Sam LoPresti

Samuel Leo LoPresti (January 30, 1917 – December 11, 1984) was an American professional ice hockey goaltender. LoPresti played 2 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played with the Chicago Black Hawks. LoPresti also played 3 seasons for the St. Paul Saints and 13 games with the Kansas City Americans; both of the AHA. He made NHL history on March 4 during a game against the Boston Bruins. He faced a league record 83 shots in a regulation, 60 minute game.

He decided to leave the NHL to join the United States Navy in World War II. He served as a gunner's mate on the SS Roger B. Taney. When the ship was torpedoed and sunk during an Atlantic crossing in February 1943, LoPresti was listed as missing in action and was thought to be the first casualty among American professional athletes in the conflict.

He was one of 29 people who took refuge in a single lifeboat with a small amount of water or food. They drifted for 42 days and traveled nearly 2,500 miles (4,000 km) southwest before they were found and rescued off the coast of Brazil. The men collected rain water when they could and sometimes drank only 4 imperial fluid ounces (110 mL) per day and had only a small amount of biscuits and bakers chocolate for food. LoPresti was credited with having saved the men's lives after he caught the only real food they had during their entire ordeal after he noticed dolphins that were swimming around their boat on one occasion. He improvised a weapon by lashing a sheath knife to a boat hook, he plunged into the ocean, caught a 35-pound (16 kg) dolphin and they hauled it into the boat. They then drank its blood and cooked the meat in a metal bucket with rags and kerosene.

He was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1973. He died on December 11, 1984 in Eveleth, Minnesota from a heart attack.

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Category:1917 births
Category:1984 deaths
Category:American people of World War II
Category:Chicago Blackhawks players
Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction
Category:Sportspeople from Minnesota
Category:American ice hockey goaltenders