Bawa saw North America on the NHL plan, starting his journey by signing with the Caps in May 1987. He saw his only action for Washington in the 1989-1990 season, logging five games (1-0-1, -3, six PIMs) before being shipped to the Baltimore Skipjacks farm club.On this date, he was sent to Vancouver for cash, but played only two games for the Canucks in the 1990-1991 season (0-0-0, even, no PIMs) before being sent to San Jose for Rick Lessard on December 15, 1992. Before that, however, he did appear in one playoff game (0-0-0, even, no PIMs)
In San Jose, Bawa played 42 games in the 1992-1993 season (5-0-5, -25, 47 PIMs) in his only season with the parent club.
Anaheim claimed him in the 1993 expansion draft. He played 12 games for Anaheim the following season (0-1-1, -3, 7 PIMs), but was signed away by Dallas as a free agent the following season. He never played for the Stars, but did continue playing with a variety of clubs in the IHL until a serious concussion suffered on April 14, 1999 (playing with the Fort Wayne Komets) led to his retirement.
In all, between Bawa's start in pro hockey and its conclusion (both with the Fort Wayne Komets), he played in 61 NHL regular season games for four franchises, 159 games in the AHL (for Baltimore and Hamilton), and 540 games in the IHL (for Fort Wayne, Milwaukee, Kansas City, San Diego, and Kalamazoo).
Bawa, a native of Duncan, British Columbia, was the first person of Indian descent to play in the NHL.
On this day in Caps history...
Only reason I know of this player:
ReplyDeleteA comedy hockey highlight video from my youth had this clip where two announcers were talking about Bawa as he sat on the bench for the Caps. The conversation went like this.
"Bawa, huh? [laughter] What if he married Barbara Walters?"
Other announcer, laughing: "uhh I guess, Baba Wawa-Bawa!"