Fred Creighton
Fred Creighton (* June 24, 1930 in Port Arthur, Ontario; † 28 September 2011 in Charlotte, North Carolina ) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach who has, among other things, the Atlanta Flames and Boston Bruins coached in the National Hockey League.
Career
Fred Creighton began his career as a professional hockey player in the Western Hockey League in which he was active from 1955 to 1961 for the Saskatoon Quakers, New Westminster Royals, Seattle Americans, Spokane Spokes and Portland Buckaroos. Then, the attacker moved to the beginning of the 1961/62 season to the Providence Reds of the American Hockey League. After just one season he left the team and spent two years playing for the Charlotte Checkers of the Eastern Hockey League. The season 1963/64 he spent in their league rival New Haven Blades and the Fort Wayne Komets of the International Hockey League.
In the summer of 1964, Creighton returned to his former club Charlotte Checkers, for which he ran aground in the following two seasons as a player-manager, before he ended his playing career after the 1965/66 season at the age of 35 years. From then until 1972 he worked exclusively as head coach of Checkers. He then signed with the Omaha Knights of the Central Hockey League, with whom he won the championship for the first time in the 1972/73 season. In addition, he was awarded the Jake Milford Trophy as the best coach of the CHL. After two and a half years, the Canadians left the Knights late in the season 1974/75 and the Atlanta Flames joined from the National Hockey League, with whom he four times the playoffs for the Stanley Cup reached in five seasons, but never on the first round it past.
For the season 1979/80 Creighton was from Atlanta League rivals, the Boston Bruins obliged. Manager Harry Sinden, where he was dismissed despite a successful season with 40 wins in 73 games seven games remaining of general who then themselves took over as coach for the remainder of the season. From 1981 to 1984 Creighton worked as a coach for the Indianapolis Checkers of the CHL, with whom he won the CHL Championship respectively in his first two years. After he had charge of the Springfield Indians from 1985 to 1988, Creighton is retired from professional hockey.