Ralph Klassen was a junior superstar and defensive forward in the NHL. The elite checker and skater played for the California Golden Seals, Cleveland Barons, Colorado Rockies, and St. Louis Blues during the mid 1970s to early 1980s.
Klassen played his junior hockey for the Saskatoon Blades and won a silver medal with Canada’s 1975 World Junior Team. He also represented Canada at the 1977 World Championships in Vienna, Austria — and he skated on a line with Phil Esposito.
Ralph Klassen didn’t play on many great NHL teams, but he was an outstanding penalty killer and was often assigned to shut down some of the biggest hockey names from my childhood (Ex. Guy Lafleur, Marcel Dionne, Gilbert Perreault, Wayne Gretzky, etc.)
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Snippet from Original Video:
Ralph Klassen was from my hometown of Humboldt, Saskatchewan and died in August 2020. This video is a small celebration and tribute to his his life in hockey.
After the Humboldt Broncos tragedy in 2018, part of my personal processing involved researching some of the NHL hockey personalities from our hometown.
This video is a personal inquiry project and it is for educational purposes only. I do not own the artwork or imagery in this video.
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Audio & Video Reference Links:
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SASKATOON BLADES
Bernie Federko discussing time as a Saskatoon Blade (Audio Snippet)
