He’s a Hall of Famer. Just not for hockey. Doug Favell, veteran of over a decade of goaltending in the National Hockey League, was inducted into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2005. Often, his career hockey cards back in the day would note his lacrosse playing abilities on the back.
Favell was a decent hockey goaltender, as well. His career was often intertwined with Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Bernie Parent. The two were prospects of the Boston Bruins and came up through junior and minor pro together. Both ended up with Philadelphia then at one point were exchanged for each other between the Flyers and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Doug Favell – Junior and Minor Pro
Doug Favell played parts of three years of junior hockey in the OHA from 1962-63 to 1964-65. In his first season, he played a single game for his hometown St. Catherines Black Hawks. He followed that up with two years as a member of the powerful Niagara Falls Flyers.
Doug Favell Collection
During his two years with Niagara Falls, Doug split his time quite evenly with Parent. The Flyers captured the Memorial Cup championship in 1964-65 with a win over the Edmonton Oil Kings. The team was stacked with future NHLers, including Bill Goldsworthy, Jim Lorentz, Jean Pronovost and Derek Sanderson.
Doug played his first pro hockey game in the 1964-65 season. He appeared in a single game with the Minneapolis Bruins of the CPHL. The following two years, Favell couldn’t crack the Bruins NHL lineup and spent his time in the CPHL with the Oklahoma City Blazers.
With the Blazers, he shared time with Bernie Parent and Gerry Cheevers. OKC won the 1966-67 CPHL championship with a win over the Fred Shero coached Omaha Knights in the finals.
Teammates on that 1966-67 Blazers team included Wayne Cashman, Dick Cherry, Ross Lonsberry, Terry Crisp, Jean Pronovost, Glen Sather and J.P. Parise.
Throughout his career, Favell had a few short stints in the minors. He played four games for the Quebec Aces in the American Hockey League in 1968-69. He returned to the Oklahoma City Blazers in 1975-76, a decade after winning a championship with the team, for four games.
Doug’s career ended in the AHL. In 1978-79, he finished up the season with 32 games for the Philadelphia Firebirds.
Doug Favell – NHL
Favell played in the National Hockey League from 1967-68 to 1978-79 with the Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Colorado Rockies. Originally property of the Boston Bruins, he never saw a game with the club.
At the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft, Doug was taken in the second round, ninth overall, by the Flyers. It was Philadelphia’s second pick in the draft. The first pick was, who else, Bernie Parent.
In that inaugural 1967-68 season for the Flyers, Favell and Parent split the season evenly and Doug contributed four shutouts. Two years later, a heal injury limited him to just 15 games.
However, from 1970-71 to 1972-73, Favell was the number one goalie in Philadelphia. In 1971-72, he recorded a career best five shutouts. Parent had ended up with the Toronto Maple Leafs but Philly wanted him back. Before the start of the 1973-74 season, Bernie came back to the Flyers and Doug went to Toronto. Of course, Philadelphia won the first of two consecutive Stanley Cup championships that year.
When the Kansas City Scouts moved to Denver to become the Colorado Rockies, they picked up Favell. Doug was in net for the team’s first ever win as the Rockies.
Colorado left him unprotected when the NHL swallowed up the remaining four teams from the World Hockey Association before the 1979-80 season. The Edmonton Oilers selected him in the 1979 NHL Expansion Draft. This made Doug the only player to be drafted in both the 1967 and 1979 expansion drafts.
Favell decided not to play for the Oilers and instead called it a career.
Doug Favell – Rookie Card
The Doug Favell rookie card appears as number 88 in the 1969-70 O-Pee-Chee set. It was his first card despite playing regularly with the Flyers since 1967-68.
Favell’s final card came in the 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee set. He was shown as a member of the Edmonton Oilers but the image on the front was Doug still with the Colorado Rockies. He never did play for Edmonton.
Often his cards referred to his lacrosse career. He did play pro lacrosse for the Philadelphia Wings.
Doug Favell Career Stats
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | A | PIM | SO | GAA |
| 1967-68 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 37 | 0 | 37 | 4 | 2.27 |
| 1968-69 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 21 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3.56 |
| 1969-70 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 15 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3.15 |
| 1970-71 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 44 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 2.66 |
| 1971-72 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 54 | 1 | 32 | 5 | 2.81 |
| 1972-73 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 44 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2.83 |
| 1973-74 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 32 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 2.71 |
| 1974-75 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 39 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 4.05 |
| 1975-76 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NHL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.63 |
| 1976-77 | Colorado Rockies | NHL | 30 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 3.90 |
| 1977-78 | Colorado Rockies | NHL | 47 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3.58 |
| 1978-79 | Colorado Rockies | NHL | 7 | 1 | 17 | 0 | 5.37 |