Playing career

Junior hockey

Resch started his playing career as goalie for the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. After earning a four-year degree in education, he turned pro by joining the Muskegon Mohawks of the IHL where he won three prestigious awards in his first season: the James Norris Memorial Trophy (fewest goals against), rookie of the year honours, and selected as a First-Team All-Star.

Having outgrown the IHL, the following year he stepped up to play for the New Haven Nighthawks of the American Hockey League and then spent most of the 1973-74 season playing for the Fort Worth Wings of the CHL where he won the league's MVP Honours and was voted as a CHL First Team All Star. He made his National Hockey League debut for the Islanders on February 3, 1974 in a 4-2 defeat to the California Golden Seals and earned his first NHL victory two nights later, with a 6-2 win over the Minnesota North Stars before returning to the Wings for the remainder of the season.

New York Islanders

The next season, 1974-75, Resch was ready for the NHL. In 25 games, he had 12 wins, 7 losses, and 5 ties, with 3 shut-outs and a 2.47 goals against average. His success during the regular season carried over into the playoffs as he had an incredible 8 wins and 4 losses with a 2.17 goals against average. Resch was in goal as the Islanders erased 3-0 deficits to both the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers. The Isles defeated the Penguins in seven games, winning the decisive game 1-0 on a goal by team captain Ed Westfall. The comeback is considered one of the greatest in sports history and marked one of only five times in history that a North American professional sports team won a best-of-7 series after losing the first three games, the others being the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs (also ice hockey), the 2004 Boston Red Sox (Major League Baseball), the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers, and the 2014 Los Angeles Kings.

In the following round, the Islanders again rallied from a 3-0 deficit to force a game seven, but the defending champion Flyers eliminated the Islanders with a 4-1 win in the decisive game.

Resch saw increased action in the next season, 1975-76 and he did not disappoint. In 44 games, he had 23 wins, 11 losses, 8 ties, and 7 shut-outs with a 2.07 goals against average. Over the next few seasons, he would share the workload with another promising young goalie, Billy Smith.

In 1978-79, the tandem of Resch and Smith backstopped the Islanders to the best regular season record in the league, with Resch earning Second All-Star team honours. However, the team was upset by the New York Rangers in the Stanley Cup semifinals.

In 1980, his sixth full season with the Islanders, Resch was part of a Stanley Cup win, but generally served as the backup through most of the team's playoff run. Resch was one of the key players from the Islanders' 1979 first place team who left the team or had their roles relegated; before the end of the 1980 regular season, General Manager Bill Torrey had traded away longtime and popular veterans Billy Harris and Dave Lewis to the Los Angeles Kings in return for Butch Goring.

Colorado Rockies/New Jersey Devils

The next season, on March 10, 1981, Resch was traded to the struggling Colorado Rockies along with Steve Tambellini for Mike McEwen and Jari Kaarela. He returned to Long Island for the first time as an opponent on February 20, 1982. The Islanders defeated the Rockies 3-2 on a goal in the final minute by John Tonelli. The victory was the Islanders' 15th straight, which set an NHL record at the time.

Resch played in Colorado for only the rest of the 1980-81 season and the 1981-82 NHL season before the franchise moved to New Jersey to become the New Jersey Devils. Resch shouldered a heavy load over the next few years, but the Devils didn't win many games.

Philadelphia Flyers

Resch was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers on March 11, 1986 for a third round pick in the 1986 NHL Entry Draft (Marc Laniel). The next NHL season would be his last, as Resch backed up rookie sensation Ron Hextall in 1986-87.

Resch didn't get any playing time in the 1987 playoffs, where the Flyers defeated his old team, the New York Islanders, in seven games during their second-round matchup. In the pre-game warm-up of game 6 of the conference finals contest with the Montreal Canadiens, Resch was ejected from one of the games for his part in starting a brawl with Montreal's Claude Lemieux. The Flyers won that series but lost to the Edmonton Oilers in 7 exciting games in the Stanley Cup Finals.

While with the Islanders, he never had a losing season and compiled a record of 157 wins and only 69 losses. After he was traded, he didn't have a winning season again until his very last one with the Philadelphia Flyers in 1986-87 where he went 6-5-2 in 17 games.

When he retired, he was the last active player to be born in the 1940s.

International career

Resch is the only goaltender to ever represent two different countries at Canada Cup. In 1976, he was a member of Canadian ice hockey squad, while in 1984, he represented United States, after he got his US Citizenship (married an American and being a legal resident for many years). Also, in 1981, he turned down Don Cherry's offer to represent Canada at the 1981 IIHF World Championships in Sweden, and represented the US at the same tournament the following year in Finland.

Personal

Resch resides in Emily, Minnesota in the off season. During the NHL season he resides in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, having resided in Little Ferry and Ridgewood during his playing career with the Devils. Resch and his wife chose Lyndhurst for its small-town feel, public transportation access and proximity to both Manhattan and Newark, where the Devils play their home games. His daughter, Holly is an artist and was an illustrator of one of Resch's books: Tales from the Devils Ice. Resch is one of the supporters and coaches for Hockey Ministries International in the off-season, teaching young boys and girls the hockey and ethic skills at Christian Hockey Camps.

Awards and honors

Award	Year
All-WCHA Second Team	1970-71
Stanley Cup Champion	1979-80
Bill Masterton Trophy	1981-82

Resch won the Bill Masterton Trophy in 1982 and made a total of three NHL All-Star game appearances in 1976, 1977, and 1984, in the 1984 NHL All-Star Game he was the winning goaltender for the Wales Conference. Resch was named to the Postseason Second All-Star team in 1979. In 1980, he was a part of the New York Islanders first of four Stanley Cups in a row, abeit as the backup goaltender.

Broadcasting career

Resch was considered to be a good interview during his playing days, so it was no surprise that he became a television commentator. He actually began broadcasting during his playing days, often working as an analyst for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Hockey Night in Canada in the playoffs after his team had been eliminated.

After retiring as a player in 1987, he had a short broadcasting stint with the Minnesota North Stars, working as a color analyst on the team's television broadcasts during the 1987-88 and 1988-89 seasons.

Following work as a general manager for a Canadian junior hockey team and as a professional coach, mainly for the Ottawa Senators, Resch joined Fox Sports NY (later renamed MSG Plus) as a commentator on New Jersey Devils games, where he was paired with Mike Emrick for 15 years. After Emrick left to work for NBC exclusively, Resch spent the next 3 years paired with Steve Cangialosi. Shortly before the end of the 2013-14 season, Resch has announced that he will be leaving the Devils crew and moving to Minnesota at the wish of his wife. He called his last Devils game on April 13, 2014.

Famous nickname

The mustachioed Resch was given the nickname "Chico" by former Islander teammate Doug Rombough. The nickname is a reference to the character portrayed by Freddie Prinze on the 1970s sit-com Chico and the Man. Chants of "Let's go, Chico!" rang out at every Devils game during his reign as goaltender.

In the early 2000s, the same nickname was passed on to Phoenix Coyotes goaltender Robert Esche because his goalie sticks were labeled 'R.ESCHE', making it look like 'RESCHE'.

Career statistics

Regular season

Season	Team	League		GP	W	L	T	MIN	GA	SO	GAA	SV%
1966-67	Regina Pats	SJHL		5	—	—	—	300	17	0	3.40	—
1967-68	U. of Minnesota-Duluth	WCHA		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1968-69	U. of Minnesota-Duluth	WCHA		24	5	19	0	1424	117	0	4.93	—
1969-70	U. of Minnesota-Duluth	WCHA		25	12	12	1	1500	97	1	3.88	—
1970-71	U. of Minnesota-Duluth	WCHA		26	11	14	1	1518	107	0	4.23	—
1971-72	Muskegon Mohawks	IHL		59	—	—	—	3488	180	4	3.09	—
1972-73	New Haven Nighthawks	AHL		43	—	—	—	2408	166	0	4.13	—
1973-74	New York Islanders	NHL		2	1	1	0	120	6	0	3.00	.895
1973-74	Fort Worth Wings	CHL		55	24	20	11	3300	175	2	3.18	—
1974-75	New York Islanders	NHL		25	12	7	5	1432	59	3	2.47	.915
1975-76	New York Islanders	NHL		44	23	11	8	2546	88	7	2.07	.928
1976-77	New York Islanders	NHL		46	26	13	6	2711	103	4	2.28	.917
1977-78	New York Islanders	NHL		45	29	8	7	2637	112	3	2.55	.907
1978-79	New York Islanders	NHL		43	26	7	10	2539	106	2	2.50	.913
1979-80	New York Islanders	NHL		45	23	14	6	2606	132	3	3.04	.901
1980-81	New York Islanders	NHL		32	18	7	5	1817	93	3	3.07	.894
1980-81	Colorado Rockies	NHL		8	2	4	2	449	28	0	3.74	.877
1981-82	Colorado Rockies	NHL		61	16	31	11	3424	230	0	4.03	.878
1982-83	New Jersey Devils	NHL		65	15	35	12	3650	242	0	3.98	.875
1983-84	New Jersey Devils	NHL		51	9	31	3	2641	184	1	4.18	.871
1984-85	New Jersey Devils	NHL		51	15	27	5	2884	200	0	4.16	.857
1985-86	New Jersey Devils	NHL		31	10	20	0	1769	126	0	4.27	.858
1985-86	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		5	1	2	0	187	10	0	3.21	.881
1986-87	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		17	6	5	2	867	42	0	2.91	.904
NHL totals				571	231	224	82	32,279	1761	26	3.27	.891

Playoffs

Season	Team	League		GP	W	L	MIN	GA	SO	GAA	SV%
1966-67	Regina Pats	SJHL		6	2	4	360	26	0	4.33	—
1971-72	Muskegon Mohawks	IHL		11	—	—	617	29	0	2.82	—
1973-74	Fort Worth Wings	CHL		5	1	4	300	21	0	3.60	—
1974-75	New York Islanders	NHL		12	8	4	692	25	1	2.17	.931
1975-76	New York Islanders	NHL		7	3	3	357	18	0	3.03	.907
1976-77	New York Islanders	NHL		3	1	1	144	5	0	2.08	.917
1977-78	New York Islanders	NHL		7	3	4	388	15	0	2.32	.916
1978-79	New York Islanders	NHL		5	2	3	300	11	1	2.20	.923
1979-80	New York Islanders	NHL		4	0	2	120	9	0	4.50	.791
1985-86	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		1	0	0	7	1	0	8.57	.000
1986-87	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		2	0	0	36	1	0	1.67	.917
NHL totals				41	17	17	2044	85	2	2.50	.914

International

Year	Team	Event			GP	W	L	T	MIN	GA	SO	GAA
1982	United States	WC			4	0	4	0	239	21	0	5.27
1984	United States	CC			2	0	1	1	108	9	0	5.00
Senior totals					6	0	5	1	347	30	0	5.19

[ Source: Wikipedia ]