Portrait of Rogie Vachon

Birthday profile

Rogie Vachon

Rogie Vachon, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Born
September 8, 1945
Age in 2026
81
Zodiac sign
Virgo
Birth year
1945

About Rogie Vachon

Rogatien Rosaire Vachon (vah-SHON; born September 8, 1945) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played 16 seasons for the Montreal Canadiens, Los Angeles Kings, Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League from 1967 to 1982. Nicknamed "Rogie the Goalie", Vachon was called up to the Canadiens in February of the 1966–67 season, which saw him 11 of 19 starts. He became the primary starting goaltender for all but one game of the 1967 Stanley Cup playoffs run, which saw the team lose to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Stanley Cup Final. Sharing the duties with Gump Worsley the following season, which saw the two allow the fewest number of goals for the entire season to win the Vezina Trophy. He started only two playoff games but the team won the Stanley Cup Final for his first championship. The following season saw him inserted as the starting goaltender for the final seven games of the playoff run, only losing once in that run as Vachon won his second championship. He took on the starting duties for the following two seasons but was replaced by Ken Dryden late in the 1970–71 season as the team rolled to the Cup. After one game in the 1971–72 season, he was traded to the Kings. In seven seasons with the team, he won 171 total games, which included a career-high 33 in the 1976–77 season; he was selected to the NHL All-Star Game three times and the NHL Second All-Star Team twice, all with the Kings. He represented Canada for the only time internationally in the 1976 Canada Cup, which saw him win six of his seven starts as they defeated the Soviet Union in the finals. He departed the Kings as a free agent in the 1978–79 season for the Red Wings, with the one highlight being him winning his 300th game in 1979, becoming the eighth goaltender to reach the milestone in league history. After being traded in the summer of 1980 to Boston, he spent two seasons with the team before announcing his retirement in 1982. He retired with the fifth-most wins in league history and as one of only two players with twelve 20-win seasons in league history next to Tony Esposito. After his playing career ended, he served as general manager of the Kings from 1984 to 1992; in 1985, his jersey was retired by the Kings, the first player to be given the honor in franchise history. In 2016, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Vachon played 39 games in the 1967–68 season and won 23 of them. Montreal won the Stanley Cup that season and in 1968–69 as well. He recorded six wins and one loss, two shutouts and a 1.39 goals against average.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Rogie Vachon timeline

  1. Vachon played 39 games in the 1967–68 season and won 23 of them.
  2. Montreal won the Stanley Cup that season and in 1968–69 as well.

The world when Rogie Vachon was born

Rogie Vachon was born in 1945. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1945

  • #1 song"Sentimental Journey" – Les Brown & Doris Day
  • Top movieThe Lost Weekend
  • Best-selling bookAnimal Farm – George Orwell

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentDetroit Tigers win the World Series
  • Top headlineWorld War II ends after atomic bombs dropped on Japan
  • Technology milestoneAtomic bomb developed and detonated (Manhattan Project)
  • Defining fadV-J Day celebrations
  • Notable inventionMicrowave oven (accidental discovery)
  • World population2.40 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt / Harry S. Truman
  • Sports championDetroit Tigers (World Series)
  • U.S. population139.9M

1945 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Rogie Vachon's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19452026
Gas$0.21$3.45/gal
Average home$5,900$435,000
Average income$4,100$67,500
Minimum wage$0.40$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.30$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population139.9M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, NHL. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.