Take away the personal demons that took his pro hockey career and ultimately his life and what’s left is a glimmer of a great hockey career. Real Chevrefils showed signs that he would be a star in hockey. He left traces of greatness along the way. Chevrefils even spent a season among the top five goal scorers in the National Hockey League.
Real Chevrefils – Junior Hockey
From Timmins, Ontario, the northern town that produced Tim Horton, among others, Chevrefils traveled south to Barrie to play Junior ‘A’ hockey. For three years, from 1948-49 to 1950-51, he played for the Barrie Flyers.
In his first year in Barrie, Real and the Flyers were league champions, sweeping the Toronto Marlboros in the finals. Barrie then was swept in the George Richardson Trophy finals by the Montreal Junior Royals and lost the chance to advance to the Memorial Cup finals.
Real Chevrefils Collection
In his final season, Chevrefils was a standout offensive threat. Over 54 regular season games, he scored 52 and assisted on 51 for 103 points. In the playoffs, he added 14 goals and 25 points over just 12 games. Once again, the Flyers met up with the Marlboros in the OHA Junior A finals. Barrie came out on top in six games.
The winning continued in that 1950-51 season with the Flyers then taking out the Quebec Citadelles in seven for the George Richardson Trophy championship. In the Memorial Cup finals, it was a four game sweep over the Winnipeg Monarchs. Over the Memorial Cup run, Real added 19 points over eleven games.
Those Barrie Flyers won the Memorial Cup on two occasions. After moving to Niagara Falls, the NF Flyers would also win two Mem Cup championships. For the 1972-73 OHL season, the team moved north to become the Sudbury Wolves. The Wolves have yet to win an OHL championship.
Real Chevrefils – NHL
Between 1951-52 and 1958-59, Chevrefils played in 387 regular season National Hockey League games, scoring 104 and assisting on 97 for 201 points with the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings. Over 30 playoff games, he added nine points.
On June 3, 1955, Chevrefils was part of a blockbuster trade between the Bruins and Red Wings. Going with him to Detroit were Warren Godfrey, Ed Sandford, Gilles Boisvert and Norm Corcoran. Going to Boston were Terry Sawchuk, Marcel Bonin, Vic Stasiuk and Lorne Davis.
Real played with Detroit to start the 1955-56 season but on January 16, 1956 was traded back to the Bruins with Jerry Toppazzini for Lorne Ferguson and Murray Costello.
Chevrefils broke out in 1956-57 with the Bruins. He placed fifth in the NHL with 31 goals and was named a Second Team All-Star left winger. Ted Lindsay of the Red Wings was the First Team left winger. Boston reached the Stanley Cup finals that year before falling to the powerful Montreal Canadiens in five games. It would be the closest Real would come to a championship in the NHL.
He played his final season of NHL hockey in 1958-59. That year, he appeared in just 30 games while contributing a goal and five assists.
Real Chevrefils – Minor Pro
Prior to his stint in the NHL, Chevrefils spent little time in the minors, playing just 34 games in the first half of the 1951-52 season with the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League. Over those 34 games, he was explosive with 48 points.
From 1958-59 to 1963-64, Real appeared in the AHL, QHL, EPHL, WHL, OHA Sr. A and the IHL. He was dropped to the Springfield Indians for half of the 1957-58 season. With the Punch Imlach coached Indians, he helped the team, that finished 4th of six in the AHL with just 66 points in 70 games, reach the Calder Cup finals. Springfield fell to the Hershey Bears in six games but outscored their opponents 20-18 on the series.
Playing close to home for the 1959-60 season, Chevrefils totalled 59 points in 65 games for the Sudbury Wolves of the EPHL. The team finished first overall in the six team league but fell in the finals to the Montreal Royals in seven games. Sudbury outscored Montreal 21-20 on the series. It was a tight year in the EPHL with all three playoff series going the full seven games. Chevrefils added 12 points over 14 playoff games. Young Dave Keon and Jim Pappin got in some pro action, appearing in some of those playoff games for the Wolves.
By 1962-63, Chevrefils was playing amateur hockey for the Windsor Bulldogs in the OHA Senior ‘A’. Playing 43 games, Real finished tied for sixth in the league with 25 goals, tied for third with 48 assists and placed fifth with 73 points. Windsor won the Allan Cup championship with a four games to one series victory over the Winnipeg Maroons in the finals. Over nine games in the Allan Cup play-downs, Chevrefils added eleven points.
In his final year of hockey, he once again played for the Windsor Bulldogs. However, this time the Bulldogs were in the IHL. Real put up decent numbers with 19 goals and 22 assists over 48 regular season games. The Bulldogs fell to the Fort Wayne Komets in the opening round of the playoffs.
Real Chevrefils – Rookie Card
The Real Chevrefils rookie card appears as number 80 in the 1952-53 Parkhurst set and is valued as a common. This is one of just five mainstream hockey cards featuring Chevrefils during his playing career. In 1954-55, he appeared in both the Parkhurst and Topps sets.
Despite playing for the Red Wings for half a season, he was never featured as a member of that team. He started the 1955-56 season with Detroit but that year there were no Topps cards featuring the U.S. based teams and Parkhurst showed only members of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens.
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 1948-49 | Barrie Flyers | OHA | 43 | 13 | 12 | 25 | 36 |
| 1950-51 | Barrie Flyers | OHA | 54 | 52 | 51 | 103 | 0 |
| 1951-52 | Hershey Bears | AHL | 34 | 20 | 28 | 48 | 14 |
| 1951-52 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 33 | 8 | 17 | 25 | 8 |
| 1952-53 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 69 | 19 | 14 | 33 | 44 |
| 1953-54 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 14 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| 1954-55 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 64 | 18 | 22 | 40 | 30 |
| 1955-56 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 46 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 24 |
| 1955-56 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 17 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 10 |
| 1956-57 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 70 | 31 | 17 | 48 | 38 |
| 1957-58 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 44 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 21 |
| 1957-58 | Springfield Indians | AHL | 15 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 0 |
| 1958-59 | Providence Reds | AHL | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 1958-59 | Quebec Aces | QHL | 12 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 6 |
| 1958-59 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 30 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 8 |
| 1959-60 | Sudbury Wolves | EPHL | 65 | 23 | 36 | 59 | 26 |
| 1960-61 | Kingston Frontenacs | EPHL | 37 | 16 | 20 | 36 | 16 |
| 1960-61 | Winnipeg Warriors | WHL | 19 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 2 |
| 1961-62 | Los Angeles Blades | WHL | 69 | 22 | 32 | 54 | 12 |
| 1962-63 | Windsor Bulldogs | OHASr | 43 | 25 | 48 | 73 | 18 |
| 1962-63 | San Francisco Seals | WHL | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 1963-64 | Windsor Bulldogs | IHL | 48 | 19 | 22 | 41 | 8 |
| NHL Totals | 387 | 104 | 97 | 201 | 185 |