One of the most delightful characters that I have ever interviewed is former NHL defenseman Jack Lynch. The following is a brief biographical sketch of this former Penguin, Red Wing and Capital.
“Jack, you’ve been driving to Owen Sound for seven days and the Greys have not made a decision whether they want you for their team. If they don’t make a decision tonight don’t you think that you better find another team to play for?”
With these words from his father ringing in his ears, seventeen year old Jack Lynch made his way from his Barrie home to what might be his last chance to make the Owen Sound Greys’ Junior “B” hockey club. However, fate was smiling on the determined youngster that afternoon in the autumn of 1969. When he arrived at the arena, Coach Dave Worden told Jack that he had made the club.
Today Lynch calls making the Owen Sound Greys, the biggest step on his quest to play hockey in the NHL. Owen Sound’s 1969-70 Junior “B” club was one of the strongest teams in Ontario, winning 30 of their 40 league games. The highlight of season for Jack occurred on November 11, 1969. As he was eating his pre-game meal, his landlady told him that the upcoming game would be one of the toughest of the season. The Greys were playing their arch rivals, the Kitchener Greenshirts. Perhaps with the words of his landlady ringing in his ears, he played the game of his life, scoring his only career hat trick, and leading his team to victory.
Jack was always determined to fulfill his dream of playing in the National Hockey League. After one season in Owen Sound, he was drafted second over-all by the Junior “A” Oshawa Generals. As the 1970-71 season began the determined youngster looked for ways to improve himself. He found two strong motivators in Oshawa. The first was team captain Terry O’Reilly, whose work ethic and dedication to hockey had a strong influence on Lynch.
The second inspiration for the young defenseman was former Oshawa rearguard Bobby Orr. Lynch was awe-struck by the great Orr. Therefore, there was certain irony in the fact that he had been drafted, and now played for the same junior team as his role model. Jack tried to copy Orr as much as possible. Like Orr, he applied only two thin strands of tape to the middle of the blade of his hockey stick. This influence was so great that he even modeled his stance at face-offs to that of Orr.
While Lynch was with the Generals, the image of Orr was never far from his mind. In fact, he recalls that there was a six foot poster of Bobby in the lobby of the Oshawa Arena and every day, whether it was for a practice or a game, Jack looked at that image of his hero and reminded himself of his goal, the NHL!
After two seasons of junior hockey, Lynch faced the next hurdle in his quest, the 1972 NHL entry draft. As the big day approached he learned that he was likely to be drafted. Therefore, he and his family made the trek to Montreal to wait for a team to call his name.
He was sitting nervously with his father when with the 24th pick overall, the general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins arose, and with their first pick of the draft announced “from the Oshawa Generals, the Pittsburgh Penguins select Jack Lynch”. The youngster from Barrie, Ontario had made a giant step toward fulfilling his childhood dream.
When Jack arrived back in Barrie after the NHL draft there was message on the phone. It was from the Philadelphia Blazers. That World Hockey Association team had drafted him and made an offer which was considerably higher than the contract proposed by the Penguins. However, Jack’s dream was the NHL, not the WHA. He recalls that he never even considered the offer from Philadelphia; instead he signed with the Penguins and prepared for his first professional training camp.
Jack played with Hershey of the AHL but also suited up for 47 games with the Penguins in his first professional season, 1972-73. The next season, 1973-74, was once again split between those two teams. However, there was a dramatic change on January 12, 1974. On that day, Lynch and goaltender Jim Rutherford (now the general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes) were traded to the Detroit Red Wings for defenseman Ron Stackhouse.
For the next 13 months Jack played in the NHL with the Wings. On February 8, 1975 Jack recalled thinking something was about to happen. At a team dinner, he noted that coach Alex Delvecchio seemed to be avoiding him. Soon after dinner, Delvecchio came to Lynch’s room and told him that he had been traded to the Washington Capitals for Dave Kryskow.
Washington was playing its first season in the NHL and Jack Lynch was about to become part of NHL history. When he arrived in Washington the team had yet to win a game on road and this tradition did not seem likely to end any time soon. Jack remembers that the team got together near the end of the season and discussed the situation. A look at the remaining games on the schedule revealed that they had three road games left, in Oakland, Pittsburgh and Montreal. They realized that their best chance for a victory was in Oakland.
They prepared for the west coast game as if it was the seventh game of the Stanley Cup finals. When it was over, victory was theirs. Their road losing streak had ended at 37 games. After the game the Capitals’ dressing room was in pandemonium. The players paraded a garbage can around the room, each one signing their name to this make-shift trophy. Unfortunately, the Caps’ success was short lived. They lost their remaining two road games and their team went into the record books for the most consecutive road losses (37) and the most road losses in a season (39).
On December 13, 1977 Jack Lynch’s hockey dreams received a shattering blow. On that night the Capitals were playing in Vancouver. With 73 seconds remaining in the game Lynch led a last effort rush into the Canucks’ end in an attempt to score the tying goal. Hilliard Graves, who Jack recalled was a notorious “low hitter”, submarined Jack and he suffered a severe knee injury.
After 13 months of torturous rehabilitation Lynch returned to the Capitals line-up. However, 30 games later, on November 15, 1979, Jack realized that his injury would not allow him to continue his dream and he retired.
However, he did not completely leave the game that he loved so much. He served as the color analyst on the Capitals’ game broadcasts for the 1980-81 season. But he realized that he needed more security for his family, so in March 1982 he joined the Ontario Ministry of Tourism as a Public Relations officer.
Today, the voice of Jack Lynch can be heard on many radio stations throughout Ontario promoting recreational and tourism events. Hockey is still a large part of his life. For many seasons he co-hosted a show about junior hockey on a Barrie radio station.
Jack Lynch’s life away from hockey is equally diverse and rich. His two daughters, Terri Ann and Katie are great source of joy and pride. He and his wife Bonnie enjoy golfing and are huge fans of NASCAR racing. However, his real joy is working around the house together, especially gardening.
Jack Lynch’s hockey career is a testament to the fact that dreams can become reality. All it takes is a lot of hard work and faith in yourself.
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