Geoff Courtnall

Geoff Courtnall (born Geoffrey Lawton Courtnall on August 18, 1962) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1983 to 2000.

He was also the head coach of the Victoria Grizzlies of the BCHL as well as the University of Victoria Vikes of the BCIHL.

Playing Career
Geoff was signed by the Boston Bruins of the NHL as an undrafted free agent on July 6, 1983.

He played for the Bruins from the 1983–84 NHL season to March 8, 1988 when he was traded, along with Bill Ranford to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Andy Moog.

While in Edmonton, he helped the Oilers win the 1988 Stanley Cup championship. Four months later on July 22, 1988, the Oilers traded Geoff to the Washington Capitals for Greg Adams.

After spending two seasons in Washington, he was traded to the St. Louis Blues for Mike Lalor and Peter Zezel on July 16, 1990.

Geoff's first nine seasons were spent on five NHL and two AHL clubs, the Hershey Bears and Moncton Golden Flames.

After less than a season in St. Louis, Geoff was sent at the trading deadline to the Vancouver Canucks in a blockbuster trade.

The players that went to Vancouver were Robert Dirk, Sergio Momesso, Cliff Ronning and also future considerations & the players going to St. Louis were Garth Butcher and Dan Quinn. This trade marked a major turning point for the Canucks as these players were among the core that would lead the Canucks on their run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1994.

Geoff would only play one more season in Vancouver after the Cup run of 1994 as he went back to the St. Louis Blues for the start of the 1995–96 season.

During his second stint with the Blues, he scored almost 80 goals over five seasons, but only played 30 games over his final two as the result of several concussions, but reached the 1,000 game mark during the 1997-98 season in which he scored 31 goals in his last full season.

After sitting out the last half of the 1998–99 season with a concussion, Geoff returned to the lineup the next season.

A few games later, he was hit by an elbow on the chin from Bryan Berard which led to his retirement due to post-concussion syndrome.

Accolades

 * 1987–88: NHL Stanley Cup champion (Edmonton Oilers)

Personal Life
Geoff was raised in Duncan, British Columbia, Canada He is the brother of another former NHL player, Russ Courtnall.

Geoff's son, Justin, was drafted 210th overall in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning and now currently plays with the Allen Americans in the ECHL.