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Robin Bawa was born on March 26, 1966 in Chemanius, British Columbia, Canada. He began his major junior hockey career with the Kamloops Junior
Oilers. He moved on to the Kamloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League (WHL) and had a stint with the New Westminster Bruins. His last two
seasons with the Kamloops Blazers were Bawa's most productive, with the Right Winger scoring 29 goals in 1985-86 and an impressive 57 goals and 56 assists
for 113 points in 1986-87, his final juinor season with the Blazers. Bawa was not drafted by any NHL team but in 1987 signed with the
Washington Capitals of the NHL.
He would by most estimations become the first player of (East) Indian
descent to sign with an NHL club. A couple of years later, he would go on to be the first player of Indian descent to play in the National
Hockey League.
But prior to getting his shot in the NHL, Robin Bawa would start off with the Fort Wayne Komets of the International Hockey League (IHL). Though always a rough and rugged hockey player, this was the start of Robin's career as a 'hockey tough guy'. His first pro season saw him rack up 239 penalty minutes in just 55 games, more than double what he had ever accumulated in a single season. Bawa would then go on to play two seasons with the Baltimore Skipjacks of the American Hockey League (AHL). Once again, his scroing numbers were nowhere near what he put out in his last two seasons in junior, but the penalty minutes kept adding up as Bawa was taking care of the dirty business. Bawa's big break finally came in the 1989-90 season as the Washington Capitals recalled Bawa to the big club. There he got a chance to play 5 games, scoring his first career goal, before being sent back to the Skipjacks. In July 1991 he was traded by the Capitals to the hometown Vancouver Canucks for cash. He played 2 games for the Canucks and spent a couple of years with the Milwaukee Admirals of the IHL and Hamilton Canucks on the AHL. In December of 1992 he was traded by the Canucks to the San Jose Sharks for Rick Lessard. He played 42 games for the Sharks in their innaugural season of 1992-93. He scored 5 goals and racked up 47 minutes in penalties, including a memorable (for some) fight with Todd Gill of the Toronto Maple Leafs. His stay with the Sharks tough wasn't long lived as Bawa would be picked up by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in the 1993 Expansion Draft. He played 12 games for the Mighty Ducks but was back in the International Hockey League. In July of 1994 he was signed as a free agent by the Dallas Stars, but never played a game for the big club. Instead he ended up playing the next few years for a myriad of teams in the International Hockey League. Near the end of his professional career he would go on to become a fixture with the Fort Wayne Komets of the IHL. He was the captain of the team and continued to play the rough style of hockey he was best known for. Even with his many travels withing the minor league system, Bawa's penalty minutes numbers never really faltered.  |
