The Curious Case of Dave T(h)omlinson

Dave Tomlinson played in the NHL in the early 1990's with the Toronto, Winnipeg and Florida.
Dave Thomlinson played in the NHL in the early 1990's with St.Louis, Boston and Los Angeles.

No big deal really, two guys with almost identical names playing in the NHL. In the 1970's there was Jim Jones and Jimmy Jones, but Jim played a mere 2 games with the Golden Seals and Jimmy played 148 for Toronto. There was of course the Greg Adams'. Greg D. Adams played 545 NHL games scoring 227 points while Greg C. Adams played 500 more games than his namesake and scored more than 500 more points.

The thing with the Dave's Tomlinson and Thomlinson is the eerie similarity of their career numbers.

Dave Tomlinson played 42 NHL games.
Dave Thomlinson played 42 NHL games.

Dave Tomlinson scored 1 NHL goal.
Dave Thomlinson scored 1 NHL goal.

Dave Tomlinson tallied 3 NHL assists.
Dave Thomlinson tallied 3 NHL assists.

Dave Tomlinson had a +/- of -15.
Dave Thomlinson had a +/- of -16.

Dave Tomlinson had 36 shots on goal.
Dave Thomlinson had 35 shots on goal.

AHA! They aren't clones.
I'm not sure about you, but I find this coincidence amazing.

Dave Tomlinson was born in 1969 in North Vancouver, BC and played four years at Boston University. His last season with the Terriers he scored 30 goals and 30 assists in 41 games. After his stint in the NHL and the high minor leagues he played for 10 years in the German League before retiring at age 36. Tomlinson is currently the colour commentator on the Vancouver Canucks radio broadcasts.

Dave Thomlinson was born in 1966 in Edmonton, Alberta and played junior hockey with Brandon and (if I can read the card correctly) Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. He played almost 300 more high-minor league games than Tomlinson and would retire five years earlier at age 31. Dave Thomlinson is currently a lawyer.

Incidentally over their respective AHL careers, Dave Thomlinson averaged 1.013 points per game and Dave Tomlinson 1.016 points per game. Crazy.





Comments

Anonymous said…
Excellent stuff! I have to say, I played against Dave Thomlinson just one time in my pro career...in the minors when I was with Moncton and he was with Providence. I thought about dropping the mitts with him only because I was curious how the play-by-play and colour guys would call it!
Anyway...outside of me getting his stick pattern at my first Leafs training camp (the Tomlinson/Thomlinson mix-up), we never crossed paths outside of one measly game head to head.
Cheers, Dave Tomlinson (aka "Sniper", not Dave Thomlinson aka "Chopper")
July 7, 2011 at 12:19 PM
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