Tiger Williams

TIGER WILLIAMS
SWIFT CURRENT BRONCOS (1971 to 1974)

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David “Tiger” Williams was born on February 3, 1954 in the town of Weyburn, Saskatchewan. He played his minor hockey there until 1970, when he went to play with the Vernon Lakers of the British Columbia Junior Hockey League.

Williams joined the Swift Current Broncos in 1971, and played the remaining 3 years of his junior career with the team. During his time with the Broncos, he established himself as one of the toughest, most competitive players in the entire Western Canadian Hockey League. Williams also proved himself as a scoring threat, though, collecting over 100 points in 2 of his 3 seasons in Swift Current. Tiger was chosen 31st overall in the 2nd round of the 1974 NHL entry draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was also a 3rd round selection, 33rd overall, of the Cincinnati Stingers of the WHA. He played four full seasons in Toronto and parts of two others, where he became a huge fan favourite. Along with his many entertaining skirmishes with other notable NHL tough guys, Tiger also brought the fans out of their seats, when, after scoring a goal, he would ride his hockey stick down the length of the ice, much to the annoyance of the opposing players. When all was said and done in a 14-year NHL career, Tiger was the league’s all-time leader in penalty minutes with 3,966. He also collected an additional 455 minutes during the playoffs. He averaged nearly 20 goals a year, and had his best year in 1980-81 with the Vancouver Canucks, when he netted 35 goals and 27 assists. That year he represented Vancouver in the mid-season All-Star game. After a little more than four years with the Canucks he moved on to play in 55 games with the Detroit Red Wings, where his penalty minutes continued to dominate the stats sheet. The next stop for Tiger was another West Coast club, this time with the Kings in Los Angeles. He had two productive years for the Kings, scoring 49 and 34 points in the 1985-86 and 1986-87 campaigns. And, true to form, he continued his long-standing friendship with the penalty box, spending 320 and 358 minutes in the box during those two seasons. The final NHL destination for Williams was Hartford, where he appeared in 26 games for the Whalers in 1987-88, scoring six goals and 87 penalty minutes. At the age of 34, Tiger retired from professional hockey.Tiger’s final NHL statistics are as follows: 962 regular-season games played, 241 goals, 272 assists, 513 points and a record 3,966 minutes in penalties. He appeared in 83 playoff contests, scoring 12 goals and 23 assists. When asked who he considered some of his more difficult NHL fighting adversaries, Williams responded “all of them.” Although he does say players such as Terry O’Reilly deserve the most respect, playing every third shift of every NHL game while also having to handle the rough and tumble side of things. Dave Semenko, the former Edmonton Oilers policeman, is also highly regarded by Williams. Now that Tiger is out of hockey, he follows many different business interests, primarily in the Vancouver area. He continues to play in NHL old-timers games and remains close friends with many of his former team-mates, most notably Darryl Sittler.

 

PRE-DRAFT AWARDS AND HONORS
Miscellaneous: Rated in The Hockey News draft preview issue as No. 13 overall prospect in the 1974 NHL draft. Played for Edmonton (WCHL) in its 1974 series vs. Moscow Selects.

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NHL AWARDS AND HONORS
All-Star Game: 1981 (Vancouver)
Stanley Cup Finals (Lost): 1982 (Vancouver)
NHL Records: Most penalty minutes career (3,966 PIM), most penalty minutes, career, including playoffs (4,421 PIM)
NHL PIM Leader: 1976-77 (338), 1978-79 (298), 1980-81 (343)
NHL Playoffs PIM Leader: 1978 (63), 1979 (48), 1982 (116)
Toronto Records: Most playoff penalty minutes (240), most playoff penalty minutes in one season by a left wing (75 in 1976)
Vancouver Records: Most playoff penalty minutes (181), most penalty minutes in one playoff year (116 in 1982), most penalty minutes in one playoff series (51 vs. Chicago in 1982)
Los Angeles Records: Most playoff penalty minutes (30 in 1987), most penalty minutes in a regular season (320 in 1986) & (358 in 1987), playoff goals leader (3 in 1987), and the team’s most inspiration player award in ’86 & ’87