- Date Of Birth: September 18, 1937
- Date Of Death: February 7, 2021
- Occupation: Ice hockey player
- City: Windsor
- State: Colorado
Ralph Gerald Backstrom (September 18, 1937 – February 7, 2021) was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and later a coach, entrepreneur and hockey executive. He played in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens, Los Angeles Kings, and Chicago Black Hawks between 1956 and 1973. He also played in the World Hockey Association with the Chicago Cougars, Denver Spurs/Ottawa Civics, and New England Whalers from 1973 to 1977. With the Canadiens, he won the Stanley Cup six times, and won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year in 1959. After retiring he served as head coach of the University of Denver Pioneers for several years in the 1980s.
Backstrom’s parents were both born near Vaasa in Finland, and met in Kirkland Lake, Ontario. He was a cousin of NHL player Daren Puppa. He was not related to goalie Niklas Bäckström, nor centre Nicklas Bäckström.
Backstrom married his first wife, Frances Richard, in April 1961. He married his second wife, Janet, in 1985. They remained married until his death. He had three children: Martin, Diana, and Andrew.
Backstrom died after a long illness on February 7, 2021, aged 83, in his Windsor, Colorado, home. – Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License from Wikipedia.
