His 1971-72 O-Pee-Chee hockey card states that he’s no stranger to the penalty box. Indeed, at the time, Ross Lonsberry already had a 118 penalty season on his NHL resume.
Yet, once Lonsberry was with the Broad Street Bullies, there were many others to do the tough work and his time was better spent on the ice. In fact, over a National Hockey League career that spanned nearly 1,000 games, Lonnie accumulated a nearly wholesome 806 PIM.
Lonsberry was a winner. As a member of the Estevan Bruins, he was picked up by the opposing Edmonton Oil Kings and helped that club to a Memorial Cup championship.
In the CHL, he played alongside a bucket load of future NHL stars and captured the title with the Oklahoma City Blazers. Of course, he was an important piece of the repeat Stanley Cup wins by the Philadelphia Flyers. A battle that he did lose was to cancer in 2014.
Ross Lonsberry – Junior and Minor Pro
Lonsberry played junior hockey with the Estevan Bruins in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League for four years from 1962-63 to 1965-66. With the Bruins, Ross was an offensive threat. In 1964-65, he tied for eighth in the SJHL with 96 points and was named a Second Team All-Star left winger.
In 1965-66, over 59 regular season games, Lonsberry scored 67 and assisted on 77 for 144 points. His goals and points were tops in the league. He was named First Team All-Star at left wing and was honoured as the SJHL most valuable player.
Estevan won the league title with a win over the Weyburn Red Wings in seven games. In the Abbott Cup finals, the Bruins fell to the Edmonton Oil Kings in six. Edmonton then picked up Ross and the team defeated Bobby Orr and the Oshawa Generals for the Memorial Cup title.
His first pro hockey action came back in 1964-65 when he played two regular season and five playoff games with the Minneapolis Bruins in the CPHL. He would return to the CHL for the 1966-67 season but with the Oklahoma City Blazers.
Lonsberry played 46 regular season games and eleven more in the playoffs for the Blazers in his rookie season. The team finished first overall and were crowned champions in the playoffs by knocking out Fred Shero’s Omaha Knights in the finals.
Gerry Cheevers played all eleven games for the Blazers in the playoffs. During the regular season, the team also used Bernie Parent and Doug Favell in net. Up front, there was Wayne Cashman, Terry Crisp, Jean Pronovost, Glen Sather and J.P. Parise on the roster.
Ross continued with Oklahoma City through the 1968-69 season, seeing very limited time in the NHL with the Boston Bruins. In 1968-69, he finished the year with 28 goals and 39 assists for 67 points over 65 games. In the playoffs, he added 12 points over 12 games. The Blazers finished first overall and lost in the finals to the Dallas Blackhawks. Among his teammates were Jim Lorentz and Tom Webster.
Ross Lonsberry – NHL
Lonsberry played 968 regular season National Hockey League games between 1966-67 and 1980-81 with the Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins. Over that time, he scored 256 goals and assisted on 310 for 566 points. In 100 Stanley Cup playoff games, he added 46 points.
Ross Lonsberry Collection
Ross played just 33 games with the Bruins over a three year span. A May, 1969 trade changed Lonsberry’s career drastically. He went from Boston to the Los Angeles Kings with Eddie Shack for Ken Turlik and two draft picks. With the Kings, he was an instant regular and offensive leader. Ross tied for the team lead in 1969-70 with 25 goals, equaling Juha Widing and Bob Berry.
His real success came after a January 28, 1972 trade sent him to the Flyers with Eddie Joyal, Bill Flett and Jean Potvin, in exchange for Serge Bernier, Jim Johnson and Bill Lesuk. That year, he played 82 games over a 78 game schedule due to the differing games played by the Flyers and Kings at the time of the trade.
With Philadelphia, Lonsberry enjoyed his best offensive season of his NHL career with 32 goals in 1973-74. Overall, he had seven seasons with 20 or more goals and just the one where he topped 30. Of course, with the Flyers, he won two Stanley Cup championships with a win over the Boston Bruins in 1973-74 and a win over the Buffalo Sabres in 1974-75.
Over the summer of 1978, Lonsberry was traded to the Penguins with Tom Bladon and Orest Kindrachuk for draft picks. His numbers stayed up with the Penguins but they failed to sign him for the 1981-82 season and he retired from the game.
Ross Lonsberry – Rookie Card
The Ross Lonsberry rookie card appears as number 35 in the 1967-68 Topps NHL set. The card shows him as a member of the Boston Bruins as is valued as a common card.
As mentioned, his 1971-72 O-Pee-Chee number 121 hockey card mentions that he’s no stranger to the penalty box. At the time, he was a bit of tough guy with the Kings and spent 118 minutes in the penalty box over 76 games during his first year with Los Angeles. Once with the Flyers, his numbers dropped and he never sat more than 99 PIM in a season. He ended his career with just 806 minutes over 968 games.
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 1962-63 | Estevan Bruins | SJHL | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 1963-64 | Estevan Bruins | SJHL | 61 | 18 | 26 | 44 | 55 |
| 1964-65 | Estevan Bruins | SJHL | 56 | 40 | 56 | 96 | 130 |
| 1964-65 | Minneapolis Bruins | CPHL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1965-66 | Estevan Bruins | SJHL | 59 | 67 | 77 | 144 | 109 |
| 1966-67 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 1966-67 | Buffalo Bisons | AHL | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 1966-67 | Oklahoma City Blazers | CPHL | 46 | 12 | 10 | 22 | 83 |
| 1967-68 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 19 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 12 |
| 1967-68 | Oklahoma City Blazers | CPHL | 41 | 16 | 18 | 34 | 116 |
| 1968-69 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 1968-69 | Oklahoma City Blazers | CHL | 65 | 28 | 39 | 67 | 169 |
| 1969-70 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 76 | 20 | 22 | 42 | 118 |
| 1970-71 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 76 | 25 | 28 | 53 | 80 |
| 1971-72 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 50 | 9 | 14 | 23 | 39 |
| 1971-72 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 32 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 22 |
| 1972-73 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 77 | 21 | 29 | 50 | 59 |
| 1973-74 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 75 | 32 | 19 | 51 | 48 |
| 1974-75 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 80 | 24 | 25 | 49 | 99 |
| 1975-76 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 80 | 19 | 28 | 47 | 87 |
| 1976-77 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 75 | 23 | 32 | 55 | 43 |
| 1977-78 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 78 | 18 | 30 | 48 | 45 |
| 1978-79 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 80 | 24 | 22 | 46 | 38 |
| 1979-80 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 76 | 15 | 18 | 33 | 36 |
| 1980-81 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 80 | 17 | 33 | 50 | 76 |
| NHL Totals | 968 | 256 | 310 | 566 | 806 |
Below is a video showing a tilt between Lonsberry and Danny Gare in a game between the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins during the 1978-79 NHL season.