{"id":68374,"date":"2025-08-14T06:40:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T06:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/68374\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T06:40:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T06:40:07","slug":"polish-born-nhl-defenceman-john-miszuk-came-to-canada-as-a-refugee-after-the-second-world-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/68374\/","title":{"rendered":"Polish-born NHL defenceman John Miszuk came to Canada as a refugee after the Second World War"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

John Miszuk forged an 18-season career in professional hockey after his family came to Canada seeking a new life outside of Europe.B Bennett\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

John Miszuk, a refugee from war-torn Europe who only learned to skate at age 12, overcame a late start to forge an 18-season career in professional hockey.<\/p>\n

A dependable, stay-at-home defenceman, Mr. Miszuk (pronounced MISH-ook) gained a reputation for delivering punishing bodychecks, including once knocking out an opponent with a clean hit during a playoff game.<\/p>\n

Mr. Miszuk, who has died at age 84, was an original member of the expansion Philadelphia Flyers. He skated in 237 National Hockey League games for the Flyers, the Detroit Red Wings, the Chicago Black Hawks (now Blackhawks) and the Minnesota North Stars.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-1 (185-centimetre), 192-pound (87-kilogram) defenceman rarely rushed the puck, preferring instead to pass to forwards. He was known for playing his man, pushing a rival from the front of the net, or knocking him into the boards.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to be a great skater to play that style,\u201d he said in 1976, \u201cwhich suits me fine because I\u2019ll never make it to the Ice Capades.\u201d<\/p>\n

The defenceman joined the likes of Denmark\u2019s Poul Popiel and Stan Mikita, who was born in the Nazi client state of the Slovak Republic, as rare European-born players in the NHL in their era.<\/p>\n

As a teenager, Mr. Miszuk became determined to become a pro hockey player, much to the disappointment of his parents, who wanted him to learn a trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it will be tough, but I\u2019ve already beaten a lot of tough things,\u201d he said then. \u201cWhen I was two, Hitler drove my parents out of Poland and into slave labour camps in Germany. When I came [to Canada] at nine, I had to learn English. A lot of people say I won\u2019t make the pros, but at least I\u2019ll give it a try. I\u2019ll never be satisfied if I don\u2019t give it a try.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jan Miszuk was born on Sept. 29, 1940, in Naliboki, a Polish village occupied the previous year by the invading Red Army of the Soviet Union. His parents Maria (n\u00e9e Nowicki) and Kazimierz Miszuk were farmers who had the great misfortune of living in the heart of what historian Timothy Snyder would later describe as the Bloodlands. At the time of the boy\u2019s birth, the village, about 80 kilometres west of Minsk, had been absorbed into the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. The German army swept through the village in 1941.<\/p>\n

The family was removed from their farm, and the parents were conscripted as forced labourers in Germany. They spent time in transit and relocation camps. Even Germany\u2019s surrender did not end their deprivations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lived in seven different places in Germany,\u201d the hockey player told the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper in 1967. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t pleasant. We had a family of six and you were lucky to get an apartment with two rooms. There wasn\u2019t much work either. My father had a tough time.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the family farm once again in territory controlled by the Soviets, the family sought to build a new life outside of Europe. They were among 157,000 refugees known as displaced persons who came to Canada after the Second World War.<\/p>\n

The boy\u2019s father and an uncle left a resettlement camp at Bremerhaven, Germany, for Canada in the summer of 1950. In January, 1951, the 10-year-old boy joined his mother and two sisters, the younger one having been born in Germany, aboard the United States transport ship General C.C. Ballou, which carried about 400 passengers bound for Halifax. Many were miners and woodsmen seeking work in the Val d\u2019Or region of Quebec and lumber camps in northern Ontario.<\/p>\n

The family settled in Hamilton, where the father found a job as a shipper with Mohawk Mills, which produced yarns for hosiery and underwear, before working as a labourer. The mother became a dietary aide at St. Joseph\u2019s Hospital, a position she held for 31 years, while his older sister worked at a shoe factory.<\/p>\n

The boy became a newspaper carrier for the Hamilton Spectator, using his earnings to buy clothes and a bicycle while taking industrial courses at Central Secondary with plans to become an electrical engineer. He played baseball, softball, basketball and soccer, once scoring six goals to lead his Hamilton team to a 12-0 victory over a squad from Belleville to claim the Ontario bantam championship.<\/p>\n

Hockey was his favourite sport, though he was several years behind in his development compared to peers, and he thrived playing in leagues organized by the Hamilton Police Minor Athletic Association, which developed such future NHLers as Harry Howell and Murray Oliver, as well as Bill Friday, a referee whose father helped create the association.<\/p>\n

Mr. Miszuk played junior hockey for the Tiger Cubs and Red Wings in Hamilton before turning pro with the Edmonton Flyers in 1961. Under coach Norman (Bud) Poile, the Flyers won the Lester Patrick Cup as champions of the Western Hockey League.<\/p>\n

The defenceman made his NHL debut with Detroit during the 1963-64 campaign, seeing spot duty over 42 games as a fill-in for injured defencemen.<\/p>\n

\u201cMiszuk isn\u2019t the world\u2019s best skater,\u201d said Red Wings coach and general manager Sid Abel, \u201cbut he seems to block [opponents] out and get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was traded to Chicago in 1964, playing in five regular-season and five playoff games over two seasons. He knocked out Detroit\u2019s Dean Prentice with a clean bodycheck into the boards in a 1966 semifinal game. At training camp in 1966, he lost a competition for the fifth defence spot on the Chicago roster to Ed Van Impe. At a time when the NHL only had six clubs, the late bloomer seemed doomed to spend most of his career in the minors, playing for such farm teams as the Pittsburgh Hornets, Buffalo Bisons and St. Louis Braves.<\/p>\n

The NHL doubled in size with expansion in 1967. The Philadelphia Flyers selected Mr. Miszuk in the ninth round, 51st overall, reuniting him with the expansion club\u2019s general manager, Mr. Poile. (Mr. Van Impe was taken by the team in the third round.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really glad about going to a new club because I feel I\u2019m finally going to get a real chance to show what I can do,\u201d Mr. Miszuk said. \u201cI feel I have what it takes to be a frontline defenceman and that\u2019s the only way to play hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the Toronto Maple Leafs made their visit to the Spectrum in Philadelphia that season, Mr. Miszuk was the surprise scoring star, putting two pucks past Johnny Bower in the Toronto goal in the first period. He said later he could not remember ever having scored two goals in a game as a professional. He would record only five in the season. In his NHL career, he scored seven goals with 39 assists. He had three assists in 19 playoff games.<\/p>\n

After two seasons in Philadelphia, the defenceman was traded to Minnesota. In 1974, he signed a free-agent contract with the Michigan Stags of the World Hockey Association, a major-league rival to the NHL. The Detroit-based franchise failed at the gate and on the ice, becoming the Baltimore Blades midway through the season only to go bankrupt and fold.<\/p>\n

The next summer, he paid his own way from San Diego to try out with the WHA\u2019s Calgary Cowboys, only to have coach Joe Crozier tell him all roster spots were filled. He persisted, hanging around the club until injuries opened a spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first I didn\u2019t think I needed him,\u201d the coach said, \u201cbut by November he was my best defenceman. He isn\u2019t fancy, but he\u2019s steady.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Miszuk skated with the Cowboys for two seasons. He also played for the minor-league Iowa Stars, San Diego Gulls and San Francisco Shamrocks before ending his career in 1979 with the San Diego Hawks. He played games for charity for another two decades as a member of the touring NHL Alumni club.<\/p>\n

In 1998, he was added to the Copps Coliseum (now TD Coliseum) Wall of Fame in Hamilton, a display that has since been dismantled.<\/p>\n

After retiring from hockey, he and his wife became well-known Tim Hortons franchise owners and philanthropists. In 1992, they opened a new, 4,000-square-foot, 116-seat restaurant in downtown Hamilton, the coffee-and-donut chain\u2019s largest in Ontario. Prime Minister Kim Campbell attracted 300 people when she held a campaign town hall in the outlet the following year.<\/p>\n

Six years ago, he traveled 7,000 kilometres to visit his birthplace in what is now Belarus. The family farm had been burned to the ground during the war. He returned to Canada with an envelope filed with a handful of the bountiful soil his family once tilled.<\/p>\n

Mr. Miszuk died at home on July 28. He leaves his wife of 63 years, the former Cora Bakalech, whom he met while playing in Edmonton. He also leaves two sons, two daughters, five grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and two sisters.<\/p>\n

A grinder and journeyman for much of his career, the defenceman once appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine. Under the headline \u201cThose big bad Black Hawks,\u201d a photograph shows a furious Bobby Hull tangling with a rival player identifiable only by his No. 18 Red Wings sweater. <\/p>\n

The rookie was pleased with the outcome of his first NHL fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to show them you belong up here,\u201d he told The Hockey News. \u201cI figure I was lucky to get a standoff, though. He\u2019s a pretty strong boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can find more obituaries from The Globe and Mail here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To submit a memory about someone we have recently profiled on the Obituaries page, e-mail us at obit@globeandmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: John Miszuk forged an 18-season career in professional hockey after his family came…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,2922,2385,82],"class_list":["post-68374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-noastack","tag-obituary","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}