Doug Wickenheiser

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Position	Center
Shoots	Left
Nickname	Wick
Height Weight	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 196 lb (89 kg)
Nationality	Image:Flag of Canada.svg Canada
Born	30 March, 1961, Regina, SK, Canada
Died	12 January, 1999, St. Louis, MO, USA
NHL Draft	1st overall, 1980 Montreal Canadiens
Pro Career	1980 – 1990

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Doug Wickenheiser (March 30 1961 - January 12 1999) was a Canadian hockey player. He was the NHL player who was drafted first overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft.

Wickenheiser was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. A superstar in Major Junior hockey with the Regina Pats, during the 1979-80 WHL season he led the Western Hockey League in goal scoring (89), captained the Pats to a berth in the Memorial Cup and was the CHL Player of the Year. He was rated by the Hockey News as the top draft prospect in 1980. Drafted first overall by the Montreal Canadiens, he is widely regarded as the biggest draft bust in the history of sports.^{[citation needed]} Not helping his status was that the player drafted third, Denis Savard, would become a superstar with the Chicago Blackhawks. Many Canadiens fans (Especially French Canadian fans, who mostly wanted Savard because he was from Quebec) resented him, and media attention soon turned negative.

He was later traded to the St. Louis Blues. Probably his most famous moment with the Blues was during the 1985-86 playoffs in a game dubbed the "Monday Night Miracle" on May 12, 1986, when after St. Louis made a large comeback against the Calgary Flames, Wickenheiser scored the overtime winner to force a Game 7 in the Campbell Conference Finals. The Blues would lose the deciding game 2-1, however.

During his NHL career, Wickenheiser also played for the Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers, and Washington Capitals. In 556 games, he scored 111 goals and 165 assists.

Wickenheiser was diagnosed with cancer in 1998. He died from the disease on January 12, 1999 in St. Louis, Missouri. He is survived by his wife and three daughters. His life story was memorialized in the book "The Last Face Off: The Doug Wickenheiser Story" written in March 2000 by Ted Pepple, Wickenheiser's father-in-law.

His cousin, Hayley Wickenheiser, is a Canadian Olympic athlete, known for her ice hockey excellence with Gold Medals from both 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympics, and competed in women's Softball in the 2000 Summer games.

The Mid-States Club Hockey Association, the governing body for high school hockey in St. Louis, named their championship trophy for small school/second division teams in his honor. He is interred at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Valley Park, Missouri.

An arena in his hometown of Regina, Saskatchewan has been named Doug Wickenheiser Arena in his honor. The arena is located on Rochdale Boulevard in the city's northwest corner.

Preceded by: Rob Ramage	NHL First Overall Draft Pick 1980	Succeeded by: Dale Hawerchuk
Preceded by: Pierre Lacroix	CHL Player of the Year 1980	Succeeded by: Dale Hawerchuk