Michael Joseph "Mike Mikita" Pelyk (born September 29, 1947 in Etobicoke, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

) is a retired professional ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 player who played 441 games in the National Hockey League

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

 and 150 games in the World Hockey Association

World Hockey Association

The World Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major competition for the National Hockey League since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926...

. He played with the Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...

, Vancouver Blazers

Vancouver Blazers

The Vancouver Blazers were a professional ice hockey team that played in the World Hockey Association from 1973-75. The Blazers played at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, British Columbia, sharing the facility with the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League. The Blazers were owned by...

, and Cincinnati Stingers

Cincinnati Stingers

The Cincinnati Stingers was an ice hockey team based in Cincinnati, Ohio, that played in the World Hockey Association from 1975 to 1979. Its home arena was Riverfront Coliseum and it was the only major-league hockey team ever to play in Cincinnati.-History:The Stingers franchise was awarded in...

.

Although a gifted skater, Pelyk struggled with inconsistency early in his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...

. In the 1973-74 season he seemed to be finally reaching his potential, leading Leaf defensemen with 12 goals, when he was lured away from the Leafs with a million-dollar contact to the Vancouver Blazers

Vancouver Blazers

The Vancouver Blazers were a professional ice hockey team that played in the World Hockey Association from 1973-75. The Blazers played at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, British Columbia, sharing the facility with the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League. The Blazers were owned by...

 of the WHA. However, he was never quite able to return to the potential shown in the 73-74 season either in his two years in the WHA, or with his return to the NHL with the Maple Leafs in 1976. After two years alternating between the NHL and CHL he retired in 1978.

Mike Pelyk was captain

Captain (ice hockey)

In ice hockey, each team can designate an official captain for each game. The player serving as captain during the game wears a "C" on his or her jersey...

of the WHA Cincinnati Stingers for the 1975-76 season.

External links

• Career bio at Legends of Hockey