City Scouts, and the Detroit Red Wings. He divided his time during the 1976-77 season between the Kansas City Blues of the CHL and the Red Wings back in Detroit, then played his final year of 1977-78 with the Philadelphia Firebirds of the AHL, scoring 10 times. Harvey then returned to his roots, and was head coach of the Fredericton Red Wings for the 1979-80 season. He remained in the area until his death, from cancer, in November 2007. An arena in Fredericton is named after him in his honor.
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