Bill Armstrong

William Harold Armstrong (born June 25, 1966) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player.

Early life Armstrong was born in London, Ontario. As a youth, he played in the 1979 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from London, Ontario. Armstrong played at Western Michigan University from 1986 to 1989.

Career Armstrong played in one National Hockey League (NHL) game for the Philadelphia Flyers during the 1990–91 NHL season and spent the rest of his professional career in the American Hockey League (AHL) and International Hockey League (IHL). His playing career was cut short due to a brain tumor, which required surgery.

He invented a move he called a "high wrap", a lacrosse-style shot he successfully used to score goals starting in the 1993–94 AHL season with the Albany River Rats. The move was later notably used by fellow London, Ontario-born player Mike Legg, who learned it while playing shinny with Armstrong at their hometown arena during the off-season. Legg scored a goal with the Michigan Wolverines, in the high-profile 1996 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournamentas compared to the "maybe only 3,000 people [...] in the building" at a River Rats gameearning the move the name "Michigan goal" in the United States. The high wrap / lacrosse-style goal / Michigan goal (names used interchangeably in reporting) later gained further attention when used by Sidney Crosby, Miks Indrašis, Mikael Granlund, Andrei Svechnikov, Trevor Zegras, Kent Johnson and Connor Bedard.

Career statistics Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1984–85 London Diamonds OHA-B 43 17 21 38 102 — — — — — 1985–86 London Diamonds OHA-B 41 26 23 49 81 — — — — — 1986–87 Western Michigan Broncos CCHA 43 13 20 33 86 — — — — — 1987–88 Western Michigan Broncos CCHA 41 22 17 39 88 — — — — — 1988–89 Western Michigan Broncos CCHA 40 23 19 42 97 — — — — — 1989–90 Hershey Bears AHL 58 10 6 16 99 — — — — — 1990–91 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 1 0 1 1 0 — — — — — 1990–91 Hershey Bears AHL 70 36 27 63 150 6 2 8 10 19 1991–92 Hershey Bears AHL 64 26 22 48 186 6 2 2 4 6 1992–93 Cincinnati Cyclones IHL 42 14 11 25 99 — — — — — 1992–93 Utica Devils AHL 32 18 21 39 60 — — — — — 1993–94 Albany River Rats AHL 74 32 50 82 188 — — — — — 1994–95 Albany River Rats AHL 76 32 47 79 115 13 6 5 11 20 1995–96 Albany River Rats AHL 10 3 4 7 22 — — — — — 1995–96 Indianapolis Ice IHL 12 4 5 9 13 — — — — — 1995–96 Detroit Vipers IHL 54 34 25 59 66 12 6 2 8 15 1996–97 Grand Rapids Griffins IHL 35 1 8 9 39 — — — — — 1996–97 Orlando Solar Bears IHL 34 4 25 29 55 10 3 6 9 29 1997–98 Orlando Solar Bears IHL 62 19 18 37 106 — — — — — 1997–98 Kansas City Blades IHL 9 1 4 5 24 5 0 2 2 11 NHL totals 1 0 1 1 0 — — — — —