| Position: | Centre |
| Played For: | New York Rangers |
| Shoots: | Left |
| Height Ft: | 5 |
| Height In: | 10 |
| Weight Lb: | 165 |
| Birth Date: | January 30, 1937 |
| Birth Place: | Guelph, Ontario, Canada |
| Career Start: | 1957 |
| Career End: | 1970 |
William Sweeney (January 30, 1937 – March 21, 1991), was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He played 4 games in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers during the 1959–60 season. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1957 to 1970, was mainly spent with the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League (AHL), for whom he played nine seasons and is the all-time career leading scorer for the franchise.[1]
Sweeney led the Ontario Hockey Association in scoring while playing for the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters in 1956–57, and followed that up by winning the 1958 AHL rookie of the year award playing for the Providence Reds. Sweeney later won three consecutive Calder Cup championships with the Springfield Indians, also leading the league in scoring three consecutive seasons.
Sweeney's career was impacted by alcoholism and by the time league expansion opened up the NHL in 1967 to promising minor-league scorers, Sweeney's skills were in decline. He remained in the minors, and his rights were sold by Springfield to the Vancouver Canucks of the Western Hockey League early in the 1968 season; he played only 26 more professional hockey games in his career. His final professional action was in the following season with the Rochester Americans of the AHL, in which he played ten games without a point. Sweeney's final organized hockey match was in 1970 with the Ontario senior league Oakville Oaks.
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | |||||
| 1953–54 | Guelph Biltmores | OHA | 14 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1954–55 | Guelph Biltmores | OHA | 47 | 18 | 37 | 55 | 25 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 7 | ||
| 1955–56 | Guelph Biltmores | OHA | 48 | 29 | 38 | 67 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1956–57 | Guelph Biltmores | OHA | 52 | 49 | 57 | 106 | 20 | 10 | 19 | 7 | 26 | 11 | ||
| 1956–57 | Guelph Biltmores | M-Cup | — | — | — | — | — | 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | ||
| 1957–58 | Providence Reds | AHL | 70 | 31 | 46 | 77 | 24 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ||
| 1958–59 | Buffalo Bisons | AHL | 70 | 31 | 44 | 75 | 12 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 4 | ||
| 1959–60 | New York Rangers | NHL | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1959–60 | Springfield Indians | AHL | 67 | 37 | 59 | 96 | 14 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 0 | ||
| 1960–61 | Springfield Indians | AHL | 70 | 40 | 68 | 108 | 26 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 2 | ||
| 1961–62 | Springfield Indians | AHL | 70 | 40 | 61 | 101 | 14 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 0 | ||
| 1962–63 | Springfield Indians | AHL | 69 | 38 | 65 | 103 | 16 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1963–64 | Springfield Indians | AHL | 72 | 25 | 48 | 73 | 18 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1964–65 | Springfield Indians | AHL | 51 | 13 | 31 | 44 | 26 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1965–66 | Springfield Indians | AHL | 72 | 22 | 37 | 59 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | ||
| 1966–67 | Springfield Indians | AHL | 65 | 16 | 50 | 66 | 12 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1967–68 | Springfield Kings | AHL | 9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1967–68 | Vancouver Canucks | WHL | 15 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1967–68 | Memphis South Stars | CPHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1968–69 | Rochester Americans | AHL | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1969–70 | Oakville Oaks | OHA Sr | 11 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| AHL totals | 695 | 294 | 510 | 804 | 174 | 51 | 23 | 26 | 49 | 8 | ||||
| NHL totals | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
At the time of Sweeney's retirement, he was in the top ten in AHL history in goals (10th), assists (4th) and points (4th). He is, as of 2013, 11th in points, 22nd in goals and 9th in assists.
In the history of the Springfield Indians' franchise, Sweeney is third in goals behind Jim Anderson and Harry Pidhirny, second in points behind Anderson, and first in assists.
Sweeney was also named to the AHL's First All-Star Team in 1960 and 1962, and to the Second All-Star Team in 1961.