“Other” Cam Newton tended goal for the Penguins

Cam Newton, Pittsburgh Penguin

The Penguins had their own Cam Newton back in the early 70s, and although he wasn’t a superstar in his sport like the Carolina Panther quarterback of the same name, he also wasn’t known for his poutiness after losing a big game.

And, being a Penguin netminder in the early 70s, he did lose a few.

Newton tended goal for the Toronto Marlboros in 1967 when they won the Memorial Cup, symbol of junior hockey supremacy in Canada. He was drafted by the Pens in 1970 and made his NHL debut on March 23, 1971.

Facing him that night was none other than Gordie Howe, then in his final season with the Detroit Red Wings. Newton kept Mr. Hockey off the scoresheet while his teammates exploded for eight goals, making his night a happy one. On the strength of a Duane Rupp hat trick, the Pens halted an eight-game winless streak with an 8-2 rout.

Newton had a shutout going until, with less than five minutes to go, he got tangled up with a teammate and left his net wide open, into which Detroit’s Tom Webster depositing the rubber. “Things were going my way and I got a little anxious,” he said about the play after the game, adding somewhat cockily, “Don’t forget, I haven’t been around this league for 25 years.”

Newton would play here and there for the Pens the rest of the year and the following season, usually getting the call from the minors to fill in when starters Les Binkley or Jim Rutherford were hurt. His performances were often more shaky than Penguin management would have liked. In his first game of the 1971-72 season in Los Angeles, he gave up four first-period goals in a six and-a-half minute stretch, sinking the Pens' hopes and sending them to a 5-2 loss.

The rival World Hockey Association was snapping up NHL players at the time and Newton made the jump before the 1973-74 season, signing with the Chicago Cougars. He retired from pro hockey in 1977.

Since then, it seems Cam Newton has all but disappeared. Toronto hockey writer Howard Berger recently tried to track him down but no one knew where he was. Read Howard’s fascinating account of his elusive search for the “other” Cam Newton – Pittsburgh Penguin netminder.