Catching Up With Ed Staniowski

In the paper edition of Game Time (wanna subscribe?), we have a recurring feature called Remember Me? As the name implies, we try to catch up with former Blues players, most of them retired. We've done some famous guys, some infamous guys and some most fans don't even remember. Herb Raglan is a butcher, Sergio Momesso a restauranteur. You never know what a guy is up to. That was the case when we researched retired goaltender Ed Staniowski.

Staniowski was a highly regarded player coming up through amateur hockey. He won the Memorial Cup with the Regina Pats in 1974, a year before he was picked 27^th overall by St. Louis. He was a first-team all-star for the West Coast Junior Hockey League and represented Canada at the World Junior Championships. Most impressive of all, he was the Canadian Major Junior player of the year.

When Staniowski made it to the NHL, he ended up splitting time and was rarely considered the starter for an inconsistent Blues team. During the 1978-79 season, Staniowski played in 39 games and posted a 9-25-3 record leading the NHL with the most losses in the league. He also split a fair amount of time in the minors sharing the Terry Sawchuk for allowing the fewest goals in the CHL in the 1977-78 season.

He might best be remembered during his time in St. Louis for wearing a goalie mask where the bottom of the Blue Note contained the eye holes on his solid plastic mask (and you might remember Hannu Toivonen wore a mask with a picture of Staniowski wearing his mask over it). He was traded in 1981 to Winnipeg and last played in the NHL for Hartford in the 1984-85 season.

After retiring, Staniowski joined the Canadian Forces Primary Reserves. He has worked his way up through the Canadian Air Force and is currently a Lieutenant Colonel. He has deployed for his country numerous times, including as the senior Canadian advisor to the Armed Forces of Sierra Leone. 

(The photo is of Staniowski in Afghanistan thanks to Ackermania.)