Monsieur Gordon Blanchard Keats
Nickname: Duke, Iron Duke
Height: 5'11''
Weight: 195 lbs
Position: Center
Shoots: Right
Date of Birth: March 01, 1895
Place of Birth: Montreal, Canada
Date of Death: January 16, 1972 (Age: 76)
Stanley Cup Finalist (1923)
First All-Star Team Centre (1922, 1923, 1924, 1925) *WCHL*
First All-Star Team Centre (1926) *WHL*
Art Ross Trophy (1922) *WCHL*
Hart Memorial Trophy (1922*) *WCHL*
Maurice Richard Trophy (1922) *WCHL*
Team Captain (1921-1926)
Inducted into the Edmonton Sports Hall of Fame (1964)
Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame (1958)
National Hockey Association [1915-17]
Top-10 Scoring (4th)
Top-10 Goalscoring (5th)
Top-10 Assist (4th)
Top-10 Penalty Minutes (3rd, 10th)
Western Canada Hockey League [1921-25]
Western Hockey League [1925-26]
Top-10 Scoring (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 6th)
Top-10 Goalscoring (1st, 2nd, 4th, 4th, 5th)
Top-10 Assist (1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th)
Top-10 Penalty Minutes (1st, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 8th)
Top-10 Playoff Scoring (1st, 2nd, 8th)
Top-10 Playoff Goalscoring (1st)
Top-10 Playoff Assist (1st, 1st, 3rd)
Top-10 Playoff Penalty Minutes (1st, 2nd, 2nd)
National Hockey League [1926-29]
Top-10 Scoring (9th, 10th)
Top-10 Goalscoring (10th)
Top-10 Assist (7th, 8th)
- Gordon was given the nickname "Duke" after a warship
- At the age of 17, he was making $75 a month playing hockey (about 1650$ today)
- Lost two years of prime hockey due to World War I
- In the 1916-17 season, Keats played two games with the Toronto Blueshirts as the goaltender, posting a 0-1 record with a goal against average of 8.82
- He scored eight goals against Saskatoon on January 23, 1922
- In the 1923 WCHL finals, he scored the game winning goals in overtime
- A story is told that Duke once skated the length of the ice backwards and scored a goal on the opposition
- In the 1926-27 season, he was named head coach of the Detroit Cougars for 11 games
- The first goal Keats ever scored in a Detroit uniform was an overtime winner in a 1-0 victory over the New York Americans
- He registered the first hat-trick of the franchise history in a 7-1 win over Pittsburgh on March 10, 1927
- In 1926-27, he led all Detroit's player with three game-winning goals
- Keats played the right wing with the Chicago Blackhawks
- Elected into the World Wide Hockey Hall of Fame in 1948
Ultimate Hockey said:
Keats uncanilly could figure out how a play was going to work before it even happened (a gift that was often been attributed to Wayne Gretzky).
After a while, people were coming from all over to sneak a pekk of hockey's newest wunderkind. Keats received offer from every professional hockey town in the country. [...] The tall and muscular lad [...] Keats hit his peak in Edmonton. The ''Iron Duke'' hailed on all side as one of the most dominating forces ever seen, was the best player in the league. Throngs of people clamored to see the big, strong center perform miracles with the puck. He shot as well as anyone anywhere, combining unparallelled offensive abilities with a hard, clean style to become the greatest player to play in Edmonton before Gretzky
Keats played a big role in bringing the title to Edmonton in 1923
He remained a hockey icons across western Canada until his death in 1971.
Peak Years 1921-25
In a Word IRON
Who's Who in Hockey said:
Quick-witted Duke Keats was one of hockey first bonafide superstars.
Detroit Red Wings Website said:
Among hockey's all-time greats, Duke Keats is often overlooked because he spent so little of his career - a paltry 82 games - performing in the NHL. But his contemporaries knew that Keats was a name which should be mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky and Howie Morenz.
A fiery leader, once while playing for Toronto of the National Hockey Association during the 1916-17 season, Keats became so angered by the poor performance of goalie Billy Nicholson that he strapped on the pads and took over in net himself for the next period.
Trail of the Stanley Cup said:
He led them to the championship of the WCHL in 1923 when they almost toppled the Ottawa Senators for the Cup. He was regarded by many westerners as a rival to the peerless Frank Nighbor
Edmonton Oilers Heritage said:
Keats, a player who had been the star attraction for the Toronto Blueshirts of the National Hockey Association, was the biggest star in the league (In a league with Mickey Mackay). In just 27 Big-4 games, all with the Edmonton Eskimos, Keats scored 41 career goals. He would later star for the Boston Bruins, Detroit Cougars (the forerunners to the Red Wings) and the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League.
Pension Plan Puppets said:
Keats is something of a lesser-known Hall of Famer because he spent most of his time out west and was only in the NHL for parts of three seasons in the mid-to-late twenties. He was a great centre, though, and was called by Lester Patrick "the brainiest pivot that ever strapped on a skate." A perennial all-star in the western leagues, he took the Edmonton Eskimoes (a team that also included a younger Eddie Shore) to the Stanley Cup Final against Ottawa in 1923 losing a pair of one-goal decisions in the process
Joe Pelletier said:
Edmonton had the great Duke Keats, a Wayne Gretzky-like offensive dynamo.
Sunlight; les meilleurs joueurs de tous les temps said:
Duke Keats, qui à terminé sa carrière dans la LNH à Boston, Chicago et Detroit, était dans sa jeunesse la fierté de l'Ouest avec Edmonton, dans la Western Canada Hockey League. Duke jouait dans les ligues amateurs depuis l'âge de 14 ans. À son retour de la Première Guerre Mondiale, il remporta le titre de meilleur marqueur de la WCHL, menant Edmonton à une finale très sérrée contre les Sénateurs d'Ottawa en 1923. Joueur impétueux et très habile à préparer des jeux, il fut considéré par Frank Patrick comme '' le plus doué des pivots à avoir jamais chaussé les patins.''
- ''You would have thought he had a nail in the end of his stick, the way he could carry that puck around. He was that good.'' -
Lloyd McIntyre, a teammate of Keats
- ''To just a kid, it looked like a million.'' -
Duke Keats, about the money he was making at a young age
- ''Duke is the possessor of more hockey grey matter than any man who ever played the game'' -
Frank Patrick
- ''Gordon Keats was the best player of all time'' -
Lloyd McIntyre
- ''Keats was the brainiest pivot that ever strapped on a skate because he could organize plays and make passes every time he starts.'' -
Lester Patrick
- ''He made thirty perfect passes to his wingmates one night'' -
Frank Patrick
Sites:
http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/LegendsMember.jsp?mem=P195812#photo
http://www.sihrhockey.org/member_player_sheet.cfm?player_id=1749&mode=0
http://redwings.nhl.com/club/page.htm?bcid=his_wol_wol-dukekeats
http://www.oilersheritage.com/history/early_teams_edmonton_eskimos.html[/ur]