|
Raphael 'Ralph' Keller
<< Back to Reds in Other Halls of Fame
Born Feb. 6, 1936, in Wilkie, Saskatchewan, Canada
Height: 6'0" Weight: 180 lbs
Ralph was inducted into the American Hockey League Hall of Fame in 2016. He was a stalwart defenseman for parts of 13 seasons in the AHL, becoming a popular and legendary figure thanks to his time with the Hershey Bears.
Unlike his brother, Adam, who spent 5 full years with the Reds, Ralph played a half season with Providence during the 1957-58 campaign. Outside of his time in Providence and a season with the Baltimore Clippers in 1962-63, he spent the final 11 years of his career in Hershey, where he was one of the AHL?s top two-way defensemen of his time. He helped the Bears reach the Calder Cup finals in 1965, and reached double digits in goals and triple digits in penalty minutes in both 1966-67 and 1967-68 as Hershey won Eastern Division titles.
In 1968-69, Keller racked up 55 points in 74 games and was named a First Team AHL All-Star, then helped the Bears capture the Calder Cup championship. During the 1970-71 season, Keller broke the AHL record for career goals by a defenseman. In 1972-73 he was named captain of the Bears.
Finishing his playing career in 1973-74, Keller notched eight goals, 31 points and 99 penalty minutes in 74 games during the regular season, and later scored the game-winning goal that clinched the 1974 Calder Cup for Hershey.
His number ?3? retired by the Bears, Keller is Hershey?s all-time leader in games played (737) and points (408) by a defenseman. To this day, he still ranks fourth among all AHL defensemen in scoring with 446 points, and is one of five blueliners in league history to score at least 100 goals (111).
|
