ATD 2012 Bios Thread (as complete as possible: pic, quotes, stats, sources, etc)

[chaosrevolver]

With the 85th pick, the Seattle Metropolitans select Serge Savard.

#18 - SERGE SAVARD

Regular Season: 1040 Games, 106 Goals, 333 Assists, 439 Points, +460
Playoffs: 130 Games, 19 Goals, 49 Assists, 68 Points

AWARDS

Stanley Cup Champion (1968, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979)
2nd All-Star Team Selection (1979)
All-Star Game Participant (1970, 1973, 1977, 1978)
Conn Smythe Award (1969)
Bill Masterton Trophy (1979)


Voting Records

Top-10 Norris Voting:
1973 – 6th (behind Orr, Lapointe, Park, Laperriere, White)
1975 – 5th (behind Orr, Potvin, Lapointe, Salming)
1976 – 5th (behind Potvin, Park, Lapointe, Salming)
1977 – 5th (behind Robinson, Potvin, Lapointe, Salming)
1978 – 8th (behind Potvin, Park, Robinson, Salming, Lapointe, etc.)
1979 – 4th (behind Potvin, Robinson, Salming)

Top-10 All-Star Team Voting:
1973 – 6th (behind Orr, Lapointe, Park, Laperriere, White)
1975 – 6th (behind Orr, Potvin, Lapointe, Salming, Park)
1976 – 5th (behind Potvin, Park, Lapointe, Salming)
1977 – 5th (behind Robinson, Potvin, Lapointe, Salming)
1978 – 5th (behind Potvin, Park, Robinson, Salming)
1979 – 4th behind Potvin, Robinson, Salming)


Honours

Inducted into HHOF (1986)
His #18 is Retired by the Montreal Canadiens organization
Captain of the Montreal Canadiens (1979-1981)
Played in the 1979 Challenge Cup
Ranked 98 on the HOH Top 100 list (2008 edition)
Ranked 81 on the Hockey News Top 100
Named 2nd best defensive defenseman in NHL by the coaches (1979, 1981)


What do the Experts Say?

Rangy defenseman Serge Savard played 17 seasons in the NHL, 15 (his first season consisted of two games) with his hometown team, the Montreal Canadiens, and two with the Winnipeg Jets, who lured him out of retirement after he'd left Montreal following the 1980-81 season.
A member of the Canadiens "Big Three" defensive stars along with Guy Lapointe and Larry Robinson, Savard was known as "the Senator" by his teammates for his involvement in activities - mostly in politics - outside the game. In the mid-1980s, he served as general manager of the Habs.

But hockey had been the first thing on Savard's mind since his boyhood in Montreal. When he was 15, a scout noticed him playing a school league game and put him on the team's list of promising reserves. Savard progressed quickly and within a few seasons was captain of the Junior Canadiens. Unlike many prospects of the day, Savard wanted to complete high school. But the Habs signed him to a contract and sent him to Houston to play for the Apollos of the Central Hockey League in 1966. He won the rookie of the year award that season with Houston and the following year was called up by the Habs. By the 1968-69 season, only his second full one in the NHL, he won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Habs won the Cup in a four-game sweep over the Blues in the finals.

Although Savard was overshadowed by his better-known teammates, he did win another significant award during his years as a player. In 1979 the NHL presented him with the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to "the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey."

Savard almost didn't make it much further in NHL play, however. In a game during the 1970-71 season against the Rangers, he skated after New York's Rod Gilbert, trying to stop a breakaway. Savard dove for the puck and felt his left leg crumble underneath him. The result was five separate fractures and three operations that took him out of the game for three months.

After a complete recovery, Savard continued to have problems with the leg and further injuries. In the 1971-72 season, he suffered a new fracture to the same leg after being hit. In 1973 he injured his ankle severely as he tried to help firefighters break down a door during a fire at the Canadiens' hotel in St. Louis.

But the injuries failed to stop Savard. Upon his return to the game, he started to blend his patient, hard-working style with the hard-charging, rushing play of Lapointe and Robinson, the skillful scoring of Guy Lafleur and the outstanding play in the net of Ken Dryden. The result was another Cup for the Habs in 1976, when they swept the defending champion Philadelphia Flyers in four straight games, a victory that many relieved fans hailed as a triumph of skilled play over the fight-filled game of the Broad Street Bullies.

Internationally, Savard's attitude was rewarded by his being named to the Canadian team for the 1972 Summit Series. He appeared in five of the eight games, and - as Savard liked to remind people - Canada won four of those games and tied the other.

By 1981 Savard had had enough of being knocked around in the NHL. He had, after all, played on eight Stanley Cup-winning teams with Montreal and had seen more doctors and surgeons than he cared to remember. His retirement didn't last long, though. He was lured out of inactivity by the Winnipeg Jets, who wanted him for his experience on a young but improving team.

He has been called 'The Senator' for as long as most fans can remember. The originator of what Danny Gallivan loved to call a 'Spinarama,' Serge Savard was an integral part of one of the greatest eras in Montreal Canadiens' history; a part of a dynamic defensive troika that included Larry Robinson and Guy Lapointe that helped lead Montreal to eight championships in twelve years.

In his second NHL season, Savard was becoming the dominant team player we reflect back upon today. For a second straight season, Montreal not only finished first in the East, but proceeded to capture the Stanley Cup. Savard was outstanding, blocking shots, clearing the zone and collecting ten points in fourteen games. His four goals was one shy of an NHL record for playoff goals by a defenseman in one season and helped earn Serge the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable playoff performer as his Canadiens swept the St. Louis Blues in four games. Although never afraid to carry the puck, Savard was found to be invaluable in his own end.

When the Canadian team was being assembled to compete against the Soviet Union in the 1972 Summit Series, assistant coach John Ferguson convinced head coach Harry Sinden that Serge Savard had to be in the mix. Although Savard was recovering from the second of two consecutive broken legs, restricting his play to just 23 games in 1971-72 and 37 the year before, Ferguson had been a teammate of Savard's in Montreal and knew him to be a fierce competitor with considerable skills.

Serge Savard was a key component of the Montreal Canadiens dynasty in the 1970s. A consummate professional, Savard sacrificed personal awards and statistics for the success of his team and his teammates. Such selflessness allowed the Guy Lafleurs, Steve Shutts and Larry Robinsons achieve great acclaim, although Savard too received much recognition for his fine play.

Savard, nicknamed "The Senator" and the "Minister of Defense," played 16 seasons with the Habs, including being named captain for 2 of those years. With Savard in the line up, the Canadiens won 8 Stanley Cup championships, including 4 successive Cups from 1976 to 1979.

Savard is best known as a member of The Big Three. Along with Larry Robinson and Guy Lapointe, Savard helped to make what many consider to be the best blue line in NHL history. No other team, say many experts, has ever iced three defenseman of the same quality as The Big Three.

Savard was the elder statesman of The Big Three. A native Montrealer, Savard graduated from the Junior Canadiens to turn pro in 1966. By the 1967-68 season he was on his way to a standout career, winning his first Stanley Cup.

In just his second NHL season, Savard progressed nicely during the regular season, but dominated in the playoffs. He played incredibly through the entire post season, and picked up 4 goals and 10 points in 14 games to earn him the Conn Smythe Trophy as the NHL's Most Valuable Player in the playoffs. Savard became the first defenseman in history to win the award.

Tragedy struck Savard on January 30, 1971. In a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who had already had a history of knee and leg injuries, broke bones in both of his legs. He would be able to participate in only 60 games over the 1970-71 and 1971-72 seasons.

Despite the major set back, Savard was cleared to play for the the 1971-72 season. Before the season got underway Serge was asked to represent Canada against the Soviets in the now-fabled 1972 Summit Series. It is well documented just how much trouble he Canadians had with their Soviet counterparts, but Savard had a calming influence on the team and made a significant difference when he played. Savard played in only 5 of the 8 games against the Russians, and Team Canada never lost a match, going 4-0-1. Coincidence? Maybe, but there can be no doubt that Savard was a big part of the games that he did play in.

Savard returned to the NHL and continued his steady and spectacular play. However he was never noted as much of an offensive threat until the 1974-75 season. Coming off of a 4 goal, 18 point season the previous year, Serge exploded with a 20 goal, 60 point season. That season proved to be a bit of a fluke, as Serge never returned to those numbers again, although he was a consistent 5-10 goal and 40+ point threat through the rest of the Canadiens dynasty in the late 1970s.

Savard stayed in Montreal until the conclusion of the 1980-81 season. The Habs were looking to bring in some youth and exposed Savard on the preseason waiver draft. The Winnipeg Jets, the worst team in hockey, eagerly claimed the wily veteran. The Jets, who had never made the playoffs and finished the previous season with an awful 32 points, convinced Savard to play for them as opposed to retiring. In Savard's first year with Winnipeg, the Jets made the playoffs and improved by 48 points!

Despite suffering two broken legs early in his career, Savard has an impressive collection of awards. Savard earned the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player in the Stanley Cup playoffs in 1969, and was also awarded the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. He was also named in 1979 to the NHL Second All-Star Team. Serge likely would have been named to more All Star Teams but he was overshadowed by the offensive likes of Bobby Orr, Brad Park, Denis Potvin and teammates Robinson and Lapointe. Nonetheless, Serge is also an enshrined member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The first of the “Big Three†to make the NHL roster, Savard saw spot duty during the 1968-69 season, getting more ice time as the season progressed. That spring, the Stanley Cup was paraded down Ste. Catherine Street for the third time in four years. Savard would be a member of seven other triumphant Habs squads in his 12 years patrolling the blue line.

He came into his own the following season, taking a regular shift from the opening game and himself as one of the NHL’s rising offensive defensemen. Fast, manoeuvrable and a skillful stickhandler, Savard’s dizzying spins to avoid checkers regularly made the highlight reels. Legendary broadcaster Danny Gallivan coined the phrase “Savardian Spin-o-rama†to try to describe the move.

The Habs made the playoffs and Savard picked up 10 points in the 14 games it took for the Canadiens to capture the 1969 Stanley Cup. This time, Savard had his own silverware to show off, adding a Conn Smythe Trophy to his collection to become the first defenseman to ever earn playoff MVP honors.

Over the course of his career in Montreal, Savard missed very few games in most seasons. When he did go down, however, it was for extended periods of time. He suffered two leg fractures a mere 11 months apart, costing Savard most of two complete seasons and robbing him of much of his speed.

When he came back to play the final games of the 1971-72 season, Savard adapted his game. No longer the speedy, offensive threat he had once been, Savard became one of the league’s best stay-at-home blue-liners, using smarts, size and an uncanny ability to block shots to compensate for his lost swiftness.

Selected to play for Team Canada in the 1972 Summit Series, Savard played in five games - the lone tie as well as all four Canadian victories – proving himself on the international stage.

The Canadiens piled up the Cups and Savard, learning from the veterans who preceded him, became a respected elder statesman on the team. In 1978-79, he won the Bill Masterton Trophy. The next fall, he succeeded Yvan Cournoyer as team captain, proudly wearing the “C†until his retirement following the 1980-81 season.

A star Canadiens blue-liner during the 1970's...Canadiens farm system spawned a pair of promising young defensemen, Carol Vadnais and Serge Savard. The latter became a Montreal icon..

Savard's game was built around his great ability to handle the puck and use his size effectively. He was a good skater and didn't mind lugging the puck. Never one to panic in his game, he was very smooth defensively.

With a little over two minutes remaining in the game, Guy Lapointe shoots the puck behind the net on to the stick of his defensive partner, Serge Savard, who carries the puck up the boards. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots a streaming Paul Henderson darting through center ice. Thanks to Savard's amazing precision and awareness, the puck and Henderson meet at the Soviet blue line. Confronted by two Soviet defenseman, Henderson manages to get around them, and while falling, pinches the puck between Tretiak's arm and body for the winning goal....backing them up is the twosome of Guy Lapointe and Serge Savard, who were one of the most valuable defensive pairings for Team Canada in the 1972 Summit Series....Alexander Gusev finds an opening to take a slapshot on the Canadiens' goal, only to have the puck deflected into the crowd by an alert Serge Savard.

There's a reason I love Savard. He is the one of the most unsung players in NHL history. Take Savard away from those Canadiens teams and they don't win four cups in a row.

Jean Beliveau and Serge Savard were unbelievable....I thought it was a huge move, and he put in three gritty players, Serge Savard, Billy White, and Patty Stapleton..the game-winner was scored in overtime by Serge Savard. Serge was steady, not flashy. God, he was good. He twirled at the blue line. He came in and blasted one over J.D.'s left shoulder...

The Soviets assistant coach Arkady Tchernishev agreed, singling out Orr and fellow defensemen Jim McKenny and Serge Savard for praise.

Serge Savard was the ultimate defensive defenseman.

If I see them now, like a Dryden or Savard, even if I had an average rapport with them when they were playing, I often comment that I didn't realize how good they were. When I watch games now that Serge Savard played in I know I never realized how he made very few errors. He played something like Nicklas Lidstrom.

...Glenn responded to a Serge Savard rising bullet..Jean Beliveau had been the hero of the last series, and young defenseman Serge Savard was having an amazing playoff..

Savard was inserted to shore up the play in Canada's end.

The other natural wit on the Canadiens is their elder statesman, Serge Savard, a man who is so good at what he does that you can't believe that he's doing what he's doing while he's doing it.

They came at us in brigades, but our defensemen, particularly Serge Savard, repeatedly broke up their passing plays near the net.

It's been said that anyone can be replaced, but that is not the case here.

Serge Savard, in fact belongs in the present tense. He revealed in the Boston series that he is 1-2 with Robert Orr as the prodigal young defensemen in hockey, and not necessarily 2.

It is no coincidence that the revival of Team Canada in this hockey showdown with the Soviet Union dates back to Serge Savard's return to the defence corps. Nor is it any accident that the Canadians have won three and tied one of the four games in which Savard has been available to add mobility and offensive thrust to an otherwise awkward rearguard.

What did he Say?

That game convinced me that God must be a Russian. If he's not, how do you explain a tie when we outplay them by so much?

The team is in the culture of the people around here. If you're from here (Montreal), you felt that way all through your youth. It's in people's blood. People identified with our club and it doesn't have anything to do with language.

When I was younger, I was more of a rusher but after the two bad leg injuries, I didn't have the same speed so I became more of a defensive defenseman.

Not many guys are hurt stopping shots. You could get killed if you get hit in the temple but the average is good. I turn sideways from twenty to twenty-five feet away and let the goalie take it. He can see it better. To me, there's no danger if you time it right. You have to be almost on top of the shooter before falling.

My duties were clear. No one expected me to carry the club on my shoulders.

I never pay attention to individual awards and I think that sometimes, too many people place too much value on them.

I had been on Stanley Cup teams but it was nothing quite like winning against the Soviets that year.

I was a member of eight Stanley Cup teams, but this was the greatest experience of my career! I don't think that was the best team I ever played on. That would have to be the '76 Canada Cup team with Bobby Orr. As far as Montreal teams go, the '76-77 team was the best. I thought it was a great team.

VIDEOS



SOURCES
http://ourhistory.canadiens.com/player/Serge-Savard
http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/LegendsMember.jsp?mem=P198603
http://habslegends.blogspot.com/2008/02/serge-savard.html
http://books.google.ca/books?id=wpb...=0CD4Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=serge savard&f=false
http://books.google.ca/books?id=SdB...=0CFUQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=serge savard&f=false
http://books.google.ca/books?id=7he...CDsQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=serge savard&f=false
http://books.google.ca/books?id=N9S...CEcQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=serge savard&f=false
http://books.google.ca/books?id=cGJ...X&ei=FgUpT47bJcWC2wXsjIndAg&ved=0CGEQ6AEwCDgK
http://books.google.ca/books?id=B55...CEQQ6AEwBDge#v=onepage&q=serge savard&f=false
http://books.google.ca/books?id=jwC...CGMQ6AEwCTge#v=onepage&q=serge savard&f=false
http://books.google.ca/books?id=bA9...CDsQ6AEwAjgo#v=onepage&q=serge savard&f=false
http://books.google.ca/books?id=2rb...CEgQ6AEwBDgo#v=onepage&q=serge savard&f=false
http://books.google.ca/books?id=pMX...CDsQ6AEwAjgy#v=onepage&q=serge savard&f=false
http://books.google.ca/books?id=jkM...X&ei=9QcpT-2DPKTU2AWC2ZjLAg&ved=0CFQQ6AEwBjg8

 

[chaosrevolver]

With the 108th pick, the Seattle Metropolitans select Jarome Iginla.

#12 - JAROME IGINLA

Regular Season: 1157 Games, 502 Goals, 543 Assists, 1045 Points
Playoffs: 54 Games, 28 Goals, 21 Assists, 49 Points

AWARDS

Art Ross Trophy (2002)
Maurice Rocket Richard Trophy (2002, 2004)
1st All-Star Team Selection (2002, 2008, 2009)
2nd All-Star Team Selection (2004)
All-Star Game Participant (2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2012)
King Clancy Memorial Trophy (2004)
Lester B. Pearson Award (2002)
NHL Foundation Player Award (2004)
Mark Messier Leadership Award (2009)
NHL All-Rookie Team (1997)


Finishes

Top-10 Goals (2002, 2004, 2008, 2011)
Top-10 in Assists (2009)
Top-10 in Points (2002, 2008, 2009, 2011)

* Bold refers to years that Iginla was top-5 in the category.
* Bold+Underline refers to years that Iginla led the category.

Playoff Accomplishments

Stanley Cup Finalist (2004)
Top-10 Playoff Scoring (3rd)
Top-10 Playoff Goalscoring (1st)
Top-10 Playoff Assist (8th)
Calgary Flames Playoff Scoring Finishes (1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd)

Voting Records

Top-10 Hart Nomination:
2002 - 2nd
2004 - 2nd
2008 - 3rd

Top-10 All-Star Voting:
2002 - 1st
2004 - 2nd
2006 - 7th
2008 - 1st
2009 - 1st
2010 - 5th
2011 - 3rd

Honours

Calgary Flames Captain (2003-2012)
Calgary Flames All-Time Leading Scorer
Between 1998 and 2008, only Jaromir Jagr scored more goals.
Apart of the 500 Goal Club
Apart of the 1000 Point Club
10th Player in NHL History to score 30 Goals in 10 Consecutive Seasons (The others are: Mike Gartner, Jaromir Jagr, Phil Esposito, Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Hull, Marcel Dionne, Mike Bossy, Jari Kurri, Darryl Sittler)
2 Olympic Gold Medals, 1 World Championship Gold Medal, 1 World Cup Gold Medal
2010 Olympic Tournament Leader in Goals
ESPY for best NHL Player (2002, 2004)
Molson Cup Winner (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008)
Ralph T. Scurfield Humanitarian Award (2001, 2002)
J.R. McCaig Award (2008)

What do the Experts Say?

His game, in which he did everything well, trumped expectation, and vaulted the Edmonton native of African descent into superstardom. A compact, powerful skater at six feet one..

Jarome is an extremely talented young man who plays for the Calgary Flames..played a critical role in Canada's victory with two goals and an assist..Jarome Iginla has become a pioneer at the Olympic level..

As a member of Team Canada, Iginla played a pivotal role in securing the teams first gold medal in 50 years..

Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames: Tough, intense right winger can score and bang in the corners.

Jarome is the complete player that leads by example whether his team needs a goal, a big hit, or even a fight to ignite their competitive spirits.

One of the top talents in the game today, Jarome Iginla is also probably the best black player in NHL history.

In a breakout season, this Calgary Flames right winger set ice rinks afire, scoring effortlessly and forcing goalies to ponder early retirement.

One of the best of the current era in the NHL..

Has deceptive speed, great strength and a lethal shot. Can overpower defenders physically or use finesse. Possesses the soft hands of a natural goal-scorer, but will also drop the gloves when necessary.

I think it was a very classy thing to do. I think Jarome is one of the most classy players in the league, not only that, he’s probably the best player in the league. When you have a captain like that, it was certainly a very classy move on their part, no doubt.

All-around he is just a special guy from being an amazing hockey player, to the way he lives his life, to the way everyone respects him...it's his nature to win the battles, and do everything in his power to win..

You've got a power forward who does it all. I mean, he'll fight, and hit, and score goals. Maybe it's not the end-to-end rushes, but he does all those little things that win games and get things done.

He'll run you over. Or he'll fight somebody. And then he'll score a goal. He does pretty much everything you'd want a guy to do.

He doesn't carry himself with any attitude or arrogance. He's confident in his abilities. He's self-assured. He's genuine. He's a better person than he is a player, and we all know what kind of player he is.

VIDEOS



SOURCES
http://books.google.ca/books?id=wpb...0CE4Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Jarome Iginla&f=false
http://books.google.ca/books?id=udK...DYQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=Jarome Iginla&f=false
http://books.google.ca/books?id=_Ut...GgQ6AEwCTgU#v=onepage&q=Jarome Iginla&f=false
http://books.google.ca/books?id=EWj...FAQ6AEwBjge#v=onepage&q=Jarome Iginla&f=false
http://books.google.ca/books?id=tiU...FwQ6AEwBzgy#v=onepage&q=Jarome Iginla&f=false
http://books.google.ca/books?id=qr4...F4Q6AEwCDg8#v=onepage&q=Jarome Iginla&f=false

 

[chaosrevolver]

With the 154th pick, the Seattle Metropolitans select Tommy Phillips.

#?? - TOMMY PHILLIPS

ACHIEVEMENTS
Stanley Cup Champion (1903, 1907)
Stanley Cup Finalist (1904, 1905, 1909)
Stanley Cup Challenge leading scorer (1905, 1907)
Led his own team in Cup Scoring (1904, 1905, 1907)
MHL Pro 1st All-Star Team (1907)
ECAHA 1st All-Star Team (1908)
Top-3 his league in goals/points (1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908)
Selected to The Hockey News’ pre-NHL First All-Star Team.
“Best All-Around Player” of 1900-1909 (Ultimate Hockey)
“Best Defensive Forward” of 1900-1909 (Ultimate Hockey)
Charter Member of the HHOF (1945 Class)


Quotes about Style of Play​

Phillips showed himself to be a speed merchant on the blades and had no peer as a backchecker.

He could skate, shoot, and stickhandle, and was considered the best backchecker in the game.

Virtually overnight, Phillips was the talk of the hockey world. Stories were told of a speed demon from out west, a hockeyist “game” to the core. This man had a vast repertoire of skills, each of them polished to a glimmer. He controlled the puck exceptionally well, possessed a deadly shot, and had a knack for defensive pursuits, most notably the backcheck… Phillips had a devastating shot. His blasts were often referred to as “cross fires”. At a tme when hockey fans argued on behalf of the Russell Bowies, Frank McGees, and Hod Stuarts as hockey’s top player, “Nibs” was easily the all-around pick of the litter.

He showed great skating ability and had a backhand of unequalled speed and accuracy.

In many ways, he was, in the modern vernacular, a complete player. He had great speed and a terrific shot, and he was a backchecker without compare.

He had everything a good player should have: whirlwind speed, a bullet-like shot, stickhandling wizardry, and was regarded as being without peer as a backchecker.

He soon showed superior talent in puckhandling and on-ice decision making that made him an unpredictable force to be reckoned with. Tommy could play both Left Wing and Right Wing, and had an unusually powerful shot to go along with pinpoint accuracy. His backchecking skills were exceptional as well. As the obvious superior in natural talent, he became the leader of a special group of close knit players that would be destined for hockey greatness.

Phillips earned praise for his “amazing” rushes and his “bullet” shots.

A great stickhandler and natural leader… (after leaving Thistles,) remained a feared goalscorer. He became a highly paid ringer, often brought in to help a team with the Stanley Cup. He went on to play for Ottawa, Nelson, Edmonton, and Vancouver.

My opinion is based on consistency of players over a period of years, and the fact that men selected possessed nearly all the fundamentals of an ideal player - physique, stamina, courage, speed, stick-handling, goal-getting ability, skill in passing, proper temperament and, above all, hockey brains.
Patrick selected Hugh Lehman in goal, Sprague Cleghorn and Hod Stuart on defence, and up front he chose Tom Phillips, Arthur Farrell and Fred "Cyclone" Taylor.

The Best/Most Complete Player of his Time?​

…was generally regarded as the best player in hockey…

Who is the best hockey player in Canada? Nine out of ten people will tell you it is either Frank McGee or him. He is the speedier, but he has nothing on McGee in the matter of stickhandling and has not the same generalship. Where each shines is in pulling doubtful games out of the fires of uncertainty.

Hockey Oldtimers who could recall the game as it was played in the early 1900s agreed that he was perhaps the greatest hockey player they had ever seen…

Out west, he was often called the greatest player in the game, much like Frank McGee in the East.

…during the season, the “Little Men Of Iron” withstood a challenge from Winnipeg and were greatly assisted by a newcomer, Tom Phillips. He was the star on a line with **** ******* and ***** ******* (two HHOFers)… he finally made it on a cup winner when Kenora lifted the from Wanderers in a midseason series at Montreal in which Phillips, playing on a line with ***** ******** and **** *******, was the star, At this time he was acclaimed as the greatest left winger in the game… He had the misfortune to break an ankle in the first game (in 1909) which may have permanently handicapped him. Three years later he signed with Vancouver… he played well but was not the standout of previous years and retired…

Tom Phillips played in six Stanley Cup series and stands up well in the scorers for playoff games. He was undoubtedly a great player who was compared favouably with Frank McGee…

Passing through Ottawa en route to Renfrew (in 1909), Lester Patrick gave an interview to the press. He stated that he considered Tom Phillips the best player in the game.

The Greatest Hockey player I have ever seen.

Here are the best of the pre-and non-NHLers.

THN’s First Team:
G: Hugh Lehman
D: Hod Stuart
D: Lester Patrick
R: Cyclone Taylor
LW: Tommy Phillips
C: Frank McGee
RW: Didier Pitre

Fans used to chant, “Never a man like Phillips, never another like he.”

Season-by-Season Breakdown
​

1901: Rat Portage. No stats available. Phillips, at 13, had led the junior Thistles to a victory over the Senior team five years prior, and by now those juniors had taken over the team.

In the winter of 1901, Thistles fans packed the stands at home games. They often took the train to root for the team at away games…Tommy Phillips played a perfect cover-point. He not only defended the goal well, he was an offensive spark, scoring often. When Phillips rushed the puck up the ice, chances were always good he would send it into the net.

1902: Rat Portage. No stats available. The Thistles were longing to be accepted into the senior loop but the elitist circuit wouldn’t have it. The Thistles crushed all comers and used a challenge to the Champion as a hopeful springboard to the top league.

The Winnipeg Senior Victorias were the current Stanley Cup champions… surprisingly, they agreed to play an exhibition game…the Vics’ forward line couldn’t get through the heavy checking of Phillips, ********, and ******. At the other end of the ice, however, the Vics also played outstanding defense. The Vics found some openings in the second half and opened up a 3 to 0 difference…The Thistles kept their opponents at bay the rest of the way, but that was all they could do. The match ended with the Winnipeg Victorias on top, 3 to 1.

Rat Portage was horrified to learn that captain Tommy Phillips was leaving his hometown to join the Montreal AAA… Phillips’ exit left Rat Portage wondering what would become of their team.

1903: CAHL, MAAA, 4-6-X-6-X, only played half the games, was 5th in GPG behind three HHOFers including Frank McGee. Part of successful cup defense with MAAA. (4-3-0-3). 7th in Cup Series goals, 3rd on Montreal behind two HHOFers. Cup reverted to CAHL regular season champions Ottawa, who defended the cup again in March, against Victorias & Rat Portage.

(game 2)Perfect ice conditions prevailed and an exceptionally fast game was played. Montreal got away to a lead on goals by Phillips and ******…

(game 3) Phillips and ******* were best for Montreal.

(game 4) The final game was a well-earned triumph for the Wheelers who, led by Phillips and ******, carried the play throughout. The final score was 4-1 which represented the margin of play.

1904:SOHA, Toronto, 4-5-X-5-21, 2nd in goals/points. 1st in playoff scoring with 2-6-6-12-9. Challenged Ottawa for cup. Team was badly outmatched and outscored 17-4 over two games. One record has Phillips scoring 2 of those 4 goals; another has him with a goal and two assists.

(game 1) The Marlboros got off to a good start on goals by Tom Phillips… and had Ottawa on the run for the first part of the game. Phillips was a veritable whirlwind on skates and corkscrewed through the Senators in beautiful dashes.

(game 2) The second game saw the Toronto boys completely outclassed. Tom Phillips and ****** were the only men who rated with the fast skating Ottawas.

1905: MHL, Rat Portage, 8-26-6-32-12. 2nd in goals, behind a HHOFer who had 28. 1st in assists – no one else had more than 3 – and 1st in points. Challenged Ottawa for the Stanley Cup. 3-8-0-8-X in a tough three-game series marred by Ottawa cheating by damaging the ice to counter Phillips’ speed. Led Rat Portage in goals with 8. next best, Griffis, had 3. Rat Portage had 15 in total compared to Ottawa’s 12. Top scorers on Ottawa in these three games: Alf Smith 4, Frank McGee 3.

(game 1) ***** and Pulford were not up to form and Tom Phillips twirled around them for five goals, putting up a marvellous display.

Tom Phillips put on a show for the fans with the first five-goal performance in a Stanley Cup game by a player other than the high-scoring McGee.

Rat Portage is far and away the fastest and most dangerous team which has ever appeared in Ottawa to challenge for the Stanley Cup.

The Silver Seven waded into the Thistles in butcher fashion and every player who got near them was jolted good and plenty. McGee several times hat Thistles players over the head with his stick. Griffis and ***** ******** of the Thistles went on the ice fitter for the hospital than for the hockey game. They both had wrenched knees and were still rather weak from the fearful gruelling they took in the previous game. ******** was so done out that he fell down from sheer weakness in a scrimmage in the Thistles’ goal and was unable to get up for a few seconds. When he did rise to his feet, referee Grant ruled him off for five minutes for obstructing the goal. *** ******, cover point for the Thistles, had a nasty knee, too. He injured it early in the game when Harvey Pulford almost heaved him over the boards with a charge from behind. Tommy Phillips had his face cut open in three places, and his eye closed, and he looked as though he had been in a railroad wreck. Griffis had a beautiful countenance, decorated by a swollen nose, split lips, and a gash on the forehead. Captain Phillips complimented the Ottawas on their victory.

Thankfully, the ice was a little better than it had been for the second game….speedy Phillips got the rebound and slipped the puck into the net….Phillips scored another to put the Thistles on top again, 2-1… One of the reasons the first half went so well was that the Thistles had been playing with familiar rules. There was a judge of play and a referee. The second half was played under eastern rules – a referee and no judge. The referee from the east seemed to favour the Silver Seven. The Thistles found themselves in the box often. Even the Ottawa paper noted the teams were being treated differently. “The Thistles may have played a more spirited game, but when the referee will send a man to the fence for not getting up quicker after being knocked down, it would seem that he is hardly fair.”… With the referee turning a blind eye, the Ottawa team started slashing with their sticks. Soon the faces of three Rat Portage forwards were bleeding… Despite their injuries, the Thistles pushed on. They scored a third goal while playing five men to seven... Ottawa tied it up and went ahead…Then Tommy Phillips took control with one of his great rushes. He scored his third goal to tie the score at four. McGee drives the puck into the net… Ottawa 5, Rat Portage 4… The thistles congratulated their opponents. They stood tall, but shook their heads at how the cards had been stacked against them.

(game 3) Phillips and McGee were the stars, both scoring three goals… when Phillips scored his third goal it tied the score at 4-4 and the (Ottawa) crowd was yelling to salt the ice or flood it.

Phillips scored three of the six Rat Portage goals in the final two games, but the watery ice of Ottawa's Arena Rink severely hampered his skating and shooting abilities. Many eastern hockeyists openly questioned the outcome of the series, with a good share of them proclaiming Phillips as the best player, not only of the west, but in all of organized hockey.

1906: MHL, Kenora, 9-23-5-28-24. 2nd in goals, leader had 26. 1st in assists. 2nd in points, leader had 29. Not part of a cup challenge this year.

1907: MHL, Kenora, 6-18-X-18-21. 1st in goals/points. Next best was HHOFer Joe Hall as a forward with 14 in 9 games. Kenora scored 38 goals in total. Hall’s Brandon team scored 50. 1st All-Star Team. 2-4-X-4-9 in MHL playoffs. Edged by one goal by Hall and another HHOFer. Won the cup from the Wanderers in a two-game total goals series, 12-8. Lost the cup two months later to the same Wanderers by the same score. Ignoring the two Wanderers games where they beat up on New Glasgow 17-5 over two games, the scoring leaders of the four serious cup final games are as follows: Phillips 9, HHOFer 9, Moose Johnson 6, Lester Patrick 4.

(game 1) The Thistles proceeded to skate the powerful Redbands into the ice. Led by Tom Phillips, rated as the greatest left winger in the game, they skated circles around the easterners. The halftime score stood at two all, Tom Phillips and ***** ******* netting a pair each. The second half saw Phillips at his best when he scored two more goals and the game ended with the Wanderers fading badly.

Less than four minutes in, Phillips landed the puck in the Thistles’ own end. He gained speed down ice on one of his famous rushes. He slammed the rubber disc behind **** and into the Wanderers’ net… *** ***** rammed into Phillips, knocking him off his feet. Then, an offside call had Phillips throwing up his hands in disgust. Finally, he injured his foot and the game had to be stopped… but none of that could halt Tommy Phillips. On the very next rush, he picked up the puck after a save by ******. Appearing like a flash in front of the net, he slapped the puck past ****.

(game 2) Phillips, ***** and **** were the stars for Kenora…

[v]Captain Tommy Phillips shouted last-minute instructions… At the faceoff after the Wanderers goal, Phillips won the puck. [/b]******** picked it up and seconds later flicked it into the net. In short order another three Thistles goals were scored, Phillips netting two and assisting on the other. The young hockey wonder had never been better…The Thistles began the second half with one more goal. Phillips stole the puck from a Wanderers’ rush and once again sent it to ********, who scored easily…Wanderers awoke from their daze. In less than ten minutes, they netted four goals. 6-6… The three minute break (to fix **** ********’s pants) had given the Thistles the rest they needed… ****** and ****** added two goals. 8-6 Thistles.

Arguably the greatest left winger of his era, captain Tom Phillips scored all four goals in the first game, then had a hat trick in the cup clincher…

If the Thistles lost their next home game against Portage La Prairie, they might not be allowed to defend the cup… The Thistles played like true champions and blanked their opponents 7 to 0. “Captain Phillips displayed the generalship which has made him in hockey circles across Canada”, praised the Kenora newspaper.

1908: ECAHA, Ottawa, 10-26-X-26-40. 3rd in league scoring. Just behind two other HHOF phenoms who, like Phillips, retired before age 30. Tied with Cyclone Taylor for 2nd in PIMs. 1st All-Star Team. Not part of a cup challenge this year.

1909: Did not play in the regular season. Was signed as a high-profile ringer for the controversial Edmonton team that challenged for the cup. Scored one goal in a 7-3 loss. Broke his ankle in this game and did not play the next game. This was the turning point of the game and the series. It is said that he was never the same after this.

1912: 1912: PCHA, Vancouver, 14-17-X-17-30. 7th in league scoring. Behind four HHOFers and ahead of five others. A decent season but not what he was used to.

CAREER SUMMARY
​

Finished with 121 goals, 11 assists, 132 points and 148 points in 53 recorded games. Had 32 goals and 8 assists for 40 points, with 40 PIMs in 18 recorded playoff games, including 22-2-24 in 12 cup finals matches.

As of the end of the pre-consolidation era, according to The Trail Of the Stanley Cup, here are the scoring leaders for all cup games:

1. Frank McGee - 63
2. Frank Foyston – 37
3. Alf Smith – 36
4. ***** ******* - 31
5. Newsy Lalonde – 27
6. ***** ******** - 26
7. ***** ***** - 25
8. Ernie Johnson - 23
8. Joe Malone - 23
8. ***** ***** - 23
11. Tom Phillips – 22

However, Phillips’ cup games all came against the very best teams. A couple of players at the top of the list padded their stats against some terrible challengers such as Queens University, Brandon, Smiths Falls, Ottawa Vics and Dawson City. Remove those games from the record, leaving only serious games in which there was doubt about the outcome, and you’re left with:

1. Frank Foyston - 27
1. Newsy Lalonde - 27
3. Tom Phillips - 22
4. Frank McGee – 21
5. ***** ******* - 18
6. Alf Smith – 15
7. Joe Malone - 14
8. ***** ***** - 13
9. Ernie Johnson - 11
10. ****** ******** - 9
11. ***** ***** - 4

And that’s not just over Phillips’ career (1902-1912) – That’s from the start of the Cup until consolidation! (1893-1926)

*Credit to Seventies for the information.

 

[BillyShoe1721]

C/D Ebbie Goodfellow

5x Top 7 All Star Voting(2, 2, 3, 5, 7)
2x Top 3 Hart Trophy Voting(1, 3), Also 4th as a F
5x Top 8 Goals Among Defensemen(1, 2, 3, 4, 8)
4x Top 5 Assists Among Defensemen(1, 2, 2, 5)
5x Top 6 Points Among Defensemen(1, 1, 2, 5, 6)
2x Stanley Cup Champion
2x Top 10 PIM(5, 10)
Detroit Red Wings Captain, 1934-35 & 1938-41

As a Forward:

4th in goals, 30-31
3rd, 9th in assists, 30-31 & 34-35
2nd in points, 30-31

Ebenezer Goodfellow had one of hockey's all time greatest names, and one of the greatest careers in hockey history as well.

Born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1907, Ebbie joined the Detroit Cougars (later renamed Falcons and finally Red Wings) in 1929 and stayed with Detroit for 15 seasons. Originally property of the New York Americans, Detroit traded Johnny Sheppard and $12,500 to get the high scoring 6'0" 175lb scoring machine. In an era before Gordie Howe, Goodfellow was considered to be Detroit's most illustrious hockey performer during the 1930s.

Originally a center, he became one of the league's top scorers. He scored a career high 25 goals and 48 points in 44 games in 1930-31. Although he was a high scoring forward, in 1935-36 he was shifted to defense by coach xxx after he began to lose a little speed. The gamble paid off for xxx as Goodfellow became one of the best defensemen in the league and remained a consistent scorer as well. He captained the Wings to the Stanley Cup in 1936 and 1937, when he was named an all-star defenseman in 1937 and 1940. He also became the first Detroit player to win the Hart Trophy, as in 1940 he was honored as the league's most valuable player.

http://redwingslegends.blogspot.com/2007/03/ebbie-goodfellow.html

Although he began his NHL career as a centre, he earned greater fame when he moved to defence in the 1934-35 season. Goodfellow was named to the NHL's Second All-Star Team in 1936, and twice named the First All-Star Team, in the 1936-37 and 1939-40 seasons. He was chosen to appear in the NHL All-Star games held in 1937 and 1939.

Goodfellow won the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player in 1940, and was a member of three Stanley Cup winning teams with Detroit in 1936, 1937, and 1943. In 1943 he was the last playing coach to guide his team to victory. He played his entire NHL career in the Detroit organization, retiring as a player after the Red Wings' 1943 Cup victory, though he later coached the Chicago Black Hawks in the 1950-51 and 1951-52 seasons.

http://www.legendsofhockey.net/Lege...er.jsp?mem=p196301&type=Player&page=bio&list=

Detroit's Ebbie Goodfellow launched a straight right at Shore's face and Shore, fighting mad, broke away and took a swing at Goodfellow...

http://books.google.com/books?id=9P...6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=ebbie goodfellow&f=false

The second outcrop of viciousness was at a hockey game on Christmas Eve at Boston Garden. The Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings had been on the verge of warfare throughout the game, and the crowd blamed a Detroit player named Ebbie Goodfellow. This inaptly named character may not have been a troublemaker but he certainly was one who took no gruff from anyone and he did nothing to spread peace and good will.

http://books.google.com/books?id=af...6AEwBTge#v=onepage&q=ebbie goodfellow&f=false

Detroit clamped down on defence, and ramped up the rough play in the second game of the series. Johnson was keeping the Falcons at bay, until Ebbie Goodfellow, whose name belied his violent actions that night, chopped him in the head.

http://books.google.com/books?id=AH...6AEwBDgo#v=onepage&q=ebbie goodfellow&f=false

Their distinguished efforts were reinforced by the exploits of Syd Howe, Johnny Sorrell, Hec Kilrea, and Ebbie Goodfellow. "Goodfellow," said Adams, "was Gordie Howe before Gordie Howe came along."

http://www.google.com/search?q=ebbi....,cf.osb&fp=9d5011146b5c4417&biw=1366&bih=638

"He was a good one," (undrafted player) said of this player. "One of the real stars of the league. He was known at that time as one of the defensemen who could shoot a heavy puck and was one of the hardest shots in the league. He was a hard-nosed player, but a real nice fellow."

-Ultimate Hockey

He was a member of two Detroit teams that won the stanley cup in successive years and was a driving force in those victories.

-Globe and Mail

The Wings broke camp here before Adams had a chance to analyze the outburst of Ebbie Goodfellow, his big defensive star from Ottawa, who felt a complete change in the attitude of the team was necessary before the Wings could hit a winning stride.

-Globe and Mail

Ebbie Goodfellow's aggressive tactics were wasted, as the Bruins regained their winning stride after two setbacks. Goodfellow engaged in two fist-fights during the game and divided the honors with the Boston fisticuffers. Goodfellow's first-period bout with Jack Portland, 215-pound defenceman, was short and sweet, and the Red Wing was sent sprawling by a right to the jaw. In the next frame, however, Goodfellow had all the better of the battle with Ray Getliffe, and, after he connected about five times on that Bruin's jaw, both drew major penalties.

-Globe and Mail

Back in December of January, the idea that the Detroit defence could have stumbled through a game, much less three tough playoff games in a row, without the assistance of Goodfellow was unthinkable. Less than a year ago, Goodfwellow was voted the most valuanle player in the league. Although his physical exploits have been less strenuous this year, the belief persisted that he was holding his team together, giving it leadership and stability that only the Goodfellows, Clappers, and the Shores could supply.

-?

...a two-fisted tactician in Ebbie Goodfellow

Goodfellow, long known as "the best one punch fighter in hockey's history," takes command as the Detroiters against seek to seize the elusive fourth victory to close out the series with the Leafs.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...BAJ&pg=3808,4238121&dq=ebbie+goodfellow&hl=en

Bolstered by the return of their star defenseman, Ebbie Goodfellow, the Red Wings hope to become the first team to win the 44-year old trophy two successive seasons since the Montreal Canadiens turned the trick in 1930 and 1931.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...BAJ&pg=4011,5790406&dq=ebbie+goodfellow&hl=en

Goodfellow, Blake in wild battle as Red Wings win

Blake had hardly returned to the ice before he elbowed Ebbie Goodfellow in the face and knocked him spinning. When the former Hamilton Tigers amatuer puckchaser came up the ice a minute later Goodfellow cross checked him and then pounced on the visitor with flailing fists.

Ebbie Goodfellow, brilliant defenseman for the Detroit Red Wings...

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...IBAJ&pg=4161,169028&dq=ebbie+goodfellow&hl=en

Big Ebbie Goodfellow, the blond Ottawan with the winning smile, shattering body check and world of speed, will be on the spot in Detroit tonight when the Detroit Red Wings meet Chicago Blackhawks in the only NHL game of that night.

Opinion has been growing lately that Goodfellow's absence for some weeks with an arm injury is the answer to the dismal showing of the last season's world champions. Ebenezer is expected to lift the Wings out of the cellar, and Detroit fans won't be surprised if he does.

And that's why the star defenseman will be on a spot.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...BAJ&pg=1600,4300709&dq=ebbie+goodfellow&hl=en

A goal rifled off the magic hickory of Ebbie Goodfellow, broad shouldered leader of the Detroit gang late in the first period felled Old Man Dope and the Toronto Maple Leafs in one mighty blast. It was a blast that probably had echoed around the entire hockey world long before the tumult had died within the four walls of Detroit Olympia.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...BAJ&pg=6721,7139102&dq=ebbie+goodfellow&hl=en

Ebbie Goodfellow got the Falcons' second goal in the second period on a lone rush that carried him past xxx and xxx, like a gust of wind. Walsh hadn't a chance with big Ebbie right in on top of him.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...IBAJ&pg=6592,433501&dq=ebbie+goodfellow&hl=en

Both teams were minus one of their regulars. Red Wings were without Ebbie Goodfellow, defence stalwart....

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...BAJ&pg=6267,1667766&dq=ebbie+goodfellow&hl=en

The setback only seemed to sting the Wings to action, however, and big Ebbie Goodfellow was in the centre of every rush as they ganged up on the Canadiens' net time and time again.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...BAJ&pg=4207,2135471&dq=ebbie+goodfellow&hl=en

Ebbie Goodfellow, whose idea of tact in a hockey game was to skate up to an opponent and knock him flat...

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...IBAJ&pg=2923,903310&dq=ebbie+goodfellow&hl=en

Ebbie Goodfellow, the team's star defenseman...

He was a member of two Detroit teams that won the Stanley Cup in successive years and was a driving force in the victories.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...BAJ&pg=1469,1717491&dq=ebbie+goodfellow&hl=en

xxx said the play needed men with specialized techniques in shooting and he believes he has them in Conacher and Goodfellow.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...IBAJ&pg=1682,523141&dq=ebbie+goodfellow&hl=en

The Red Wings are intact with the exception of Ebbie Goodfellow, stalwart defenseman who last season was declared the most valuable player in the game

http://www.google.com/search?q=ebbi...w.,cf.osb&fp=24621a800fb00ca&biw=1366&bih=638

Ebbie Goodfellow, converted centre, was particularly effective in stemming Maroon rushes.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...BAJ&pg=6506,1802408&dq=ebbie+goodfellow&hl=en

 

[EagleBelfour]

Jan Suchý

Nickname: The European Bobby Orr, Souska
Height: 5'9''
Weight: 170 lbs
Position: Defense
Shoots: Left
Date of Birth: October 10, 1944
Place of Birth: Havlickuv Brod , Czechoslovakia


Czechoslovakian Extraliga Champion (1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974)
WEC-A Silver Medalist (1965, 1966, 1971)
WEC-A Bronze Medalist (1969, 1970, 1973)
WEC-A All-Star Team (1968, 1969, 1970, 1971)
Olympic Silver Medalist (1968)
Olympic All-Star Team (1968)
WEC-A Best Defenceman (1969, 1971)
Golden Hockey Stick (1969, 1970)
Czech Hockey Hall of Fame (2008)
IIHF Hall of Fame (2009)


Czechoslovakian Hockey League:

Seasons|GP|G|A|PTS|PIM
16|183|106|163|269|71

*1972SummitSeries.com site wrote Suchy's stats as follow: 561GP, 164G, 221A, 385PTS, 351PIM*
*The Book 'King of the Ice' wrote Suchy's partial stats as follow: 562GP, 162G*
*The site 'theses.cz' wrote Suchy's stats as follow: 562GP, 162G, 221A, 383PTS*
No Data:
Game Played: 1963-1968, 1970-1974, 1976-1977
Goals: 1963-1966
Assists: 1963-1967
Penalty minutes: 1963-1969, 1970-1974, 1976-1977

Top-10 Scoring (1st, 3rd)
Top-10 Goalscoring (2nd, 10th)
Top-10 Assist (1st, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 11th)
Top-10 Penalty minutes (6th on 32*1969-70*)

Top-5 Scoring Among Defenceman (1st, 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th)
Top-5 Goalscoring Among Defenceman (1st, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 4th)
Top-5 Assist Among Defenceman (1st, 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 5th)
Top-5 Penalty minutes Among Defenceman (5th on 10 *1969-70*)


World and European Championship & Olympic:

Seasons|GP|G|A|PTS|PIM
8|75|21|25|46|41

No Data:
Penalty minutes: 1967, 1974

Top-10 Scoring (4th, 10th)
Top-10 Goalscoring (4th, 9th)
Top-10 Assist (2nd, 10th, 11th)
Top-10 Penalty minutes (5th, 9th)

Top-5 Scoring Among Defenceman (1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd, 2nd)
Top-5 Goalscoring Among Defenceman (1st, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th)
Top-5 Assist Among Defenceman (1st, 1st, 1st, 3rd)
Top-5 Penalty minutes Among Defenceman (3rd, 5th)


Awards Nomination:

Golden Hockey Stick

1969
1. Jan Suchý
2. Jaroslav Jirík
3. Jaroslav Holik
4. Jiri Holik
5. Vladimir Dzurilla
6. Vaclav Nedomansky
7. Frantisek Pospisil
8. Jozef Golonka

1970
1. Jan Suchy
2. Josef Cerny
3. Vaclav Nedomansky
4. Vladimir Dzurilla
5. Frantisek Pospisil
6. Jaroslav Holik
7. Jiri Kochta
8. Jiri Holik

1971
1. Frantisek Pospisil
2. Jan Suchy
3. Vaclav Nedomansky
4. Josef Cerny
5. Jiri Holecek
6. Richard Farda
7. Jiri Holik
8. Ivan Hlinka

“Team of the Century†- Newspaper Sport

1. Jaromír Jágr
2. Dominik Hašek
3. Vladimír Martinec
4. Jan Suchý

Many thought Jan Suchy should of won the award for the best defenceman of the World Championship in 1970, including the winner himself, Lennard Svedberg. When "Lill-Strimma" skated out to accept his award he immidiately went over to Suchy and patted him on the back to tell him that the jury didn't know what they were doing and that Suchy and nobody else deserved the award.

1972summitseries.com

Professional Career:

Many times called the European Bobby Orr, Jan Suchy controlled games like no other European defenseman before him. His rink length rushes on the ice became legendary back home in Czechoslovakia. Suchy was one of very few defensemen who could get people out of their seats. Although he was a heavy smoker it never affected his fitness.

Never before had anyone in Europe seen a defenseman as complete as Suchy. He could do it all. He was a great skater who could set the pace of a game in the same fashion as a Bobby Orr or Doug Harvey. Suchy was virtually a fourth forward on the ice with his fine technique, vision and skating. He not only excelled offensively but did it defensively as well. Suchy was also a master shotblocker who never hesitated to throw his body in front of a shot. He got injured many times blocking shots.

In his day, Jan Suchy was the best defenceman in Europe. He was the Czechs' answer to Bobby Orr or Doug Harvey.

Suchy was an excellent skater and made sacrifices as a defenseman to set his teammates up with a play. He was the first in Europe to use his body to stop goals in front of his net, and he could let go a mean shot at the other end of the rink as well. [...](He) had few equals in more ways than one.

He was one of the few defenseman who could make spectators get up out of their seats.

But his unhealthy habit (smoking) didn't appear to affect his physical condition. He was a terrific player right up until the age of 40.

Growing up with him were other future legends of Czech Hockey - brothers Jaroslav and Jiri Holik and Josef Augusta, among others. All were known for their toughness, fighting spirit and harsh personalities.

The ceremony will see two of international hockey’s greatest defensemen being honored, with Jan Suchy and Alexei Kasatonov joining the IIHF Hall of Fame.

Jan Suchy was without any doubt the most outstanding international defenseman in the late 60s and early 70s. Suchy represented his country 160 times (five IIHF World Championships and the 1968 Olympics) and was the first in Europe to make shot blocking an art.

Suchy will be also remembered for his spectacular offensive game that prompted many to call him the “Bobby Orr of Europeâ€.

Small and slight, like Hall of Famer Pierre Pilote, he specialized in scoring off the trailer pass.

Jan Suchy's most famous international goal was the first one against the USSR in World European Championship, in 1969 (CSSR vs. USSR 2 to 0 - the second one scored by Josef Cerny was assisted by Suchy). Unfortunately the second game against Russia (4 to 3 for Czechoslovakia), Suchy missed it because he fractured his little finger (while blocking shot in the previous game vs. the United States).

I read somewhere that Suchy was the european Bobby Orr, and I think that it's true in some aspects. At first, he was a very smart skater (better then most of the forwards of that time), and that's why it wasn't easy to go through him. He had good positional play in defence and also great stability on skates. He wasn´t tall (170 cm), so his kind of play had to be different from the physical force practiced by giant russian defenceman like Ragulin. He played on the edge of sacrifice (blocking shots, fighting around goal etc...). When you look at these old games, you could not miss him: he was right at the center of the action, one time in defence, and than in a few seconds on the other side of ring shooting on goal. He gave everything on the ice: it's clearly visible, the pictures shows "hardworking" Suchy with the grimace of the warrior. His speciality was the sudden counter attack, he was able to recognize when it was the right time for offence and he could play like fourth forward (somebody called it false winger). He had good technical skills with his stick, but he preferred passing to his teammates (most of the time Holik brothers and Jan Klapac).

I think that Suchy wasn´t really the first one european defencemen who blocked shots (I heard that for example Frantisek Tikal did it occasionally), but he used this technique more often than anybody else before - it was a full-value part of his play. In communist Czechoslovakia there was no informations about NHL at all, so he couldn´t follow any oversea model. He is saying that he started to blocking shots by oneself.

Suchy was more passer than shooter. There wasn´t so much power in his shooting (rarely use slapshot), so he preferred his wrist shot, which was fast enough and quite accurate.

When Czechoslovakia played his second game against the USSR, they had just lost defenceman Jan Suchy, probably the best player of the tournament, who broke his finger against the Americans.Lorsque survient la seconde confrontation, les Tchécoslovaques viennent de perdre Jan Suchý, peut-être le meilleur joueur du tournoi, qui s'est cassé l'index contre les Américains.

- Jan Suchy was a tremendously talented hockey player, and if not for the era he lived in, he would have become an NHL star

- He was a defenseman who often acted as a "fake wing" and scored many goals from this position, some of them due to playing with smart players like Jaroslav Holik. In addition, he was the first defenseman (in Czechoslovakia, possibly Europe) who sacrificed his body to block shots

- He holds several records in the CZ extraliga (best hockey league): in 1968-69, he became the first and only defenseman to win the scoring title (56 points - 30 goals, 26 assists). Other records include a hat-trick in 47 seconds (against KoÅ¡ice) or a 9 point game (5 goals and 4 assists), in the game against České Budějovice in 1969

Resume of these two Czechoslovakian articles:
http://tn.nova.cz/sport/hokej/dalsi-hokej/hokejista-jan-suchy-z-vezeni-az-do-sine-slavy.html
http://www.osobnosti.cz/jan-suchy.php

The 1969 World Championship:

In 1969, the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia played two of "the most emotionally charged games in the history of international hockey" (as per IIHF Top 100 stories) and won them both! Jan Suchy was front and centre in both victories (as proven by his All Star and Best Defenseman awards), and he even scored the all-important first goal (and winning goal) in the 2-0 shutout.

World Championship Awards and All-Stars Defence Comparision:

1966 is approximately when the players who were in their prime for the Summit Series started to come of age and 1991 is when the Soviet Union collapsed and all the best players became consolidated in the NHL. I didn't make up these cut off points - I've seen them before on this board.

Most Times named Directorate Best Defenseman at the World Championships 1966-1991

5. Slava Fetisov
3. Valeri Vasiliev
2. Jan Suchy
2. Frantisek Pospisil

Most Times named to World Championship All Star Teams 1966-1991

9. Slava Fetisov
5. Valeri Vasiliev
5. Alexei Kasatonov
4. Jan Suchy
3. Frantisek Pospisil
3. Lennart Svedberg
2. Jiri Bubla
2. Alexander Ragulin (plus 3 more 1963-1965 for 5 total)

Jan Suchy or Alexander Ragulin?

World Championship All Star Teams 1961-1975

1975 | Vladislav Tretiak (URS) | Pekka Marjamaki (FIN) | Valeri Vasilyev (URS) | Vladimir Martinec (TCH) | Vladimir Petrov (URS) | Alexander Yakushev (URS)
1974 | Curt Larsson (SWE) | Lars-Erik Sjoberg (SWE) | Valeri Vasilyev (URS) | Vladimir Martinec (TCH) | Vaclav Nedomansky (TCH) | Alexander Yakushev (URS)
1973 | Jiri Holecek (TCH) | Alexander Gusev (URS) | Borje Salming (SWE) | Valeri Kharlamov (URS) | Boris Mikhailov (URS) | Vladimir Petrov (URS)
1972 | Jiri Holecek (TCH) | Oldrich Machac (TCH) | Frantisek Pospisil (TCH) | Valeri Kharlamov (URS) | Alexander Maltsev (URS) | Vladimir Vikulov (URS)
1971 | Jiri Holecek (TCH) | Ilpo Koskela (FIN) | Jan Suchy (TCH) | Anatoli Firsov (URS) | Alexander Maltsev (URS) | Vladimir Vikulov (URS)
1970 | Victor Konovalenko (URS) | Jan Suchy (TCH) | Lennart Svedberg (SWE) | Anatoli Firsov (URS) | Alexander Maltsev (URS) | Vaclav Nedomansky (TCH)
1969 | Vladimir Dzurilla (TCH) | Jan Suchy (TCH) | Lennart Svedberg (SWE) | Anatoli Firsov (URS) | Vaclav Nedomansky (TCH) | Ulf Sterner (SWE)
1968 | Ken Broderick (CAN) | Jan Suchy (TCH) | Lennart Svedberg (SWE) | Anatoli Firsov (URS) | Fran Huck (CAN) | Frantisek Sevcik (TCH)
1967 | Carl Wetzel (USA) | Carl Brewer (CAN) | Alexander Ragulin (URS) | Venjamin Alexandrov (URS) | Alexander Almetov (URS) | Anatoli Firsov (URS)
1966 | Seth Martin (CAN) | Gary Begg (CAN) | Alexander Ragulin (URS) | Venjamin Alexandrov (URS) | Fran Huck (CAN) | Konstantin Loktev (URS)
1965 | Vladimir Dzurilla (TCH) | Alexander Ragulin (URS) | Frantisek Tikal (TCH) | Alexander Almetov (URS) | Jaroslav Jirik (TCH) | Konstantin Loktev (URS)
1964 | Seth Martin (CAN) | Alexander Ragulin (URS) | Rod Seiling (CAN) | Roger Bourbonnais (CAN) | Josef Cerny (TCH) | Viktor Yakushev (URS)
1963 | Kjell Svensson (SWE) | Alexander Ragulin (URS) | Harry Smith (CAN) | Hasse Mild (SWE) | Adolph Tambellini (CAN) | Mirolsav Vlach (TCH)
1962 | Lennart Haggroth (SWE) | Jack Douglas (CAN) | Harry Smith (CAN) | Jackie McLeod (CAN) | Nisse Nilsson (SWE) | Ulf Sterner (SWE)
1961 | Seth Martin (CAN) | Darryl Sly (CAN) | Harry Smith (CAN) | Michel Legacé (CAN) | Boris Mayorov (URS) | Mirolsav Vlach (TCH)

Ragulin was named Best Defenseman in 1965. Suchy was named best defenseman in 1969 and 1971.

From the table above, you can see just how weak competition was when Ragulin started racking up his All Stars - all those Canadians and Americans were amateurs.

You can also see how Ragulin's last year as a WC All Star was 1967. By 1968, Jan Suchy and Lennart Svedberg began a run where they owned the All Star slots and by the 1970s, competition was very strong.

From the table above, you can see just how dramatically competition improved between 1967 and 1969 as the new generation took over. Anatoli Firsov, declared by this board a top 100 player of all-time got his first All Star nod in 1967. This is also around when European teams started dominating the Worlds.

Alexander Ragulin was 26 years in 1967, the last time he was an All Star at the World Championships. He was a Soviet League All Star 9 of 11 seasons from 1961-1972, which is what his legacy is based off of. But compared to Europe as a whole, his USSR accolades seem like the result of being the big fish in a smaller pond, as he was completely overtaken by Suchy and Svedberg at the age of 27.

Conclusion: The WC All Star Teams support the anecdotal evidence that Jan Suchy was a significantly better player than Ragulin. Ragulin racked up his all-star teams against a weaker generation of players and was clearly surpassed by Suchy when he was only 27 years old.

Suchy and Svedberg both had their reigns ended by car accidents.

Quotes:

- ''I always been hard on myself.'' - Jan Suchy

- ''The coaches weren't pleased, but they didn't forbid me anything. They forbade others. Some of them used to smoke in my room and then we said it was me.'' - Jan Suchy, on his smoking habit

- ''Jan Suchy defined the position of the offensive defenseman in international hockey at the end of the 60's.'' - René Fasel, IIHF President

- ''Originally I planned that I would play until 50, but I quit at 45.'' - Jan Suchy

- ''Suchy always was the second goalie on the ice. He was tireless and self-sacrificing. He would block slapshots with the backside of his glove, then just take his hand out, shake it a bit, and put it back in'' - Peter Stastny

- ''I don't know if he understood what I was saying, but I wanted to let him know how much I respected him. Never in my life had I seen a better defenseman.'' - Lennard Svetberg

Fun & Interesting Facts:
- As a little kid, Jan Suchy grew up in Havlickuv Brod where he played hockey on a small frozen pond named Cihlar. There he toyed around with two other Czechoslovakian hockey legends, the Holik brothers (Jiri and Jaroslav)
- From the ages of 8 to 19, Suchý played for a local team, the Jiskra Havlíckuv Brod
- Jan Suchy played three games for the national junior soccer team
- He had Czech legend Frantisek Tikal as his defence partner in his first few World Championship
- At the end of his career, Suchy had scored more goals than any defenceman in league history
- Suchy played in Austria and Germany until 1984
- He was also the first European to be placed on an NHL protected list (by the Boston Bruins)
- Suchy played 160 games with his National team, scoring 44 goals
- Suchy is married and have three children, two sons and a daughter


Miscellaneous:

- In 1971 a drunk Suchy behind the wheel was involved in a serious car accident that killed his passenger. He was sentenced by a millitary court to 18 months in jail but was released after 7 months. He was also absent from the Czechoslovakian national team in 1972 and 1973. He never was the same player after this incident.


Abbreviation:

IIHF: International Ice Hockey Federation
WEC-A: World and European Championship - Pool A


Youtube Videos:

At the 2:00 mark, Jan Suchy is #17


Internet Sites:
http://internationalhockeylegends.blogspot.com/2008/06/jan-suchy.html
http://www.1972summitseries.com/othersuchy.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Suchý
http://eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=42847
http://www.eurohockey.net/players/show_player.cgi?serial=27033
http://www.sihrhockey.org/member_player_sheet.cfm?player_id=45636&CFID=1022303&CFTOKEN=13662738
http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/iihf-hof-2009.html
http://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Suchý
http://www.hockeyarchives.info/mondial1969.htm
http://www.radio.cz/fr/rubrique/his...sur-lurss-a-ete-exploitee-par-des-politiciens
http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curr...ockey-focus-of-new-national-museum-exhibition



Special Thank You: Dreakmur, Madarcand, Reds4Life, Seventieslord, Sturminator, TheDevilMadeMe

 

[BraveCanadian]

With their 6th round pick, 161st overall, the Guelph Platers select: C, Marty Barry

Career Highlights:
2 Time Stanley Cup Champion (1936, 1937)
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy Winner 1937
NHL Post Season 1st All-Star Team 1937
Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame



Vitals:
Position: C
Shoots: Left
Height: 5-11
Weight: 175 lbs.


Regular Season:

Marty Barry was a very productive offensive player during his NHL career. He was noted in particular for being a sniper but was also known as a smart passer:

7 - Top 10 Finishes in Goals: 2, 3, 3, 8, 8, 9, 10
3 - Top 10 Finishes in Assists: 2, 4, 7
6 - Top 10 Finishes in Points: 2, 3, 4, 4, 7, 8


Top Regular Season Scorers, 1931-1940

Busher Jackson - 353 points in 444 games
Marty Barry - 353 points in 456 games



Career Regular Season Stats:

GP|G|A|Pts|+/-|PIM|EV|PP|SH|GW
509|195|192|387||231||||

Playoffs:

Barry's point production during the playoffs matched that of the regular season - unusual for his time.

In addition, he was noted for his clutch play and lead the playoffs in scoring twice.

He scored 17 points in 17 games as Detroit won their back to back Stanley Cups 1936-1937.


Career Playoff Stats:

GP|G|A|Pts|+/-|PIM|EV|PP|SH|GW
43|15|18|33||34||||

Quotations and Perspective:

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There are numerous other remarkable players today. Marty Barry isn't far removed from the front rank. Indeed many competent critics rate the Detroit center smack up there.

Barry, big and strong and a hard worker, is as fine a playmaker as he is a defensive player. He has played left wing during the greater part of his career, but is the clever, snappy type of center who feeds his wings exceptionally well.

"Like the great Black Knight of the Tiger infield, Marty Berry possesses that faculty of mechanical perfection. He sweeps the ice with such smooth, rhythmic strides his play seems effortless. He is called hockey's greatest passer."

Barry was not to be denied when he took the puck at his own blue-line midway in the third period after passes from Syd Howe and Johnny Sorrell. In a tremendous burst of speed, without faltering in his headlong rush, he split the defense between "Ott" Heller and Art Coulter. At the penalty circle he swerved to the left out of Coulter's reach and from an amazing sharp angle, rifled a swift drive into the far side of the net. Kerr never had a chance as the puck streaked past him to bite into the net just inside the post.

The goal prolonged the Stanley Cup finals to the fifth game to be played here Thursday night.

Barry's shot turned 13,515 customers who had settled back in anticipation of an overtime game, into a madly cheering throng tossing papers and programs to the ice.

The Boston Bruin's center, Marty Barry, is one of the most aggressive players in the National Hockey League. He has assisted his mates scores of times this season in penetrating opponents' defense zones and has scored several goals himself.

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The stick wizardry of big Marty Barry, who scored two goals and an assist, and the phenomenal net-minding of Rookie Earl Robertson, who shut out the aggressive, dangerous New York Rangers for the second time, 3 to 0, stood out as the Detroit wound up a successful five game defense of the 44-year-old cup before 14,102 madly cheering spectators last night.

Marty Barry, Larry Aurie, and Herb Lewis give the Red Wings one of the best forward lines in the game. It is not only a high scoring array, but one of the finest defensive combinations.

Two newcomers to the Canadiens, Earl Robinson and Marty Barry, combined on the winning goal which came in the ninth minute of the final period. Breaking away from a Boston gang attack Barry shot a rink-wide pass to Robinson who banged in a hard shot at Frankie Brimsek and then drove home the rebound.

Giesebrecht took a beautiful double relay from Marty Barry and Carl Liscombe directly in front of the Toronto net and beat Goalie "Turk" Broda with a smash into the corner.

Marty Barry, subjected to more bumping than he had received in any game, showed he could take it.

The Bruins lost a goal in the second period when a shot by Marty Barry went through a hole in the net.

In the last minute, Aurie and Lewis got away clear, with Marty Barry. The big center gave Aurie a pass to the right of the net, and his cross-fire shot drove deeply into the twine.

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Marty Barry continued to set the pace as the "bad boy" of the league, having spend 24 minutes in the penalty box.

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Larry Aurie accounted for both Detroit scores, the first on a smart passing play with Marty Barry and the second with a long distance shot from almost the blueline that Roy Worters lost in a sea of legs.

Herbie Lewis and Marty Barry were responsible for the goal that gave Wings the decision. After four minutes of overtime they beat the Leaf defence, Lewis taking a smart pass from Barry for the goal.

(while playing for New Haven 1928-29)

Marty Barry is one of the hardest men on the blades to stop.

[Barry] also played in 500 games over 10 years without missing one, which earned him the nickname the Iron Horse of major league hockey.
He nearly missed a game when his wife suffered problems before their first baby was born. However, she recovered soon enough so that he could get to the game on time.

A great skater and prolific playmaker, Barry played briefly with the New York Americans during the 1927-28 season but didn't stick in the NHL until he joined the Bruins in 1929. In Bostone became an solid second line center but by 1933 he developed into perhaps the Bruins top offensive threat. He led his Bruins in scoring for 3 consecutive seasons.

Wherever he played, Marty Barry was a productive center whose work ethic was lauded by teammates and opponents alike. His stamina and dedication made him one of the most consistent and durable performers of his era. Between 1929 and 1939, he missed only two NHL regular season games.

Although he was born in Shannon, just north of Quebec City, Barry grew up and learned to play hockey in Montreal. He played in the Mount Royal intermediate league with the Gurney Foundry team in 1922-23, with St. Michael's the following year and then with St. Anthony for two seasons after that. A proficient scorer, he was known by the local sportswriters as "Goal-a-Game" Barry.

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Barry's play was crucial to the Detroit franchise's enormous success during this period. The team finished at the top of the NHL regular season standings and won the Stanley Cup in both 1936 and 1937, making the Wings the first U.S.-based team to capture back-to-back championships.

In November 1939 Barry signed with the Montreal Canadiens, for whom he played his last NHL season. He left the league with the reputation of being a consistent offensive producer as well an "iron man" who almost never missed a game.

​

 

[Rob Scuderi]

C Eric Lindros

865 points in 760 GP
57 points in 53 Playoff GP

x1 Hart Trophy winner
x1 Ted Lindsay Trophy winner
x1 1st NHL AST
x1 2nd NHL AST
x6 NHL ASG appearances

x3 Top 10 Goals placements - 7th in '99, 9th in '96 and '02
x2 Top 10 Assists placements - 9th in '96, 6th in '99
x2 Top 10 Points placements - 6th in '96, 7th in '99

Hart Trophy Votes: 1st in '95, 3rd in '96, 6th in '99, 9th in '97 9th in '93,
All-Star Team Votes: 1st in '95, 2nd in '96, 3rd in '99, 4th in '97, T7th in '94, T9th in '98,

Lindros placements in '95 came with a tie for the lead in the scoring race during the lockout shortened year. This is from the voting thread about the placements from this on year:

Due to conference-only play the 94-95 voting was conducted in two stages. An east/west vote gave 3 finalists, (6 for all-star defense) from each conference, which were then voted on by a committee of 15 PHWA members.

But he set a Flyers record in his first season with 41 goals and improved his offensive totals over the next two seasons while maintaining a combative edge to his play. In 1994-95, the lockout-shortened season, Lindros tied with Jaromir Jagr for the scoring lead, and though he lost the Art Ross Trophy because he scored fewer goals, he won the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player and captured the Lester B. Pearson Award.

The Flyers began to round into form with Lindros as its captain in 1995-96. His line with John LeClair and Mikael Renberg came to be known as "the Legion of Doom" and beat up opposing defense to help Lindros score 115 points. Lindros added to his impressive international resume at the 1996 World Cup, though Team Canada fell short of expected victory. The next season in the NHL, he returned from a nagging knee injury as Philadelphia marched all the way to the Stanley Cup finals, leading all playoff scorers with 26 points en route to a heartbreaking loss to Detroit.

Lindros's ascension to the top ranks of the game became complete when he was made Team Canada's captain for the 1998 Nagano Olympics.

Injuries continued to haunt him near the turn of the century, taking different forms as his aggressive ways took a toll on his huge body. His younger brother, Brett, was forced out of the league after receiving one too many concussions in 1996 and Eric missed the 1999 playoffs with a collapsed lung that forced him to watch the Flyers from the sidelines as they lost their series with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Lindros's 1999-00 season was a shambles. He suffered four concussions, the last the result of a devastating hit from New Jersey's Scott Stevens in the Stanley Cup semifinals, that left his career in doubt. In the fall of 2000, Lindros demanded a trade to Toronto, but after a year in which Clarke refused to accommodate him, Lindros was sent to New York to resume his career with the Rangers. Upon his arrival in the Big Apple, Lindros has had seasons of 73 and 53 points while representing his country for the third time at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, adding a gold medal to his previous silver that he won in 1992 in Albertville.

Injuries continued to plague Lindros in 2003-04, limiting the burly winger to a mere 39 games, before he was acquired by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the summer of 2005.As a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs Lindros' season got off to a steady start as the centreman recorded 22 points in his first 32 games. However, his season was cut short due to multiple injuries to his wrist. Lindros would only suit up for a mere 33 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs before signing with the Dallas Stars in the summer of 2006.

After seeing action in 49 games and recording a career low five goals in his first season as a Dallas Star, Lindros would announce his official retirement from the game in November of 2007. Lindros finished his career with 372 goals and 493 assists for 865 points, in 760 NHL games.

Although Lindros modeled his style after Messier's, he is 12 years younger. At 6-foot-4 and 236 pounds, Lindros is 3 inches taller and 31 pounds heavier than Messier. And more than any player, Lindros hits opponents with the force and aggression of a football player while moving the puck with the delicacy of a golf pro.

''No one can play with his size, which he combines with great skill,'' Messier said. ''It separates him from anybody who played this game.''

Who is meaner? Eric Lindros or Mark Messier? Who would knock his own grandmother in the noggin with a high stick if she told him to take his dirty mitts off the shiny silver hockey trophy?

OK, both of them would. But which end of the stick would they use?

"He's a mean guy," Colin Campbell said yesterday about Lindros. "He's one of the meanest in the league the way he wields his stick. You could almost call a penalty on Lindros every shift, the way he plays."

How mean is he?

Lindros broke Shane Churla's nose back on April 7, the last time he faced the Rangers. That same game, the nasty young Flyer also withdrew an ample sample of Ulf Samuelsson's blood supply.

Lindros is so mean, he called Samuelsson "Susan Lucci" after that game for his acting job as a heavy bleeder. He didn't even have the respect or sense of ethnic history to call Samuelsson "Liv Ullman."

For now, Messier is saying only nice things about Lindros, with whom he will be compared again and again over the next two weeks.

"He's got so many facets to his game," Messier said. "You combine his size with his speed and his overall game. He's picked it up the last four or five games, playing complete hockey.

"The (toughness) is just one part of him."

That is what makes the matchup so compelling. Even though they can be such mean guys, Messier and Lindros also possess the sport's most sophisticated technical skills. They can skate, stick-handle, create space. They demand attention with their presence and ability to penetrate.

They are not so much enforcers as they are the law. Lindros is a dozen years younger than Messier, 36. He is three inches taller, 20 pounds heavier. But they are carved from the same, hard oak.

Eric Lindros put an exclamation point on the victory with a viscious open-ice hit on Petr Nedved...Todd Harvey, who concedes about five inches and what seems like 60 pounds to the hulking Lindros, jumped in to defend Nedved in a fight he could not possibly win. Harvey...left the ice with a gash over his left eye.

Lindros's legendary mean streak was in full force in the first period. He flattened Tim Taylor with about seven and a half minutes left in the first. One of the main reasons the Rangers signed Taylor in the off season was the success he has had in taking Lindros off his game.

So when Lindros saw Taylor skating toward him on the left halfboards in the Rangers' zone, Lindros may have felt a score needed to be settled. Taylor intended to check Lindros into the boards. Instead, he was forced to eat a big left elbow. The crowd went wild. And the hit lit a fire under the Flyers.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/21/sports/hockey-flyers-prove-much-hungrier-than-rangers.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm

Having Eric Lindros is like owning the biggest bomb in the arsenal. It does not have to be detonated to be effective. The threat is enough.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AKQpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=s_EDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3450,7228941&dq=eric+lindros+mean&hl=en

 

[BraveCanadian]

With their 5th round pick, 160st overall, the Guelph Platers select: D, Art Coulter

Career Highlights:
2 Time Stanley Cup Chamption 1934, 1940.
Stanley Cup finalist 1937.
Captain of the New York Rangers 1937-1942, including the 1940 championship team.
4 times a NHL Post Season All-Star (Each time 2nd Team).
Hockey Hall of Fame Member 1974


Vitals:
Position: D
Shoots: Right
Height: 5-11
Weight: 185 lbs.


Regular Season:

In addition to his highly regarded defensive play, Coulter was Top-10 in points among defensemen five times (6, 6, 8, 8, 9).

A tough customer, who often stuck up for his teammates, Art Coulter was top 10 in PIM four times in his career (1,2,3,6).


Career Regular Season Stats:

GP|G|A|Pts|+/-|PIM|EV|PP|SH|GW
465|30|82|112||543||||

Playoffs:

Coulter was the captain of the 1940 New York Rangers championship team. He also made it to the finals in 1937.

Career Playoff Stats:

GP|G|A|Pts|+/-|PIM|EV|PP|SH|GW
49|4|5|9||61||||

Quotations and Perspective:

"Art Coulter was our best player. He was a leader.. he could really carry the puck. But he had to head-man the puck. That's the way we played."

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An athlete of exceptional strength and endurance, he was fiercely devoted to the concept of teamwork.

The native of Winnipeg, Manitoba began making a name for himself in his hometown with the senior Pilgrims. He gained two and a half years of professional experience with the Philadelphia Arrows of the Can-Am League. He excelled at both ends of the ice and demonstrated a willingness to mix it up with the opposition by leading the league in penalty minutes in 1930-31.

After playing the last 13 games of the regular season and two playoff matches for Chicago in 1931-32, Coulter became a regular the next year. His physical play and ability to handle the puck made Coulter a perfect defence partner for burly Taffy Abel. The solid duo played a key role on the Hawks' inaugural Stanley Cup win in 1934.

Coulter was placed on the NHL second all-star team in 1935 but found himself traded to the Rangers for Earl Seibert midway through the next season. His solid defensive play and competitive zeal pleased the New York management and fans. Prior to the 1937-38 season, Coulter succeeded Bill Cook as captain and was selected to the second all-star team three straight years beginning in 1938. In 1939 he took part in the Babe Siebert Memorial Game and the next year he helped the Blueshirts win their third Stanley Cup. Coulter set a career high with 19 points the following season and was one of the most popular players on Manhattan.

An outstanding puck-handler and a durable player, Coulter was a four-time All-Star, once with the Chicago Blackhawks and three times with the Rangers, in an N.H.L. career that spanned 11 seasons.

Art was recognized in the hockey world as a "team player". He believed in teamwork and knew early on that teamwork was the crucial ingredient to winning games and having fun...and ultimately earning the team the right to hold the Stanley Cup.

Art's physical strength and endurance was the key to his defense. He was a punishing hitter, and was not afraid to drop the gloves.

As far as the Bruins are concerned, the RAngers feel the won't need any help handling them. Captain Art Coulter, before the team left for Boston said:

"We'll take 'em either way. If they want fight, we showed them Tuesday night we can lick them there. And if it's hockey they want, we can match them in that department, too."

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Art Coulter, who has developed in the past couple of years into one of the best young defence players in the league.

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Out in front to keep the snipers away from Gardiner, Gorman is relying firstly on Lionel Conacher and Art Coulter, the husky youngster who became somewhat of a sensation last year.

Big Lionel Conacher, Roger Jenkins, Art Coulter and Taffy Abel put up an effective barrier and broke up many Maroon rushes with stiff body checks

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Pratt will have Art Coulter, one of the hardest checkers in the league, alongside of him.

​

 

[Dreakmur]

Harvey Pulford !!!​

Awards and Achievements:
4 x Stanley Cup Champion (1903, 1904, 1905, 1906)
Ottawa Hockey Club Captain: 1900-1906

1905 All-Star (selected by Montreal Gazette)

3 x Retro Norris winner (selected by Total Hockey)

Ultimate Hockey’s “Best Body-Checker†from 1900 to 1909
Ultimate Hockey’s “Best Shot-Blocker†from 1900 to 1909
Ultimate Hockey’s “Finest Athlete†from 1900 to 1909
Ultimate Hockey’s “Strongest Player†from 1900 to 1909

Ranked 60th in the recently completed HOH Top 60 Defensemen of All-Time

During the early days of Stanley Cup competition there were occasional all-star team selections made by sports writers and almost invariably Pulford appeared in the choices.

Harvey Pulford was a fine football and lacrosse player as well as an oarsman. The old accounts of his ability on the ice maintain he was an outstanding defence player but it is hard to reconcile the description of his style of play with that of what would be considered a good defence man today.

The reports of his era describe him as a big powerful player who was not a very smart stickhandler or fast skater but a good solid checker.

….

It was not until 1901 that Pulford attempted any of the rushing tactics featured by Mike Grant of the Victorias. Throughout his career, he favoured playing back of what would now be his blueline ad it would be a rare occasion to justify a sortie up the ice. He would steer opponents into corners or catch them with thumping body checks away from the boards. If he relieved an opponent of the puck, he would most likely hoist it to the other end of the rink with a towering backhand lift. This technique was standard with most defence players at that time but now would be called icing the puck. His style of play is reflected in his scoring. He played almost seven years before he scored a goal and only netted eight in his whole career.

He was a great leader and during the years when the team was known as the Silver Seven, he was the captain. He was very hurt when Art Moore replaced him at this post in 1906.

In 1901 he altered his style of play from merely flipping the puck out of his own end to carrying the puck up the ice toward the opposing team's net. During the period 1902 to 1905, Pulford captained the Ottawa Hockey Club, which came to be known as the Silver Seven. His partnership with Art Moore proved to be a formidable barrier to onrushing forwards. This team dominated the Canadian Amateur Hockey League and the Federal Amateur Hockey League while winning or defending the Stanley Cup several times between 1903 and 1905.

….

The 1905 season brought the Ottawa club the championship of the FAHL. In January of that year they suppressed the Cup ambitions of the Dawson City squad by an aggregate score of 32-4. Two months later, in one of Pulford's greatest performances, Ottawa survived a clash with the highly skilled Rat Portage outfit. The challengers from Ontario's northwest dominated the opening match, but Ottawa equalized two days later to set the stage for a memorable deciding game. Pulford, who was instructed to throw his weight around throughout the contest, was superb against the speedy Rat Portage forwards in a 5-4 Ottawa victory. A year later came his last two successful Cup defenses against Queen's University and Smiths Falls.

The sight of big him on defence struck waves of fear through the hearts of the enemy.

He could take out a man with hits that "could have crippled even the Creator himself." All hyperbole aside, he was a bruiser, a battleship on blades.

He was a brick wall on blades. In a 1905 Stanley Cup match against the speedy Rat Portage Thistles, he was given the green light to throw the body around. The result was one of the most impressive displays of one-man ganging ever seen, and his teammates were enough for Ottawa to take the next two games 4-2 and 5-4, en route to the Stanley Cup.

On January 20th., at Ottawa, Harveu Pulford first made his appearance in senior hockey when he took his place alongside Weldy Young when they defeated the Victorias. The writes of the day described him, as not being a brilliant stick handler or skater but an outstanding checker… Although he did not score goals, he certainly helped to keep them out.

This game was featured by the superb defence work of Harvey Pulford who was developing the technique of playing the man instead of the puck.

Ottawa, sparked by Sixsmith and Westwick, went through to the championship undefeated. Harvey Pulford featured on defence and several times uncorked end-to-end rushes from that position, which were still a novelty at that time.

The Cup holders played hard but clean hockey and backed by the stalwart defence work of Moore and Pulford who featured with splendid lifting, they beat Winnipeg 2-0.

Moore and Pulford were not up to form and Tom Phillips twirled around them for five goals putting up a marvelous display.

….

Pulford was excellent on defence and set up two goals for McGee.

The chairman regretted that he could not bestow any medals on Mr. Pulford, as the exhibitions of scientific ferocity of the other gentlemen were far ahead of his. He came to the conclusion that Mr. Pulford cannot have been very well, but expressed the hope that he would soon recover to exhibit at many more matches some of that bloodthirstiness for which he has been known in the past, and which made him a shining example for other members of the team.

The first organized hockey team in Ottawa was the Ottawa Hockey Club, who were formed in 1884 at the 1884 Montreal Winter Carnival. They would later be dubbed the Generals, because of their war emblem style logo in 1890. The Generals would help found the first major organized hockey league in Canada called the AHA (Amateur Hockey Association) in 1886. In 1890 they also helped found the OHA (Ontario Hockey Association) and played in both leagues until about 1895/96 where they dropped out of the OHA to concentrate exclusively on the AHA. In 1893 the Generals barely lost out to the Montreal AAA as champions of the AHA and therefore just lost out on winning the very first Stanley Cup. Desperate to win a Cup for Lord Stanley (who lived in Ottawa at the time) the Generals faced off against the Montreal AAA on March 22, 1894 in what is considered the first Stanley Cup Finals game ever played. Ottawa grabbed an early 1-0 lead thanks to Chauncey Kirby's goal, as the Generals dominated thanks mostly to the inspired play by a young Harvey Pulford. However, Montreal stormed back with three straight goals to win 3-1 and retain the Cup. The Generals would not challenge for the Stanley Cup for tenyears as their 1901 CAHL Championship was too late in the year to put a challenge in for the Cup.

One of Canada’s most talented all-around athletes, Harvey Pulford was captain of the legendary Ottawa Silver Seven teams that won three Stanley Cups in the first decade of the twentieth century. The defenseman was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1945. Pulford was also captain of the Ottawa Rough Riders’ championship football teams of 1898, 1899, and 1900. He was also a heavyweight boxing champion in eastern Canada, a member of the champion Ottawa Capitals lacrosse team, and a world-class rower.

Harvey Pulford was an exceptional football player, a classic stay-at-home defenseman for the Seven, who seldom scored but smothered the opposition.

Harvey Pulford, a Hall of Famer who labored for Ottawa’s ice men for his entire 14-year career, was considered a masterful defensive defenseman.

Play was “vicious†and the checking “heavy†for the next five minutes until defenseman Harvey Pulford led a rush in the Thistles’ end: “Five yards from the net, Pulford tossed the disc across to McGee in the center and great crown rises with a mighty roar as Frank evens the score again.â€â€¦ McGee and Griffis exchanged chances before Pulford led another rush into the Thistles’ end…

With the Stanley Cup in the balance, Pulford continued to jump into the attack… Pulford lugged the puck back into the offensive end and got it over to McGee, who carried it right to the front of the goal.

That’s what Harvey could be like, you know. I’ll allow that Harvey Pulford might be the best athlete of us all, but he’s the perfect example that honing physical skills doesn’t necessarily hone mental ones. And another thing about Harvey: he was one of those fortunate souls who benefitted from a reputation for being big and tough, but let me explain a little about that. The benefit of being big and tough isn’t that you beat the ever-loving dickens out of everybody on a daily basis, but that you establish yourself as big and tough in the beginning, until everyone leaves you alone. Big and tough guys virtually never fight, because nobody challenges them because they’re big and tough. See what I’m saying? Harvey Pulford was the championship boxer in eastern Canada two years running, and everyone left him alone because he was so big and tough.

If it wasn't for Lionel Conacher, he would have been named the top Canadian sportsman of the first half of the 20th Century.

Without Pulford, the team would be sorely handicapped. His all-around knowledge of the game, capability as a stick-handler, great defense work and aggressiveness on the attack have proved him the backbone of the team.

Pulford was the hardest worker of the whole team. He threw all his energies into initiating attack and repeatedly swung into the forward lines, using his build ad strength in many endeavors to break the Wanderer line and force the play onto the local net. However Pulford lost the puck quite frequently, and then had to hump back to defend his goal. As a result of this nerve-racking style of work the big fellow was faded in the end, and although he managed a couple of resolute runs in the last minutes, it was no longer the sturdy Harvey Pulford who had helped pull the fat out of the fire on past memorable occasions.

….

Ottawa played a peculiar offside game and were caught at it frequently. They would send a couple forward to one side, and let one go to the other. Then Pulford would work out and make a long pass to the solitary man.

 

[Hedberg]

D Lionel Conacher

80 G, 105 A, 185 Pts in 498 GP

Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame
33-34 1st Team All-Star
32-33, 36-37 2nd Team All-Star
33-34, 34-35 Stanley Cup Champion
1934 Retro Conn Smythe
6th (26-27), 7th (32-33), 10th (36-37) in Assists
2nd (27-28), 3rd (25-26), 3rd (32-33), 3rd (36-37), 4th (26-27), 4th (33-34), 5th (31-32), 6th (35-36), 10th (28-29) in Defence Scoring
Captain of Pittsburgh Pirates 1925-26
Captain of Montreal Maroons 1936-37

Ultimate Hockey: The Best Shotblocker of the 1930s

Legends of Hockey

Named Canada's top male athlete of the half-century in 1950, Lionel Conacher excelled in virtually every sport he took part in. Aptly named "the Big Train," the 6', 195-pound Conacher was a proficient NHL skater. He normally played left defense and was best known for his imposing physical presence, leadership skills and rock-solid play in his own zone.

In 1925-26, the Big Train finally made his professional hockey debut. He was instrumental in keeping most of the Yellow Jackets together when the team renamed itself the Pirates and was admitted to the NHL as an expansion squad. The burly rearguard captained the team and scored the first goal in franchise history, against the Boston Bruins on November 26, 1925. A year later he was traded to the New York Americans, where he played four seasons and helped Leo Reise and Bill Brydge anchor the club's defense corps.

Conacher functioned as the Amerks' player-coach in 1929-30, then joined the Montreal Maroons the next season. He enjoyed three excellent years there, including a career-best 28 points in 1932-33. The Chicago Black Hawks obtained his services in time for the 1933-34 schedule, and Conacher was a key figure in the club's first-ever Stanley Cup victory that season. His impact was such that he finished second to the Canadiens' Aurel Joliat in the voting for the Hart Trophy and earned a spot on the NHL First All-Star Team.

After one year in Chicago, Conacher returned to the Maroons, where he'd spend his last three NHL seasons and take part in a second Cup triumph in 1935. He brought his distinguished career to a close after the Maroons were eliminated from the playoffs by the New York Rangers on April 23, 1937. Rather than risk becoming a fading star, he went out on a high note: He was runner-up to Babe Siebert in the 1937 Hart Trophy voting and was placed on the NHL Second All-Star Team.

The Big Train was elected to the Ontario Legislature in 1937 and to Parliament 12 years later. He served as an MP until his death on May 26, 1954. Conacher was a charter member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1955, the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and Museum in 1963 and the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Museum in 1966. In 1994 he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

From a Review of "Big Train: The Legendary Ironman of Sport, Lionel Conacher":

As a child, Lionel Conacher attended Jesse Ketchum School in Toronto, ON. Here he came under the influence of William Kirk, the school principal. Kirk wanted all his students to participate in sports activities. Lionel soon became a star athlete. In the fall, he played football, and in the spring and summer, he played baseball and lacrosse. However, he desperately wanted to play hockey, but he could not afford the expensive sport!

At age 16, Lionel finally saved up enough money to buy skates and hockey equipment. He never looked back! He became a member of the Toronto Canoe Club’s all star junior hockey team which won the Canadian national championship. “By 1920, Lionel Conacher was in demand. He had mastered every sport he played. He was the best all-round athlete in Toronto.†His football achievements earned him the nickname of “Big Train†because “he ran through opposition tacklers like a locomotive steaming down the tracks.â€

For many years, his desire to play amateur sports prevented Lionel from cashing in on his fame as a professional athlete. In 1923, he was offered a chance to play amateur hockey in Pittsburgh. The offer included an insurance business for him and free tuition to university. Since he had recently married, Lionel needed the financial support.

Legends of Hockey Spotlight:

he Yellowjackets had been so dominant in their league that when the NHL decided to expand further into the United States and awarded a franchise to Pittsburgh, virtually the entire Yellowjackets team signed professional contracts and joined the new NHL franchise, which was called the Pittsburgh Pirates. Lionel signed a three-year contract with the Pirates for a record $7,500 per year on November 11, 1925. When the Pirates made their debut against the Bruins in Boston on November 26, Lionel scored the first goal in franchise history, helping the Pirates win their first game by a 2-1 score. The Pirates, under coach Odie Cleghorn, defied the skeptics and made the playoffs in their first NHL season.

Now that he was a pro, a number of doors opened Conacher's way. In January 1926, he signed a contract to play Triple-A baseball with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League, even though he had not played competitive baseball for three years. The Maple Leafs finished first, halting Baltimore's string of seven consecutive titles, then went on to defeat the Louisville Colonels to capture the Little World Series championship. Conacher played but three games at the end of the season, and manager Dan Howley chuckled when he thought about Conacher, saying, "When he's in right field, he ought to wear a mask, but I'll say this -- he can hit some!"

After starting the 1926-27 season with Pittsburgh, just before Christmas, Conacher was traded to another expansion team, the New York Americans. While anchoring the defense with partner 'Bullet' Joe Simpson, Lionel was also hired as an assistant football coach at Rutgers University in New Jersey. That hockey season, he led the Americans in penalty minutes and was second in scoring to Hall of Famer Billy Burch, although the team missed the playoffs.

The frantic pace of life in New York caught up with Lionel. His drinking led his brother Charlie to quip that Lionel seemed "bent on a literal interpretation of the soft drink slogan, 'Drink Canada Dry'." After the team participated in just two playoff games in five seasons, the Americans sold Lionel to the Montreal Maroons prior to the 1930 season.

While playing hockey in the winter, Lionel signed on for a third professional sport, deciding to play professional lacrosse during the summer in the newly-formed International Indoor Professional Lacrosse League. The hockey Maroons had been granted a lacrosse franchise and won the championship in 1931, with Conacher collecting 107 points to win the scoring title. The runner-up had just 56.

Lionel added an extraordinary fourth professional sport to his portfolio when he signed to wrestle professionally during the summer of 1932. "It looks as if Big Mike (promoter Ivan Mickailoff) has a new ace in Conacher," wrote the Toronto Daily Star on May 4, 1932. "To begin with, he is already the athletic symbol of Canada and he needs no ballyhoo. He knew something about wrestling before Mike put him to school and he has the speed, size and fighting heart to make him a great drawing card."

Deciding to wrestle in Toronto that summer instead of playing lacrosse in Montreal, Lionel went undefeated in 26 matches. "Conacher, the greatest all-round athlete ever turned out by Canada, in addition to being one of the finest hockey players in history, also rated high in baseball, rugby, lacrosse, rowing and boxing. In his debut as a matman in Toronto, he threw Carl Pospeshil in straight falls," reported The Ring in July 1932.

Although hockey was certainly not Lionel's best sport, that is not to say he wasn't exceptionally good at it. What he lacked in skating skills was compensated for in shotblocking, positioning and sheer desire. In 1932-33, Lionel enjoyed a career season, accumulating 28 points (7 goals and 21 assists) and was named to the NHL's Second All-Star Team.

During that summer, Lionel assisted in forming the first professional football league in Canada. He had not played serious football for nine years, yet Lionel was captain of Toronto's Crosse and Blackwell Chefs, playing games against teams from Buffalo and Rochester, New York. The press insisted that Conacher "must be considered the greatest grid performer of the decade."

Lionel was traded again just prior to the 1933-34, going to the Chicago Black Hawks, his fourth NHL team. Lionel continued his All-Star form, being named to the NHL's First Team and leading the Hawks to the Stanley Cup. Again that summer, he played professional football. His Toronto team was now named the Wrigley Aromints and although it was a strong season for both Lionel and the team, at the age of 35, Lionel found the pace of playing aggressive sports winter and summer too much.

The Maroons realized the mistake they had made in letting Lionel leave for Chicago and persuaded the Canadiens to trade for him, seeing as it was near impossible that Chicago would trade him back to the Maroons directly. On October 3, 1934, the Canadiens sent Howie Morenz, Lorne Chabot and Marty Burke to the Black Hawks for Conacher and Leroy Goldsworthy. That same day, the Canadiens traded Lionel to the Maroons. Conacher's presence was measured in the fact that the Montreal Maroons became the Stanley Cup champions of 1934-35, Lionel's second hockey championship in as many years.

In his third season with the Maroons that time, Lionel again had a superb season, collecting 25 points and being selected to the NHL's Second All-Star Team for 1936-37. But Conacher surprised the hockey world, announcing his retirement. After 498 regular season games, scoring 80 goals and 105 assists, Lionel had found the years of grueling athleticism had taken their toll.

Honored Members (quote originally sourced by EagleBelfour):

Conacher was a pioneer on defense. He was famed for going down on one knee and sliding in front of the puck carrier to block shots or take away the pass.

Ex-teammate Johnny O'Flaherty (quote originally sourced by EagleBelfour):

''Conacher blocked more shots than Charlie Gardiner and was the definite difference in the finals.'

Page of Fame (quote originally sourced by EagleBelfour):

As a hockey player, not only was Conacher a solid defenseman, he was also known for his fighting. He was among the penalty-minutes leaders, and even had a fight with his younger brother Charlie, a leading goal scorer with the Maple Leafs.

 

[Hedberg]

LW Bert Olmstead

181 G, 421 A, 602 Pts in 848 GP
Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame
1952-53, 1955-56, 1956-57, 1957-58, 1961-62 Stanley Cup Champion
1952-53, 1955-56 2nd Team All-Star
1st (54-55), 1st (55-56), 2nd (53-54), 9th (52-53) in Assists
4th (55-56), 5th (53-54), 7th (54-55), 9th (52-53) in Points

Montreal Canadiens' Legends:

During his playing days Bert Olmstead had a reputation of being a ferocious, antagonistic checker. Today he would classified as a top power forward. "Dirty Bertie" wasn't a natural, and because of that he had to work harder than most players. He wasn't the most fluid skater around but he made up his lack of talent by an enormous will to win. He even got upset during exhibition games if there was a lack of commitment from his teammates.

Hall of Fame defenseman Ken Reardon once said of Bert: "He's the best mucker in the league. By mucker I mean that he's the best man in the corners. He goes in there and digs the puck out for you."

Legends of Hockey

Although he wasn't known as a scorer or point-getter, Olmstead did set an NHL record for most assists in a season with 56 in 1955-1956, a record that wasn't broken until Jean Beliveau collected 61 five years later. He also scored eight points in a game, tying a league record, but most of all he was known for his leadership qualities, for getting the most out of his teammates and inspiring those around him to play better. As Punch Imlach later said, he coached himself.

Olmstead's departure from Montreal wasn't pleasant. After the 1957-58 season, the Montreal doctors told him he had no strength left in his knees and the Habs left him unprotected in the Intra-League Draft. Toronto coach Billy Reay pounced at the chance to claim him, and just like that Olmstead went from the Canadiens to the dreaded enemy, the Maple Leafs.

In Toronto, his career was rejuvenated and his experience proved a catalyst to the team's improved fortunes as the 1950s became the 1960s. Early in the 1958-59 season, assistant general manager Punch Imlach fired coach Reay and installed himself as coach, immediately naming Olmstead his playing assistant. In day-to-day life, this meant that Imlach would handle the club and coach games and Olmstead would run the practices. The season culminated with one of the greatest stretch runs to qualify for the playoffs, and the Leafs made it to the finals before losing to Montreal.

After three months as playing assistant, Olmstead resigned as assistant and kept to his on-ice responsibilities with his linemates Mahovlich and Bob Nevin. The team made it to the finals in 1960 and two years later won the Stanley Cup, in large measure because of Olmstead's role on the team and despite his having missed two months of the season with a badly broken shoulder.

Legends of Hockey One on One:

Bert Olmstead was perennially passionate about the game he played, backing down from no one and expecting his teammates to show the same fire that was stored in his belly. This drive helped the winger collect five Stanley Cup championships during his career, a career that concluded with election to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Montreal proved to be an ideal situation for Olmstead. He was placed on the Canadiens' top line, replacing the retired Toe Blake on the Punch Line beside Maurice Richard and Elmer Lach. The leftwinger made strong contributions to the Canadiens, and in 1952-53, Olmstead first sipped champagne out of the Stanley Cup. That season, he was also named to the NHL's Second All-Star Team.

 

[BenchBrawl]

HARRY HOWELL

¸

INFOS

Position: D
Shoots: Left
Height: 6-1
Weight: 195 lbs.
Inducted into Hockey Hall of Fame as Player in 1979
1411 games
All-star team: 1st
Norris Trophy in 67

QUOTES

Legends of Hockey:

Henry Vernon Howell, known by everybody as Harry, had played more games than any defenseman in major-league hockey history by the time he retired

He quickly gained a reputation as a durable, dependable "iron man" and, amazingly, missed only 17 games in his first 16 seasons as a Ranger. Howell's best season was in 1966-67 when he won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman

Joe Pelletier:

not an overly aggressive rearguard he used his hockey sense to become an extremely effective defensive player. He was quite the unsung hero, buried with the largely unsuccessful Rangers. It was rare that he was rightfully recognized as one of hockey's top players.

Although not regarded as an offensive threat by today's standards, Howell was a slick passer who always made the safe play. He was a reliable work horse who could always be counted on to bring his steady game every night of the week. A master of the poke check, his understated brilliance was certainly appreciated by his coaches and teammates, especially his goaltenders. He always was able to steer oncoming attackers to the boards and away from scoring spots

Doug Harvey:

They don’t come much better than Harry

Coach Emile Francis:

The thing that makes him the great hockey player he is , is that the quality of his game seldom varies. Some defensemen, they look like all-stars one night, or maybe for three games in a row, and then they tail off. But Harry, he's like the Rock of Gibraltar.Hockey is a game of mistakes, and Harry doesn't make many of them.

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

Jacques Lemaire

-Eight time Stanley Cup Champion (1968, '69, '71, '73, '76, '77, '78 & '79)
-Tied with Guy Lafleur for most playoff points in the 1970s.
-Four times Top 5 in NHL Playoff points (1st: 1979, 3rd: 1977, 4th: 1973, 5th: 1971)
-Three times Top 5 in NHL Playoff assists (3rd: 1979, 4th: 1973, '77)
-Three times Top 5 in NHL Playoff goals (1st: 1979, 3rd: 1968, 5th: 1977)
-Three time top 10 in NHL points (4th: 1978, 5th: 1973, 10th: 1972)
-Once top 10 in NHL assists (6th: 1978)
-Once top 10 in NHL goals (4th: 1973)
-Named best all-round player of the 1970s by Ultimate Hockey.

Jacques Lemaire developed his hard slapshot as a youth by working with a heavy steel puck and his shot was rated second only to Bobby Hull for speed and accuracy. He used that powerful shot to beat Tony Esposito of Chicago, keying a Montreal comeback in game 7 of the 1971 finals en route to a Stanley Cup. His strong skating and excellent checking abilities also made him one of the game's best two-way players.

Source

Jacques Lemaire played 12 incredible seasons with the Montreal Canadiens. In that time Lemaire was definitely one of the most underrated superstars in NHL history. A tremendously gifted two way center, Lemaire was never named as a NHL all star due to a glut of superstar centers during the 1970s - players such as Bobby Clarke, Phil Esposito, Gilbert Perreault and Bryan Trottier. He never won a major NHL award and he never was invited to play for Team Canada. While he never quite achieved superstar status he did help the Habs win 8 Stanley Cup championships in his 12 years!

Lemaire was an extremely clean player. He only racked up 217 PIMs in over 800 games. A tremendous skater with great anticipation skills, of all the greats who played with the Montreal dynasty of the 1970s perhaps Lemaire understood the game of hockey better than anyone.

Lemaire was also a clutch performer come playoff time. In 145 post-season games, Lemaire scored 61 goals and 78 assists for 139 points. Two of his goals were Stanley Cup clinchers (1977 and 1979).

Source

Jacques Lemaire spent a dozen years with the Canadiens, quietly becoming one of the team’s all-time greats. He cracked the lineup in 1967-68 under Toe Blake and quickly established himself as a reliable performer at both ends of the ice.

A strong skater and creative playmaker, “Cocoâ€, as he was known to his teammates, also had a booming shot that he used to great effect.

His speed, anticipation and dogged determination made him a standout defensive forward, but Lemaire was no slouch when it came to his offensive production. He potted at least 20 goals in each of his 12 campaigns.

A natural playmaker and as dangerous without the puck as he was when he controlled it, Lemaire was a threat to score from virtually any spot on the ice. His powerful slap shot, often unleashed from beyond the blue line, found the mesh behind many startled goaltenders.

Playing on a team filled with future Hall of Famers, Lemaire was not often in the spotlight but he soldiered on, playing impeccable defensive hockey while still managing to finish the season among the team’s top scorers year after year.

Shutt had the fastest hands and quickest release around. Lafleur played purely by instinct and reflex; there was no telling where he’d go. Jacques Lemaire was the dependable and reliable one who did the heavy lifting. He won the faceoffs, dug the puck out of the scrums and fed his more spectacular linemates with unerring passes that they converted in record-setting numbers.

In the playoffs, Lemaire didn’t take a backseat to anyone. One of the NHL’s all-time greatest “money playersâ€, he has three overtime goals to his credit, among them the Cup winner in 1977.

Source

 

[Leafs Forever]

Originally Posted by Joe Pelletier
Stanley was a fixture on the Leafs' four championship teams of the 1960s. He often was paired along side big Tim Horton on a blueline that also boasted Marcel Pronovost, Carl Brewer and Bobby Baun. Stanley became a bit of an offensive presence in the era before Bobby Orr redefined a defenseman's offensive role. Stanley was a pinpoint passer and as a result he often saw time on the Leafs' power play units.

..

Allan has to rank as one of the greatest defensive back liners in the history of the NHL, and it was eventually duly noted while he played. He is not your typical superstar, but a definite important star that every team needs.

Originally posted by HHOF
Stanley would prove yet another franchise wrong when he became a fixture on the Leafs' championship teams in the 1960s. He was often teamed with Tim Horton, another big veteran who knew a lot about positional play, and was a large part of the league's, and perhaps history's, best defensive unit with Carl Brewer, Bobby Baun and Marcel Provonost. Stanley also used his veteran savvy in the offensive zone and was placed on the Leafs' powerplay because of his accurate passes. Beginning in 1960, rumours began to circulate about his retirement. That season Stanley was voted to the league's Second All-Star Team. The next season there were more rumours and once again Stanley was an alternate All-Star. He ended up playing 10 seasons in Toronto, finally living up to his last name when the Maple Leafs won the Cup in 1962, the first of his four Cup wins with the team. His final title came in 1967, and after one more season with Toronto, he moved to the Philadelphia Flyers in 1968. He finally retired in 1969 at the age of 43.

Originally Posted by HHOF
By the start of the 1958-59 season, Boston had given up on Stanley and he was once again traded, this time to Toronto for Jim Morrison. Punch Imlach was resurrecting careers in Toronto, and while most of the league believed that Stanley's career was on its last (very slow) legs, Imlach breathed new life into the veteran. Paired with Tim Horton, another veteran, the two complemented each other and became rocks on the Leafs' blueline.

"Horton was my buddy. I roomed with Tim," explained Allan. "We played together for most of 10 years. On the road, we were inseparable. It seemed like all the defensemen were pretty close, but Tim and I, wherever we went, we went together." George Armstrong contended that Stanley was the reason Horton developed into the All-Star defenceman he became.

The Toronto St. Pats are happy to select...

Allan Stanley!

Awards and Achievements
4 x Stanley Cup Champion (1962, 1963, 1964, 1967)
3 x Second Team All-Star (1960, 1961, 1966)

Scoring
-more to come-
Points amongst defensemen- 4th(1955), 6th(1951), 7th(1952), 10th(1956) 11th(1953)

Points as % of 2nd amongst defenemen(removing outliers): 100*(1955), 81, 65, 63,

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

With several teams in my division relying on highly skilled but potentially injury-prone superstars on their teams, perhaps it's time for the Swamp Devils to add the Scott Stevens of his day.

This should definitely add some color when we play MB's team and Milt Schmidt, as well.

Black Jack Stewart, D

WHY JACK STEWART MIGHT BE THE BEST DEFENSEMAN AVAILABLE

1. There is a good argument that his 1942-43 season is the best season by an available defenseman.

Prior to 1942-43, Black Jack Stewart had received a handful of All-Star votes on a few occasions, but in 1942-43 at the age of 25, he emerged as a star. He dominated All-Star voting during the regular season:

Total first-team voting points: Jack Stewart 20, Earl Seibert 12, Flash Hollett 9, Jack Crawford 7, Babe Pratt 3, Dit Clapper 1

He then went on to win the Stanley Cup as Detroit's #1 defenseman.

2. Stewart is the only defenseman to be an All Star both before and after the Red Line was introduced.

Stewart was unable to build off his spectacular 1942-43 season because he left the NHL to serve for two years during World War 2. Stewart returned in 1945-46 and had to adjust to a different style of game: The addition of the Red Line and the new ability of teams to pass forward between zones completely changed the way a defenseman would defend the transitions game. In Stewart's first season back, he was a 2nd Team All Star, and finished 5th in Hart voting (first among all defensemen).

3. Consistently an elite player in his prime

Stewart finished top 5 in All-Star voting every season he played from the ages of 25-32 before retiring due to injuries:

1942-43: 1st in All-Star voting
1943-44: Lost season to World War 2
1944-45: Lost season to World War 2
1945-46: 4th in All Star voting
1946-47: 3rd in All Star voting
1947-48: 2nd in All Star voting
1948-49: 2nd in All Star voting
1949-50: 5th in All Star voting

1949-50 would be Stewart's last full year of hockey and last season in Detroit. He ended his tenure in Detroit by winning his second Cup, this time as the hard-hitting stay at home partner to a young player named Red Kelly. He was 32 years old. He would have two injury-filled seasons in Chicago afterwards before calling it quits for good.

When he retired for the first time in 1951, the Edmonton Journal wrote:

His retirement would mark the end of one of the longest and most valuable careers in N.H.L. history.

4. Style of Play

Wikipedia has a good article on Black Jack Stewart, with a well-sourced description of his playing style:

During his career, Stewart was regarded as one of the hardest bodycheckers in the National Hockey League.[2] He was also carried the heaviest stick in the league, explaining that "I don't use it for scoring. I use it for breaking arms".[5] Stewart was known for his large grin when hitting opponents; teammate Ted Lindsay noted "when he had that smile, it was time for the opposition to look out".[10] He led the league with 73 penalty minutes in 1945–46 ,[5] and in the late 1940s, his rivalry with Milt Schmidt of the Boston Bruins was so intense that their physical interactions occasionally overshadowed the games themselves.[2]

Stewart hated his nickname of "Black Jack", believing it implied he was a dirty player. Hockey Hall of Fame defenceman King Clancy agreed he was not a dirty, but stated he was the "roughest son of a gun you'd ever want to meet."[9] His style of play resulted in numerous injuries; Stewart had dozens of scars and required over 200 stitches to close various cuts during his career. One year saw him play the entire season with a broken hand.[9]

Stewart showed good judgment as a defenceman, rarely taking himself out of position to throw a hit.[2] His coach in Detroit, Xxx, called Stewart "one of the best blueliners in the game",[2] and claimed he was the best defenceman in Red Wings history.[21] He was regarded as a good skater, able to clear the puck out of his zone and who rarely turned it over to the other team.[21]

Stewart explained how he got his nickname:

I bodychecked some fellow one night and when he woke up the next day in the hospital he asked who'd hit him with a blackjack

5. Newspaper articles

The following was originally posted by overpass: http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=40938605&postcount=234

Calgary Herald, Jan 23, 1943:

Jack Stewart called Greatest N.H.L. Defender

Today Stewart ranks as one of the National League's most accomplished rearguards.

If you don't think so Manager Jack Adams will do his best to dispel all doubts.

"He's a manager's dream," Adams told reporters not long ago. "He's a very deceptive skater. He packs a terrific shot. He's an uncanny judge of a forward's play. He's one of the greatest of the game."

In fact, said Adams, summing up, he's the greatest defenceman in the game today.

There may be some mild rebuttals. Earl Seibert of Chicago Black Hawks, for instance, would be accorded high rating defensively by an impartial tribunal. Offensively, the Chicago star ranks second only to Walter (Babe) Pratt of Toronto Maple Leafs.

Seibert's value was sharply stressed early in December when an injury forced him to the sidelines. Bert Gardiner led all N.H.L. goalies at the time, but before Seibert returned the Chicago netminder was displaced by Johnny Mowers of Detroit. Without Seibert, the Chicago defence collapsed.

After seeing the quote above, I wondered if Stewart beat out Seibert in all-star voting in part because he played more games. But both played 44 of 50 regular season games, so that wasn't a factor.

A couple of articles from when Stewart retired:

Edmonton Journal, Jan 3, 1951:

His retirement would mark the end of one of the longest and most valuable careers in N.H.L. history.

After 1 1/2 years with Pittsburgh in the American Hockey League, he went to Detroit, providing a tower of strength behind the blueline until last fall.

He was regarded as the policeman of the Wings and the avenger of wrongs done to younger or smaller teammates.

Away-from-home crowds loved to see the big watchdog shunted to the penalty box.

Never a prolific scorer, Stewart notched 30 goals in his league play with Detroit. His occasional scoring rush usually came at a crucial time. He bagged five in nine years of playoffs.

Detroit fans loved the big Manitoban.

He is a member of Detroit's hockey Hall of Fame and was five times a member of one of the All-Star squads. He was the first defence player in N.H.L. history to win All-Star rating under the changed rules, both before and after the advent of the centre red line.

Dink Carroll - Montreal Gazette, Jan 4, 1951

Black Jack was a good thing while he lasted and he lasted fairly long in a league where life is short. He was the best blue line belter in the history of the Detroit Red Wings, according to Jack Adams, over the nine seasons he played for them.

For a fellow who could hit such a terrific bodycheck he wasn't very big; his best playing weight was 185 pounds. But he was all bone and muscle. Jack Adams, to whom superlatives come so readily, called him "one of the strongest guys I have ever seen in a hockey uniform." He owns a wheat farm near Pilot Mound, Man., lives outdoors most of the time and is used to hard manual work, which probably accounts for his fine physique.

It's amazing how little material there is in the files on him. That's because he is so quiet and unobtrusive off the ice.

One of his distinctions is that he is the most stitched-up of modern hockey players. Among the souvenirs he will carry away from the N.H.L. are the 201 stitches required to close the 48 wounds in his physiognomy.

But Black Jack could play hockey. He was a good blocking defenceman, could clear the puck out of his own defence zone, rarely made a bad pass and he could skate faster than most spectators realized. He was a good ice general and was respected all around the league. He put plenty of gimp in that weak Chicago defence and pepped up the whole team. It was noticeable when he appeared here early in the season with the Black Hawks that their forwards were checking back, but they returned to their old careless methods the minute he was out of there.

Those percentage-minded fellows who make the odds paid him an unconscious tribute these last few days. Last week Detroit was 8-to-5 to win the Stanley Cup; Toronto 12-to-5, Rangers 8-to-1, Canadiens and Chicago 10-to-1, and BOston 12-to-1. When it became known that Stewart was all through as a hockey player the odds on the Black Hawks went to 15-to-1.

As with other star defencemen of his day and earlier, his qualities as an "ice general" were important. Rod Langway might be a modern player who would be considered an "ice general".

 

[EagleBelfour]

Didier Pitre

Nickname: Cannonball, Old Folks, Pit, Bullet Shot
Height: 5'11''
Weight: 185 lbs
Position: Right Wing / Defenceman
Shoots: Right
Date of Birth: September 1st, 1883
Place of Birth: Valleyfield , Quebec, Canada OR Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
Date of Death: July 29, 1934 (Age:50)

Stanley Cup Champion (1916)
Stanley Cup Finalist (1909, 1918, 1919)
IHL First All Star Team (1906, 1907)
NHA First All-Star Team (1917)
Art Ross (1906 *IHL*, 1915 *NHA*)
Maurice Richard Trophy (1906 *IHL*, 1915 *NHA*, 1916 *NHA*)
Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame (1963)

- #29 on the book 'Habs Heroes' list of Top-100 Best Montreal Canadiens players of All-Time
- Named the best shot of the 1910's by Ultimate Hockey Didier Pitre was the early hockey's Bobby Hull. In 1914, chicken wire was installed in Victoria's arena to protect fans from his shot.
- Named the fastest player of the 1910's by Ultimate Hockey Didier Pitre turned speed into a drawing-card feature. Today's practice of splitting up the ice before stopping is said to have been started by Pitre!


International Hockey League: [1904-1907]

Seasons|GP|G|A|PTS|PIM
3|58|77|11|88|63

No Data:
Assists: 1904-1906

Top-10 Scoring (1st, 5th)
Top-10 Goalscoring (1st, 9th)
Top-10 Assist (4th)
Top-10 Penalty minutes (9th)


Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association: [1907-1908]

Seasons|GP|G|A|PTS|PIM
1|10|3|1|4|15

National Hockey Association: [1909-1913; 1914-1917]

Seasons|GP|G|A|PTS|PIM
7|127|156|32|188|251

Top-10 Scoring (1st, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 5th, 9th)
Top-10 Goalscoring (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 6th)
Top-10 Assist (1st, 7th, 8th, 10th)
Top-10 Penalty minutes (3rd, 3rd)

Playoffs:
1916-1917
(Montreal Canadiens vs. Ottawa Senators)
1st in Scoring
T-1st in Goalscoring
T-1st in Assist
1st in Penalty Minute

Stanley Cup Dual:
1915-1916
(Montreal Canadiens vs. Portland Rosebuds)
T-2nd in Scoring
T-1st in Goals
T-3rd in Assists
5th in Penalty Minutes
1916-1917
(Montreal Canadiens vs. Seattle Matropolitans)
T-3rd in Scoring
3rd in Goalscoring

Pacific Coast Hockey Association: [1913-1914]

(*Didier Pitre played as a rover in 1913-14*)

Seasons|GP|G|A|PTS|PIM
1|16|14|2|16|12

Top-10 Scoring (11th)
Top-10 Goalscoring (9th)


National Hockey League: [1917-1923]

(*Didier Pitre played as a defenceman from 1921 up until his retirement in 1923*)

Seasons|GP|G|A|PTS|PIM
7|128|64|33|97|87

Top-10 Scoring (5th, 7th, 7th)
Top-10 Goalscoring (5th, 6th, 10th)
Top-10 Assist (3rd, 9th)

(*Didier Pitre played as a defenceman during the 1919 and 1923 Playoffs & Stanley Cup Dual*)
Top-5 Playoff Scoring (T-4th)
Top-5 Playoff Assist (T-1st, T-3rd)
Top-5 Playoff Penalty minutes (3rd)

Stanley Cup Dual:
1918-1919
(Montreal Canadiens vs. Seattle Metropolitans)
T-4th in Scoring
T-1st in Assists

---
Seventieslord Studies:
Goalscoring:

Name|Top-2 |Top-5|Top-10|Top-15|Top-20
Didier Pitre|2|3|7|9|9

Playmaking:

Name| Top-2|Top-5|Top-10|Top-15|Top-20
Didier Pitre| 1|2|3|3|4

[/QUOTE]

Year|League|Team|Position
1903-04|FAHL|Montreal Nationals|D
1904-05|IHL|Michigan Soo Indians|?
1905-06|IHL|Michigan Soo Indians|RW
1906-07|IHL|Michigan Soo Indians|RW
1907-08|ECAHA|Montreal Shamrocks|?
1908-09|FAHL|Renfrew Creamery Kings |D
1909-10|NHA|Montreal Canadiens|D
1910-11|NHA|Montreal Canadiens|D
1911-12|NHA|Montreal Canadiens|RW
1912-13|NHA|Montreal Canadiens|RW
1913-14|PCHA|Vancouver Millionaires|Rover
1914-15|NHA|Montreal Canadiens|RW
1915-16|NHA|Montreal Canadiens|RW
1916-17|NHA|Montreal Canadiens|RW
1917-18|NHL|Montreal Canadiens|RW
1918-19|NHL|Montreal Canadiens|RW/D
1919-20|NHL|Montreal Canadiens|RW
1920-21|NHL|Montreal Canadiens|RW
1921-22|NHL|Montreal Canadiens|D
1922-23|NHL|Montreal Canadiens|D

Professional Career:

Didier "Cannonball" Pitre was generally credited with having the hardest shot of his day and there were more than a few times when his goals were contested because they had gone right through the net. He was a big man, as far as hockey players go, but was never a rough player in an era marked by rugged play. He was also noted as one of the fastest skaters of his time and it has been said that he could skate backward as fast as he could skate forward.

French Canadiens have a long storied history of producing great hockey talent. The long list begins with Didier Pitre.

Pitre was nicknamed "Cannonball" because of his dynamic wrist shot. His perfected shot and superior skating made Pitre a hot commodity in hockey's early days when pioneers routinely joined teams for even just one game. That was just how it was done in early frontier hockey.

Pitre, the man reported to skate as fast backwards as he could forwards, was coming to Montreal. Pitre's classy play graced Montreal until 1923. He played 13 seasons with the Canadiens, with a single season in Vancouver with the Pacific Coast League. Pitre was a large man at over 200lbs, and he learned to use his size to his advantage, especially when shooting. When he put every pound of muscle into his shot, players tried to get out of the way. He once had a goal contested because the puck went right through the net. Despite his size advantage, however, he was never a noted physical player.

There were many players over the years who were rated as possesing a hard and accurate shot. It is doubtful if any player was better qualified than Didier Pitre in this regard. The goalkeepers of his day had bruises to attest this and fans were impressed by the resounding thump of his shots that might hit the boards. In consequence, he earned the nickname 'Cannonball'. He drilled the puck hard and accurately with a long sweep of the arms and twist of the wrists. There was no golfing of slap shot technique in his day.

Laviolette was moved up from defence to play left wing and the two speed merchants centred by Lalonde brought the Canadiens their first championship and Stanley Cup in 1916. Pitre was a star in the Cup series with Portland. They did so well that most of them were holdouts the next year and Kennedy had quite a job signing Pitre, Lalonde and Laviolette.

Pitre was having trouble keeping his way down and the fans would tease him when he began to puff. [...] In the unfinished Cup series with Seattle, he had Lalonde were the stars. In the fifth game when Joe Hall was taken sick and had to retire, this pair moved back to defence and held off the Mets as the Canadiens went on to win in overtime.

He had two more years on a line with Lalonde and Berlinquette but his weight then got the better off him and he was relegated to the bench as a substitute. The veteran had now compiled well over 200 goals and he is second only to newsy Lalonde in the number scored in the uniform of Canadiens.

His final bow came in the 1923 playoffs against Ottawa. In the first game at Montreal, Ottawa established a two-goal lead and Sprague Cleghorn and Couture the regular Canadiens defence men had been suspended for attacking Ottawa players. The situation looked hopeless for Canadiens in the return match at Ottawa. Didier and Odie Cleghorn were pressed into service to fill the vacant defence posts and the veteran Joe Malone took over Odie's regular position at centre. They played their hearts out and won the game 2-1 but lost on the round. It was a great finish for the veteran of nineteen years and he got a big hand from the fans.

1917 playoffs: The Canadiens scored a big surprise when they defeated Seattle 8-4 in the series opener played under western rules. Didier Pitre was the star, scoring four goals with his bullet shot on which Hap Holmes looked very weak.

1919 playoffs: - The first game was played under the western rules which the Canadiens found baffling and they made little use of their extra forward. Lalonde and Pitre were skating fast and showed some great stickhandling.
- During the overtime Lalonde and Pitre moved back on defence and proved impregnable.

1923 playoffs:With their regular defence men suspended it seemed that Canadiens would hardly make much of a showing in the final game at Ottawa. However, the veterans Didier Pitre and Joe Malone put on astonishing display. [...] Pitre was playing his last game and the veteran of nineteen years in hockey did a great job on defence.
---
Didier Pitre had a long and colorful career commencing with Nationals and Shamrocks andthen with the exception on one year in Vancouver, the balance of his time was with Canadiens. Didier was a right wing with a very hard shot that earned him the nickname Cannonball. Inclined to run overweight he had to be occasionally disciplined to get him in shape but when in form he was a star. A great scorer he was very popular with the fans and closed his career with an outstanding performance in the 1923 playoffs.

Pitre, though, is known better as an elite player, part of a small group of players who made up the first superstars ofthe game. Pitre was nicknamed 'Cannonball' and 'Bullet Shot' becasue of his devastating shot. And even though he battled a weight problem through much of his career, he was one of the fastest skaters the early pro game had seen.

It took some time for that first team to find his stride, but there is little doubt Pitre and Lalonde combined to give the Canadiens an offensive presence other teams simply could not match.

Pitre won just one Stanley Cup with the Canadiens, but his offensive panache was always on full display.

A great defenceman when he got his start with the Canadiens in 1909, Didier Pitre showed so much speed that Canadiens coach George Kennedy decided to move him up to a winger slot the following season. Born in Sault-Ste-Marie, Ontario in 1884, Pitre possessed such a fearsome shot that it was known to leave welts and bruises on opposing goalies. The shot became known around town and round the league as the ''Cannonball''.

In 1915-16, Pitre, then 32, played a key role in winning the Canadiens first Stanley Cup, leading all Canadiens scorers during the series. The Canadiens won their first Stanley Cup. Didier Pitre was the star of the series, with four goals in five games.

[...] Didier Pitre sounded the charge on then lead the way for his Canadiens teammates in Game 3, with a hat-trick in a 6-3 shoot-out, putting the Canadiens ahead in the series.

ONE OF THE FIRST PLAYERS TO EVER DON A CANADIENS JERSEY, RIGHT WINGER DIDIER PITRE WAS AN EXCEPTIONAL SKATER, EARNING HIM THE NICKNAME “CANNONBALL†FROM HIS TEAMMATES.

“Cannonball†Pitre was an awesome offensive machine who could score almost at will.

One of hockey’s early speed merchants, legend has it that Pitre skated as fast backwards as he did forwards. He also had the hardest shot in the game. At 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds, Pitre generally avoided the rough stuff, although when trouble crossed his path he met it head-on.

A charter member of the Habs, Pitre could usually be found at or near the top of the heap in the scoring department. In his prime, the dominating right-winger scored better than a goal per game, registering five 20-goal campaigns with the Canadiens during the team’s NHA years.

Pitre’s 27 goals in 1911-12 put him in second place among all NHA skaters. The following season, he got 24 and, declaring himself a free agent, decided that the pastures were greener west of the Rockies. Pitre spent the 1913-14 season with the Vancouver Millionaires.

Rejoining the Canadiens in 1914-15, he proved that he hadn’t left his scoring touch on the West Coast, netting a career-high 30 goals. The following year, he continued his offensive productivity, notching 24 tallies during the regular season. He also became adept at feeding his teammates, picking up 15 assists in a time when assists were almost as rare as helmets.

The NHA folded after the 1916-17 season and a new league rose from the debris to fill the demand for high-level hockey. The 34-year-old Pitre had slowed down somewhat but he was still a potent offensive force, scoring 61 times in the NHL’s first four years of play.

Didier Pitre was the ''bullet shot'' of pre-modern hockey and one of the very first French-Canadian hockey heroes. Weighing upwards of 200 pounds, he had huge legs able to support a thick, strong frame. Those legs drove him along at a smashing clip, giving him the momentum he needed to drive the pucks with violence force. He could also stop on a dime, scraping a huge cloud of ice into the air as he dug his blade into the ice.

Ironically, Pitre shelled out most of his salary that year in fines for breaking training. Indeed, he was noted for deplorable training habits and missing practices. It has been said the burly Frenchman ''trained on champagne,'' and that was not just hyperbole: Pitre would indeed reinforce himself between periods with a pint of ice-cold bubbly.

Pitre was a rugged individualist on whom team play was often lost, but whom was highly valuable nonetheless. Picture the flame-red Canadiens uniform and his hair flying in the breeze ... a man moving with a grace uncommon in a man of his size.

The 5’11†190lb, muscular winger/blueliner was exceptionally fast for a man of his stature. The story goes that he could even skate just as fast backwards as he could going forwards.

His combination of speed and size, along with blistering shot that terrorized goalies, had earned him the nickname “Cannonballâ€.

Pitre's French-Canadian heritage helped give his line-mates the nickname the Flying Frenchmen, brought upon by his exceptional speed.

By 1921, the Canadiens had so much depth at forward, and an opening on defence due to the death of future Hall of Famer Joe Hall in the influenza epidemic, so they decided to try Pitre as a defenceman; not as difficult a transition as one might think, because he had previously been a "Rover" during the days of "seven man" hockey. He remained with Montreal through the formation of the NHL and into 1923.

Quotes:

- ''He didn't take any bullshi't'' - Ernie Fitzsimmons (With record from that era incomplete and sketchy, there is also some dispute over whether Pitre was a tough player)

- ''Didier was sensational on defence. One expected him to be exhausted after a few minutes, but he was like a wall against the Ottawa attack.'' - Journal La Presse (The Canadiens lost the series by one goal. Despite the losing effort, being overweight and used as a substitute during most of his final season, the 39 year-old saved his best defensive effort for his last game)

- ''Pitre was a very loyal player with a generous heart. The fans liked his lively character, his engaging repartee, his extraordinary drive and the unbelievable speed of his rushes'' - Unnamed journalist

- ''When you think of it, you could say that Didier Pitre and Newsy Lalonde were responsible for pro hockey as we know it today. If they hadn't stayed and the NHA had jumped around from place to place, I don't know what would have happened'' - Ernie Fitzsimmons

- ''Many played brutally, but Pitre was not one of them. It is doubtful if the big, good-natured Frenchman ever did a mean, or unsportsmanlike thing in his whole career.'' - Elmer Ferguson

- ''One of the fastest skaters of all time.'' - Cy Denneny

- ''He was kind of the Bobby Hull of his era, just really fast with an amazing, hard shot'' - Bob Duff


Signing, Trades & Injuries:

- On January 5th 1905, he signed with Michigan Soo (IHL)
- On December 15th 1907, he signed with Montraal (ECAHA)
- On December 3rd 1908, he signed with Edmonton (FAHL)
- On January 3rd 1909, he signed with Renfrew (FAHL) for 2000$
- On December 15th 1909, he signed with Montreal (NHA)
- On November 24th 1913, traded to Vancouver (PCHA) by Montreal (NHA) for Newsy Lalonde
- On November 18th 1914, signed with Montreal (NHA)


Fun & Interesting Facts:

- Pitre was a teammate of Laviolette’s with the Soo Indians of hockey’s first professional loop, the IHL
- In 1909, Pitre played defence with Lester Patrick with the Edmonton Cup Challengers
- Didier Pitre was the first player Jack Laviolette signed with the newly founded Montreal Canadiens
- Pitre was one of hockey's first high-priced stars, a man not averse to holding out ever-higher pay. One year, he signed for a whooping 3,000$, at a time the average salary was about 500$.
- In a January 16th, 1919 game against the Ottawa Senators, Pitre, with the Montreal Canadiens, and Jack Darragh, of Ottawa, each had natural hat tricks in a 10-6 win for the Canadiens. That feat was not repeated until Jonathan Cheechoo, with the San Jose Sharks, and Ryan Smyth, Edmonton Oilers, each did in a 6-4 Edmonton victory on October 19, 2006
- On November 30th 1923, he announced his retirement as a player and was added to the NHL officiating staff
- Pitre was a Coach and referee in Michigan Soo area after his retirement
- He was the uncle of Vic Desjardins, a member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame
- Pitre played alongside 22 Hall-of-Fame players during his career


Miscellaneous:

- Montreal boss George Kennedy told a story of a game against the Montreal Wanderers, in which the star winger was being checked by Gordie Roberts. Roberts was tripping and butt-ending Pitre, sending him falling to the ice.
Kennedy screamed at Pitre, ''Are you afraid of Roberts?''
''No, sure not,'' was Pitre's surprised response.
''Well, why don't you hit him back?'' Kennedy snapped.
''How can I hit back?'' Pitre asked. ''Roberts, he is very polite, very nice. Each time I fall, he helps me get up and apologizes and says it is an accident ... can I hit a man who is apologizing to me? No, never, it is not done.''

- Laviolette sent for Pitre, who had been working the off-season in Sault-Ste. Marie via telegram. The key phrases of that telegram read: ''New League formed. New Canadien team formed. Big Money available. Come to Montreal.'' Pitre immediately quit his job and hopped a the first train available to unite with his longtime friend. Unbeknownst to Pitre, the Montreal Nationals of the CHA were also in the midst of recruiting him for their team. Pitre met up with a Nationals representative on the train ride to Ottawa. Thinking this was the team Laviolette spoke of, he signed on with them en route. Realizing his error on meeting Laviolette, Pitre signed with the Canadiens. His case went to court where, in a precedent setting decision, the judge ruled that under Quebec law no man could be forced to act against his will.

- It is even said that he was once criticized by his coach for apologetically helping an opponent up after he had knocked him to the ice.


Abbreviation:

ECAHA: Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association
FAHL: Federal Amateur Hockey League
IHL: International Hockey League
NHA: National Hockey Association
PCHA: Pacific Coast Hockey Association


Internet Sites:
http://www.sihrhockey.org/member_player_sheet.cfm?player_id=3012&CFID=1042741&CFTOKEN=76655908
http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/LegendsMember.jsp?mem=P196216
http://habslegends.blogspot.com/2008/07/didier-pitre.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didier_Pitre
http://ourhistory.canadiens.com/player/Didier-Pitre
http://joueursducanadiens2.voila.net/Didier_Pitre.html
http://www.thewantlist.ca/all-time-greats/greats-didier-pitre/
http://dennis-kane.com/didier-pitre-looked-splendid-anyway/
http://bleacher report.com/articles/246663-the-habs-legend-they-called-cannonball

 

[Dreakmur]

An exceptional scorer and playmaker, Frank C. Foyston was capable of dominating a game from center, rover or either of the wing positions. He was a supreme natural talent who earned accolades and fame wherever he played. While playing in the top leagues on the continent, Foyston was one of the first players to score over 200 career goals.

….

Foyston's versatility was proven by his selection in various years to the PCHA First All-Star Team at three positions - left wing, center and rover.

Frank Foyston !!!​

Awards and Achievements:
3 x Stanley Cup Champion (1914, 1917, 1925)

P.C.H.A. Most Valuable Player (1917)

6 x P.C.H.A. First Team All-Star (1917, 1918, 1920, 1921, 1923, 1924)
2 x P.C.H.A. Second Team All-Star (1919, 1922)

Statistics:
Points – 2nd(1920), 3rd(1917), 3rd(1921), 4th(1919), 4th(1922), 4th(1923), 4th(1924), 10th(1918), 11th(1915), 14th(1916), 16th(1914)

Goals – 1st(1920), 1st(1921), 2nd(1922), 3rd(1917), 4th(1919), 4th(1924), 5th(1923), 10th(1918), 12th(1914), 13th(1915), 15th(1916)

Assists – 3rd(1915), 5th(1922), 6th(1917), 6th(1924), 7th(1923), 9th(1921), 11th(1919), 12th(1918), 12th(1920), 16th(1916)

Play-off Points – 1st(1914), 1st(1920), 2nd(1917), 2nd(1919), 5th(1925)
Play-off Goals – 1st(1914), 1st(1920), 2nd(1917), 2nd(1919), 5th(1925)

Frank Foyston and Jack Walker were the fan favorites on the Mets. Foyston, a rover in the seven-man game played in the PCHA, was a consistent scorer known throughout the league for his clean play.

Lalonde lined up for the opening faceoff against Frank Foyston. In his striped Seattle sweater, the speedy Mets forward had looked like a blur of red, white, and green so far this series. He’d scored three of Seattle’s seven goals in the first game.

Foyston won the Stanley Cup with Toronto in 1914, again in 1917 with Seattle, and for a third time in 1925 with Victoria. He is one of only ten players in history to win Stanley Cups with three different teams.

Frank Foyston, captain of the Mets, although he scored but one goal, was the individual star of the Seattle team. Foyston’s work on offense and defence, his checking, skating, and shooting were of a class that fully justified his selection as the most valuable player in Pacific coast hockey.

Manager Querrie has been after Frank Foyston, the old Toronto star, and late of the Coast League. Frank is billed as the captain of the Arena team.

Foyston is sterling forward. His nursing of the puck when on the attack was a treat to watch, and he was just about the best man on the ice. Walker had a barrel of speed, and still packs that old poke-check that made him famous with the blueshirts years ago.

Captain Frank Foyston led the Seattle aggregation to victory by sweeping through the opposing fort for two goals, unassisted.

 

[Velociraptor]

Steve Shutt, LW

Position: Left Wing
HT/WT: 5'11", 180 lbs
Handedness: Left
Born: July 1st, 1952 in North York, ON

- inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993.
- 5-time Stanley Cup Champion (1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979)
- Played in the NHL All-Star Game 3 times (1976, 1978, 1981)
- scored 424 goals and 393 assists for 817 points in 930 games, adding 410 penalty minutes.
- scored 50 goals and 48 assists for 98 points in 99 games, adding 65 penalty minutes.
- Top-10 in All-Star Voting 6 Times (1st, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th)
- 1-time Member of the NHL First All-Star Team (1977)
- 2-time Member of the NHL Second All-Star Team (1978, 1980)
- Career +410

Top 10 Finishes:
Goals - 4x - (1st, 3rd, 8th, 10th)
Points - 1x - (3rd)
Plus/Minus - 4x - (3rd, 3rd, 6th, 7th)
Powerplay Goals - 2x - (2nd, 3rd)
Game Winning Goals - 3x (1st, 5th, 9th)

Quotes

Steve has a lovely touch in the goal area, He always did. That's why we drafted him from Toronto Juniors in 1972. He's a natural scorer. What he has done, in the years he's been with us, is develop the other parts of his game like checking, skating and passing, so that he's made himself into a well rounded player.

Legends of Hockey

During his rookie season in 1972-73, Shutt played well on a deep club that went on to win the Stanley Cup. He continued to progress the following year before breaking out with 30 goals in 1974-75 while playing on a line with XXXX XXXXXXXXX and Guy Lafleur. The big center Mahovlich was deceptively quick, and Lafleur's natural speed and style tormented the opposition. This gave Shutt sufficient room to fly up and down his wing and release his patented shots. He was also used effectively as the point man on the powerplay since he was able to direct the puck along the ice at high speeds. The trio was so successful that XXXXXXXXX set a Canadiens single-season record for a center with 117 points in 1974-75.

Shutt improved to 45 goals in 1975-76 and the Habs began a four-year Stanley Cup run. A few months later he helped his country win the inaugural Canada Cup. Shutt showcased a wide scoring arsenal, a superior wrist shot and slapshot, and cat-like reflexes that enabled him to tip shots from the point and pounce on rebounds.

In 1976-77, the fleet scorer was partnered with Jacques Lemaire and Guy Lafleur to form the top line in the NHL. Their offensive dominance helped Montreal post the greatest regular season in league history with an astonishing 60-8-12 record. That year Shutt led the NHL with 60 goals and in the process set a new league and team record for left wingers that remained the NHL standard until Luc Robitaille's 63-goal performance in 1992-93. Following the season, he was placed on the NHL's First All-Star Team.

The next year he helped Montreal win its third consecutive Cup by registering a personal best of nine goals and 17 points in the playoffs. Despite the end of the Habs Cup run, Shutt continued to shine.

Greatest Hockey Legends

Steve Shutt was an integral part of the Montreal Canadiens 1970s dynasties.

While Lafleur was the superstar and Lemaire or XXXXXXXXX were the set up men, Shutt was a goal scorer, with a knack for finding loose pucks and for getting open. He would post 9 consecutive seasons of at least 30 goals, including 45, 49 and, in 1976-77, 60 to lead the entire National Hockey League.

That 60 goal season also set a long standing NHL record for most goals by a left winger in one NHL season. Luc Robitaille broke the record in 1993 with 63 goals, while Alexander Ovechkin notched 65 in 2007-08.

In junior hockey he may have been a one trick pony, but the Montreal Canadiens were sure to develop him into a complete player. After all, there was no way he could play on the top line with Guy Lafleur all those years had he not been able to contribute in every zone on the ice.

Shutt also proved to be a big game player, scoring 28 playoff goals during the Canadians 4 consecutive Stanley Cup victories to close out the 1970s.

In total Shutt was part of five Stanley Cup championship teams in Montreal. Three times he was named as an All Star on left wing, including a First Team nod in 1977. In his 12 year career, which ended with a stint in Los Angeles, he scored 424 goals and 817 points in 930 games. He added another 50 goals and 98 points in 99 Stanley Cup playoff games. His impressive resume landed him in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993.

Steve Shutt scored countless goals with his laser-accurate shot and countless more with his quick reflexes in the slot. Those skills - and linemates Guy Lafleur and Jacques Lemaire - helped Shutt to nine consecutive seasons of 30-plus goals and the team to five Stanley Cups. He is fifth on the Habs goal-scoring list.

Bangor Daily News - May 19, 1978

Steve Shutt was working hard at controlling his rage, but every few words he would add a certain emphasis — punching the air, verbally — to make clear how upset he was.

 

[markrander87]

Some new (Haven't sen this source yet) information I have found on Herb Gardiner

Gardiner was the first of 12 Canadiens to win the award, though there's no record of his being given the key to the city of Montreal in tribute, as was Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin in Washington last week for his winning the 2008 Hart.
No defenceman had won the trophy before Gardiner; in its three-year history, it had gone to forwards Frank Nighbor of the Ottawa Senators, Billy Burch of the Hamilton Tigers and the Montreal Maroons' Nels Stewart.


Born May 10, 1891, in Winnipeg, Gardiner turned pro in 1918 with the Calgary Wanderers. From 1921-26, he sparkled with the Calgary Tigers of the Western Canada Hockey League, paired on the blue line with future Hall of Famer, NHL president and Stanley Cup trustee Mervyn (Red) Dutton.


A legendsofhockey.net biography recalls Gardiner's impressive play and key goal in the 1924 WCHL championship final against Regina, a two-game, 4-2 total-goals victory over an opponent that featured George Hay, Dick Irvin and Barney Stanley.
The Tigers were little match for the Canadiens in their challenge for the 1924 Stanley Cup, outgunned in Montreal by the speedy Howie Morenz and Aurel Joliat. But not escaping the Canadiens' attention was the fact that their stars Sprague Cleghorn and Billy Coutu were bottled up by the Tigers' strong defence.
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At 5-foot-10 and 190 pounds, he was paired with Sylvio Mantha on the blue line as the Canadiens beat the crosstown Maroons in the playoffs' first round before being eliminated by eventual Stanley Cup champion Ottawa.
It was a different hockey landscape than that where Gardiner had first played seriously in a senior Winnipeg circuit in 1908; a year later, his team won the city's prestigious banker's-league title.



But Gardiner didn't see a future in hockey and quit the game for four years.
In his 2003 book Players, historian Andrew Podnieks writes that Gardiner toiled as a surveyor for Canadian Pacific Railways before joining the Canadian army in 1915, medically discharged after three years of war service overseas. He returned home to settle in Calgary, a surveyor by summer and hockey player in the winter, finally challenging for the Stanley Cup with the Tigers.




Bill Cook of the New York Rangers seemed the obvious choice for the 1926-27 Hart Trophy, with a league-leading 33 goals in 44 games. But the award went instead to Gardiner, whose six goals and six assists were outweighed by his leadership and rock-solid defensive work.



Gardiner remained in Montreal for 1927-28, scoring four times and assisting on three through the full 44-game slate. The playoffs were another disappointment - the Canadiens knocked out Ottawa before being ousted by the Maroons, Gardiner and former Tigers teammate Red Dutton (who extracted a few of Morenz's teeth with a butt-end) jousting throughout the latter two-game series.




The Habs loaned Gardiner to Chicago as playing coach the following season, though his record behind the bench was less than distinguished - in 44 games, Chicago won only seven, scored only 33 goals and surrendered 85, all league highs, missing the playoffs by 25 points as arguably the worst offensive club in NHL history.
The Canadiens recalled him for the playoffs, but Boston swept Montreal in three games and Gardiner's playing days were done. Sold to the Bruins, he wound up in Philadelphia, coaching minor-pro teams with some success through 1946.




Gardiner was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958, 14 years before his death at age 80. He had played just 108 regular-season NHL games and nine in the playoffs, having brought with him the brilliant talent he had showcased out west.Perhaps it was Gardiner's Hart Trophy that swung the Hall vote. Maybe it was that he was a dominant blue-liner across the land; that he'd supported the league-leading 14 shutouts of Canadiens goaltender George Hainsworth in 1926-27.
But there is little debate about his worthiness, which put him atop an illustrious list of Canadiens who have won the Hart a total of 16 times.


He isn't the most famous Canadien celebrated on the historic trophy. But on a team steeped in history, Herb Gardiner achieved something none other can claim: he was the first among many Montreal legends voted the best in his league, so immortalized by the engraver's pen.

-http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/sports/story.html?id=98305c74-6763-402d-b66b-e6d61510d6c6

 

[BillyShoe1721]

C Joe Primeau

#92 on THN's list of 100 Greatest Hockey Players
Hockey Hall of Fame Member
5x Top 8 Assists(1, 1, 1, 7, 8)
3x Top 6 Points(2, 2, 6)
1x Stanley Cup Champion
5x Top 6 All Star Voting(2, 3, 5, 6, 6)
Lady Byng Trophy Winner, 1932

Gentleman Joe Primeau, a playmaking wizard and star center of the famed “Kid Line” with Busher Jackson and Charlie Conacher, got a late start as a hockey player.

Though born in Lindsay, Ontario, Joe was raised in mild Victoria, British Columbia where outdoor ice is almost non-existent. It wasn’t until his family moved to Toronto that Joe took up the game. Although hockey was a big part of the Primeau household, Joe never learned to skate until he was nearly 13 years old.

Little did anyone realize just what an impact on hockey in Toronto Joe would have when they were packing their bags and moving back east. Perhaps no other hockey player of that generation is as synonymous with the city of Toronto as Primeau.

Success was immediate, but Joe, who like so many Ontario boys of the day idolized Frank Nighbor immensely, worked hard over the next few years to make up for lost time, and before long he was one of the hottest prospects on the hockey scene. He blossomed with the junior Marlies team.

Conn Smythe gets the credit for discovering Primeau. While Smythe was building the Rangers, he brought in Primeau as a prospect, but the Rangers felt Primeau, who was 5’11” and played at about 160 pounds, was too small and they refused to sign him.

When Smythe was unceremoniously let go by the Rangers, he never forgot the slick passing centerman. When Smythe joined the St. Patricks (later re-named at the Maple Leafs) signing Primeau was one of his best moves. It took a while though, as, perhaps because of his late start in hockey, Primeau needed to polish his game. Joe only appeared sparingly in the first two seasons. He spent most of the two years of minor professionally hockey with the Toronto Ravinas.

Primeau found a permanent spot on the Leafs in 1929-30, as the Kid Line appeared and changed hockey history forever. While Jackson and Conacher are remembered for their scoring theatrics, it was Primeau who was the glue of the unit.

Not unlike Doug Gilmour years later, the slippery Primeau masterfully set up his two line mates time and time again, as well as acting as the line’s defensive conscience. He was as good a defensive center and penalty killer as there was in his day.

Primeau led the NHL in assists three times. He was never better than in the 1931-32 season. He not only led the league in assists, but he established a new season record with 37 helpers. That record would stand for 9 seasons. Joe, who was named as the Lady Byng trophy winner despite picking up a career high 25 penalty minutes, then went on to lead all NHLers in assists in the playoffs, as the Leafs won the Stanley Cup – the only championship of Primeau’s playing career.

Primeau scored 86 goals and 177 assists for 243 points in 310 NHL games before retiring prematurely at the age of 30 to attend to his successful concrete business. But he also turned to coaching. He started by coaching several Toronto senior teams and coached a Canadian Air Force team which included xxx and xxx, xxx, and Ken Reardon during World War II.

http://mapleleafslegends.blogspot.com/2006/05/gentleman-joe-primeau.html

Heading into their third season in 1929-30, the Maple Leafs remained a mediocre team. To help out veterans Ace Bailey and Harold "Baldy" Cotton, Smythe added the smooth skating playmaker Joe Primeau...

http://books.google.com/books?id=fE...AEwAg#v=onepage&q=joe primeau legends&f=false

Known for his artistry and clean play, Primeau was one of Toronto's all-time favorite players.

http://books.google.com/books?id=wp...d=0CEUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=joe primeau&f=false

In some ways, left winger Harvey "Busher" Jackson was the Rodney Dangerfield of the Toronto Maple Leafs' famed Kid Line. His center, Joe Primeau, was widely admired for his classy playmaking ability...

Few players in NHL history so dramatically exploited a rules change as did Joe Primeau, a tricky, little playmaker who took full advantage of the NHL's decision, in 1927, to allow forward passes in the offensive zone.

https://www.google.com/search?q=joe....,cf.osb&fp=37c5d9c16145606d&biw=1366&bih=638

Primeau drew rave reviews. "He is without a doubt a real find. His work is better every time he steps out on the ice, and he should be one of the most valuable relief players the Leafs have,"

At five foot eleven and just 150 pounds, he was a stringbean of a player but had speed and puck sense and an ability to put a pass exactly where it needed to be.

http://books.google.com/books?id=4t...d=0CGAQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=joe primeau&f=false

"We had our little playmaker there, Joe Primeau, who would give you the puck just where you wanted it," recalled Jackson in the 1950s.

I could have found lots of guys to go with Joe Primeau, but he was the only centre who could make Conacher and Jackson click.

In his memoirs, Conn Smythe blamed Jackson and Conacher for the Leafs' failure to win more cups. "Conacher and Jackson never did feel very interested in getting in shape. They were busy driving their new cars and chasing women. Conacher and Jackson were never half as good as they were ought to be. They wanted Joe Primeau to do all the work, and they'd score the goals, which they were pretty good at.

http://books.google.com/books?id=fEN4-wlNwO0C&pg=PA39
dq=joe+primeau&hl=en&sa=X&ei=N_YxT63bDIbx0gGk-tnXBw&ved=0CGYQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=joe%20primeau&f=false

"I never knew Joe to make a bad pass," King Clancy once said of his teammate.

right wing Charlie Conacher and left wing Harvey "Busher" Jackson were the beneficiaries of center Joe Primeau's slick passes...

http://books.google.com/books?id=wA...X&ei=b_kxT5jpCoXX0QGEtIiCCA&ved=0CEgQ6AEwATgK

There were many wonderful lines in hockey, but to me the most colourful of them all was Toronto's Kid Line of Conacher, Primeau, and Jackson. Joe Primeau was a very slight individual and a great play-making centre. He had quite a time with Charlie and Busher, who would both whistle at him when they were in the open waiting for a pass. And it was up to Joe to give the puck to the fellow who had the best chance. I think he was one of the all time greats as far as handling and passing a puck was concerned. I don't ever remember him giving a bad pass. For instance, if Joe took a look and saw that I was coming along with him, he knew just where I wanted that puck. It had to be away from me, not in around my feet. He'd take a quick look, and the puck would land right on my stick.

Joe knew exactly when to pass him the puck. I have to think that Primeau was the greatest centre in the league, and he doesn't get the credit he should.

He's a throwback to Hap Day, Joe Primeau, and Ted Kennedy, all tenacious types who didn't know the meaning of defeat.

http://books.google.com/books?id=eG...0CGgQ6AEwBzgK#v=onepage&q=joe primeau&f=false

The pivot of the kid line was a smooth skating centerman named Joe Primeau. He was an expert at avoiding checks...

http://books.google.com/books?id=nB...X&ei=BPwxT7XoJ8jj0gHny8z9Bw&ved=0CFoQ6AEwBDg8

Joe Primeau never received the adulation that was bestowed on his line-mates, but it was largely because of his steady playmaking and unselfishness with the puck that the Maple Leafs blossomed into league- leading scorers

https://www.google.com/search?q=joe....,cf.osb&fp=37c5d9c16145606d&biw=1366&bih=638

Age has finally caught up with the New York Rangers' great trio of Bill Cook, xxx and Frank Boucher, whiel the combination of years and a profitable business has deprived Toronto's famous "Kid Line" of its key man, Joe Primeau.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAAAIBAJ&pg=5073,2626081&dq=joe+primeau&hl=en

Primeau is one of hockey's outstanding men of distinction...

the playmaking ace of the kid line, the brains behind the brawn and breathtaking brilliance of...

tackweight but artistic...

Smythe envisioned Primeau as the ideal center for the junior boys. He was older and level-headed. He had been "bloodied" in the tough minor pro competition and knew how to handle himself. He also knew how to handle a puck. When it came to ladling out a pass, Primeau was one of the best.

There is no doubt that the introduction of the forward pass contributed greatly to the success of the kid line. Primeau, a brainy puck manipulator, could ladle out passes as though he had the puck on a string.

Conacher, in his first pro season, had scored 20 goals but was glossed over in criticism of seemingly lacksadaisical efforts. Primeau had played steady, clever, and hard hockey all season, so good in fact that thet New York Rangers tried to reclaim him.

Primeau would handcuff his opponents by luring them to him, then his passes to the open wing, either right or left, would let Jackson or Conacher streak through unmolested.

the kidliners were free-thinkers, willing to try anything that would lead to success. They weren't content with hoary hockey format.

the artistry of Primeau, the least-publicized of the trio, was admired even by rival fans. In New York one night, with the Leafs two men short and a goal up on the Rangers, he ragged the puck for two solid minutes with Ranger players chasing him all over the ice. It was such a dauntless display that everybody in the arena cheered him as he staggered wearily to the bench, almost in a state of collapse, when his penalty-killing chore ended.

Of the three, Primeau was accorded the least amount of glory in his playing days, even though he was an integral part in the success of Conacher and Jackson...

-The Gashouse Gang of Hockey

Defensively, he worked like a trojan for the Leafs. His expert playmaking was the dominant factor in the success of Toronto's famous kid line... Joe could not match them in speed or actual goalscoring, but he was the workhorse of the line. When he quit to devote himself to business, the other two never scaled the same heights without him.

The profile of a movie star, the physique of a wrestler, and the poise of a ballet dancer, could do more things with a flourish than any of his rivals. His left handed shot was second only to Morenz, his backhand drives were beautiful to behold. He could take a bad pass on his skates, flip it forward, and send the puck screaming netward in such spectacular fashion.

-Frank Selke

set a pattern of unselfishness in organizing plays for his fine wingmen to finish off... his story is one of persistence. He became a hockey star because of his great heart, and because of his willingness to take the bad breaks with the good... he seldom complained... never the sensational, headline-hunting type of player... a team-man first and foremost and it was his destiny to play at a time when individual stars were the order of the day. hard-working, unselfish... his style of play has been carried forward by such stalwarts as Syl Apps and Ted Kennedy.

-Ron McAllister

During the 1929-30 season, Primeau's pro career finally took flight when Leafs coach Conn Smythe put the 23-year-old centre on a line with a pair of 18-year-old rookies, Charlie Conacher and Harvey "Busher" Jackson. The Kid Line was born. The three young players - all superstars, Stanley Cup winners and Hall of Famers in the making - complemented each other's style perfectly.

A testament to Primeau's playmaking ability was the fact that Jackson won a scoring title while Conacher twice led the league. But as Primeau revealed, it was chemistry as much as talent that made the line work. In 1931 the Leafs moved into a new rink, leaving the Mutual Street Arena for the palatial Maple Leaf Gardens. That first season, the team won the Stanley Cup, led by the incomparable Kid Line.

http://www.legendsofhockey.net/Lege...er.jsp?mem=p196302&type=Player&page=bio&list=

 

[BraveCanadian]

With their 7th round pick (224), the Guelph Platers select an early rover/cover-point/defense star who was known for his size and speed:

Captain of the 1915 Stanley Cup winning Vancouver Millionaires & Hockey Hall of Famer (1950),

D Silas Griffis

Career Highlights:
2 Time Stanley Cup Champion 1907, 1915.
Stanley Cup finalist 1903, 1905 - Lost both times to the "Silver Seven".
Captain of the Vancouver Millionaires 1915 Stanley Cup team.
Hockey Hall of Fame Member 1950


Vitals:
Born: September 22, 1883
Position: D
Shoots: Left
Height: 6-1
Weight: ~195 lbs.

​

http://hobokin.net/griffis.html

Si was blessed with remarkable athletic stamina and skill as well as a sizeable build-- being well over six foot and close to 200 pounds-- and as a result took an interest in a variety of competitive sports

Silas Seth "Si" Griffis was one of the fastest skaters in the early days of the game despite his relatively large frame. His blazing speed enabled him to dominate as a rover in the seven-man game and as a defender in the modern six-man configuration. He contributed to the Kenora Thistles' Stanley Cup triumph in 1907 and later captained the Vancouver Millionaires to hockey's ultimate prize in 1915.

Griffis joined the Rat Portage entry in the newly formed Manitoba and North West Hockey League in 1902. His play as a rover and cover point contributed significantly to the team's 1902-03 league title. The circuit was reorganized into the Manitoba Senior Hockey League in 1905 with Griffis' Rat Portage squad recognized as the most talented club. It easily won the league title to earn the right to challenge the favoured Ottawa club for the Stanley Cup. The underdogs came out second best in a hotly contested three-game series in which Griffis contributed three goals and was one of the dominant players on the ice.

By 1907, the Rat Portage club had been renamed the Kenora Thistles and was even more talented than previously. They captured the Stanley Cup in a thrilling two-game series with the Montreal Wanderers in January 1907. Brilliant forward Tommy Smith scored seven of the 12 Kenora goals, while Griffis and Art Ross rushed the puck with tremendous confidence. This speedy trio was particularly difficult for the Montreal defenders to contain. In the second match, the Wanderers resorted to rough tactics in an unsavory attempt to stall and intimidate their talented adversaries. The strategy worked until late in the game, when the Thistles pulled away for an 8-6 win.

...

He was rejuvenated while playing a vital role on the defense and serving as the team's captain. Griffis debuted on the West Coast in outstanding fashion by scoring twice and adding two assists in his new club's opener on January 5, 1912. His leadership was quiet, yet effective, as many of the young Vancouver players looked up to the classy veteran.

...

He was a member of the 1915 Stanley Cup-winning Millionaires. During his stay on the West Coast, Griffis formed a strong defensive partnership with Frank Patrick for four seasons before spending two years in tandem with Lloyd Cook.
...

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Si Griffis' re-appearance has also been a big help to the Millionaires, although he will not be available for games on the road. So far, the home teams have been doing all the winning, and the club that breaks into the win column away from home is going to have a big edge on the other contenders. At home with Griffis on the defence, the Vancouvers look like champions. They don't look quite so good when they cavort around the foreign ice.

When Pacific coast puck chasers start their annual championship derby along about Janurary 1, one, and possibly two, of the veterans who have thrilled hockey fans of the Dominion with their spectacular performances during the past decade or more will be missing from the line-up.
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Sil Griffis, former Kenora star, and for the past five years captain of the Vancouver club, is the other who is contemplating retirement.
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The retirement of Patrick leaves a big gap in the Vancouver line-up, and if Griffis also drops out the strong men defence of the Millionaires will be shot to pieces. Patrick and Griffis proved the most forminable pair of defence players in the Coast League since the inception of the game in these parts.


(photo & caption)

Si Griffis - Captain of the Vancouver Millionaires, who has announced his retirement from hockey. He was a wall of strength on the defence at the coast and his absence from the Vancouver line-up will be greatly felt.

The Lord Stanley trophy, awarded for winning the professional ice hockey championship of the world, is back in Vancouver for the first time since 1915.

And only two members of that dashing Vancouver club, the fabulous Millionaires, are here to greet it.

One is the incomparable Cyclone Taylor, the other Frank Patrick, oldest of a long illustrous line of hockey Patricks.
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Leading the Millionaires, rich in talent with others such as the late Si Griffis, was our Mr. Taylor, who is also credited with having once stick-handled backwards through an entire team and topped it off by scoring, still with his back to the goal.

Si Griffis, the former Kenora hockey star, came to terms with Frank Patrick today and will play this winter for the Vancouver team in the British columbia Hockey League.
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Tommie Phillips says he is out of the game for good, but if the Patricks need him, the Kenora veternal will also don the steel blades again. Both Griffis and Phillips played good hockey last winter. They were about the oldest stickhandlers in the Coast League, yet they gave no signs of it.

In Monday night's Coast league hockey game at Vancouver between Vancouver and Portland, "Si" Griffis gladdened the hearts of the fans by appearing on the defence.

Not only did he add 100 per cent. to the defence but he scored his annual goal. He had a very successful evening all around.

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The Vancouvers look a lot better than last time when they defeated the Mets in an overtime battle. Cook and Griffis make a big defence that held tight tonight and Lehman worked with greater confidence as one result. They showed more combination and head work and checked every minute of the time.

Griffis was slowed down and eventually retired due to problems with his leg..

Si Griffis, star defence player of the Vancouver hockey team will probably be out of the game for the remainder of the season as the result of an injury to his right ankle suffered in a recent game.

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New faces will likely be seen on the Vancouver team within the near future. The former Coast League champions have played four games to date adn lost them all. The team is evidently lacking a scorer as so far only eight goals have been tallied. Griffis and Taylor, two of the players are well up in years and although they have been reported to be playing good hockey they evidently are not there when it comes to the pinch.

The third game for the Stanley Cup was easy for Toronto, and they had little difficulty in putting away Patrick's Vancouver Millionaires by a score of 6 to 3.
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The weak point in their team was Griffis on defence. In the two previous games he proved a tower of strength, both offensively and on the defense. Last night he seemed glued to one spot while he seldom started a rush before he lost the puck. It was largely to his poor playing that team mates can attribute defeat.
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[BraveCanadian]

With our 8th round pick (225), the Guelph Platers select one of the great money goaltenders of all time, who happens to be a perfect fit for our team:

Grant Fuhr

"Grant Fuhr was the best goalie in the world in the second half of the 1980's"
-- Joe Pelletier, Greatest Hockey Legends


Career Highlights:
5 time Stanley Cup Champion 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990 (although he did not play)
Canada Cup Champion 1984, 1987.
1987-88 Vezina Trophy Winner
1993-94 Jennings Trophy Winner (with Hasek)
1981-82 Post Season All Star (2nd)
1987-88 Post Season All Star (1st)
1987 Canada Cup All Star
Played the NHL All Star Game 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989.
Ranked #70 THN's The Top 100 NHL players of All-Time
Hockey Hall of Fame Member (2003)



Vitals:
Born: September 28, 1962
Position: G
Height: 5-10
Weight: 200 lbs


Regular Season:

At the height of their powers, the dynasty Oilers' were well known for coasting during the regular season and not playing very tight defensively - both because of their ability to simply outscore the opposition, and because most teams made the playoffs in the 21 team format.

TCG takes a look at the effect this may have had on Fuhr's regular season stats on his blog here: http://brodeurisafraud.blogspot.com/2012/01/grant-fuhr-and-effort.html

He summarized Fuhr's seasons between 83-84 and 87-88. (and we can see how much both he and the Oilers' ratcheted up their play in the playoffs):

Months|Shots|SV%
Oct-Jan|4876|.887|
Feb-Apr|2518|.875|
Playoffs|2268|.899|

As it was, Fuhr was a very successful regular season goaltender, racking up 403 career wins in total - good for 9th all time - and setting single season marks for games played (79) and consecutive starts (76).


Regular Season Voting Record

Hart Voting Record: 2nd (to Mario Lemieux in 1987-88) and 6th (1st among goaltenders 1995-96)

Vezina Voting Record: 1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 6




Playoffs:

The Playoffs are where Grant Fuhr created his legacy. He is widely known as a big game goaltender. More on this in the quotations.

For now, here is a player poll conducted by The Pittsburgh Press January 21, 1990 with 123 NHL players responding:

Question: Who would you want as your goalie to stop an opponent's breakaway with 30 seconds left and the score tied in the seventh game of the Stanley Cup final?

Name|Team|Votes
Grant Fuhr|Oilers|40
Patrick Roy|Canadiens|17
Darren Puppa|Sabres|11
Mike Vernon|Flames|11
Mike Liut/John Vanbiesbrouck||8

This coming after Patrick Roy had already won a Stanley Cup, and when he was coming off two consecutive post season allstars as well as a Vezina - and in the midst of a third straight post season all star and second straight Vezina season!


Fuhr had a sterling 92W-50L record of decisions in the playoffs while raising his individual play from a save percentage average of .887 in the regular season to .900 in the playoffs. The 92 wins are good for 3rd all time.

To put Fuhr's playoff performances in a more modern perspective, I'll borrow from TCG again since he crunched the numbers to adjust Stanley Cup winning performances to current levels (ie. take with grain of salt but it gives us an idea):

Here are the save percentages for each Cup-winning goalie in the save percentage era, adjusted to league average and normalized to the current average save level (.911):

1984: Grant Fuhr, .933
1985: Grant Fuhr, .925
1987: Grant Fuhr, .932
1988: Grant Fuhr, 913

Quotations and Perspective:

Grant Fuhr has been called hockey's premier goalie - and he had better be if Edmonton is to win another Cup.

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"Grant reads the game as well as any goalie that has ever played," Ron Low, coach of the Nova Scotia Oilers, Edmonton's farm team, and formerly Fuhr's roommate on Oilers road trips, has said. "His goals-against average will never be the best. He'll give up the occasional soft goal. But in the big moment, for the big save, he's 95 percent unbeatable. Under pressure, there is none finer. He proved in the Canada Cup that he is the finest goaltender in the world."
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"Bar none, Grant Fuhr is the best goalie in the league," Pederson will say later. "He has the fastest reflexes. Sometimes his concentration might drift during inconsequential games. But in the big-money games Fuhr is the best. He's the Cup goalie. It's sure not by luck."
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Oilers triumping over the Isles in the opener for their first Cup

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Edmonton's victory was built around a surprisingly staunch defense and the sensational goal-tending of Fuhr, who outperformed his more celebrated counterpart in the Islanders' net, Billy Smith. Fuhr - who did not play against the Islanders in New York's sweep of last year's finals - orchestrated the victory with catlike quickness...

when suspended for drug abuse..

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A former all-star who was often called the best goaltender in the world during the mid-1980s...

Returning from the five-month suspension

Grant Fuhr came back from a five-month suspension for substance abuse intent on proving he was still one of the NHL's top goaltenders.

He accomplished that Monday night in a 4-0 shutout of the New Jersey Devils in his first NHL game in almost 11 months.

Grant Fuhr, generally recognized as the game's best goaltender, was injured in a second-period collision and was carried off the ice on a stretcher..

...this is the time of year when Grant Fuhr flourishes. He loves the pressure. That's why he's the best playoff goaltender in the league.

The best goaltender in pro hockey for a decade, [Grant Fuhr] spent the past winter toiling with little glory as the Leafs completed another NHL season without seeing the playoffs. But when Fuhr was the backbone of the Edmonton Oilers dynasty he was also busy honing his skills in the favorite pastime of idle hockey players - golf.

Opposing goaltenders often feel outnumbered when confronted by the Edmonton Oilers, the NHL's most prolific goal-scoring team. Because of his team's frenetic offensive style, Edmonton goalie Grant Fuhr knows the same sense of anxiety. In any given game Fuhr must anticipate occasions when he will be a lonely sentry against attacking hordes. ...

Although most people give superstars Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson most of the credit for the Oilers' remarkable success, they have the security that, if they do mess up, Fuhr probably will save them any embarrassment.

"Grant Fuhr is the best goaltender who ever played the game, there's no question of that," Gretzky said. "Don't forget, the shots are harder and faster now, and Grant makes saves on reflexes that no other goaltender could make."

Beaten by Lemieux 3 times..

Beaten for three spectacular goals on the slushy ice of Reunion Arena in Dallas, Grant Fuhr of the Edmonton Oilers - he being the world's best goaltender - minced no words.

"I didn't see anything unusual about Lemieux tonight," Fuhr said after the Penguins drubbed the Stanley Cup champions, 6-2, last Tuesday, thanks to a hat trick and four points and a half-dozen paralyzing passes from Mario Lemieux.

Oh?

"Lemieux is Lemieux."

Steretypical Edmonton game from the 80s, a "blowout" where they give up 44 shots!

Edmonton Mark Messier scored three consecutive goals, Wayne Gretzky contributed two and chipped in with four assists, but it was the outstanding goaltending of Grant Fuhr that dominated as the Oilers crushed the Winnipeg Jets 8-2 Wednesday night in a National Hockey League game.

Fuhr, who faced 21 first-period shots, showed the Winnipeg Arena crowd of 14,047 why he is widely considered the best goaltender in the league.

The 23-year-old goaltender finished with 44 saved to improve his record to 21-7-0.

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Beyond discipline, the Oilers are playing great defense. They've got the best goaltender in the world in Grant Fuhr. They get the goals when they need them. They can play any way you want. Adaptability...

Wayne Gretzky wasn't surprised in the least when Grant Fuhr came up with one great save after another to rescue Edmonton.

Fuhr stopped 46 shots, including a few from close range by Gretzky, as the Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-3, Saturday night in double overtime to even their best-of-seven Smythe Division semifinal series at one game a piece.

Gretzky and Fuhr teamed up to bring four Stanley Cup championships to Edmonton. Now, Gretzky is trying to help the kings win their first.

With Fuhr on his game, that won't be easy.

"Grant hasn't lost anything," Gretzky said. "He's one of the best goaltenders ever to play the game."
...

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Like Sather, Demers isn't concerned about his club's lack of offence. He believes his troops are getting enough chances to score three of four goals a game.

The difference, he says, is the play of Fuhr.

"We've always said that Grant Fuhr is the best goaltender in the NHL and he proved it again last night," said Demers. "He always seems to come up with the key saves that seems to get the team up. The other night he made three big saves, outstanding saves."

"In the big games, the low-scoring games, 1-0, 2-1, that's when he's at his best."
....

With $200,000 at stake for the best record in the NHL as well as home-ice advantage all through the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Edmonton Oilers got a money performance out of Grant Fuhr.

"Goaltending was the difference," said Philadelphia Coach Mike Keenan following Sunday night's 2-1 overtime loss to the Oilers in a meeting of last year's Stanley Cup finalists. "The man again was Fuhr. He stopped two breakaways, made the key saves in the first period to keep them in it."
...

1984 Playoffs

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As for Fuhr, he became an instant Conn Smythe candidate with the cool he displayed under the Islanders' fire.

1985 Playoffs
[quote="Gretzky's greatness mystery even to mates", Ian MacDonald, Montreal Gazette June 1, 1985]
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Gretzky and Oilers coach Glen Sather said all the right things after the star had been named winner of the Conn Smythe trophy as the outstanding playoff performer.
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Going into Thursday night's game, the only realistic candidates for the Smythe honor were three Oilers - superb rushing defenseman Paul Coffey, clutch goaltender Grant Fuhr and Gretzky.
[/quote]


Fuhr ended up not winning after all, and this writer thinks anyone not Gretzky winning is voter fatigue - but he does say that Fuhr winning a Smythe would not be a surprise...
1987 Playoffs
[quote="Grant Fuhr, not Gretzky, likely MVP", Jim Proudfoot, Toronto Star May 26, 1987]
Yet the panel, in opting for [Grant Fuhr], falls prey to an odd malady. Gretzky has won so much there's a weird reluctance to give him his due as if to do so would be embarrassing somehow. It's lovely to see Fuhr, Messier and all the rest receive some recognition, and Gretzky would certainly approve, but the fact is that the Great One, except for an occasional match, is the least dispensable Oiler by many miles - and easily the top performer in the 1987 playoffs.

No fault will be found with Fuhr's coronation. It's his turn, after all. Mark Messier was MVP in 1984, the first year the Oilers were National Hockey League titlists. Wayne Gretzky was singled out the following May. These guys are pretty well interchangeable, really. You could have picked Paul Coffey either of those times, without igniting much controversy. Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson definitely qualify now along with Fuhr, Messier - and Gretzky, of course.
[/quote]

1988 Playoffs
[quote="Slick Oilers don't let Cup slip away", Ken Rappoport, The Spokesman-Review, May 27, 1988]
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Gretzky, who set a playoff record with 31 assists, also joined Bernie Parent and Bobby Orr as the only two-time winners of the Conn Smythe Trophy, given to the playoff MVP.

"Three or four guys could have won that award," Gretzky said. "Mark Messier played great. Grant Fuhr played great."[/quote]

And before you say that is just Gretzky being Gretzky:
[quote="Gretzky leads sweep as Oilers capture 4th Cup in five years", Jay Greenberg, Beaver County Times, May 26, 1988]
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Gretzky and Messier time and again came up with clutch goals against the Flames, who defrocked the Oilers from the Smythe Division title during the regular season. Grant Fuhr, the best goalie in the game, delivered the key saves. Then, with the stunned Flames out of the way, Detroit and Boston mostly were a matter of course.
[/quote]

​

 

[Velociraptor]

Bob Baun, D

Position: Defenseman
HT/WT: 5'9", 180 lbs
Handedness: Right
Nickname(s): "Boomer"
Born: September 9th, 1936 in Lanigan, SK

- 4-time Stanley Cup Champion (1962, 1963, 1964, 1967)
- Played in the NHL All-Star Game 5 times (1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968)
- scored 37 goals and 187 assists for 224 points in 964 games, adding 1493 penalty minutes.
- scored 3 goals and 12 assists for 15 points in 96 games, adding 171 penalty minutes.

Top 10 Finishes:
Penalty Minutes - 4x - (4, 7, 10, 10)

Voting Record

Norris Voting Record:

5th (70-71), 7th (63-64), 8th (64-65), 10th (68-69)

Video

Bobby Baun's playoff heroics are what the Stanley Cup is all about.

With 10 minutes left in the sixth game of the 1964 finals between the Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings, Bobby Baun fearlessly sacrificed his body, sliding down onto the ice to block a Gordie Howe shot. The heavy shot bounced off Baun’s foot at exactly the worst spot, breaking a bone in Baun's ankle. He was carried away on a stretcher and he should have seen his season to come to an end.

But he didn't.

In one of the most courageous and famous moments in hockey history, Baun returned to the lineup in the very same game. The game had gone into over time, and Baun refused to go to the hospital. Instead he was given painkillers and had his ankle taped tightly, and returned for the extra period of play.

Just a couple of minutes into the over time, Baun became a hero of legendary proportions. Baun picked up a failed Detroit clearing attempt at the blueline and directed a shot on the Detroit goal. It deflected off of Detroit defenseman Bill Gadsby and over Terry Sawchuk and into the net, forcing game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals!!

Quotes

The night Baun missed a game in Chicago, we started taking liberties. We realized he wasn't in town, so we could get away with a lot more. When Baun was around, that right side was like an obstacle course.

He was a hard-nosed individual. He didn't know how to do anything but win.

He was our leader on defense, he was a hard-nosed guy. He'd get mad. When you didn't do your job he'd give you hell.

His duels with Bobby Hull are legend now. And the respect they showed for each other was evident every time they collided. You seldom saw an elbow or a raised stick. Just a brutal test of strength between two fine athletes.

He tried hard and was an unbelievable defensive defenseman, He blocked as many shots as our goalies did and he had the bruises to prove it.

Legends of Hockey

Two nights later, the Leafs won game seven, and with it the Stanley Cup. The irrepressible Baun played a regular shift in the deciding game. The upshot of Baun's painful goal-scoring heroics was that he was never much of a marksman during his 17-year NHL career, recording just 37 goals and 187 assists in 964 career games. From the standpoint of personal stats, his best season was one goal and 20 assists in 1970-71. Instead of wowing the fans with impressive offense, though, Baun was known as a hard-checking pure defender, and he was a mainstay of the "Big Four" of Leafs defenders in the 1960s.

Greatest Hockey Legends

Although he also played with Detroit and Oakland, Baun is best known for his days with the Maple Leafs where he teamed up with Carl Brewer to form one of the finest pairings ever. Bobby Hull often mentioned these two as the toughest defensemen he ever played against. Baun was the stereotypical pre-Bobby Orr type of defenseman - a bone crunching stay at home rearguard.

A native of Lanigan, Saskatchewan, Baun was a surprisingly small man for such a voracious hitter – 5’9†and 175 pounds. He would play junior hockey with the Toronto Marlboros for 4 seasons before joining the Leafs in 1956-57. Baun would be a regular throughout the Leafs resurgence in the 1960s, including all 4 championships.

Though in the twilight of his career, Baun continued to be a steadying influence on the Leafs defense for parts of three seasons. Unfortunately he suffered a career ending neck injury early in the 1972-73 season. That prevented Baun from reaching the 1000 game level - a true milestone for a such a physical, defensive player.

His game? Check out "irrepressible". Look up the term "hard rock" in the dictionary and there would be a picture of #21.

A prototypical defensive defenseman, Baun's overtime goal in game six of the 1964 finals gave the Leafs a new life, and they beat the Wings in the final game, at home, 4-0 to win their third straight Stanley Cup. His overtime goal was scored on a fractured ankle. Earlier that game, Baun was taken off on a stretcher after being felled by a slapshot. He returned, ankle frozen and taped, to score what Sports Illustrated ranked as the 17th greatest sports moment in the 20th century. However to me what was even more amazing than coming back in that game as he was likely running on adrenalin at that point, was that two nights later he would play Game 7 and help the Leafs win the Cup without missing a shift

His philosophy was "You don't have to kill every forward coming down the ice, just slow them up a little." Few opposing players coming into the Leafs end of the rink ever came in with their heads down against Baun. Baun played a lot of minutes for a very long time, he could hit like Scott Stevens. As for his fighting, he always showed up for the fight, he was fearless.

The only thing I could add was that Baun was one of the most courageous players the Leafs had in the 60's. For a time, Baun was the only player to stand up to John Ferguson. And, when Baun left the Leafs the first time, the Leafs' downhill slide started.

Who's Who in Hockey

Among hockey pros, Bob Baun was recognized as one of the hardest - and cleanest - bodycheckers in the game. Players respected Baun for his respect of the rulebook.

Shorthanded: The Untold Story of the Seals: Hockey's Most Colorful Team

In the team's first season, Bob Baun was the foundation of the California Golden Seals. He was the team's first captain and the first non-goaltender chosen by the Seals in the expansion draft. It was Baun who was expected to the lead the expansion Seals and teach them how to win.

Lewiston Evening Journal, Mar. 5, 1960

Double defeat by Toronto has dealt a staggering blow to the Bruins' wilting playoff hopes with defensemen Red Kelly and Bob Baun the chief villains.

Windsor Star - Dec 12, 1969

Bob Baun ruffled a few North Star feathers in that period with some lusty body work...

The Spectator - Feb 20, 1999

Bob Baun, a hardrock defenceman who helped the Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup four times in the 1960s

Los Angeles Times - Apr 27, 1998

probably doesn't match Bob Baun's heroism in playing the sixth game of the 1964 Stanley Cup ...

 

[vecens24]

Clint Benedict

- Member of the HHOF
- Stanley Cup (1920, 1921, 1923, 1926)
- Stanley Cup Finalist (1915, 1928)
- Led his league in GAA 10 times (1913, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1927)
- Led his league in Shutouts 10 times (1913, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924)
- Led his league in wins 8 times (1915, 1917, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924)
- Named #1 all-star goalie for the time period 1893-1926 by hockey historian Charles Coleman
- 3rd in Hart Voting (1925)
- 243-169-6 in NHA/NHL regular season
- 27-23-5 in playoff and cup final games

- Set post season shutout record with 4 and equaled it two years later
- 4th All-time in post season shutouts (14) - Was the all-time leader for 80 years
- Set Playoff Shutout record in one series (finals) with three (stands today)
- Set Playoff Shutout record with consecutive shutouts with three (stands today)
- In 1919-20, his 2.66 goals-against mark was 2.13 goals better than the league average, a mark that will probably never be equaled. That same season he was the ONLY goalie to record a shutout (he had 5)
- In his final Cup winning series with the Maroons he swept the opposing team in four games and was invincible. His GAA. for the SERIES was 0.75. (3 goals in 4 games)

Fun Clint Benedict Facts
- First male goalie to wear a facemask
- Broke the ‘no falling rule’ so many times that the league changed it
- Stuck with ‘thin’ pads even after much larger and thicker pads came into fashion

How many Vezinas do you think Clint Benedict would own if such an award existed during his career? How many All-star teams?

AT WORST, Benedict was the Martin Brodeur of his day - he played forever, often led in GAA, wins, and shutouts, won cups, and had a strong team in front of him. Unlike Brodeur, he led a mediocre team to the cup, had three playoffs with ridiculously low numbers versus the average, and is known as definitively the best goalie of his generation.

Quotes:

First hand accounts of Benedict first:

Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, November 13th 1930:

Benedict has been rated by many shrewd observers the greatest goaler hockey has ever known…He first broke into athletics by playing Canada’s national game of lacrosse, at which he was a star, and came into hockey prominence with Ottawa New Edinburghs, an amateur club from which came many brilliant stars for the professional game. Tall, and apparently gawky and awkward, with a shambling style of skating, Benedict possessed an eagle eye and the quickness of a cat.

In the days when goalers were not allowed to drop to the ice to stop shots, Benedict was dubbed “Tumbling Clint” because he insisted on going to his knees to stop shots, and the records of those distant days indicate he was penalized more than once for thus breaking the playing rules. Later, when it became permissible for a goaler to drop to any position he wished to stop a shot, Benedict became almost unbeatable. He and the late Georges Vezina were the admitted kings of the net.

Gerard, captain and star of the Ottawa team was forced to retire the following season due to throat trouble, but Benedict’s great goaltending helped keep the team in the fight to the finish, when they were beaten out by the Canadiens.

Known as one of the game’s greatest “money players,” Benedict has figured in half a score of play-off series…Benedict figured in play-off or world’s series games in eight of nine seasons from 1919-1920 to 1927-1928, his first season with the Maroons being the only one in which he missed one or the other.

Ottawa Citizen, March 30, 1928. Sub-headline: Benedict bombarded. Basically within this game the Maroons got absolutely blitzed the entire time, with Ottawa outshooting them by a considerable margin in each period, however Benedict only conceded one goal to beat his old team:

Boucher went from end to end on a zig-zag expedition only to have Benedict make a marvelous save. Then Clancy rattled one off Benny’s pads and Kilrea before the puck got out of Maroon territory lobbed the puck and it almost connected, Benedict making the stop just at the goal line. At this stage the Maroons appeared to be rattled and Ottawas had command of the play for considerable time…A three man rush carried the puck in near the Montreal net but again Benedict rose to great heights.

A Goalie Before His Time?
Benedict seems to have been one of if not the first true innovator at the position, especially as far as using his hands. His unique style was particularly noted in this account.

Great Goaltenders: Stars of Hockey’s Golden Age by Jim Barber devotes its entire first chapter to Benedict

Not much is known about Clint Benedict’s early life, but theatrical training must have been in their somewhere. Unlike contemporaries such as Georges Vezina or George Hainsworth, Benedict is a bit of an enigma. He may be the most anonymous of the early hockey Hall of Fame goaltenders, even though, by all accounts, he was as talented as any other padded denizen of the goal cage.

Clint Benedict was a clever man, an innovative man, someone who was willing to test the boundaries of a very conservative sporting establishment. Although not one to deliberately seek publicity off the ice, when he entered the icy field of play, he did whatever he thought was best to protect himself and help his team win the game. His name should be ranked beside Jacques Plante or Glenn Hall, but radical ideas or radical personalities were rarely embraced in sports in the early years of the 20th century.

It was at this time – once Benedict became a starter and a recognized star—that keen observers began to take note of his unique style. Benedict was one of the first goaltenders to see the great benefit in using his hands as a defensive weapon. He caught the puck more than his contemporaries. He used his stick hand to intentionally block waist-high shots into the corner or away from the front of the goal. Since goalies at that time did not wear the padded blockers or trappers of today, Benedict’s hands took a perpetual beating. Benedict was often forced to play hurt, as did all goalies of the era…Not only did Benedict routinely display toughness, but he also displayed his creativity and penchant for self-preservation through innovation

Benedict slowly began testing the limits of the NHA rule that maintained that all goaltenders had to remain standing or incur a penalty. Sometimes he would pretend to slip down to one knee at precisely the right moment to make a save. At other times, Benedict would lose his balance and end up on his side or back at an opportune moment. He also began to skate out of the crease to challenge shooters. Somehow, Benedict rarely had penalties called against him, even though he was obviously breaking the rules. He seemed to be able to smooth talk referees.

Modern goaltenders, such as Curtis Joseph or Dominik Hasek, can thank a smart young man from Ottawa for pioneering a style of goaltending that transformed the way hockey was played.

The Senators and Benedict continued their roll into the 1920-1921 season. For the second consecutive year, Benedict was lauded as the best netminder in the NHL, even though Ottawa had dropped to second in the standings.

He certainly impressed a young rookie who joined the Senators before the 1921-1922 season – Francis “King” Clancy.
“He was superb. A lot of people say that Georges Vezina was the greatest goaltender in those early days of hockey, but if you look at the records you’ll see that Clint Benedict…had a better average.”

(paraphrasing the rest of this chapter as opposed to quoting it. Jim Barber’s words, not mine):

By 1924, Benedict’s eye sight possibly was beginning to fail him and he began letting in some longer range goals. So Ottawa, who was also in pretty dire straits monetarily at the time decided to get rid of him (this account mentions nothing of the alcoholism). They sold him and Punch Broadbent to the Maroons for cash. This issue seems to me something that would have been easily correctable in today’s era with medical advancements. This chapter of this book continues to champion Benedict’s playoff exploits (as well as some of the failures such as letting in an easy shot from distance shot by Clancy). Some examples include the 1926 Cup run, where he shut out the Senators to get to the Cup Finals, and then shut out Victoria in 2 out of the 3 games to win the Cup. By 1928 though however, his eye-sight had become a liability. Although he was still one of the best goaltenders in the game, he gave up a few soft goals to the Rangers and although he shut them out in Game 3, he couldn’t stop enough pucks and the Rangers won the Cup. This is where we pick up the story again.

After an abysmal 1928-1929 season for Benedict personally and the Maroons, both bounced back with a quick start to the 1929-1930 season. It was during this campaign at the twilight of his career that Benedict’s innovative spirit came to the fore once again.
In a Maroons-Canadiens game in January 1930, Howie Morenz fired a high shot directly at Benedict. Partially screened by a defenseman and his eyesight growing dimmer, the Maroons netminder totally misread the trajectory of the puck. It nailed him on the nose and cheek. One observer claimed that Benedict’s nose looked like a broken eggshell, as he was carried off the ice by players of both teams.

Six weeks after the Morenz blast, Benedict retook his position in goal for the Maroons. A murmur rippled through the crowd. He was wearing a self fashioned mask that covered a good portion of his face. Clint Benedict had done it again. Not only did he revolutionize the way that goalies played their position, now he was reforming what they wore. The ugly leather device was wholly impractical, as it prevented him from seeing shots at his feet and did little to deaden the impact of shots hitting his face. However, he wore the contraption for five games , winning two, losing two, and tying one – allowing 16 goals in all. His season came to an end when an errant elbow from Howie Morenz nailed Benedict in the throat during the fifth game.

However, there may be a different reason for why Benedict was released. Doug Fischer of the Ottawa Citizen has the tale:

But by mid-March, on the day of the Senators' first playoff game against the Canadiens in Montreal, he spent the afternoon in his hotel room drinking beer, according to management. Not surprisingly, his play wasn't sharp and the Senators lost 3-0. After another game, he defied a curfew imposed by coach Green and headed to a nearby tavern to drink with friends, staying out until after 2:30 a.m. Once the Senators were swept aside in the series, Ottawa's newspapers were filled with angst about the home team's quick demise. But if local sports reporters were aware of Benedict's behaviour, they never wrote about it as a factor in the playoff defeat.

But the claim began to look legitimate a few days later when team president Tommy Gorman, a former Citizen sports editor, announced the Senators had signed celebrated amateur goalie Joe Ironstone to a contract for the next season. At that same meeting with reporters, Gorman defended the playoff performances of his players -- with one exception. Benedict, he said, had seemed to recover from his "illness," but the goalie was "far from himself during the playoffs." Behind the scenes, meanwhile, Gorman and team owner Frank Ahearn agreed it was time to part with Benedict. Not only had his drinking become disruptive, he was always asking for more money. And the team was struggling financially

Among the Senators' claims was an allegation that Benedict suffered an alcohol-induced nervous breakdown shortly before the playoffs and that he had "deliberately rendered himself in such a physical condition as to be unable to carry out his contract," leading to a financial loss for the team. Benedict fought back. While he didn't deny his drinking, he argued the Senators had not been damaged by his behaviour. It was a team game and the entire team lost the series, he said, and he was entitled to his full salary. Both sides soon realized the folly of continuing the row in public. The Senators, in precarious financial shape, had nothing to gain by humiliating a popular player. Benedict likely knew his career in Ottawa was over, but he must also have also realized his chances of landing with another team might be hurt if he was seen as a malcontent. More than that, he had to know the team had lined up some of his teammates, including the great Frank Nighbor, to testify about his drinking. In early October 1924, Benedict dropped his claim for $800 and the Senators agreed to pay him $350. Within weeks, the goalie was sold for cash to the expansion Montreal Maroons along with right-winger Harry (Punch) Broadbent, another hometown favourite whose career was in a tailspin. The trade rejuvenated Benedict. He played six years for Montreal, leading them to a Stanley Cup in their second season -- still a record for an expansion team -- by allowing only three goals in four playoff games against Victoria in the finals. In doing so, he became the first goalie to win the Cup for two teams.

Meaning that while Benedict did have something of a drinking problem, he never wanted to become a malcontent. He was willing to drop his claim to make sure teams knew about this.

Who’s Who in Hockey by Stan Fischler:

While the consensus through the years points to the legendary Georges Vezina as the first great goalkeeper of pro hockey, a bit of further investigation reveals that Clint Benedict had a better overall goals-against average and was also single-handedly responsible for introducing the practice of flopping to the ice to stop a shot. He was also one of the first goalies to use a face mask.

Deceptions and Doublecross: How the NHL conquered hockey by Morey Holtzman and Joseph Nieforth:

But Ottawa benefitted too, by opening a spot for Benedict the future Hall of Famer who would lead the Senators to three more Stanley Cup championships over the next decade. Along the way, the innovative Benedict changed the face of goaltending by sprawling across the ice to make saves.

In “Let’s Talk Hockey, 50 Wonderful Debates” by Phil Schlenker he places Benedict as the #8 goalie of all time. Here’s what he has to say:

He was one of the first star goalies in NHL history. He played them the majority of his career in the 1920s so people forget about him. I like Benedict more than Georges Vezina and George Hainsworth of his era. His career overlapped both of theirs and it was Benedict who led the NHL in GAA those years.

Benedict was a winner. He was a competitor.

So let’s look at his credentials. He’s a multiple Cup winner. He led the league in several stats at a time when Vezina and Hainsworth were around. He’s an innovator in his own right and he’s the best goalie of his era. Goalies weren’t given any Vezina trophy awards at the time but if they had been, Benedict would have been first in line. Also keep in mind he was still a very good goalie after his trade to the Montreal Maroons in 1924, even though he was 32.

And of course, Doug Fischer at the end of somewhat damaging article mentions just how good Benedict actually was considered, and how the HHOF non-election for 20 years was an oversight due to his actions:

Hockey historians tend to agree that Benedict, along with Georges Vézina and George Hainsworth, were among hockey's first great goalies. Some even argue that had Vézina not died tragically from tuberculosis at age 39, the trophy for the NHL's top goaltender might just as easily have been named after Benedict. As it turned out, Benedict was not elected to the hall of fame until 1965, a lengthy oversight some historians believe might be linked to the reputation as a drinker he earned as an Ottawa Senator in 1924.

----------------------------------------------


In conclusion, I would say that Benedict was one of if not the greatest innovator of the goalie position, which absolutely counts for something here. And even if you don’t think so, it seems to me that he was considered at least on par with Vezina, probably better due to statistics and especially longevity. If you throw that in along with his enormous playoff reputation of being a money goaltender, Benedict is probably right around that #8 of all time range. I’ll leave TDMM to talk about Vezina, but I do think there has been some underrating of him around these parts as well having researched this and coming across his name as many times as I have.
Also, a shout out to seventieslord for the first part of this bio up until the part that says quotes.

 

[Rob Scuderi]

D Gus Mortson
5-11, 190
Shoots Left

Mortson, who has been a Leaf ever since he broke into the NHL in 1947, said: "Four-for-one trade, eh? Guess I can't be very good."

797 NHL GP, 198 points, 1380 PIM
x4 SC winner

All-Star Voting Placements: 1 ('50), 7 ('54), 9 ('57), T9 ('48), 10 ('47)
Norris Trophy Voting Placements: 7 ('57), T10 ('54)
x1 NHL 1st All-Star Team
x8 All-Star Games
Led league in PIM four times

Gus Mortson grew up in the mining country of Northern Ontario and related analogies have followed him throughout his life. He was sometimes referred to as "Old Hardrock" because of his origins and his style of play.

He graduated from the St. Mike's Majors of the OHA in 1945. He turned pro the following year and joined the Tulsa Oilers of the USHL to serve the customary apprenticeship of the day. But the following year, Leafs' GM Conn Smythe launched a rebuilding campaign on behalf of his club. He brought names like Howie Meeker, Gaye Stewart, Gus Bodnar, and Joe Klukay into the fold. He also elected to take a chance with a couple of young defenders, Jim Thompson and Mortson. The two caught on, Thompson the stay-at-home defender and Mortson the flashier, whirling rusher who had a nose for trouble and abrasive play. The two became known as "The Gold Dust Twins."

Over the six years that followed, the "Twins" served as a defensive foundation during a great run for the Leafs as they captured Stanley Cup victories in 1947, 1948, 1949, and 1951. In 1952, however, the Leafs were in need of first-string goaltender. They managed to pry Harry Lumley away from the Blackhawks in exchange for Cal Gardner, Al Rollins and Mortson.

In the Windy City, Mortson continued his rough-house ways, lasting with the club for a total of six campaigns. By the close 1956-57 season, his villainy was confirmed as he led the league in penalty minutes for the fourth time in his career. In 1958, he was traded to his arch rivals, the Detroit Red Wings, where he concluded his NHL career at the end of the season.

Gus Mortson was once one of the baddest men in hockey.

He, along with his defensive partner and fellow "Gold Dust Twin" Jim Thomson, perfected the art of defending the zone by playing the man instead of by playing the puck. They grabbed, hooked, pushed and shoved any puck carrying opponent who came into the Leafs zone. Their tactics were effective although often illegal. Mortson earned a career total of 1390 PIM in 797 games. In fact, four times he was the NHL's season penalty minute champ. Twice he was punished with lengthy suspensions for deliberately trying to injure another player

But he was also among the top defensemen. Mortson was an excellent skater and could carry the puck...

He also explains the focus of his game very clearly,

"When you played hockey in our time, it wasn't so much how many goals you scored, it was how few you let be scored against you while you were on the ice," explained the New Liskeard, Ontario born Mortson. "Thomson and I, we kept track of all the goals against because that was your only arguing point when you had to go see (GM Conn) Smythe for a contract. All the years we played in Toronto, we had less than a goal against average."

Rivalries with the stars of his time

At Chicago Stadium in 1948 Gordie Howe and Gus Mortson surprised fans by dropping the gloves "with full vim and vigour." Apparently the two hockey stars went at it so hard that it was decided they would not serve the 5 minute sentence in the penalty box. You see, back then the penalty box was basically shared by each team, with little to stop angry players to continue their disagreement. It was decided Howe and Mortson would stay on their own team's bench, but under police guard!

This was the second official NHL all star game. In the first game in 1947, Chicago scoring star Bill Mosienko badly hurt his ankle, causing much controversy regarding the All Star game. As a result, most players tended to avoid physical play...All of which makes the Howe-Mortson fight of the 1948 NHL All Star game even more amazing!

Pelletier calls this the only ASG game fight ever, but Howe's quotes in the article below refute this.

"There was a lot more intensity back then," Howe once said, recalling the (All-Star Game) fights he had in 1948 with Gus Mortson and in 1951 with Maurice Richard. "You hated those ********."

A five-minute penalty-box brawl three minutes before the finish involved nearly every player of both clubs as Gordon Howe, of the Red Wings, was assessed a 10-minute misconduct penalty for punching Gus Mortson, of Toronto, and Mortson also drew a misconduct for slugging with a policement at the rinkside.

The brawl was settled without an serious injuries, but defenceman Bill Quackenbush, of the Wings, was helped off the ice earlier in the final period after getting a chilling block from Mortson.

Toronto Maple Leafs and their Pittsburgh farmhands of the American Hockey League treated each other with little friendliness...

The game was featured by a rousing slugging between defencemen Gus Mortson of Toronto and Tim Horton of Pittsburgh, following which Mortson was given a game misconduct penalty for attacking referee Hugh McLean.

As far as Ted Lindsay and Gus Mortson are concerned-when the chips are down, they're down. An opposing player is just that. Nothing more.

Lindsay and Mortson, clashed Tuesday night in a Stanley Cup playoff game-and touched off a near-riot in which fans, policemen, sports writers and Maj. Conn Smythe of the Leafs became involved. Off the ice the two are pals. On the ice-pleasantries are forgotten.

In the first Toronto-Detroit game of the season Lindsay creased his buddy's nose with a stick. In the next Wing-Leaf set-to they collided again and Lindsay re-opened the cut on Mortson's nose.

Tuesday night's action started when Lindsay conked Gus on the head. Said Mortson, fingered a well-bumped forehead:"I checked Lindsay and I guess he didn't like it. He turned and let me have it."

Maj. Smythe added: "sometimes a person has a hard time finding out who his friends are." Asked why he's so rough with his off-ice pal, Lindsay made it known: "I don't know anybody when a hockey game starts.

...Gus Mortson made the mistake of angling the with usually placid Maurice (Rocket) Richard. Maurice let fly with a right to the chin and Gus took a count.

Other Quotes

To Managing Director Conny Smythe of Toronto Maple Leafs the Stanley Cup playoff performance of his rookie defence duo-baby-faced Jimmy Thomson from Winnipeg and sturdy Gus Mortson from Kirkland Lakes, Ont.-is something to talk about.

And talk he did Saturday night as the Leafs doffed their hockey regalia for street clothes after taking the measure of Montreal Canadiens 4-2 in the third game of their best-of-seven Stanley Cup final.

"Those kids have only been scored on four times in eight games," he said, without naming the players but nodding to the corner where the 20-year-old Thomson and the 21-year-old Mortson were dressing. "Only four times in eight games."

He might have gone further and cited more statistics-that the Leafs were scored on 22 times in the eight games-eight times in their three starts with the Canadiens and 14 times in the five semi-final games with Detroit Red Wings. Thus 18 percent of the goals against Toronto were scored on the pair of rookies and they were used extensively in the series.

...Hard-going Gus Mortson picked up the puck in the centre ice and steamed right past Reardon. Big Butch Bouchard, the other Montreal rearguard, tried to get over to stop Gus but was too late and his drive from 35 feet whistled past Goalie Durnan's paw into the far upper corner of the cage.

Defensively too, much praise can be heaped on the work of Mortson, Thomson, and Bosch, all deserved star rating for their efforts.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QRk_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=YU8MAAAAIBAJ&pg=4249,5122186&dq=gus+mortson&hl=en

Ron (Prof) Caron, lead bird dog for the Canadiens, scratched his usually encyclopedic memory (for hockey) and said: "Well, there was Jack Stewart and Jimmy Orlando with Detroit. Both big hitters. And Jimmy Thomson and Gus Mortson on those big Stanley Cup teams from Toronto in the 40s. They were good hitters. Smart too."

"Candiens aren't going to push my club around any more," Conn Smythe, managing director of the Leafs, was quoted as saying when the Leafs were in pre-season training. "I've got some good, strong, young defencemen who will trade bumps with anybody, and I've got some good big forwards who will do the same.

The husky young defencemen he was referring to are Gus Mortson, Jimmy Thompson and Garth Boesch...Mortson is a fast-skating, hard-shooting youth from Kirkland Lake, which is why Smythe has nicknamed him "The Nugget."

Rough Series Expected
The impression here is that the series will be rough, a style of play at which Candiens are adept. Frank Selke is obviously worrying whether Canadiens can stand up to the Leafs in that kind of going.

Lynn Patrick said the Leafs powdered his Bruins right out of the series in the first two games. They whacked Milt Schmidt and Johnny Peirson into complete submission and left the Bruins without much in the way of a scoring threat.

"Jim Thomson did most of the heavy work them for them, but they've got a bruising defence," he said. "Guys like Bill Barilko, Bill Juzda and Fernie Flaman can hurt you if they get a good shot at you and that Gus Mortson is no Little Lord Fauntleroy. Barilko was just about their best man in the series and he didn't do a thing against us all season. We hardly noticed him. But it always seems to happen like that."

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Q0UjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=S5kFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5489,6698543&dq=gus+mortson&hl=en

Rollins was sent back in at the next whistle, but with a faceoff in the Canadiens' end at 19:21, he came out again. The Leafs had forwards Kennedy, Smith, Sloan, Bentley, and Watson on the ice with defenceman Gus Mortson. The Canadiens went with their top line...Sid Smith raked the puck all the way across the crease to Tod Sloan, who was standing alone to the left of McNeil and - with just 32 seconds to go - slid the puck into the net!

http://books.google.com/books?id=pMXfUuLEwtIC&pg=PA46&dq=bill+juzda&hl=en&ei=9pUoTp6GAYP00gGwsuG3Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CFYQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=mortson&f=false

Defenseman Gus Mortson of the Leafs and Ed Slowinski put on a good boxing show before being separated by the officials in the first period.

Gus Mortson, tough Chicago defenseman, blasted home a goal from inside the blue line...

Two defencemen, Gus Mortson of Torono and Clare Martin of Boston, started a battle on the fringe and Mortson scored a knockdown in quick fashion.

Ted Kennedy and Joe Klukay each had a turn as the lone forward on the ice with defencemen Thomson and Gus Mortson. They checked so fiercely that the Red Wings only got one shot at Broda.

Hawks rumored to be after Mortson before the Lumley trade

The Chicago Black Hawks, trying to bolster their swinging door defence, would like to get Gus Mortson from the Toronto Leafs. The latter are reported to be in the mood to dicker, if the Hawks will deal them Doug Bentley...

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_itkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wXsNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6634,1586074&dq=gus+mortson&hl=en