Friday, December 3, 2010

On this Date : December 3, 1966

Newspapers documented the retirement of Camille Henry from hockey.

Henry started his NHL career in 1953-54 with the New York Rangers. He had a terrific rookie year scoring 24 goals in 66 games. As a result, Henry was awarded the Calder Trophy. In 1958, he would be selected the winner of the Lady Byng Trophy.

After a 11 year run with the Rangers, Henry was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks. He scored 5 goals in 22 games with Chicago in 1964-65 after the trade.

In 1965-66, Henry skated for the St. Louis Braves of the CPHL. Claiming that he injured his back while playing for the Blackhawks ('64-'65) , Henry didn't report to the St. Louis Flyers in October 1966. They were a farm team of the NHL Hawks. At this point Chicago suspended Henry, but kept him on their reserve list.

Not wanting to let Chicago general manager Tommy Ivan have the advantage, Camille "The Eel" Henry retired from hockey. He was concerned that Ivan would sell his rights in anticipation of NHL expansion the following year. It was Henry's contention that the Hawks could make as much as $75,000 in any deal of this nature.

The announcement of his retirement was made in his bi-weekly column for L'Evenement.

After sitting out the entire 1966-67 season, Henry was traded back to New York for Paul Shmyr on August 17, 1967. His final 2 years in pro hockey were spent in the St. Louis Blues organization.

Henry retired for good after the 1969-70 season.

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