| Round | Overall |
| 4 | 49 |
Connie Forey
Selected by
Pittsburgh from Ottawa (OHA)
 |
 |
6-foot-2, 185 pounds
Left-hand shot
Left Wing
Pre-Draft Statistics
| Year | Team | League | GP | G | A | TP | PIM |
| 1968-69 | Ottawa | OHA | 53 | 9 | 10 | 19 | 22 |
| 1969-70 | Ottawa | OHA | 54 | 24 | 28 | 52 | 39 |
Pre-Draft Notes
Played on line with Bill Clement and Brian McSheffrey for Ottawa in 1969-70.
Canadian • Born October
18, 1950 in Montreal, Quebec • Hometown: Montreal, Quebec
Career Vitals
| First contract: | 1970 |
| Debut: | October 10, 1973 (St. Louis at California) |
| Final NHL game: | October 27, 1973 (St. Louis vs. Chicago) |
| Retired: | 1975 |
| Stanley Cup: | Never won |
| Number: | 19 |
Career NHL Statistics
Team: St. Louis
Year: 1973. Playoffs:
None
| Regular Season | |||||
| GP | G | A | TP | PIM | |
| 1 year | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Stanley Cup Playoffs | |||||
| GP | G | A | TP | PIM | |
| 0 years | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Complete statistics available at NHL.com | |||||
Career Highlights
Took part in Islanders' first training camp in 1972.
Transaction History
June 6, 1972 -- Claimed by N.Y. Islanders from Hershey (AHL, Pittsburgh affiliate) in Inter-League Draft. June 6, 1973 -- Claimed by Denver (WHL, St. Louis affiliate) from N.Y. Islanders in Reverse Draft. September 1974 -- Signed WHA contract with Indianapolis.
Life Outside the NHL
Full Name: Conley
Michael Forey
Also Known as:
Conley Forey
Other Post-Draft Teams: Amarillo (CHL); Hershey (AHL); Fort Wayne (IHL); New Haven (AHL); Denver (WHL);
Chicago (WHA); Mohawk Valley (NAHL)
Career Beyond Hockey: Moved to the
Vancouver area after his retirement and became an investment banker and
financial advisor. He later moved to Panama City, Panama, where he
continued to work in the financial services industry.
Forey's Historic Penalty for Attacking a WHL Referee in 1974
| On Feb. 20, 1974, Forey was involved in an ugly incident that ended up landing him a spot in hockey history and effectively ended his pro career. Playing for the last-place Denver Spurs in a Wednesday night game at Seattle, Forey lost his cool at 7:11 of the second period with his team trailing 4-1. The Totems, who had the Western Hockey League's second-worst record had dominated the first period, taking a 4-0 lead in the first 10:09. Denver got its first goal at 5:22 of the second, less than two minutes before things got out of hand. At the 7:11 mark, Forey, 23, became enraged after referee Malcolm Ashford called a minor penalty against him for tripping a Seattle player. Rather than go to the box quietly, Forey argued with Ashford so vehemently, that the referee added a misconduct penalty as Forey sat down in the penalty box. That second call set Forey off, as he charged out of the box without his gloves on and attacked Ashford by punching him four times directly in the face. He continued to hound Ashford until linesmen and some local police stationed near the penalty box pulled him away from the referee. Forey broke Ashford's nose in multiple places, and the referee had to go to a hospital for treatment. Seattle's trainer, Pat Dunn, later told reporters that "His nose was all over his face. I've seen a lot of broken noses, but none like that." The incident received national attention, and pressure mounted on WHL president William H. MacFarland to throw the book at Forey. On Feb. 28, MacFarland announced what at the time was the largest fine and longest suspension against a North American pro hockey player. Forey was fined $10,000 and suspended for the balance of the 1973-74 season as well as the entire 1974-75 season. In addition, MacFarland said that Forey could only return to the WHL in 1975-76 if he were to pay either the full $10,000 fine or settle any civil suit filed by Ashford that amounted to a figure above $10,000. MacFarland called his decision "the minimum suspension which could have been levied, considering the nature of the attack and the injuries suffered." Upset with the ruling mainly because he had no prior history of excessive violence or disciplinary problems, Forey asked the WHL ownership to seek an independent arbitrator to determine a more appropriate punishment -- even though MacFarland expressly said that he had already weighed the issue of Forey's spotless history into his decision. Forey's father, Conley Forey Sr., said that the league had gone too far and was trying to destroy his son's career "for punching a referee". Denver head coach Vic Stasiuk also expressed surprise at the severity of the punishment. Ashford, meanwhile, praised MacFarland for taking a stand to protect referees, calling it a "precedent-setting case". At the time of Forey's $10,000 fine, no NHL player, let alone the minor leagues, had ever been fined more than $2,000. On March 1, Forey dropped | his request for arbitration and instead filed a formal appeal of his suspension with the league. Even though he was suspended, Forey managed to get a five-game tryout deal with the WHA's Chicago Cougars on March 6. Cougars general manager Jacques Demers justified the decision to sign Forey by saying: "He was suspended without pay and his contract with the St. Louis Blues would run out before the suspension ended, so that means we can talk to him now." At the time of his WHA signing, Forey told reporters: "I was at fault. I just lost my temper and can't even remember what I did. I often keep thinking 'Why did I keep on hitting him?' I had to read the papers the next day to find out what I'd done to him because my mind went blank when it happened. Maybe I thought that I was fighting with a player instead of a referee." Forey played in Chicago's March 7, 1974, game at Quebec, but would not appear in any more WHA games due to the controversy. The NHL and other pro leagues were angry that the WHA would allow a suspended player to play, and four WHA officials threatened to resign if he kept playing. On March 8, WHA president Dennis Murphy ruled Forey ineligible to play in the league and said his statistics from the game would not be part of the WHA's official record. In the moments following his lone WHA game, Forey had told reporters: "The mental pressure is almost unbearable at the present time. I don't like what I did, and I knew I had to suffer the consequences for it." After MacFarland left the WHL to run the WHA's expansion Phoenix Roadrunners, Forey's appeal to lift the suspension and fine was granted in July 1974, giving him a chance to play pro hockey again. However, his situation got worse when the Blues officially released him, making him an unrestricted free agent prior to the start of training camp in September 1974. He signed with the Indianapolis Racers, a WHA expansion team, and was sent to the NAHL's Mohawk Valley Comets to start the 1974-75 season. However, he lasted for only six games before quitting the team. In addition, Ashford did pursue a civil suit against Forey, and one year later on Feb. 27, 1975, the case was settled out of court for $1,000, which Ashford donated to the NHL players' emergency fund. Forey found himself involved in one more court case when he filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against the Racers in April 1975. The lawsuit said that he had been guaranteed $65,000 over two years before being sent to Mohawk Valley. There was confusion over the validity of Forey's contract, which had been negotiated by the team's original owners, who had promised Forey the big money and a signing bonus before they quickly got themselves into financial trouble. The case went to court in August 1975, and lasted two days. A 12-member jury found Indianapolis guilty of breach-of-contract and Forey was added to the team's list of creditors, due $57,000 in damages. |
Miscellaneous:
| Selected by Winnipeg Jets in 1972 WHA Draft -- the first-ever WHA Draft -- in February 1972. | Grew up in an affluent section of Montreal, where he was one of seven children. | Assigned by Pittsburgh to team's CHL affiliate in Amarillo, Texas, on Oct. 1, 1970. | Outstanding golfer who competed in tournaments in Canada and Panama. |
| SNAPSHOT '70 | |
| Total Selected: | 115 |
| Forwards: | 67 |
| Defense: | 36 |
| Goaltenders: | 12 |
| Major Junior: | 87 |
| College Players: | 18 |
| Canadian: | 109 |
| Euro-Canadian: | 0 |
| American: | 6 |
| European: | 0 |
| Reached NHL: | 62 |
| Won Stanley Cup: | 12 |
| Hall of Fame: | 3 |
| All-Star Game: | 11 |
| Year-end All-Star: | 4 |
| Olympians: | 2 |
| Picks Traded: | 13 |
| 1970 PICKS BY TEAM | ||
| Boston | Buffalo | Chicago |
| Detroit | Los Angeles | Minnesota |
| Montreal | New York | Oakland |
| Philadelphia | Pittsburgh | St. Louis |
| Toronto | Vancouver | |
OTHERS DRAFTED IN 1970