Steve Durbano

Harry Steven Durbano (December 12, 1951 in Toronto, Ontario – November 16, 2002 in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories) was a professional player noted for his rough play on the ice and his larger-than-life persona off it.
==Career==
Born in Toronto, Durbano rose through minor hockey to a place on the Toronto Marlboros of the Ontario Hockey Association. He was drafted by the New York Rangers in the first round of the 1971 NHL Amateur Draft. He never played a game for the Rangers, though, and was traded to the St. Louis Blues where he began his career. Durbano quickly gained a reputation for being one of the toughest players in the league, amassing 1,411 major league-career penalty minutes, including an NHL-leading 370 PIM in the 1975–76 season. 
He played 220 NHL games over the course of his career for St. Louis as well as the Pittsburgh Penguins, Kansas City Scouts and Colorado Rockies, along with 45 games in the World Hockey Association for the Birmingham Bulls.
==Retirement==
In 1983, shortly after he retired, Durbano was implicated in a scheme to import half a million dollars worth of cocaine into Canada and was sentenced to seven years in prison. After his release, Durbano still couldn't keep straight - he was arrested once for shoplifting, and, in 1995, he was sent back to prison after he attempted to recruit an undercover police officer into an escort service in Welland, Ontario. He moved to the Northwest Territories late in life in an effort to find peace, but died there of liver cancer in November 2002.
==External links==
*Steve Durbano on the HockeyDB.com
Category:Canadian ice hockey players
Category:Born in 1951
Category:Dead in 2002
Category:National Hockey League first round draft picks
Category:New York Rangers draft picks
Category:Birmingham Bulls players
Category:Toronto Marlboros alumni
Category:St. Louis Blues players
Category:Pittsburgh Penguins players
Category:Kansas City Scouts players
Category:Colorado Rockies (NHL) players
Category:Omaha Knights (CHL) players
Category:Salt Lake Golden Eagles players
Category:Rhode Island Reds players
Category:Retired in 1979