Playing Career
Foligno was born in Sudbury, Ontario, but spent his early years in Italy where he took up the sport of soccer, participating as a goalkeeper. When Foligno returned to Canada with his family at the age of 10, he was introduced to hockey.
Foligno was drafted 3rd overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft. He played 1018 career NHL games, scoring 355 goals and 372 assists for 727 points, while adding 2049 penalty minutes. His best offensive season was the 1985–86 season with the Buffalo Sabres, when he scored 41 goals and 80 points, both career highs. He has stated that his Game Five overtime winner in the 1993 playoffs was the biggest goal of his career.
Foligno is perhaps best known for his trademark jump, dubbed the "Foligno Leap", after scoring a goal. Both of his two sons have carried on the tradition of the Foligno Leap.
Read more about this topic: Mike Foligno
Famous quotes containing the words playing and/or career:
“The essential is to excite the spectators. If that means playing Hamlet on a flying trapeze or in an aquarium, you do it.”
—Orson Welles (1915–1984)
“From a hasty glance through the various tests I figure it out that I would be classified in Group B, indicating “Low Average Ability,” reserved usually for those just learning to speak the English Language and preparing for a career of holding a spike while another man hits it.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)