Earl Ingarfield Jr.

Earl Ingarfield Jr. played in 39 games in the NHL.

Ingarfield was the son of Earl Ingarfield Sr., the long time New York Rangers stalwart in the Original Six days. After expansion in 1967 he was a popular veteran in both Pittsburgh and Oakland.

Earl Jr. was not quite as successful. He had a couple of solid junior seasons with his hometown Lethbridge Broncos of the WHL but was never drafted by a NHL team.

He would sign with the Atlanta Flames organization in 1979, and followed the organization to Calgary when the franchise relocated in 1980. All told he played 17 games for the Flames.

Part way through that 1981-82 season Ingarfield was traded to the Detroit Red Wings for Dan Labraaten. In Ingarfield's only NHL season he scored four goals and four assists in 38 contests.

Ingarfield was farmed out the next season and never returned to the National Hockey League.

It was a mysterious and hasty exit for a player who was once considered to be a very good two way player mature beyond his years.

"He really has wheels," said Flames coach Al MacNeil. "He's got that quick acceleration. From
blueline to blueline he may be the fastest guy on the team."

"I don't do anything super. I just stick my nose in there and try to do the job," he said.

Like father, like son.

As for his skating, he said, "I try to work a bit harder so that I can have that extra step in the third period, I'm not big, so I have to work to take the man out and grind it out with them and maybe get them tired. Then perhaps I'll still have that extra step in the third period and it can make the difference in setting up a goal that can help the team."