by Gregg Inkpen

Created on: March 25, 2008

Youngest Player In A Professional Hockey League?

The youngest player to lace up skates and compete in a National Hockey League game was Bep Guidolin, who was less than one month shy of his 17th birthday when he played for the Boston Bruins in the 1942-43 season, registering 7 goals and 15 assists.

In an Eastern Hockey League game on March 13, 1966, Doug Bentley, the Knoxville Knights head coach and NHL Hall of Famer, inserted his son, Doug Jr. into the lineup vs. the Jacksonville Rockets. What was unusual at the time was that Doug Jr., born June 1, 1951, was 14 years old, becoming the youngest player in EHL history and most likely any professional hockey minor league. "It was the final game of the regular season and my father approached me about playing. I wasn't sure why he wanted me to play in an EHL game but in those days there were probably 13 to 14 players to a team and they had 4 or 5 injuries at the time," recalled Doug Jr. recently. "My reaction to being asked to play? Shocked, but I agreed to it right away. My teammates were surprised I guess, but happy for me. I played a regular shift but didn't get any points (Knoxville won the game 12-4). Chuck Stuart was my center and he told me to just go stand in front of the net."

"As I remember it," recalled EHL veteran and linemate Les Calder, "We were already in the playoffs so it didn't bother us. The one thing I remember about him was that he was a skinny little fart!"

Asked if any of the opposition took any liberties with him, Doug Jr. replied, "Nobody took any runs at me if that's what you mean...they were pretty good about it." As for his father's reaction after the game? "Not too much was said, he said it was okay, he wasn't a really big talker."

After playing in his one and only Eastern Hockey League game, Doug Jr. played juvenile hockey at the age of 15 with the CHED Good Guys, an Edmonton radio station, eventually playing with the Edmonton Oil Kings in the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL). In the 1971-72 season he played 9 games in the International Hockey League (IHL) with the Des Moines Oak Leafs, picking up 2 goals and 2 assists. Doug Jr. ended his hockey career in the late 70s, spending several seasons with the Trail SmokeEaters in the Western International Hockey League (WIHL).

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