Goalies before 1950 research thread

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Consider this a preliminary thread to the Top Goalies project that we will be doing on this board over the summer. I think pre-1950s goalies is probably our biggest weakness in terms of collective knowledge of any position.

So before the actual project gets going, let's see if we can profile all the goalies listed here. Specific emphasis placed on indications that he was considered the best goalie in the world at some point, the best since another goalie, or other comparisons between goalies.

Listed is every goalie who had significant accomplishments before 1950 who is either in the HHOF, or was a 1st Team All Star once, or a 2nd Teamer twice, and their career span:

• John Bouse Hutton (1898-1904, 1909)
• Riley Hern (1898-1911)
• Paddy Moran (1901-1917)
• Percy LeSueur (1905-1916)
• Hugh Lehman (1908-1928)
• Georges Vezina (1910-1926)
• Hap Holmes (1912-1928)
• Clint Benedict (1912-1930)
• John Ross Roach (1921-1935)*
• Alec Connell (1924-1937)
• Roy Worters (1925-1937)
• George Hainsworth (1926-1937)
• Lorne Chabot (1926-1937)*
• Charlie Gardiner (1927-1934)
• Tiny Thompson (1928-1940)
• Wilf Cude (1930-1941)*
• Dave Kerr (1930-1941)*
• Normie Smith (1931-1945)*
• Mike Karakas (1935-1946)*
• Turk Broda (1936-1952)
• Frank Brimsek (1938-1950)
• Chuck Rayner (1940-1953)
• Johnny Mowers (1941-1948)
• Bill Durnan (1943-1950)
• Harry Lumley (1943-1960)

*Not in the HHOF

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[TheDevilMadeMe]

Note: PADDY MORAN & RILEY HERN Profiles both in this post.

Paddy Moran

Paddy Moran !!!​

Awards and Achievements:
Hockey Hall of Fame (1958)
2 x Stanley Cup Champion (1912, 1913)

1905 ECHA All-Star

Lester Patrick’s All-Time Goalie named in 1927
Newsly Lalonde’s All-Time “Mean Team” Goalie named in 1961

Statistical Accomplishments:
GAA – 1st(1913), 2nd(1910), 2nd(1904), 2nd(1912), 3rd(1905), 3rd(1916), 4th(1908), 4th(1909), 4th(1914), 4th(1915)

Indeed, Moran was a fireball in the cage. The husky netminder guarded his territory by attacking or even chasing enemy players down the ice. He once chased Newsy Lalonde the length of the rink. And although he was often named the top goalkeeper in the league, he tended nets for some poor Quebec sides over the years. Almost every night was a rubber rainstorm for the Irishman. Small wonder, then, that he had the local priest bless him before every match.

Moran was resourceful, too. To combat the drafty, sub-zero conditions common in the old arenas, he wore a big sweater-coat, which he would keep unbuttoned and use as a sail with which to trap shots on their way across the goalmouth.

Although there was no rule governing play around the net, skaters soon learned a healthy respect for Moran’s personal space. Those who did not give way were hacked, slashed, ad bodied by the big goalie as a reminder of who owned the cage.

Paddy Moran started playing hockey at age 15 with Sarsfield, a Quebec City juvenile team. He was educated at St. Patricks School but the school was one of the few local institutions not to have a hockey team in the city. He was 17 when he moved to the Dominions, a junior club, and the team narrowly missed out on the junior title after a one-goal defeat to the Junior Crescents squad. By the age of 19, Moran was tending goal for the Crescent Intermediates and used his stand up style to help the team win an Intermediate Championship.

Moran made his big-league debut with the Quebec Bulldogs of the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association in 1905-06 and stayed with a Quebec-based team for all but one year of his career. He led the National Hockey Association in games won with ten in the 1911-12 season and followed up with a league leading 16 wins in 1912-13. The Bulldogs won the Stanley Cup in both of those seasons and Moran was picked to play for the NHA All-Stars in a 1912 exhibition series.

His Quebec teams, however, tended to lose more games than they won early on and Moran would attempt to keep the puck out of the net in any way possible. Moran played in the days prior to a goal crease being painted in front of the net and guarded his area like a stray dog with a bone. His quick stick was used for more than just deflecting shots and opposition players soon developed a healthy respect for Paddy's self-created "crease." He was a clutch goalie and in the big games was hard to beat.

Moran was particularly proud of the fact that he built his house entirely from his hockey earnings at a cost of about $4,000. He was honoured with induction to the Quebec Hockey Hall of Fame and was a faithful follower of the Quebec Aces Hockey Club in his later years.

Paddy Moran was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958.

To start with, I would pick Paddy Moran, of Quebec, and Percy Le Sueur, of Ottawa, for goal. I their heyday, Moran and Le Sueur were two of the smartest goalers I ever saw in action.

Paddy was in a class by himself when it came to chopping toes of opposing forwards who came within ranger, and in those days the skate toes weren’t so well padded.

Some nights, Paddy was so good that he was unbeatable.

Moran in goal was really wonderful. Time and again he stopped what seemed impossible shots, and not only stopped the shots, but stopped those terrible rushes for which the Victoria players are noted...The way Moran met some of the individual rushes of a maroon shirted player, with one of his own rushes, was a caution and Paddy wasn't always underneath.

Winchester played last year with the Winnipeg Maple Leafs and is considered quite up to the standard of Paddy Moran, of Quebec.

“Paddy” Moran...is almost impregnable against a shot from fair range...and the Vics only rolled up a big score by taking the rubber disc right to the mouth of the cage.

For Quebec, Moran gave an exception exhibition of goal-keeping. He was steady and sure, and he saved many a possible score. On one occasion, he gave a really sensational display, when he ran out and blocked two Shamrock men who had got inside the defence and were apparently bound to deliver the goods.

The irrepressible Paddy Moran, in goals, gave an exhibition that was worth the whole price of admissions to witness. Paddy has acquired a well-deserved reputation for performing sensational stunts, and last evening he treated the crowd to a number that were well-worth seeing and he saved the situation on several occasions by his quick-wit in realizing the situation.

….

In endeavoring to save a score Moran made a spectacular rush out of goals and fell on the puck, necessitating a face right in front of Quebec's poles, Ward batting the rubber in and giving the visitors their second tally.

In Quebec’s surprising showing, a big factor was the wonderful work of their goal-keeper, Paddy Moran, who in his long career probably never did better work than against Wanderers Saturday night. Moran stopped them from all angles, and his brilliant work put heart into the players in front of him and sent them after the Wanderers in a style that threatened to take the champions off their feet.

Paddy Moran will report to All-Montreal on December 15, the date from which all the contracts date. He will make All-Montreal strong in an important position, but loss f their star goaler of years will be a serious loss to Quebec.

…losing men like Moran and Powers who have been the backbone of the team for some seasons.

Four names stand very much to the front when it comes to picking the greatest hockey goalkeepers. They are Percy Lasueur, Paddy Moran, Dutchy Morrison, and Whitey Merritt.

Two of the men are still in harness, while the other two are remembered by thousands of fans who cheered their work in years gone by.

Paddy Moran is perhaps the one best bet of the four and his wonderful records with the Quebec team stamp him as the cleverest goal custodian of the east. Paddy at times was backed up by a team of indifferent merit, but his work did not suffer as a consequence, and many a victory for the ancient city’s team can be credited to his prowess in the nets. Paddy started out this year a little off color and there was talk of replacing him with a younger man. Then the Ottawa team went to Quebec and the old stonewall guardian of the citadel stood them on their heads in front of the nets and Quebec defeated the champions. This alone assured him his place for the rest of the season and hockey fans will have some new tales to tell of his great stops.

The score was 4 to 3, but Ottawa was plugging away, and Paddy Moran was stopping all kinds of chances. Finally, one of Paddy’s favorites came along, a long high one, and he got it with his hand, but he held onto it just a moment too long.

Tecumsehs were playing three men on the defence, and Quebec’s forwards could make little impression on them. Paddy Moran was kept busy stopping shots.

The hero of the match was undoubtedly Paddy Moran, who never played a better game in his life than he did last night. Time after time when the visitors' forwards had penetrated the Quebec defence Paddy sailed out and robbed them.

Paddy Moran, in the Quebec net, was in wonderful form. In the last period he stopped them from every angle, and Toronto could not get anything past him.

The feature of the game was the goal keeping of “Paddy” Moran. He had more than twice as many shots to stop as the local “tend” and turned aside some that looked to be sure counters. It was not the line, but Moran who won for the champions. Time and again the Wanderers forwards would get inside the champions defense, when Moran would come out to check the and turn aside shots made right on top of him, his checking back, breaking up many a rush and affording aid to the local defense.

The feature was the goalkeeping of Paddy Moran. He had double the number of opportunities given Boyes and turned aside some that looked to be sure counters. It was not the line, but Moran won for the champions.

Paddy Moran, although not having as much to do as in other games this year, handled the ones that did come his way in great style and stopped some almost impossible shots.

Moran and Lindsay played grand hockey all the way…

Paddy Moran, apart from leaving the goals a few times, gave a fine exhibition, blocking shots that looked dead on making some fine saves.

Patrick is at a loss to explain Vancouver’s defeat by the Wanderers on Monday night. He was so sure of winning that he readily consented when Art Ross requested permission to use Paddy Moran, the Quebec cage tender, to replace Warwick, the Wanderers’ goal man, who’s weakness in the net was responsible for the Wanderers’ defeat in the opening game of the series. It was Moran’s dependable work in the fending off the flying puck that kept the Vancouver score down and contributed to their defeat.

George and Stevens were doing much useful work for the Wanderers, but the home defence, with Paddy Moran continually shining, was always equal to the task.

Torontos left for Quebec last night. If the Ancient City squad are without Paddy Moran again the locals will put over a win sure.

Manager Querrie, of the Toronto professional hockey club, had practically decided that Goaler Hebert and Brooks will not do, and he is prepared to make a trade with the Wanderers for Paddy Moran.

Redpath’s drive would have fooled Paddy Moran….

Though he played in an age when individualism was the hallmark of the game, hockey can boast of few more colorful figures than Paddy Mora, goaltender of the Quebec Bulldogs. The Quebec Irishman who guarded the nets for the ancient capital’s major team from 1901 until 1917 simply reeked with color for none ever played the game with so much zest and more loved to win and hated to lose than Paddy Moran. At his peak, he was perhaps the best goaler of his time for when Paddy was “on” his game, he was well nigh unbeatable. He was absolutely fearless in the nets. Of all the players who ever wore the Quebec uniform, Moran is perhaps the best loved by the home fans for he had a kindly spirit which his fiery outbursts in the heat of struggles very much belied. His greatest following was among the youngsters of Quebec City for Paddy epitomized to them all that was great in a hockey player. He was the idol of his day in the ancient capital.

Paddy broke into the major hockey, then the Eastern Canada Hockey League, in the season of 1901-02. He played with the Bulldogs every season after that until 1916-17 when Quebec retired from the league, except for one campaign with Haileybury. This was in 1910 when the mining town went into hockey in a big way and Art Ross was commissioned to find the best goaltender available. It is significant that Moran was chosen.

Moran started his hockey career with the old Dominions in Quebec City at the age of 15. He later joined the Crescents, another famous team of the ancient capital and he was still in his early twenties when he became the goalkeeper of the Quebec entry in the E.C.H.A. Incidentally he replaced Francis Stocking, who is now located in this city. In the season of 1903-04, Quebec won the E.C.H.A. title but lost out to Ottawa in the Stanley Cup series. Moran, however, was one of those who was mainly instrumental in bringing the famous trophy to Quebec in the seasons of 1911-12 and again in 1012-13. He finished his hockey career when Quebec dropped out of the N.H.A. in 1916-17. The franchise was shifted to Hamilton the nest season and the present National Hockey League was formed.

Deeply religious, Moran frequently made visits to St. Patrick’s presbytery on trips here with the Quebec team to receive the blessing of a priest, who was a friend of his, before he went out on the ice. This was the Moran that few hockey fans knew, the wild Irishman who chased forwards up the ice when the tantalized him with bitter remarks for Paddy wouldn’t be ragged by anyone. He chased Newsy Lalonde almost the length of the rink one night and again on another occasion, pulled off his gloves and sailed into Russell Bowie. The Vic centre was a past master at getting Moran’s goat. Usually all Bowie had to say was “Go home to your twins, Moran,” and the battle was on.

The Moran legend also offers another interesting story though newspaper files fail to make mention of it. He was said to have scored a goal at the old Westmount Arena one night during a game when both teams were paying several men short through penalties. They tell how Moran stick-handled his way through two or three of the opposition and beat his opponent in the other goal. It is a unique effort if it actually ever happened.

Riley Hern deserves a place among the immortals of the game. In his peak years with the Wanderers, he was one of the best goaltenders of his time. Paddy Moran, of Quebec, was probably the only netminder to challenge his claim as being the greatest of his day.

It is always interesting to learn what hockey players think of opponents’ ability. It is perhaps the best method of rating any player. Dubbie Bowie claims the Silver Seven was the greatest team he ever played against for all-around class and ranks Winnipeg Victorias next. Frank McGee, he thinks, is the greatest individual star he ever competed against with Billy Gilmour, winger of the Silver Seven, a close second. As the hardest goaltender he ever had to beat, he picks Paddy Moran, of Quebec. ‘Some nights, Paddy was so good that he was unbeatable.” Remarks Bowie. “Then I knew I had to get his goat to score on him.” Frequently, these two had such tiffs that the excitable Moran would chase Bowie up and down the rink.

The practice of choosing all-star teams in major hockey is not a modern development. The practice dates back as early as 1905 when The Toronto News gathered a consensus among sports followers and hockey writers and published the first all-star team of record.

….

Herewith is listed the first all-star team in major hockey, drawn from the players of the Eastern Canada Hockey Association which, though an amateur league, was the major loop of the era. It is listed as follows:
Goal: Paddy Moran, Quebec Bulldogs
Point: Harvey Pulford, Ottawa
Cover point: Art Moore, Ottawa
Rover: Russell Bowie. Victorias
Centre: Frank McGee, Ottawa
Left wing: Blair Russell, Victorias
Right wing: Billy Gilmour, Ottawa

Moran was a really great goaler, one of the best that ever drew on the pads, but they tell that he had one great weakness and that was that his temper was short. The inimitable Newsy Lalonde was the man who discovered his Achilles Heel. All Newsy had to yell at Paddy when he rounded the nets was “Go home to your twins, Moran; you’re too old for this game” and Paddy blew his top. While he was still gesticulating wildly at the tormenting Newsy, some one else had put the puck in the net.

Joe Malone and Newsy Lalonde were recalling at their Hall of Fame dinner that one of the toughest goal-tenders I the old pro days was Paddy Moran of Quebec Bulldogs.

“Paddy chewed tobacco.” Newsy said, “and he could hit a key-hole at 40 paces. You had to duck when you skated behind his cage or he’d get you right between the eyes.”

A veteran of violence himself, Edouard Charles “Newsy” Lalonde doesn’t allow his natural dignity as one already enshrined in hockey’s Hall of Fame to interfere with his memories. In picking for weekend his “all-time, meanest, toughest team,” he has named himself to the position of coach.

…..

Behind the fearsome foursome on defense, Newsy places Paddy Moran, of the Quebec Bulldogs in goal, with the explaination:
“Paddy was in a class by himself when it came to chopping toes of opposing forwards who came within ranger, and in those days the skate toes weren’t so well padded. But his pet skill was squirting tobacco in your eye.

Riley Hern

Riley Hern, G

- 5'9, 170 lbs
- Member of the HHOF (1962)
- Stanley Cup (1907, 1908, 1910)
- Retro Vezina Trophy (1907*, 1909*, 1910*)
- Four Other League Titles (1902-WPHL, 1904-USPro, 1905-IHL, 1906-IHL)
- Five-Time Postseason All-Star (1902-WPHL, 1905-INL, 1906-IHL, 1907-ECAHA, 1909-ECAHA)
- Led his league in GAA six times (1904-US/World Pro, 1905-IHL, 1907-ECAHA, 1909-ECAHA)
- 97-43-2 in 142 recorded regular season pro games (3.88 GAA)
- 10-4 in 14 Stanley Cup Games (3.86 GAA)

If you consider leading your league in GAA, being an all-star, or winning the Stanley Cup or league championship a "significant" season, then Hern had 8 significant seasons in 9 years from 1902-1910!

Originally Posted by loh.net
Hern turned pro with the Pittsburgh Keystones of the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League in the 1901-02 season and led the league with nine victories in 14 games as the Keystones took the WPHL title. Hern's play was recognized in his selection to the league's First All-Star Team that year. The following season he led the league again, this time in losses, recording only one victory while losing ten!

He moved on to play the next two seasons with Houghton-Portage Lakes of the International Hockey League, leading them to the league title in both years as well as earning a First Team All-Star selection in 1905 and a Second Team All-Star selection the following season. Hern began the 1906-07 season with the Montreal Wanderers and would lead the Redbands to the Stanley Cup in four of the next five seasons before his retirement in 1911.

Riley Hern was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962.

Originally Posted by Players: The Ultimate A-Z Guide Of Everyone Who Has Ever Played In the NHL
One of the earliest superstar goalies, a player who won seven championships in his first nine seasons of hockey.

Originally Posted by Joe Pelletier
Signed by the Montreal Wanderers in 1906-07, Hern is often credited for the team winning their first Stanley Cup championship that season. The Wanderers went on to repeat their victory in 1908 and 1919 with Riley tending the net.

Originally Posted by Without Fear
Perfect 10-0 record with the Montreal Wanderers in 1906-1907 season; one of only four goalies to win at least four straight Cups (with Jacques Plante, Ken Dryden, and Billy Smith).

"Although it's difficult to know much about Riley Hern's style of play, it's clear that he was one of the best in the world at the turn of the century. You can imagine that a team like the Wanderers would have had there pick of goaltenders. All that is written about Hern suggests he was extremely quick around the net, and was a very smart player.

"Riley Hern was hockey's first truly professional goalie. His reputation was not one of being a great technical goalie, but much like Gerry Cheevers and Grant Fuhr of later eras, he didn't worry about goals-against average. All he did was win, recording a .720 winning percentage."

With almost 100 years now passed since Hern stood as sentinal for the Montreal Wanderers of the Natinal Hockey Association, it is difficult to unearth the intricacies of his style, and yet it remains obvious that he is deserving of a place among the all-time best. He was the chosen goalkeeper on a Wanderers team that relatively speaking might have been one of the best assemblages of talent ever to win Lord Stanley's chalice.

Journalistic accounts of the time suggest that Riley Hern relied on quickness and composure as his chief strengths. In describing Hern's play in the Wanderers 7-2 win against Kenora during a Stanley Cup series game on March 26, 1907 the Manitoba Free Press wrote: "Hern gave one of the finest exhibitions of goalkeeping ever seen here. He was quick as a flash in getting the puck away. He was undoubtedly given his team a stone wall in net". Evidence also suggests that Hern was a smart player who relied as much on his intellect as his athleticism. In the December 29, 1908, Montreal Star, a reporter offered that "Riley Hern was as careful and painstaking as ever. He treats his goaltending as he does his private business and that is probably the secret th his success"

"The father of professional goaltending, by some accounts. Hern knew how to take care of business on and off the ice. He was the first to translate sports fame into profitability. Hern was a winner because he backstopped a powerful Montreal Wanderers team.

Hern's GAA vs. the League Average in top-level play

Hern played 7 full seasons at the top levels (IHL, ECAHA, ECHA, NHA) - aside from his last season at age 32, he was always well ahead of the pack in GAA:

Year | League | Hern | Avg | Diff
1905 | IHL | 3.54 | 4.12 | -14%
1906 | IHL | 3.46 | 4.73 | -27%
1907 | ECAHA | 3.94 | 7.53 | -48%
1908 | ECAHA | 5.12 | 6.77 | -24%
1909 | ECHA | 5.03 | 6.9 | -27%
1910 | NHA | 3.42 | 6.47 | -47%
1911 | NHA | 5.43 | 5.12 | 6%
Totals | (Weighted) | 4.17 | 5.57 | -25%

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Percy LeSueur

Percy LeSueur, G

Position: Goaltender
HT/WT: 5'7", 150 lbs
Handedness: Left
Nickname(s): "Peerless Percy"
Born: November 21st, 1881 in Quebec City, QC

- Inducted into Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961.
- Credited with a Retro Vezina and a Retro Hart in 1906 by Ultimate Hockey.
- Awarded "Best Goaltender of the 1900's" by Ultimate Hockey
- 61 wins, 3 shutouts, career GAA of 4.39 in 119 NHA games played.
- 7 wins, career GAA of 4.44 in 9 playoff games played with the Senators.

Quotes

The gifts Percy LeSueur provided hockey extended far beyond his peerless ability to stop the puck. LeSueur was athletic enough to parry two and three shot in succession, even from close range, and was an able puckhandler, capable of clearing the biscuit to safety.

LeSueur was a pioneer and innovator, par excellence. He was a stand-up goalkeeper in the era when the rules prohibited netminders from lying, sitting, or kneeling in stopping the puck. He had an intense, roving style later attributed to Jacques Plante. 'He played with the alacrity of a tiger, reported the Ottawa Free Press in 1907. 'He played with his hands, head, and feet. He never throws the puck away and in the tightest corners carries it to the back of his net and gives it to one of his forwards. 'Facing a breakaway against Quebec, he ran out on the points of his skates and floored the attacker before he could shoot. As a player he developed a pad for the goaltender's gauntlet and in 1911 designed and patented the LeSueur net, with 17-inch deep top and a 22-inch deep bottom. He was a keen observer of the game and in 1909 wrote and published a 48-page booklet called "How to Play Hockey"

Legends of Hockey

Smiths Falls unsuccessfully challenged Ottawa for the Stanley Cup in early March 1906 with LeSueur in goal. His hockey season apparently over, LeSueur returned to his job as a bank clerk in town when he was picked up by Ottawa for the second game of their March 1906 Stanley Cup defence against the Montreal Wanderers. Ottawa was not able to defend the Cup but LeSueur stayed with the team for the following season and spent a total of eight seasons in Canada's capital.

LeSueur was a tall, standup goalie and was strong at clearing the puck. He was a student of the game and wrote a handbook of hockey which was given wide circulation while he was in his prime. He led the ECHA in wins with ten in 1908-09 and also led the NHA with 13 wins in 1910-11. Ottawa won the Stanley Cup in both years. He moved on to the Toronto Shamrocks in 1914-15 and the Toronto Blueshirts in 1915-16, where he ended his playing career.

As a coach, he led Galt to the intermediate OHA title in 1921 and was behind the bench for the Hamilton Tigers of the NHL for part of the 1923-24 season. He was the first manager of both the Windsor Arena and the Detroit Olympia. In 1927-28, he managed the Detroit entry in the Can-Pro League and during the 1928-29 season he was manager of the new Peace Bridge Arena in Fort Erie, Ontario, and also oversaw the Buffalo entry in the International Hockey League. LeSueur also invented the gauntlet-style glove for goaltenders and the style of net used from 1912 to 1925 in both the NHA and NHL.

Dubbed "Peerless Percy" by Malcolm Brice, sports editor of the Ottawa Free Press, LeSueur said that his biggest thrill was joining the Silver Seven in 1906 but running a close second was being chosen to play goal for the All-Star team in the Hod Stuart Memorial game in 1908, the first all-star game in hockey history.

Greatest Hockey Legends

Percy LeSueur started his hockey career in 1905-06, as a goaltender for Smith's Falls in the Federal Amateur Hockey League. He was to remain in hockey and have a profound influence on the sport for 50 years.

Smith's Falls is likely the least known of the Stanley Cup finalists, but the Ottawa Silver Seven certainly took note of goaltender Lesueur. Though the Silver Seven discarded the challenge of Smith's Falls with ease, Lesueur put on a show that impressed his opponents so much that they subsequently signed him, and used him almost immediately in replacing goalie Bouse Hutton.

Lesueur, a native of Quebec City who doubled as a bank clerk, would go onto become a goaltending legend. Percy rose to stardom in the 8 years he guarded the net in the nation's capital. He joined the team in 1906-07 and enjoyed two Stanley Cup wins in 1909 and 1911. LeSueur captained the team for three years before he was traded to the Toronto Ontarios in 1914. He played two seasons in Toronto and then joined the 48th Highlanders, giving him a tour of duty overseas.

He may best be remember by modern fans for introducing the "gauntlet type" goalie glove. He also served as an original member of the famous early radio broadcast "Hot Stove League."

Peerless Percy was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961.

Wikipedia

LeSueur improved upon existing ice hockey equipment: he invented the gauntlet-style goaltender glove which protected the forearms, and created and patented the LeSueur net which was designed to catch high-rising shots.

LeSueur's work in net was impressive: the Montreal Star remarked that his performance in the first game had kept the Seniors in contention, noting that the "most spectacular saves of the match were made by [him]"

Coincidentally, LeSueur's last season with Ottawa also marked the end of the Stanley Cup challenge era. In Stanley Cup play, LeSueur had a 7–2 overall record and was undefeated in seven games with Ottawa.

...fellow Hall of Famer Newsy Lalonde described him as "one the best goalies he ever faced", and Cyclone Taylor, a teammate on the 1909 Stanley Cup-winning Senators team, stated that LeSueur would always be in goal whenever "he was asked to pick an All-Star team"

Without Fear

Despite being decidedly outplayed in the opener of the two-game, total-goal series, Smith Fall's came away 6-5 losers, thanks to the work of LeSeur. "The most spectacular saves of the match were made by LeSeur, "noted the Montreal Star's account of the game. "Three of Ottawa's forwards got right down on him. First Frank McGee, then Harry Westwick, then Harry Smith shot, but on each occasion, though they were only a yard or two away, he managed to stop the puck and get it to safety. The way he stopped the most dangerous shots was a sight rarely seen." Although Ottawa overpowered Smith Fall's 8-2 in Game 2, the credentials of the man who would become known as "Peerless Percy" were established. The Silver Seven were so impressed that they decided it might be best for all concerned if LeSueur joined them.

Ottawa claimed that LeSueur's arrival in town was a coincidence. He'd moved to Ottawa anyway, so the Silver Seven figured they might as well sign him up. Owning an eight-goal lead in the two-game set, the Wanderers didn't protest his eligibility too vehemently. Montreal's Moose Johnson tallied an early goal, the LeSueur erected a barricade in front of his cage, as Ottawa poured in nine succesive tallies to tie the count. Only a pair of late goals by Lester Patrick prevented the Wanderers from blowing the biggest scoreboard advantage in Stanley Cup history.

LeSueur performed in Ottawa goal for eight seasons, leading the team to a pair of Stanley Cup titles, working as Ottawa's captain, coach, and manager during his tenure. "He is a sharp as a needle and recovers quickly," commented the Montreal Star. "He is a goaltender of high class"

LeSeur was an innovator because he changed the way the position was played by designing the first goalie gloves. A thinking man's goalie, he continued to come up with alterations that improved the game during and after his playing days.

Professional Sports Team Histories: Hockey

... the Silver Seven quickly acquired the services of the day's greatest goalie, "Peerless" Percy LeSueur (he had played against Ottawa just over a week earlier for Smiths Falls in their unsuccessful Cup challenge).

One Hundred Years of Hockey

Ottawa then eliminated Smith's Falls, champions of the Federal League in two straight games, but lost no time in picking up the Falls' outstanding goalie Percy LeSueur before their series with the Wanderers.

Hamilton's Hockey Tigers

Percy Lesueur, who coached Hamilton during the 1923-24 season, had been a star goaltender and hockey innovator.

The Renfrew millionaires: the valley boys of winter 1910

Percy LeSueur, the great Ottawa net-minder in 1909,

Great Goaltenders: Stars of Hockey's Golden Age

Benedict was brought in to be the understudy of Ottawa's legendary goalie, Percy LeSueur. It must have been difficult for Benedict to spend most of his time riding the pine during his first two seasons as a professional.

Our Game: The History of Hockey in Canada

The great Ottawa Senators goaler Percy LeSueur, a Stanley Cup winner before the NHL was established.

Putting it on Ice: Hockey and cultural identities

Percy LeSueur was the Stanley Cup champion goal tender of the Ottawa Senators, who, entering the 1912 season, was mid-way through an illustrious playing career.

New York Times - Mar 22, 1911

Again the goal tending of Percy LeSueur saved the Ottawa team from defeat.

Ces héros du passé, translated

The other is Percy LeSueur, who made ​​his mark in front of goal between 1903 and 1916. Talented forward in his teens he played his first game in the pros on the right wing for the Quebec Hockey Club. But it is by threading the skinny leggings of the time he shone with the Silver Seven and the Ottawa Senators, where he won three Stanley Cups. Interestingly, it was he who invented the glove of goalie style that continues today. He joined the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961.

Calgary Daily Herald - Apr 8, 1913

Percy LeSueur, the peerless goalkeeper of the Ottawa Hockey Team...

New York Times - Mar 21, 1911

Percy Le Sueur was so effective and so capable that it appeared easy.

Mantioba Ensign - Jan 6, 1951

... Those who handle selections to the Hockey Hall of Fame get busy and add a few names which have too long missing from the roll of honor of Canada's national sport.

For a start, the names of such hockey immortals as Jack Marshall and Dickie Boon are suggested along with two others, Percy Lesueur and XXXXX XXXXXXXX

... LeSueur was a fine goalie in his own right and was a member of the famed Ottawa Silver Seven

Thanks to JFA for additional quotes/information.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Hugh Lehman

Hugh Lehman

-Eleven time PCHA First Team All-Star (1912, '14, '15, '16, '18, '19, '20, '21, '22, '23, '24)
-Eight time Stanley Cup Finalist, One time winner (1910, '10, '15, '18, '21, '22, '23, '24)

Longevity:
If we take a conservative approach and say his 11 first teams in a split league era are the equivalent of being a top 4 goalie. That puts him between Hall (12 or 13) and Patrick Roy & Martin Brodeur (10). He played 22 years of serious hockey. 16 at a major pro level. Playing until he was 42. He was 26 when he received his first first team all-star and 38 when he got his last.

His contract reposes in the club's strong box, and Mr. Patrick sighed with relief when he recieved it, for Lehman has no peer today as a custodian.
One of the super-stars of the game, Lehman has no counterpart in sport on the continent. Where are the baseball, the lacrosse or the track star of 22 years ago today--gone where the woodbine and the ivy twines enjoying the fruit of early endeavors in ease and comfort.

hose who suggest that Lehman is about through should have seen him in action against Canadiens last year in the world's series. Early in the first game a flying puck broke the Lehman nose. He was off briefly for repairs, came on again and played spectacularly. Next game he played equally well. He was hailed as the most wonderful goalkeeping star in Canada and his work was regarded as faultless.

Source

The fish-cold statistics of record books tell the story of Hugh Lehman's hockey life. Few players can match his nomadic exploits and, quite possibly, there never has been a goalkeeper who can match his ironman career.

Source

Comparisons to Peers:
What we see time and again, over a long period of time, and from the West Coast to Ontario. Hugh Lehman was the benchmark for superior goalkeeping. When others are said to be better than Lehman, it is high praise. (When Charlie Gardiner is, we can safely say that Gardiner's peak value is high, but his career value is lacking.) And when others are said to be less than Lehman, it is no criticism at all.

and last but not least, the goal-minders, who have demonstrated that they can stop the hard shots a la George Vezina and Hugh Lehman.

Source

As a goalkeeper, Lesueur is still in a class by himself. They talk about Moran, Holmes, Vezina and others, but the only net guardian capable of giving Lesuer a run for the honours is Hugh Lehman

Source

Gardiner is even greater than Hughie Lehman, known as "Eagle Eye" was in his prime.

Source

Holmes work last season was sensational at times, but he had nothing on Hugh Lehman

Source

Hugh Lehman who has been a star for the last twenty years. And it could not be said that youth was served to the detriment of Lehman this time, as the veteran played equally as well as the St. Patrick's wizard.

Source

Hugh Lehman, the best goaltender in the game, will be between the flags

Source

Ottawas will be sure of a good goalkeeper if they land Hugh Lehman.

Source

Coast lacrosse fans, by every indication, have said goodbye to Bun Clark. The veteran goalie, whose name in gutted stick circles is on a par with Hugh Lehman in hockey

Source

Toughness:
There are multiple reports about how Lehman wasn't a goalie who took any guff from forwards trying to intimidate him and throw him off his game.

Hugh Lehman and Harvey Corbeau of the Berlin professional hockey team and Benj. Dusty and Reg. Sanford of the Brantford team were charged at Brantford today with fighting in a game of hockey Monday Night. The fight really took place, although a squad of police had been sent to the rink anticipating trouble. The magistrate found it difficult to decide who were the aggressors and discharged all hands.

Source

If this is an age of hero worship in athletics write the name Hugh Lehman, the "eagle eye" of the fastest sport in the world, high up on the small boys shrine. Clean, purposeful, active and bettle-browed in action, no man has ever taken liberties with Lehman's citadel and escaped scathless.

Source

Puck Handling:
Hugh Lehman was one of the first goalies who handled the puck on a regular basis, prevented dump and chase tactics and benefited the offence with a quick transition game.

Lehman for years has maintained his reputation as the most colorful goalie in the game. His mind works with the speed of an electric battery and his ability to size up a situation quickly and toss a pass to an uncovered colleague is one of his greatest assets in the moil and turmoil of a furious struggle. Many a quick break away of the Maroons has been engineered by Lehman.

Source

The latitude the code allows the goal keeper in the matter of passing out the puck was made evident by Hughie Lehman, the custodian for the coast team. His clearing and passing out proved a revelation to many and certainly added to the spectacle, for many of his moves were smart, as well as calculated and frequently baffled the Canadien forwards, who were boring in on the goal.

Source

Bidding Wars:
Prior to his arrival on the West coast, Lehman was the subject of constant bidding wars in Ontario, with Galt, Berlin/Kitchener and the Ottawa Senators all vying for his services. Berlin/Kitchener was most successful. Then when the Patrick family formed a Western league, he was the star acquisition for goalkeepers, while Moose Johnson was the star skater.

The Ottawa club, as announced by The Citizen last week is still negociating with Hugh Lehman. Berlin hockey magnates say that Lehman has signed there while Chairman Bate of the Ottawa team's committee announces that the former Pembroke boy has accepted Ottawa's terms.

Source

Galt and Berlin both now claim Hugh Lehman.

Source

Hugh Lehman, the crack goalkeeper of the Berlin club, has signed a contract to play with one of the Vancouver teams in the new league. Lehman, according to Patrick, will receive one of the largest salaries ever paid a goalkeeper in Canadian hockey.

Source

Conclusion:

By this time Lehman had all but cemented his status as the best goalie outside of the NHL. He led the PCHA in goals against six times and played in 8 Stanley Cup finals. He was an innovator, becoming one of the earliest goalies to venture out of his net to stickhandle the puck. One mythical story has Lehman skating up ice and scoring a goal. No evidence of this feat exists in Vancouver newspaper archives, although some suggest it may have happened back when Lehman was still playing in Ontario.

http://blackhawkslegends.blogspot.com/2007/04/hugh-lehman.html

Typically speaking, discussing the 1910's generation of goalies (Clint Benedict, Hugh Lehman, Georges Vezina and Harry Holmes) have been compared in a zero sum game. If Georges Vezina is close to Clint Benedict, as shown in my bio last year then Benedict must not be a top ten goalie. Which has been shown to be balderdash in vecens' bio this year. So clearly what we should be doing is viewing them as a positive sum game. If Vezina is around the same as Benedict, and Benedict is a top 10 goalie, then Vezina is at least top 15. And if Hugh Lehman is the best of the Western leagues, which were a peer of the Eastern leagues. Then Hugh Lehman is also a top 15 goalie. And if this seems like an oversell, then I look at this fact. Lehman, Benedict, Vezina and Holmes were all elite goalies, arguably the best in the world, for over 10 years, closer to 15. A generation of goalies having that degree of consistent success over a stretch that long happens two other times in history, those being: Sawchuk, Plante, Hall & Worsley and Roy, Hasek, Brodeur & Belfour. The top three from those two generations are almost always rated as the top 6 or 7 goaltenders of all time. So why is the 1910's generation rated so low? They changed the game. Playing low, handling the puck and countless other ways they defined the position. They created a clear gap between haves and have-nots in goalies. So instead of viewing Benedict as an all-time great and his peers somehow not top 20, we should view Benedict, Vezina and Lehman as a generation that is close to Sawchuk, Plante and Hall or Roy, Hasek and Brodeur, and Holmes as a Worsley/Belfour of the generation. I end with a quote reminding us that past generations can be the peers of, or superiors of latter generations, and that that is one of the key tenants of the work we do here.

Any six of them [PCHA star players] could hold their own against any of the all-star selections [1st, 2nd & 3rd teams for the entire 1930's] or any group picked from current players

Source

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Georges Vezina

Georges Vezina

One of the dominant goaltenders in the NHA and early NHL, Vézina led the Canadiens to five Stanley Cup Finals appearances, where they won the title twice.[25] Seven times in his career, Vézina had the lowest goals-against average in the league he played, and he had the second-best average another five times.[26] From when he joined the Canadiens in 1910, until being forced to retire in 1925, Vézina never missed a game nor allowed a substitute, playing in 328 consecutive regular season games and an additional 39 playoff games.[7][27] Though he played the bulk of his career in an era when goaltenders could not leave their feet to make a save (the rule was changed in 1918),[28] Vézina is regarded as one of the greatest goaltenders in hockey history;[29] the Montreal Standard referred to him as the "greatest goaltender of the last two decades" in their obituary.[30]

Well liked in Montreal, Vézina was often seen as the best player on the ice for the Canadiens, and was respected by his teammates, who considered him the spiritual leader of the team.[8]

Vezina was the first goalie in NHL history to post a GAA under 2.00. He did this in 1923-24.

Awards and Achievements (via Dreakmur)

Inaugural Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame

2 x Stanley Cup Champion (1916, 1924)
6 x Stanley Cup Finalist (1914, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1924, 1925)
5 x NHA Champion (1916, 1917, 1919, 1924, 1925)

6 x Retro Vezina Winner (1911, 1912, 1914, 1918, 1924, 1925)

Ranked #75 on The Hockey News’ list of 100 Greatest Hockey Players.

Ultimate Hockey’s “Best Goaltender†of the 1910s.

Numbers:
Goals Against Average – 1st(1911), 1st(1912), 1st(1914), 1st(1918), 1st(1924), 1st(1925), 2nd(1913), 2nd(1915), 2nd(1916), 2nd(1917), 2nd(1919), 2nd(1922), 2nd(1923)

Consolidated GAA – 1st(1911), 1st(1912), 1st(1914), 1st(1924), 1st(1925), 2nd(1918), 3rd(1916), 3rd(1917), 3rd(1922), 3rd(1923)

Play-off Results:
1914 – lost to Hap Holmes
1917 – beat Clint Benedict
1918 – lost to Hap Holmes
1919 – beat Clint Benedict
1923 – lost to Clint Benedict
1924 – beat Clint Benedict
1925 – beat undrafted goalie

Nayld Psycho's bio shows that a variety of sources considered Vezina the best goalie in the world while he still played:

This isn't a traditional biography. There is simply one misconception I want cleared up. That Vezina benefited from "Kurt Cobain syndrome" where in, because of his death, he is viewed as better than he actually was. So I have collected a series of quotes, everyone before his death, and everyone from English publications. (French publications would potentially bias towards him.) This should get rid of any doubt of how he was perceived while he played.

Georges Vezina, goalkeeper of the Montreal Canadiens, who is conceded to be the best net guardian in the game.

Another development at Ottawa was the signing of Clint Benedict to occupy the nets for the Ottawa team during the forthcoming season Clint is generally regarded as the second best to George Vezina of the Flying Frenchmen.

George Vezina, the brilliant goal-keeper of the Canadiens, often said to be as good as two men, jumped into prominence when he joined the Habitants in 1911. Born in Chicoutimi twenty-eight years ago, Vezina started playing goals when a youngster. Manager George Kennedy witnessed a game in which he was playing in 1910, and immediately signed him up. Ever since he has played in front of the nets for the Flying Frenchmen, and today is one of the highest payed goal-tenders in the business.

Vezina, George: Goalkeeper, 28 years old, and from Chicoutimi. Joined the Canadiens in 1910 and made good on the jump. The most consistent goalkeeper in the N.H.A. and as clean a player as the game knows. His success is largely consequent upon the fact that he attends stricktly to business all the time, and never tries to pull any funny stuff.

There ???(I assume "is a") strong possibility that the National Hockey assiciation will this year be without the services of its most brilliant goalkeeper, Vezina of the Canadiens.

This paper was poorly scanned, but it was about a proposed deal that when Lalonde was playing out West, Vezina would be traded straight up for him to bring Lalonde back to Montreal.

...the goaltenders, who have demonstrated that they can stop the hard shots a la George Vezina and Hugh Lehman.

From a Regina paper, infers that Lehman is the class of the West and Vezina of the East.

During the intermission he hustled George Vezina, recognized as the best goal-keeper in the NHA, into one of the Guards uniforms.

This was from an a game where NHA all-stars played an army team. For the third period, the coach of the army team (Vezina's coach on the Habs.) snuck Vezina into the army teams goal. Here is the scoring per period:
1st: 4-1 NHA
2nd: 5-1 NHA
3rd: 3-1 Army

Number One Team- Goal, Georges Vezina; defence, Sprague Cleghorn and Hod Stuart (deceased); center, Frank Nighbor; right wing, undrafted; left wing, Tommy Phillips (deceased)

This was from a MacLeans article about the best Canadian hockey players. The article I'm quoting was critical of the list for East coast bias. And there were many things on the three teams that raised my eyebrows. But it is still useful to see how some regarded Vezina while he was alive.

Benedict and Vezina were the "kings of the net" of their era (via vecens0

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.

(Benedict) 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

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.

Notice that the case for Benedict always goes back to his Goals against Average

Legacy

When you talk about goaltenders, you have to start with Georges Vezina. By an almost unanimous vote of hockey people, he was the greatest the game has ever had. I remember him fairly well.

In 1918 when I broke into the National League with Toronto, Vezina was with Les Canadians. He was near the end of his career, but was still a marvel in the nets, as I found out the first time I skated in on him.

I thought I had him beat, I thought I had a cinch goal, but he had figured exactly what I was going to do, and brushed aside the shot, as easily as you'd strike a match.

Vezina was a big fellow... I'd say he was about five feet 11 inches tall, without his skates on and he looked even taller in uniform because he always wore a red and blue toque. He had big hands and he used an exceptionally long stick.
...
He played a stand-up game, sliding from post to post, making save that seemed impossible by outguessing the puck carriers.

That was his strong point. Like all great goalers, he studied the styles of every forward in the league. He could sense what one of them would do under a given set of circumstances and was usually prepared. He guess wrong sometimes, of course, but not often.
...
I played against Vezina for three or four years. Many times he broke my heart by turning back what looked like a certain score. He was a real master. He had perfect co-ordination and an uncanny instinct.

Jack Adams then went on to say that due to changes in the nature of the position, Vezina might not actually be any more effective than the best recent goalies (Charlie Gardiner, John Ross Roach, and Tiny Thompson were named). Marty Barry was present for the interview and this is his reaction:

Adams was now striking at one of the legends of hockey. Marty Barry, sitting on a rubber table next to the Honey Walker, was startled. Never before had he heard anyone question Vezina's superiority. He was too surprised to interrupt and Adams went on (about the changes in the game making a goalie's job harder since Vezina's time)
...
"I see what you mean," said Barry, only half convinced.

The Sunday Sun, Feb 1, 1936

I think it's clear that rightly or wrongly by 1936 - 10 years after Vezina's death - "conventional wisdom" considered him the best goalie of the era - better than Clint Benedict, Hugh Lehman, or Hap Holmes.

Later, in 1953:

Jack Adams said he thought that the only old-timer who might measure up to the to the modern goalers was the immortal Georges Vezina himself.
...
But Vezina played in the days of parallel passing and kitty-bar-the-door when a lot of shots were fired from far out. We doubt if he would be as successful today unless he changed his style. But we think that Vezina, Clint Benedict, George Haimsworth, Roy Worters, and other great goalers of the past would be about to adapt to the changing conditions. They were only as good as they had to be.

Montreal Gazette, Mar 9, 1953

Deconstructing the statistical argument for Clint Benedict

HockeyOutsider made the definitive post on Benedict back during the 2008 HOH Top 100 project. Here it is: http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=14266091&postcount=20

HO's argument rested on two facts:

1) Benedict led the NHL in team stats GAA, wins, and shutouts many times.
2) The fact that Ottawa's GAA tanked after Benedict left is proof he wasn't a product of his team.

I'll address point 2 first. My argument with mark over George Hainsworth led to an interesting discovery: Montreal's GAA tanked after Vezina left and recovered as soon as they got Hainsworth. In 1922-23, Montreal was 2nd best of 4 teams in GAA. In 1923-24 and 1924-25, Montreal was 1st in GAA. Vezina played every game both seasons. Vezina only played 1 game in the 1925-26 season and Montreal's GAA tanked to 6th out of 7 teams backstopped by Herb Rheaume and Frenchy Lacroix! They brought in George Hainsworth for the 1926-27 season, and led the NHL in GAA three seasons in a row.

By contrast, after Clint Benedict left Ottawa, their GAA dropped from 2 of 4 to 4 of 6 teams as a young Alec Connell replaced Benedict. 2 years after Benedict left, Ottawa was back up to 1st in GAA (the 1925-26 season Montreal's starters were a mess).

So no, Benedict wasn't a product of his team. But his personal contribution to GAA does not appear to be unique.

So then the entire statistical argument for Clint Benedict boils down to point 1 - his team stats were the most impressive of the era. I've become increasingly suspicious of Benedict's team stats - after all, in Ottawa, he played behind Frank Nighbor, the best defensive forward of the era. He played behind Eddie Gerard, Georges Boucher, and King Clancy. At one point, the two best defensemen in the world (Eddie Gerard and Sprague Cleghorn) played in front of Benedict. And this was an era when starters played the majority of the game, so these guys could dominate for the majority of the game. It should be noted that Ottawa led the NHL in GAA 5 seasons in a row, then Eddie Gerard retired at the end of the 1922-23 season and they fell to second the following season (Benedict's last with the team).

Not to mention the fact that Benedict's teams tended to be very defensive minded, while Vezina played behind "the Flying Frenchmen."

Iain Fyffe's "points allocation system" attempts to boil down a player's contributions to a single number, much like hockey-reference's "points shares," but unlike the guys at hockey-reference who are stats guys brought over from other sports, Iain is actually a hockey fan. In fact, I doubt there is anyone in the world more qualified at statistical analysis of the early era. The system isn't perfect - it's impossible to perfectly determine a single player's contribution to winning a hockey game based on statistics, especially the limited ones of the early era. But it's a vast improvement off a straight up look at team stats like GAA, because it attempts to separate player from team.

Iain recently compared Vezina and Benedict using his "points allocation system:" http://hockeyhistorysis.blogspot.com/2012/02/vezina-v-benedict.html

This is his conclusion:

Oh dear, that didn't help much did it? Vezina has a better career average (though that might be due to missing stats for his pre-Montreal days), but Benedict had better best seasons. Vezina was strikingly consistent, which is quite a tribute given the shoddy defences he often played behind in his early years. Benedict generally benefited from better teams in front of him, but was still remarkable in his own right.

If I had to choose, I'd probably go with Vezina, since you would know exactly what you were going to get. Benedict could often be better, but sometime noticeably worse as well. Hard to complain about either of them.

I don't think we can rely on team stats any longer to make the case for Benedict over Vezina.

Conclusion: Georges Vezina should be considered Clint Benedict's equal. Multiple contemporary sources view Vezina, not Benedict, as the best goalie of the era, and they did so both before and after his early death. The case for Benedict as the best of his era relies entirely on team-dependent stats.

The majority of sources that call Benedict the best goalie of the era are books and articles written long after he died, that point to his team-dependent stats as evidence. The majority of people who watched them play seem to prefer Vezina. Normally, I'd say that at this point, the evidence points to Vezina as a clearly better goalie than Benedict. But this is a unique case - Benedict's style of goaltending was not appreciated in his era. His nickname "Praying Benny" was not a compliment and was a derisive nickname, making fun of how he looked when he dropped to his knees.

However, I think the evidence is also clear that there is no longer any reason other than hfboards canon (which is mainly based off of team-dependent stats) to rank Benedict over Vezina.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Hap Holmes

G Hap Holmes

13-14, 16-17, 17-18, 24-25 Stanley Cup Champion
13-14 NHA, 16-17, 18-19, 19-20, 20-21, 21-22 PCHA Retro Vezina
15-16, 16-17, 18-19, 19-20, 20-21, 21-22, 22-23 PCHA 2nd Team All-Star
24-25 WCHL All-Star
21-22 PCHA Retro Hart
Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame

Legends of Hockey

One of the preeminent netminders of his era, Harry "Hap" Holmes excelled in all five of the top pro leagues from 1912 to 1928. He made an impact in the National Hockey Association, Pacific Coast Hockey Association, Western Canada Hockey League, Western Hockey League and National Hockey League. A sterling playoff performer, Holmes backstopped two Stanley Cup wins in Toronto and one each in Seattle and Victoria. He was the leading goalie six times in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association/Western Canada Hockey League when such rivals as Hugh Lehman and George Hainsworth were still on the ice. In Stanley Cup play, he out-dueled such legends as Georges Vezina and Clint Benedict.

Holmes ventured east again with Seattle in 1920 to challenge Ottawa for the Stanley Cup. Despite his brilliance, the westerners lost a close series to the powerhouse Senators. He led the PCHA in shutouts four times and in wins on two occasions. He enjoyed two successful years with the Victoria Cougars from 1924 to 1926, leading the WCHL/WHL in his goals-against average.

In 1924-25, his brilliance led Victoria past the Saskatoon Sheiks in the WCHL playoffs. In the Stanley Cup championship match with the Montreal Canadiens, Holmes starred along with Jack Walker and Frank Frederickson as Victoria became the last non-NHL team to win the Stanley Cup. The heroic netminder became the first goalie to win the Cup with four different franchises. That year he also attained his own personal triumph over Habs netminder Georges Vezina, against whom he'd waged the memorable but undecided battle in the 1919 championship series.

Wikipedia

Holmes was a stand-up style goaltender; later on in his career, Holmes wore a cap when in goal to protect his head from objects thrown by spectators, as it presented a tempting target to them.

Red Wings Legends

Hockey Hall of Famer Harry "Hap" Holmes played only 103 NHL games, but enjoyed a 15 year career with 5 different leagues. He was one of hockey's early star puck stoppers, and had he not spent his best years out west, Hap Holmes almost certainly would be bigger legend in hockey circles today.

Holmes strapped on the pads for Toronto of the NHA, Seattle of the PCHA, Victoria of the WCHL which would later become the WHL, and Toronto and Detroit of the NHL.

Though much of his career pre-dated the NHL or was spent out west in the PCHA/WHL, the legendary Holmes finally became a NHL star at the end of his career. He, like most surviving members of the Victoria Cougars, relocated to Detroit. He played the final two seasons of his career in the Motor City, earning an impressive 17 shutouts in 85 games.

Described as both fearless and non-chalent almost to a fault. Some mistook his "nerveless" approach to the net as lazy, just like some mistook his efficient play as unspectacular.

Make no mistake, Hap Holmes truly was one of the best goaltenders in the world in his long, 15 year career. He was arguably the best goalie in the PCHA for six straight years. He saved his best play for the playoffs. His four Stanley Cup championships with four different teams should be stuff of legend. He even outduelled the likes of Georges Vezina and Clint Benedict.

The Toronto World, Mar 30, 1920

Harry Holmes, goalie without peer, was his old self. His saving was of the finished order, and he kept the score down.

The Toronto World, Oct 22, 1918

Harry Holmes, the sterling goaler, is still in Toronto

The Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol. 1 (via BM67)

Happy Holmes was an exceptional goaler who played in both the east and west, compiling an average that is second only to that of Clint Benedict when weighted with the length of his career. He was on seven chamionship teams, four of which won the Stanley Cup.

This great goalkeeper seemed taken for granted and little refence was made of the extraordinary record that he was compiling. The eccentricities of other goalers kept many of them in the news but Holmes, if mentioned, was usually reported as playing a steady game. This he maintained throughout his career.

Ultimate Hockey (via BM67)

Harry "Hap" Holmes was goalie of uncommon grit. Sportswriters called him "Nerveless." He played in 409 top-level contests in his career with Toronto, Seattle, Detroit, and Victoria. If there had been a throphy for the league's top goalie in his day, he may very well have taken half a dozen. In all, he counted 40 shutouts, adding 7 more in 48 playoff contests, and he put up a career goals-against average of 2.81 and backstopped seven league championship squads and four Stanley Cup winners.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Clint Benedict 1

Clint Benedict by Hockey Outsider

TDMM edit: Here are Bendict's NHA stats, via overpass:

-Benedict led the league in GAA and Wins in 1915. 1st in GP.
-Benedict led the league in GAA and was 2nd in wins (Georges Vezina) in 1916. 1st in GP
-Benedict led the league in GAA and led the league in wins in 1917. 2nd in GP.

*Numbers from Wikipedia, which give the Trail of the Stanley Cup as the original source.

I'll start by summarizing his accomplishments in chart form:

Year | Games | Wins | Shutouts | GAA | Other
1918 | 1st | 2nd | 1st | |
1919 | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st |
1920 | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | Won Stanley Cup
1921 | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | Won Stanley Cup
1922 | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st |
1923 | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | Won Stanley Cup
1924 | | 1st | 1st | 2nd |
1925 | 1st | | | |
1926 | 1st | 2nd | | |
1927 | | | 2nd | 1st |
1928 | 1st | 2nd | | |
1929 | | | | |
1390 | | | | |

In his thirteen year career, Clint Benedict led the NHL in the following categories: games played 9 times; shutouts 7 times; GAA 6 times; and wins 6 times. This level of statistical dominance is on par with that of Hasek, Durnan and Dryden. Benedict's record would be even better if you included his NHA seasons (the only reason I haven't done that myself is I don't have access to the data).

Admittedly I don't like using wins, shutouts or GAA (all strongly influenced by a goalie's team) when more accurate data is available. However, there's evidence that Benedict was not just a product of his team.

How do we know that Benedict wasn't a product of his team? Let's consider the 1925 season. Benedict was shipped away from Ottawa (who had won three Cups in the past five years). Ottawa fell from 1st in the league and 2nd in goals against, to 4th in the league in both points and goals against (in a six-team league with two expansion teams). Benedict was sent to the Montreal Maroons, one of the two expansion teams. Benedict's Maroons actually finished 3rd in the league in goals against; not only did they beat the Bruins and the established St. Patricks (Leafs), but they actually surrendered fewer goal's than Benedict's old team, the Senators! The Sens still had a great blueline featuring Clancy, Boucher and Hitchman, not to mention defensive forward Nighbor. Unless you think that playing behind a defense corp of Dunc Munro, Gerry Munro, Geroge Carroll and Frank Cain was the key to Benedict's success, it seems clear that Benedict was the key to the Sens' success.

In short: once Benedict was taken off a dynasty team (that retained the rest of their core players), the team's goals-against and win percentage suffered dramatically. Benedict led an expansion team with a weak blueline to a better defensive record (ie fewer goals against) than his former team.

Benedict was the best playoff performer of his era. In addition to win three Stanley Cups in the NHL, his GAA dropped by 0.46 in the playoffs, falling to under two goals per game. During the span of his career, Benedict was responsible for 30% of all shutouts in the playoffs!

Although there is a tendency to say that Benedict played long ago when goaltending was much different, it's worth emphasizing that Benedict was one of the most innovative and creative goalies of his era. Benedict is generally regarded as the first goalie to routinely fall to the ice to make a save - in fact, the NHL was forced to change the rules that required goalies to always remain standing, to accommodate Benedict's new style. Benedict was also the first goalie in NHL history to wear a mask, beating Plante by 30-something years.

Unfortunately there were few awards in Benedict's era. All-star teams were not introduced until 1931, the year after his retirement. The Hart trophy wasn't introduced until 1924 (towards the end of Benedict's peak) but he still finished 3rd in 1925 (behind Burch and Morenz).

In summary, Clint Benedict was the best goalie in the NHL's first decade. His statistical dominance is on par with Hasek, he was an elite playoff performer, and, as indicated by the 1924 trade, he was the key to his team's success.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Clint Benedict 2

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.â€

(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.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

John Ross Roach

John Ross Roach, G

• Stanley Cup starter in 1922
• Third in Hart voting in 1923-24, 1st among goalies.
  This was an incredibly tight vote:
  1. Frank Nighbor, Ott C 37
  2. Sprague Cleghorn, Mtl D 36
  3. John Ross Roach, Tor G 35
• 1928: Finished 4th in All Star voting on the unofficial team behind Worters, Hainsworth, and Connell. This is the only unofficial AS Team with have as of now.
• 1931: Single 1st place vote for AS Goalie
• 1932: 4th in AS voting behind Gardiner, Worters and Hainsworth
• 1933: 1st Team All Star. Charlie Gardiner was 2nd. This is the only time from 1931-1934 that Gardiner was beat out. One of two sources indicates that Roach was third in Hart voting.

John Ross Roach was one of the smallest and most exciting goaltenders ever to backstop in the NHL.

Durability:

• Ross Roach played every game of the schedule 9 times
• When he retired in 1935, he ranked 1st in career NHL games played by a wide margin. He had 491 GP. Roy Worters was 2nd with 413 followed by George Hainsworth at 410.
• When he retired in 1935, he ranked 2nd behind Hainsworth in career NHL wins. He had 219 wins, Hainsworth had 221. 3rd place Alec Connell was behind with 191 wins.

• John's thirteen shutouts in 1928-29 were second only to George Hainsworth's NHL-record 22, and has only been surpassed five times in the history of the league.
• In Game One of the 1930 Stanley Cup Semifinals between Roach's Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens, Roach was finally beaten by Gus Rivers near the end of the fourth overtime, ending one of the longest games in Stanley Cup history

His rookie season marked the beginning of a 14-year run in the NHL, a lengthy career by the standards of his day. And during many of those seasons, he was a league leader in games played by a goaltender.

In all, Roach played his feisty brand of acrobatics for the St. Pats and later, the Maple Leafs for seven seasons. In 1928-29, he was traded to the New York Rangers where he led the league in games played for each of his four years on Broadway. All went well until the playoffs of 1932. While facing the Leafs in the finals, the little netminder gave up six goals in each of his three appearances. Toronto took the Cup while Roach was ushered out of town in a cash deal that sent him to Detroit.

In the Motor City, he played solidly and by season's end missed winning the Vezina Trophy by only a fraction of a percentage point. To ease his sorrow, however, he was selected to the All-Star team.

By 1933-34, signs of age and wear began to show in his game. His ice time gradually decreased to the point that he was demoted to the minors with the Detroit Olympics of the IAHL in 1934-35. It was there that Roach hung up his pads for good.

Newspaper Clippings

Roach, considered one of the best goalies in the National Hockey League, will replace Alex Connell between the posts for the Falcons.

The Montreal Gazette, Oct 6, 1932

James Norris, who purchased him for Detroit when New York Rangers decided he had to go after last season, has said he regards John Ross as the best goal-tender of the decade.
...
After his first great season with St Pat's, he became a fixture with the Toronto club. Five years ago Toronto sold him to the Rangers where he played until this season - his best in many years.
...
To young defensemen like ... Roach has been a steadying influence. His work in goal has often been phenomenal - sufficiently so to make sports writers around the circuit rate the little veteran over Charlie Gardiner on his season's play.

The great Gardiner, supreme goalie of the lot for several seasons and just as brilliant as ever this season, has had several off-nights, Roach has not. No National League veteran has ever made a more flourishing comeback than the man they refuse to call Johnny.

Montreal Gazette, March 10, 1933

He went to the Detroit club during the season of 1932-33. His work that year was largely responsible for the team reaching the playoffs

-The Montreal Gazette, Oct 12, 1935 (after Roach was released by Detroit)

Jack Adams speaks of Ross Roach in the same breath as Charlie Gardiner and Tiny Thompson:

It would be hard for me to agree that he (Georges Vezina) would have been more effective than Chuck Gardiner, John Ross Roach, Tiny Thompson, and some of the others who have come after him.

Since they have done what Vezina was never called on to do, I don't see why they should be rated behind him.

Vezina Great Goalie in His Time, but Jack Adams Rates Gardiner, Thompson, and Roach Right Beside Him, The Sunday Sun, Feb 1, 1936

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Alec Connell

Alec Connell "The Ottawa Fireman"
(actually a fireman, often incorrectly referred to as Alex)

Vitals:
Born: February 8, 1902 (Ottawa)
Died: May 10, 1958
Height: 5'9" - Weight: 150 lbs.
Catches: Right

Career:
Never played hockey previously
1919-1924 Various Ottawa teams in the OCHL (Cliffsides, St. Brigid's, Gunners)
1924-25 through 1930-31 Ottawa Senators (NHL)
1931-32 Detroit Falcons (NHL)
1932-33 Ottawa Senators (NHL)
1933-34 New York Americans (NHL) [40 minutes of 1 game as a substitute for Roy Worters who could not continue]
1934-35 & 1936-37 Montreal Maroons (NHL) [did not play in 1935-36]

Stanley Cup winner: 1926-27 Senators and 1934-35 Maroons

- Led the league in wins in 1926 and 1927 (finished top-3 on 3 other occasions)
- Led the league in GAA in 1926 (1.12); finished second on three occasions
- All-time career best goals against average in NHL history at 1.91. One of just two goalies that have a sub-2 GAA for their career (Hainsworth).
- Led the NHL in shutouts 4 times (1925, 1926, 1928, 1935), finished top-3 on 3 other occasions. 81 career shutouts still ranks t-6th in NHL history (Brodeur, Sawchuk, Hainsworth, Hall, Plante; tied with Hasek and Thompson). Was second all-time in shutouts for a substantial period of time.
- Owns NHL record for most consecutive shutouts (sometimes erroneous credited to Brian Boucher) with 6 in 1928 (461 minutes and 29 seconds)* (!)
* Many articles from the time note the time as 446 minutes and 9 seconds.

Line: 417 GP, 193-156-67, 1.91 GAA, 81 shutouts
http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/c/conneal01.html

Information:

- Brought in to replace the legendary Clint Benedict who had been dealt to Montreal Maroons
- Ottawa team went on hiatus in 1931-32 and was loaned to Montreal Maroons
- Was a team captain at one point
- Retired on multiple occasions
- Though the year of his death and his HHOF induction were coincidental, he did live to see his induction but died shortly thereafter.
- Played catcher in baseball, won a championship in lacrosse (and was considered a star player in the sport), played football as well.
- Talked into playing hockey while stationed in Kingston during World War I. Had to play goalie because he could not skate (LOH)
- Noted for wearing a small black cap when he played
- Coached junior hockey after retiring as a player, also believed to have scouted for the Detroit Red Wings

Quotes:

Maroons manager and coach, Tommy Gorman, called Connell's performance in the 1935 playoffs the "greatest goalkeeping performance in the history of hockey." He then provided some specifics: "It was in the Stanley Cup playoffs when the Maroons were two men short. For three minutes, Connell put on an astounding effort against the Leafs, and the Maroons went on to win the Cup." The Maroons, who were underdogs in the best-of-five series, won in three straight games.

On April 7, 1928, Alex was a spectator at Game Two of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Montreal Maroons and New York Rangers. When starter Lorne Chabot became injured, New York coach Lester Patrick finished the game in net for the Rangers. Did you know that Patrick's first choice to replace Chabot was Connell? Although league rules at the time would have allowed it, Montreal coach Eddie Gerard refused to allow it.

(Referring to Connell's supposed last game of his career where he was shelled early and replaced). After seven years of ace-high performance, the crowd turned on Connell - he was a broken-hearted man

From the very first game (1934 with Montreal), Connell started stopping pucks in an inspired manner that culminated in a sensational display in the playoffs of that year. Maroons won the Stanley Cup and Tommy Gorman termed Connell, the "greatest of them all".

The following year Gorman sought to get Connell back as Maroons goalkeeper and offered him a $9,000 contract. [paraphrase] But Connell rejected due to his obligations to the fire department.

Year after year he turned in steady and, at times, brilliant performances for the Senator club. In 1927, when Senators won the Stanley Cup in a bruising series with Boston, Connell starred as, time after time, he turned back Bruin scoring threats.

Note: Article suggests that in 1928 in a "36 game schedule", Connell "turned in 17 shutouts" - though nearly every statistic source has 15 shutouts in 44 games. Though it distinctly looks like an '8', it is probably referring to the 1926 season (actually a 36-game schedule) but it is nearly universally listed as a 15-shutout season for Connell. Again, the article suggests 17 (which I believe is second all-time in a season to Hainsworth?)

Also notes Connell six straight shutouts. Says he gave up 2 goals in the seventh game, followed by two additional shutuouts - for a nine-game run of 2 goals against (with 3 known overtime games) (0.21 GAA).

Anecdotally: Even with an article that referred to him as "Alec" to start, it still mistakenly lists him as Alex later in the very same article.

...has justified his unofficial title of "shut out" king of the National Hockey League by holding the opposing sharpshooters scoreless in six consecutive games. For six full playing periods of 60 minutes and three overtime sessions of 10 minutes each, Connell has guarded the Ottawa cage and thwarted the efforts of the league's best marksmen. ... Since the season opened the Senators have won six games by shutouts and have played in six scoreless ties. (note: Senators are 14-10-8 at this point in the season (32 GP)

In hockey, Connell first gained prominence when he joined the Cliffside hockey team in 1919 and promptly helped this Ottawa club to win the Allan Cup.

"Alec gave one of the greatest goalkeeping performances in the playoffs that year that I ever saw. It was his finest moment." (Tommy Gorman on Connell's 1935 playoff performance)

(King Clancy) "To me, Alec was a grand competitor, a great fellow and a great friend-one of the outstanding goalies of his time." ||| (Frank Boucher) "Alec was a great credit to hockey and one of its best goalies." ||| (Frank Nighbor) "Alec was a fine sportsman and a fine gentleman. He was pretty hard to beat in any category."

One bad night in Chicago when Connell was injured and Hawks scored six goals agaisnt him put a bad crimp in Alex's chances to take the [Vezina]. (Note: lost Vezina by four goals against)

In the whirl of summer sport doings, an important piece of news was given very scant attention the other day - the fact that the Ottawa hockey club has signed goaler Alec Connell for a five-year term. This was announced by Pres. Frank Ahearn of the Ottawa club at the Capital the other day, and a sport scribe remarked to the Ottawa leader that if he got Connell for less than $5,000 per year, as hockey prices go today he got a bargain. "I got him for a great deal less than that," said President Ahearn. So he has a real bargain. Connell is possibly the greatest net-minder in the game today. That honor, curiously enough, rests pretty much between two Ottawa boys.

...Connell and Benedict. It was a coincidence that both these figured in the final play-offs for the eastern title, and speaks significantly of the importance of the goaler to present-day hockey machines which, for the most part, are formulated and molded with a view to keeping scores down rather than scoring goals.

Team after team was turned back scoreless before his keen eye, and alert hands and feet. Of course, he had in front of him a team which, defensively, out-classed any other in the League, with the amazing poke-check of Nighbor that breaks up countless attacks the fast-skating wings and the cleverness of Boucher and Clancy. But even when, in the closing match of the great play-off series with Montreal Maroons, this mighty machine cracked wide-open under relentless pressure, the slim figure of Connell stood, a mighty barrier, that held the crashing, driving Montrealers to one lone score. ...Connell, the imperturable, with his immobile face, his eagle eye, his lightning hands.

Alec Connell, goal, has had fewer goals scoredon him than any other net guardian so far this season and has made the most sensational debut of any goalie since John Ross Roach broke in with Toronto. Had seven shut-out games last year, four so far this season.

Ever since midway through the second period they (Bruins) had assumed the offensive, with Falcons apparently content to play for a tie, a scoreless one if possible. And Connell, in the Detroit goal, seemed to be of the same opinion as he turned back shot after shot, sometimes with his stick, sometimes with his hands, sometimes with his chest and sometimes with his feet. The Bruins attacked from all sides and tried everything, often comign in alone on the athlete who last year had guarded the citadel of the Ottawa club, now defunct. ... Numberous opportunites were missed by both sides, although the Bruins, playing wide-open hockey in this season's opener, were surging in on Connell, who had 46 stops to only 22 for Tiny Thompson...

Decent foundation for a profile I hope, as I'm still getting my feet wet in the study of history, many of my books don't detail back into Connell's era, unfortunately.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Roy Worters 1

With our 12th selection, the 346th overall in this year All-Time Draft, the Detroit Falcons are extremely please to select Monsieur Roy Thomas Worters

Name: Shrimp
Height: 5'3''
Weight: 135 lbs
Position: Goaltender
Catch: Left
Date of Birth: October 19, 1900
Place of Birth: Toronto , Ontario, Canada
Date of Death: November 07, 1957 (Age: 57)

Second All-Star Team Goalie (1932, 1934)
Hart Memorial Trophy (1929)
Vezina Trophy (1931)
Team Captain (1932-1933)
Hockey Hall of Fame (1969)

Top-5 Wins (3rd, 5th)
Top-5 Goal Against Average (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd)
Top-5 Shutouts (2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 4th, 4th, 5th)

Top-5 Playoff Wins (3rd, 4th)
Top-5 Playoff Goal Against Average (1st, 3rd, 3rd)
Top-5 Playoff Shutouts (1st, 3rd)

Hart Nomination (1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th)

- Named the 2nd best Little Man in the history of hockey by Stan Fischler
- Worters was an accomplished second baseman on the local baseball circuit
- He grew up in the same part of town as the famous Conacher brothers
- With Worters in goals, the Yellowjackets won consecutive championships in the USAHA
- He was signed as a free agent by Pittsburgh onSeptember 26th, 1925
- On November 26th, 1925 at the Boston Hub Arena in Boston's Back Bay, Worters stopped 26 of 27 shots to record the first win in Pittsburgh franchise history
- In 1925-26, Worters stopped 70 of 73 shots in a 3-1 loss to the New York Americans
- On November 1st, 1928, he was traded to NY Americans by Pittsburgh for Joe Miller and $20,000
- Worters became the first goalie in NHL history to record back to back shutouts in his first two games for a new team (New York Americans)
- Worters is the first goalie to win the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player
- On February 27th, 1930, Worters was loaned to the Montreal Canadiens by the New York Americans to replace George Hainsworth, in a 6 to 2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was his only appearance with the club
- During his contract negotiations with the Amerks, Worters demanded, and received, a three years, $8,500 per season contract; an enormous sum for a goalie at that time
- In 1934, he was out for a month with a broken fingers
- He missed the remainder of 1936-37 season recovering from hernia surgery, suffered on January 25th, 1937
- Worters is known as a goaltending innovator. He was the first goalie to use the blocker as a tactic. In those days the blocker was just a heavily padded glove, but he was the first to use that hand to deflect shots into the corner as opposed to trying to catch them
- After retirement, Roy Worters worked with handicapped children
- Roy Worters died of throat cancer on November 7, 1957

Despite his 5'3" frame, the aptly named "Shrimp" Worters seemed like a giant to opposing shooters. He became one of the NHL's all-time great goalkeepers, chalking up a phenomenal 66 shutouts in only 12 seasons. But because his tenure was chiefly with the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Americans, Worters never felt the exhilaration of a Stanley Cup win.

The Pirates were weak defensively, but Worters routinely kept them competitive.

Over a nine-year span, the Americans qualified for the post-season only twice. One of those playoff appearances came in Worters' first year, after he registered a 1.15 goals-against average to elevate the play of a team that had finished in last place the year before.

Even though the Americans remained weak, Worters continued to rack up shutouts and keep his goals-against mark respectable. He was placed on the NHL Second All-Star Team in 1932 and 1934.

He never played on any powerhouses, which made his 67 shutouts, 171 wins and his durability all the more impressive.

Shrimp stood all of 5'3" and never weighed more than 130lbs, but he was a giant of the goaltending crease. Most of those 130lbs must have been from his huge heart.

Worters is seldom mentioned when discussing the greatest goalies of all time, likely because he played with some pretty bad teams. It would be tough to imagine how bad those teams would be without Worters.

In perhaps Worters' greatest accomplishment, he became the first goalie to win the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player in 1929. After arriving from Pittsburgh after a lengthy contract dispute, Worters instantly made the Amerks into a solid team, recording a second place overall record of 16-12-10, a tremendous improvement over the last place finish the season before. That set up a memorable playoff showing with the cross-town Rangers, but the Rangers would prevail.

Despite his incredible play, the Americans remained a weak team, only qualifying for 2 playoffs in Worters 9 seasons tending goal. His 171-229-83 career won/loss record is reflective of the weak teams he played for, but his 67 career shutouts speaks volumes about just how good this guy was.

Buoyed by the acquisition of Goalie Roy Worters from the Pittsburgh Pirates the Americans come storming out of the gate making the playoffs for the first time in since moving to New York with a solid record of 19-13-2, good enough for 2nd place. The diminutive Worters listed at 5'3" went on to become the first Goalie to win the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP with an amazing 1.21 GAA. Facing the New York Rangers in a total goal series Worters would keep the Rangers off the board in the first game. However, the Americans would be unable to score either as the Rangers final won the series 1-0 in overtime of Game 2.

Worters finished the 1930-31 season with a 1.61 goals-against average, and was awarded the Vezina Trophy.

He played on a terrible team – the Americans – who didn’t even make the playoffs (They finished with an 18-16-10 total.) that season.

The Amerks scored only 76 goals in 44 games (The league’s average was 105.), which was tied with the pathetic Philadelphia Quakers, who won only four contests.

Worters held his rivals to only 74 goals, and had the NHL’s most ties – 10.

And, while literally standing on his head, he wasn’t even selected to the first or second All-Star teams.

Worters played so well that first year the New Yorkers, that he lifted his club out of the basement and into the playoffs. For his heroics, Roy was awarded the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player.
Shrimp's finest season was 1931, when he racked up a stingy 1.68 goal-against-average and won the Vezina Trophy as the loop's top stopper. There was one small problem though; the Americans' forwards sometimes seemed unable to score any goals. Despite Roy's artful acrobatics in goal, the Americans failed to make the playoffs.
Worters played six more years with the punchless Americans, performing admirably, but unable to single-handedly carry his club to the playoffs. He finally retired in 1937.

Although the goaltending theory has always been ''the more net filled the better'', Worters amply demonstrated that a tiny man with catlike moves could play as well - or better - than the best of the big ones. Worters was the best of the little men and, in the opinion of some, the best of them all.

1929 Playoff Semi-Final: Americans vs. Rangers, Game 1
The fans were given sixty minutes of thrills in the first game with both sides having many chances but Worters was impregnable

Lionel became an NHL coach as well, although what success he had with the floundering New York Americans belonged mostly to the tiny goaltender, Roy Worters, a marvellous competitor - at 5 ft. 3 and 135 pounds.

Sites:
http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/LegendsMember.jsp?mem=P196904#photo
http://www.sihrhockey.org/member_player_sheet.cfm?player_id=4818&mode=2
http://www.greatesthockeylegends.com/2007/02/roy-shrimp-worters.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Worters
http://www.legendsofhockey.net:8080...lverwareTrophyWinner.jsp?tro=HMT&year=1928-29
http://www.habseyesontheprize.com/2007/10/mickey-murray-and-roy-worters-1929-30.html
http://hockeygoalies.org/bio/worters.html
http://www.pittsburghhockey.net/PiratesPages/PiratesLOBBY.html
http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nhl/nya/nyamericans.html
http://crashingthegoalie.com/2008/08/28/hockey-trivia-7/#more-844
http://www.shortsupport.org/cgi-bin/whowho_bio.cgi?seq=471&orderby=height&direction=ASC
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=10447&PIpi=1703636
http://50plus.com/50plus-article-print.cfm?documentID=7777

Roy Worters 2

!work in progress!

Roy 'Shrimp' Worters, G

An acrobatic midget of barely 125 pounds, Roy Worters, rose to the topmost heights of goal tending brilliance to thwart the big, bruising Toronto Maple Leafs and give the New York Americans a sensational 1-0 victory before 14.000 enthusiastic fans here last night.

The counter that exploded Toronto hopes for a quick and decisive victory came at 16:15 of the middle frame. From then on the match belonged strictly to Tiny Worters.

Worters the Hero
There was handshaking and back-slapping for everyone, but to Worters went the credit for the win, even though curly-haired Joe Jerwa did score the lone goal. Without Worters one goal would not have been enough to halt the Leafs in the third period.

He [Dutton] lauded Worters, posing for pictures with the little goalie, hugging him affectionately.

"I never saw anything like Worters in that third period," Smythe declared. "He was wonderful."

Roy Worters, 57, former National Hockey League goalie who was small in stature, but a giant in reputation, died Thursday at his home after a lengthy illness.

[Jack Adams:]"Shrimp was one of the greatest netminders of all time. He was a truly great player and a smart businessman."

[Clarence Campbell:]"Apart from his prowess as a goalkeeper, he was a fine citizen and as such a real credit to hockey."

[Frank Selke:]"Roy was one of the truly great goalies and a fellow who never lost interest in hockey as long as he lived."

On a Boucher - Bun Cook combination the latter swooped down on the Pirate goal but Worters toppled him.

Little Roy Worters, who isn't much younger than the NHL's oldest goaltender, will be back between the posts. In training here, Worters has shown no signs of slipping from among the game's best custodians. For years he has been acknowledged without many peers.

Roy was so small, only 5'11'', 130 pounds, that little of him showed above the crossbar in goal, but he had cat-like reflexes, a good eye and outstanding courage...

...his lack of size was no handicap.

I asked Sweeney Schriner about Roy Worters on Wednesday and Dave said: 'You know when I was reading about Roy, my first thought was why did they wait for so long to put him in the Hall of Fame? I felt he should have been in before me, because he was older (Sweeney was inducted in 1964). He was one of the greatest of goaltenders."
Schriner felt that Worters' ability in fending off pucks with the back of his glove was one of his biggest assets. "He could knock off shots with ease. He was also very good with his feet, the little stinker. I always maintained he was one of the greatest goaltenders hockey has ever known." Sweeney only played one season with Worters but he found him, like so many others, to be a man who didn't have an enemy.
"He was in the twilight of his career when I played with him," Sweeney was saying, "but even then he was one of the greats of the game. I was surprised he wasn't in the Hall earlier."

Worters performed brilliantly in the net and prevented several sure scores.

...Roy Worters, goaltender, declared by experts one of the greatest net guardians the game ever has known.

During his two years with the Yellow Jackets he was scored on fewer times than any goalie in either group of the United States Amateur Hockey association, holding the opposition to a fraction less than one goal a game for 81 games, a record not before heard of even in Canadian hockey circles.

Every club in the NHL sought Worters' services, but Pittsburgh had the first call and was not hesitant in meeting his terms.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

George Hainsworth

George Hainsworth

“I’m sorry I can’t put on a show like some of the other goaltenders. I can’t look excited because I’m not. I can’t shout at other players because that’s not my style. I can’t dive on easy shots and make them look hard. I guess all I can do is stop pucks.”

Vitals
Born: June 26, 1895 in Berlin (Kitchener), Ontario
Died: October 9, 1950 (car accident)
Height: 5'6" / 1.68m
Weight: 150lb / 68kg
Caught: Right

Hardware

Vezina Trophy - 1927, 1928, 1929
Stanley Cup - 1930, 1931
Hockey Hall of Fame - 1961
The Hockey News' 100 Greatest Players - #46
Allan Cup (CAHA) - 1918


Records & Novelties

- Single-season shutouts - 22 in 1928-29
- Single-season GAA - 0.98 in 1928-29
- Won the Vezina each of the first 3 times it was awarded
- Second in career GAA, behind Alex Connell
- Third in career shutouts, behind Brodeur and Sawchuk
- One of 8 goaltenders to have served as captain of his team
- Shutout streak of 343 minutes is the longest in Montreal history and the second-longest in NHL history
- Toronto goaltender in the Ace Bailey Benefit Game
- Never missed the playoffs in his career, regardless of league.


Stats

Season | Team | League | GP | W | L | T | Min | GA | SO | GAA
1923–24 |Saskatoon Crescents |WCHL| 30| 15 |12| 3 |1849| 73| 4 |2.37
1924–25 |Saskatoon Crescents |WCHL| 28| 16| 11| 1 |1700| 75 |2| 2.65
1925–26 |Saskatoon Sheiks |WHL| 30 |18 |11| 1 |1812 |64 |4 |2.12
1926–27 |Montreal Canadiens |NHL| 44 |28| 14| 2 |2732 |67 | 14 | 1.47
1927–28 |Montreal Canadiens |NHL| 44 | 26 | 11| 7 |2730 |48 |13| 1.05
1928–29 |Montreal Canadiens |NHL| 44 |22| 7 |15 |2800 |43 | 22 | 0.92
1929–30 |Montreal Canadiens |NHL| 42 |20| 13| 9 |2680 |108 |4 |2.42
1930–31 |Montreal Canadiens |NHL| 44 |26| 10| 8 |2740 |89 |0 |1.95
1931–32 |Montreal Canadiens |NHL| 48 | 25 | 16| 7 |2998 |110 |6| 2.20
1932–33 |Montreal Canadiens |NHL| 48 |18| 25| 5 |2980 |115 |8| 2.32
1933–34 |Toronto Maple Leafs |NHL| 48 | 26 | 13| 9 |3010 |119| 3| 2.37
1934–35 |Toronto Maple Leafs |NHL| 48 | 30 | 14 |4 |2957 |111| 8| 2.25
1935–36 |Toronto Maple Leafs |NHL| 48 |23| 19 |6| 3000 |106| 8| 2.12
1936–37 |Toronto Maple Leafs |NHL| 3 |0 |2 |1 |190 |9 |0 |2.84
1936–37 |Montreal Canadiens |NHL| 4 |2| 1| 1| 270| 12| 0| 2.67

League | GP | W | L | T | Min | GA | SO | GAA
WCHL |88| 49 |34 |5 |5361| 212| 10| 2.37
NHL |465 |246 |145 |74 |29,087| 937 |94| 1.93
Pro Career | 553| 295| 179| 79| 34,448 |1149 |104 |2.00

PLAYOFFS

Season | Team | League | W | L | T | Min | GA | SO | GAA
1924-25| Saskatoon Crescents |WCHL| 2 |0 |1| 1 |120| 6| 0| 3.00
1925-26| Saskatoon Sheiks |WHL |2 |0 |1 |1 |129 |4 |0 |1.86
1926-27| Montreal Canadiens| NHL| 4 |1| 1| 2| 252 |6 |1 |1.43
1927-28| Montreal Canadiens| NHL| 2 |0| 1| 1| 128 |3 |0 |1.41
1928-29| Montreal Canadiens| NHL| 3 |0| 3| 0| 180 |5 |0 |1.67
1929-30 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 481 | 6 | 3 | 0.75 1930-31 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 722 | 21 | 2 | 1.75
1931-32| Montreal Canadiens| NHL| 4 |1 |3 |0| 300 |13 |0 |2.60
1932-33| Montreal Canadiens| NHL| 2 |0 |1 |1 |120 |8 |0 |4.00
1933-34| Toronto Maple Leafs| NHL| 5| 2| 3 |0| 302 |11 |0 |2.19
1934-35| Toronto Maple Leafs| NHL| 7 |3 |4 |0| 460 |12 |2 |1.57
1935-36| Toronto Maple Leafs| NHL| 9 |4 |5 |0| 541 |27 |0| 2.99
Total NHL| MTL/TOR|NHL| 52| 22| 25| 5| 3486| 112| 8| 1.93

Pre-NHL

- Hainsworth played senior hockey for Berlin (later renamed Kitchener) until age 28, winning the Allan Cup in 1918.
- Went pro with Saskatoon of the WCHL, where he teamed with Bill and Bun Cook.
- In 3 seasons in the WCHL/WHL, he twice finished behind "Hap" Holmes for the league lead in GAA.

As a Hab

- After the WHL folded, Newsy Lalonde recommended Hainsworth to the Montreal Canadiens. He became an NHL 'rookie' in 1926, replacing the recently-deceased Georges Vezina.
- In each of his first 3 seasons as a Hab, Hainsworth won the newly created Vezina Trophy for the league's lowest GAA.
- 1928-29 was one of the most dominant seasons by any goaltender in history. See below for details. Forward passing rules were modernized the following season, preventing replication of the feat.
- Hainsworth led Montreal to consecutive Stanley Cups in 1930 and 1931.
- In 1932, having built an incredibly impressive resume over 5 seasons, Hainsworth was named captain of the Habs.
- In a move apparently motivated by ethnic politics, Hainsworth was traded to Toronto for Lorne Chabot the following season.


1928-29

On a statistical basis, Hainsworth's 1928-29 has never been equaled. His eye-popping 0.92 is still the the only sub-1.00 GAA in NHL history, and shattered the record of 1.05 that he set the previous season. Tiny Thompson was second in the league with a 1.15, which gives us a sense of how low-scoring the games were... and how unbelievably far ahead of his peers Hainsworth managed to finish. I'm not sure how many goalies have finished 25% ahead of the pack in GAA, but it's surely a very small and distinguished list.

In addition, Hainsworth set a second major record, which still stands, with 22 shutouts in a single season. This is made even more impressive when one notes that the season was only 44 games long. The second-best seasons, most recently achieved by Tony Esposito in 63 games, were 15 shutouts. This achievement capped a 3-year period in which Hainsworth posted 14, 13 and 22.

The following season, 1929-30, saw the league react by modernizing offside rules. This prevented the possibility of replicating his 1929 numbers, though he did finish 1930 with a respectable 3rd place in GAA and 2nd in shutouts.

Hainsworth was 31 years old in 1927 and 34 in 1930.


As a Leaf

After a rather callous trade out of Montreal, Hainsworth played respectably well for the Maple Leafs. He led the league in wins his first two seasons in Toronto, and fell only one short of the lead in his third year. While pushing age 40, he was one of the better statistical goalies of 1935. In 1935 and 1936 he helped the Leafs to consecutive Finals appearances. He was finally displaced by a young Turk Broda.

When Hainsworth played out a handful of games in Montreal to finish his career at age 41, he became the second-oldest NHL player to date (Hugh Lehman having played till 42, and not counting Lester Patrick's cameo) and remains one of only 10 to play more than a single game at that age.


Among pre-1950 goaltenders

Rk | Name | Seasons Active | GP | Wins | GAA | SO | Vezinas | 1st AS | SCs | HOF?
1|Turk Broda|1937-1950|597|288|2.54|56|2|2|4|Y
2|Tiny Thompson|1929-1940|553|284|2.08|81|4|2|1|Y
3|Frank Brimsek|1939-1950|514|252|2.70|40|2|2|2|Y
4|John Ross Roach|1922-1935|492|219|2.46|58|0|1*|1|N
5|Roy Worters|1926-1937|484|171|2.27|67|1|0*|0|Y
6 | George Hainsworth | 1927-1937 | 465 | 246 | 1.93 | 94 | 3 | 0* | 2 | Y
7|Dave Kerr|1931-1941|427|203|2.15|51|0|1|1|N
8|Alec Connell|1925-1937|417|193|1.91|81|0*|0*|2|Y
9|Lorne Chabot|1927-1937|412|201|2.03|71|1|1*|2|N
10|Bill Durnan|1944-1950|383|208|2.36|34|6|6|2|Y
11|Clint Benedict|1918-1930|362|190|2.32|57|0*|0*|3|Y
12|Mike Karakas|1936-1946|336|114|292|28|0|0|1|N
13|Harry Lumley|1944-1950|325|163|2.75|26|0|0|1|Y
14|Charlie Gardiner|1928-1934|316|112|2.02|42|2|3|1|Y
15|Chuck Rayner|1941-1950|285|97|3.11|14|0|0|0|Y
16|Wilf Cude|1931-1941|282|100|2.72|24|0|0|0|N
17|Normie Smith|1932-1945|199|81|2.33|17|1|1|2|N
18|Georges Vezina|1918-1926|190|103|3.28|13|0*|0*|3|Y
19|Johnny Mowers|1941-1947|152|65|2.56|15|1|1|1|N
20|Hap Holmes|1918-1928|103|39|2.43|17|0|0*|1|Y
21|Hal Winkler|1927-1928|75|35|1.60|21|0|0*|0|N
22|Hugh Lehman|1927-1928|48|20|2.68|6|0|0*|0|Y

* = opportunities limited by career timing

George Hainsworth - Saskatoon net guardian, who is considered to be the greatest in western hockey.

Hainsworth plays goal in a debonair, nonchalant fashion that at times looks to verge on actual carelessness, but isn't. And this isn't done for effect. He makes the tough shots look easy, but that happens to be Hainsworth's style, not a pose.

Born in Toronto in 1895, Hainsworth was a roly-poly little man, just 5 feet 6 inches and 150 pounds. But for 14 seasons in the 1920s and ’30s he was, like Brodeur much later, the most consistently excellent goalie of his era.

While many marveled that Sawchuk’s shutout mark lasted 39 years before Brodeur broke it, Hainsworth’s has actually lasted far longer. He recorded his 104th and final regular-season shutout 73 years ago, in 1936.

Although his statistics were greatly aided by the pre-1930 rules, there is no doubt George Hainsworth was one of the greatest goalies of his era.

His miniscule 1.91 goals-against mark reflected the low scoring climate that existed during all but two of his seasons. Although the rule changes saw his average climb only late in his career, Hainsworth was one of the top backstoppers of his time.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Lorne Chabot

Lorne "Chabotsky" Chabot, G

• #10 on the all time shutouts list
• played the 2 longest overtimes in the history of the N.H.L.
• won two Allan Cups (1925, 1926).
• won two stanley cups(new york rangers1927&toronto maple leafs 1932)
• won the vezina trophy 1935 and was selected a 1st Team All Star
• has the lowest goals against average of any goaltender to play at least 10 seasons
• invented the gauntlet glove for goaltender's
• Ranked #84 on the THN Top 100 Players of All Time list

All Star voting:
1931: Tied for 5th (2 votes). Behind Gardiner, Thompson, Worters, Hainsworth. Tied with Roach.
1932: 6th (3 votes). Behind Gardiner, Worters, Thompson, Hainsworth, and Roach
1933: 5th (3 votes). Behind Roach, Gardiner, Worthers, and Thompson.
1934: Received 1 vote. Gardiner, Worters, Thompson, Cude, Hainsworth, Aitkenhead
1935: 1st Team All Star. Ahead of Thompson, Connell, Worters, Hainsworth.

No votes on the 1928 unofficial team.

It was in northwestern Ontario that Chabot first gained widespread fame. His relatively large 6-foot 1-inch frame and quick reflexes made him hard to beat. His stellar play contributed to Port Arthur's consecutive Allan Cup triumphs in 1925 and 1926. After the second of these, Conn Smythe signed Chabot to play for the New York Rangers.

As a rookie, "Sad Eyes" won 22 games, recorded 10 shutouts and took the starting netminder's job away from Hal Winkler. In 1927-28 he played all 44 regular-season matches and helped New York reach the Stanley Cup finals. In the second game of the championship series against the Montreal Maroons, an injury to Chabot precipitated one of the most famous maneuvers in Stanley Cup playoff history. Teams didn't carry a backup goalie, so Rangers manager Lester Patrick was forced to make an emergency appearance between the pipes. The "Silver Fox" backstopped the Blueshirts to an overtime win that shifted the momentum of the series and helped New York win its first Stanley Cup.

Prior to the 1928-29 schedule Chabot was sent to Toronto, where he posted a career-best 1.61 goals-against average and 12 shutouts. In 1931-32 he helped the franchise win its first Stanley Cup under the Maple Leafs banner. In the fifth game of the 1933 semifinals against Boston, the teams played 164 minutes and 46 seconds of scoreless hockey before the Leafs' Ken Doraty scored in the sixth overtime period. Chabot earned the shutout in what was the longest game in NHL history to that date. But in the finals the Rangers prevented the Leafs from repeating as champions.

In the fall of 1933 Chabot was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for George Hainsworth. The trade made the two men the first goalies ever to play for both storied teams. Following the death of the legendary Charlie Gardiner in 1934, the Chicago Black Hawks acquired Chabot in a trade that also involved Hall of Famers Howie Morenz and Lionel Conacher. Chabot showed no ill effects at having to replace the popular Gardiner as he went on to lead the NHL with a 1.80 goals-against mark. The NHL acknowledged his excellence by placing him on the First All-Star Team and presenting him with the Vezina Trophy.

"Old Bulwarks" played 16 regular-season games for the Montreal Maroons in 1935-36, and during the playoffs, on March 24, 1936, he played in the longest game in NHL history. Despite his heroic efforts in that game, the first of the semifinals, the Montrealers succumbed to the Detroit Red Wings when Mud Bruneteau scored the game's only goal after 116 minutes and 30 seconds of overtime. Chabot played 6 games with the New York Americans in 1936-37 before retiring with 201 wins and 73 shutouts.

The Rangers marketing department thought they could use Chabot to draw interest from the city's large Jewish population. He was, believe it or not, to be listed and promoted as "Chabotsky," although Chabot refused to play along.

Chabot, now goalie with our Chicago Blackhawks, comes nearest to approaching (Charlier) Gardiner's greatness. Not soon will I forget the night when Chabot, with four of his New York Rangers teammates off the ice for penalties, held our Canadiens scoreless. Two men against six, yet we could not get the puck past Chabot!

From Esquire's second sports reader, printed in 1945

http://books.google.com/books?id=wI...v=onepage&q=mush march hockey defense&f=false

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Charlie Gardiner

Charlie "The Roving Scotsman" Gardiner, G​

SUMMARY

-only goaltender to captain his team to a Cup win
-charter member of the Hall of Fame in 1945

-Ranked 76 on the THN Top 100 list
-Ranked 91 on the History of Hockey Top 100 list

End of the year all-star teams only existed for his final 4 seasons
-First Team All-Star 3 times (1931, 1932, 1934)
-Second Team All-Star 1 time (1933)

-Vezina winner (= modern Jennings) in 1932, 1934
-Stanley Cup in 1934 (backstopping a fairly weak team to the Cup)

-Regular season career GAA: 2.02
-Playoff career GAA: 1.43 (a drop of 30%)
-Twice led the league in shutouts

-Durability: He only missed 4 games in his 7 year career

Nicknamed "The Roving Scotsman" because:

-he was born in Scotland - making him the first European-born captain to win the Stanley Cup
-he would leave his net to break up plays

Charlie Gardiner was Chicago's first hockey superstar. He led them to the top of the league and eventually their first Stanley Cup in 1934 and put hockey on the map in the Windy City.
...
As a sophomore Gardiner lost a league high 29 games despite a 1.93 GAA. The Hawks won only 7 games. But Gardiner continued to play with unbreakable spirit, and earning high praise despite the statistics. The great Howie Morenz once claimed "Bonnie Prince Charlie" was the toughest goalie to score upon.
The Hawks continued to struggle as the 1930s progressed, but Gardiner emerged to become what many people feel was the best goalie of his day. He posted 42 shutouts and 2.02 GAA in 7 seasons. He won the Vezina Trophy in 1932 and 1934 and was named to 4 All Star Teams. He played with a team that offered very little offensive support (the whole team scored only 33 goals in 44 games in 1928-29). But Gardiner's play, much like that of Dominik Hasek years later with Buffalo, made the team a contender to reckon with.

HIGH PRAISE FOR THE YEARS BEFORE THE FIRST OFFICIAL ALL STAR TEAMS

It would be perhaps be advisable in the first place to point out that such a choice is after all merely the opinion of one man."
...
Goal: Roy Worters, backed up by Charlie Gardiner

About Worters: "he makes the hardest chances look easy"
About Gardiner: "with the team he has in front of him, we have every reason to suspect that Gardiner has very little time to collect his wits."

-The Morning Leader, Jan 26, 1929
http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...BAJ&pg=1583,2668747&dq=worters+gardiner&hl=en

But Gardiner played a great game, the sort of display local fans are beginning to expect from this sensational youngster, who seems to combine the best tricks of the late Houdini in keeping a storm of rubber out of his net. Gardiner gave another demonstration of black magic last night, and the only "curtains" he used were a puck, a goaler's stick and a keen eye and brain...

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Ym8tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IowFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3060,125121&hl=en

(Frank Brimsek) is the best looking rookie goaltender since Chuck Gardiner

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...&pg=5603,7400909&dq=chuck+gardiner+best&hl=en

OUTSTANDING IN THE PLAYOFFS

The miraculous goaltending of Chuck Gardiner in the Hawks nets, was all that kept the Canucks* from scoring time after time, but after being injured twice, the Chicago marvel at last succumbed to a shot from Morenz after 51 minutes and 53 seconds of overtime play.
...
Abel on the Hawks defense was, outside of Gardiner, the greatest player on the ice.
...
George Mantha rushed Gardiner and knocked him down while trying to score. The game was held up for a minute while he recovered from a blow to the stomach. Chuck continued to perform brilliantly however, stopping seemingly impossible shots time after time .

*meaning Montreal Canadiens

-Calgary Daily Herald, March 29, 1930
http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AIBAJ&pg=1554,3586865&dq=chuck+gardiner&hl=en

Charlie Gardiner is the greatest goalkeeper hockey fans ever saw. Saskatchewan hockey supporters cannot imagine what a team of superstars the Montreal Canadiens are - Johnny Gottselig and Harold March are the best two forwards on the Black Hawks roster.
...
Gardiner is even better than Hughie Lehman, known as "Eagle Eye' was in his prime, and the way he comes out of his goal - sometimes as much as 15 feet - just breaks the hearts of opposing sharpshooters.

-The Leader Post, April 8, 1931
http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...BAJ&pg=5341,4644892&dq=charlie+gardiner&hl=en

(Title)Chicago Hawks Defeat Detroit in Cup Series, Chuck Gardiner plays big part in Team's 4 to 1 triumph

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AIBAJ&pg=4526,1199434&dq=chuck+gardiner&hl=en

Heroic performance in his final playoffs (Read the whole thing):

Gardiner's finest moment came in the 1934 playoffs, as "Smiling Charlie" advanced the Hawks to the Stanley Cup Finals against Detroit. This despite the fact that Gardiner was feeling quite ill at the time. Unbeknownst to him or his doctors, Gardiner had long suffered from a chronic tonsil infection. The disease had spread and had begun to cause uremia convulsions. Undaunted, Gardiner pressed on as winning the Stanley Cup had become an obsession with him. Though playing in body-numbing pain, the Hawks prevailed over the Wings. He permitted only 12 goals in 8 playoff games - a 1.50 GAA.

A well liked and jovial fellow, Gardiner served as the Blackhawks captain, a rarity for a goalie even when it was allowed. Before the decisive 4th game, the "Roving Scotsman" showed his leadership and reportedly told his teammates that they would only need to score one goal that night. Sure enough, the game had gone into double overtime at a 0-0 tie. Suffering from growing fatigue, Gardiner was weakening considerably as the game went on. But he managed to hold the Red Wings scoreless until Chicago's XXX finally scored.

The Hawks hoisted their first Stanley Cup, but Gardiner, the only goalie to captain a Cup champion, was just as happy he could escape the ice and collapse in the dressing room. A few weeks later Gardiner underwent brain surgery after suffering a massive brain hemorrhage. Unfortunately complications from the surgery would cost him his life on June 13, 1934.

"BEST GOALIE EVER" AT HIS TIME OF DEATH?*

*I think the evidence still leans towards Benedict, if for no other reason than longevity, but I don't think peak is nearly so clearcut over Gardiner (and perception of Benedict over Vezina apparently wasn't universal during their overlapping peaks)

He (Joliat) picked an all star team (at the request of W.A. Howard, a writer for Canadian National Magazine) confined to players who played against him during his 16 years as a professional. He puts Benedict or Gardiner in goal; Shore and Noble on defense; Nighbor at centre; with Cook and Jackson on the wings. It's a well balanced unit. -

Charlie Gardiner is the greatest goalkeeper hockey fans ever saw.
...
Gardiner is even better than Hughie Lehman, known as "Eagle Eye' was in his prime, and the way he comes out of his goal - sometimes as much as 15 feet - just breaks the hearts of opposing sharpshooters.

When Howie Morenz, speed artist of the Montreal Canadiens, was at his best four years ago, he said the Winnipeg kid was the hardest netman he had ever tried to outguess.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AIBAJ&pg=6578,1727079&dq=chuck+gardiner&hl=en

(Frank) Boucher tapped for his all-time team goalie Chuck Gardiner of the Chicago Black Hawks, defense men Eddie Shore of the Boston Bruins and Ching Johnson of the Rangers, Center Frank Nighbor of Ottawa, left winger Aurel Joliat of the Montreal Canadians and right winger Bill Cook.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...&pg=4844,3988229&dq=chuck+gardiner+best&hl=en

I always thought of him as far superior to any other goaltender in the National League

-The Montreal Gazette, June 14, 1934 (right after Gardiner died - take the quote with a grain of salt, but it's quite strongly worded).

OTHER GOALIE IS THE BEST SINCE CHUCK GARDINER

Of the big Rangers squad, only Davey Kerr, the little goalie, has been recognized as a star. There's no forward on the squad with a reputation such as Howie Morenz, Bill Cook, Nels Stewart, Chuck Conacher, and even older and more famous stars of the past. The defensemen haven't had the publicity granted Ching Johnson, Eddie Shore, or Lionel Conacher. And Kerr isn't being classed with Chuck Conacher or Georges Vezina.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AJ&pg=3878,46195&dq=chuck+gardiner+best&hl=en

Dick Irvin is quoted as saying that Bill Burnan (sic) is the best goaler since the late Chuck Gardiner of Chicago... We'll take Brimsek even while admitting Durnan is a pretty fair puck-stopper.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...J&pg=4246,502297&dq=chuck+gardiner+best&hl=en

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Tiny Thompson

Cecil “Tiny†Thompson, G

Position: Goaltender
HT/WT: 5’10â€, 160 lbs
Catches: Left
Nickname: “Tinyâ€

- 1-time Stanley Cup Champion
- Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame (1959)
- 4-time Vezina Trophy Winner
- 2 acknowledgements for NHL First All-Star Team, 2 acknowledgements for NHL Second All-Star Team
- 284 wins, 194 losses, 75 ties and 81 shutouts in 553 regular season games played.
- 20 wins, 24 losses and 7 shutouts in 44 playoff games played.
- It is also noteworthy that two of Thompson's Vezina-winning seasons don't overlap with his All-Star seasons, he was 4th in Hart voting in 1937, a year in whch he neither won the Vezina nor made an All-Star team - indicating that he really had seven elite seasons.

Has to be one of the most underrated players of all-time on HF, his draft position stayed in Round 7 this year, 12 picks lower than Bugg had him at last year. Jumping from 9 to 7 in ATD 2010, and 11 to 9 in ATD 12.

Thompson helped popularize the technique of catching the puck as a method of making a save. A competent puckhandler, he was the first goaltender in the NHL to record an assist by passing the puck with his stick to a fellow player.

His spectacular play was exceeded only by his endurance.

During his 12-year NHL career, Thompson led all goalies in games played nine times, while his four Vezina Trophy wins stood as the NHL standard until 1949, when Montreal's Bill Durnan won his fifth.

Few players have made a bigger impact in their rookie season. After Boston coach XX XXXXXXX opted to start him in the season opener ahead of incumbent XXX XXXXXXX, Thompson's glorious career was launched. He posted a stingy 1.15 goals against mark and led Boston to 26 wins while appearing in all 44 games. In the playoffs, he helped the Bruins win the first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

The 1929-30 version of the Beantowners dominated the regular-season standings, and Thompson's 38-5-1 record was one of the most impressive in league history, but Boston was stunned by the Montreal Canadiens in the finals. With Thompson guarding the cage, Boston finished atop the NHL's American Division six times. 1932-33 he led the NHL with a career-high 11 shutouts.

During the 1935-36 season, Thompson entered the record book when he fed a pass to defenseman Babe Siebert, who went on to score. Thompson became the first goalie ever to earn an assist in the NHL. In 1938 he and brother Paul, then in Chicago, were both named to the First All-Star Team

Cecil Thompson was better known as "Tiny," even though at 5'10" and 170 pounds he had good size for a goalie, especially in the 1920's and 1930's when Thompson played.

Thompson quickly proved himself to the Bruins faithful, registering a 1-0 shutout victory in his National Hockey League debut on November 15, 1928.

He would finish out his career with a couple of seasons in Detroit, arriving with great fanfare in exchange for XXXXXX XXXXX and a reported $15,000. In his short term he was Detroit's most popular player, and turned the NHL worst team around into a Stanley Cup semi-finalist.

Tiny will forever be remember as the goalie in the 1933 marathon playoff game between Boston and Toronto. The game featured over 104 minutes of overtime in addition to the regulation 60 minutes before Toronto's Ken Doraty finally found the net in a 1-0 Stanley Cup playoff classic.

Emphasizes Tiny’s longevity not only in any game situation, but in the post-season.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Wilf Cude

G Wilf Cude

- 5'9", 146 lbs.
- Stanley Cup Finalist (1934)
- NHL 2nd All-Star Team (1936, 1937)
- NHL GAA leader (1934)
- Played in the 1937 and 1939 NHL All-Star Games for Howie Morenz & Babe Siebert

FUN FACT: Cude's hometown is Winnipeg, but he was actually born in Wales, United Kingdom.

Wilf Cude had a nine-year NHL career playing with five different teams. Cude, who was born in Wales, learned to play hockey as a youngster growing up in Winnipeg before joining the Melville Millionaires of the Saskatchewan Senior Amateur Hockey Association in 1929.

Cude's tenure in the league began in 1930-31 with the Philadelphia Quakers, playing in 29 games. The following year, he played two games in goal for Boston and one for Chicago, with the balance of his season being played in the CAHL with the Boston Cubs. The entire 1932-33 season was spent in the CAHL with the Philadelphia Arrows.

In 1933-34, Cude began the year with the Detroit Red Wings but he finished the season in Montreal, with the Canadiens. The last seven years of Cude's NHL career were spent with the Canadiens.

Cude once had the unique distinction of being the NHL's spare goaltender, playing for whatever team required a backup. He may also have been the lightest goalie in league history, tipping the scales at no more than 130 pounds. (bio says 146)

For one brief season, the NHL spotlight shone brightly on Wilf Cude's goal crease.

When December facial injuries felled John Ross Roach, Detroit's all-star goalie, Jack Adams sent out an S.O.S. for help between the pipes. He settled on Cude, acquired on a season loan basis from the Montreal Canadiens.

The move proved Adams was a man who paid attention.

Born in Barry, Wales and raised in Winnipeg, Cude was an acrobatic netminder and a fiery competitor. Once when Dave Trottier of the Montreal Maroons taunted him after scoring, Cude chased Trottier around the ice, attempting to club him with his goal stick. Another time, while eating dinner, Cude's wife wondered how he'd missed a shot in the previous game. He angrily fired his steak at her.

That competitive nature didn't take long to surface in Detroit. Cude went 10-2-8 in his first 20 games as a Red Wing, posting three shutouts. He finished the season with an NHL-leading 1.52 GAA and when he led Detroit to back-to-back wins over Chicago in March, it clinched first place in the American Division for the Red Wings.

"He is a high-class performer," Roach said of his replacement. Cude's 1-0 shutout victory over Toronto in the fifth and deciding game of the semifinals moved the Wings into their first Stanley Cup final, where Cude would oppose Chicago goaler and boyhood friend Charlie Gardiner.

"He lived near my place on William Street (in Winnipeg)," Gardiner said. "For years, we went back and forth to school together."

Gardiner got the better of the best-of-five battle, which Chicago took in four games, two of them overtime decisions, including a 1-0 double OT contest in the Cup-clinching match.

It would be the last time the two men met on the ice. Cude was recalled by the Canadiens after the season, while Gardiner was dead six weeks later, the victim of a brain hemorrhage.

Cude began the new year with the Detroit Red Wings, on loan from the Montreal Canadiens who had aquired him in a cash trade with the Quakers earlier in the season. With Detroit, Cude posted his best career numbers going 15-8-6 in 29 games, with a 1.52 GAA. Over the next six and a half years in Montreal, Cude would win 73 games, mostly during the Canadiens leanest years.

Cude was an all-star before the game became an official event in 1947. Born July 4, 1910 in South Wales, he played 301 games between 1930-41 for five NHL teams, including the Detroit Red Wings and with the Canadiens he took part in the 1937 and ’39 memorial games to benefit the families of teammates Howie Morenz and Babe Siebert.

Cude was definitely one of the heroes of the 1934 SCF in a losing effort:

Shots were fired from well out and the brilliant Cude in Detroit's cage and Charlie Gardiner at the other end handled these with ease.

Cude, whose nose was broken in the third game Sunday night, came back with another great display in the nets. He had more work to do than Gardiner and he did it as well. Fifty-three shots were fired at the Detroit rookie during the four and a half periods to 39 that the black-haired Hawk netman handled.

(semifinal, game 1) - About $15,000 fans jammed Maple Leaf Gardens for the second game, in which Wilf Cude was outstanding in goal.

(finals, game 3) - However, Wilf Cude was the hero in an upset win by the Wings. In a melee around his goal in the 2nd period, Cude had his nose broken. ****** accidentally clouted him across the face while trying to score, with Cude on the ice. After some temporary repairs, the Detroit goalie was able to continue.

(finals, game 4) - The rival goalers put on a great performance. Gardiner gained the shutout but Wilf Cude, in spite of his broken nose, was equally brilliant. Cude had 53 shots to handle compared to 40 on Gardiner.

A few other nice little quotes:

An unlucky break nullified Wilf Cude's sensational goaltending and enabled the Boston Bruins to top the crippled Canadiens 1-0....

Cude, who suffered a deep cut near his left eye early in the third, had thirty difficult saves.

The Leafs were the better team tonight, raining shots off the pads of Wilf Cude, whose sensational work kept the score from being larger. Cude stopped 32 shots, half the number coming in the final period. Hainsworth had 22 saves.

Wilf Cude, who held down the job of guarding Montreal's net, was superb as he backed up his shorthanded forces. He scurried from side to side, hit the ice time and again, and came out of his citadel whenever he had to, to keep his team in the running by making remarkable saves on Ranger drives.

The Hawks, getting three times the number of shots the Canadiens had, could not beat the brilliant play of Goalie Wilf Cude, who kicked out the disk from all angles in every period.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Dave Kerr

Dave Kerr

x1 Vezina Trophy winner (1940)
x1 NHL First All-Star Team (1940)
x1 NHL Second All-Star Team (1938)
x1 Stanley Cup Winner (1940)
x5 Top 3 GAA (1st in '40, 2nd in '37, '38' and '39; 3rd in '36)
Allan Cup winner in 1930

After bouncing around with the Montreal Maroons and New York Americans and several senior league circuits where he established his reputation, Davey Kerr gained fame when he joined the New York Rangers in 1934. In Manhattan he became one of the league's best netminders until his retirement in 1941.

His best season was the 1939-40 campaign. He won his only Vezina Trophy as the league's top goalie with a 1.54 GAA and a league leading 8 shutouts. Then in the playoffs he was spectacular in leading the Rangers to their now-famous 1940 Stanley Cup championship. He was also named to the First All Star Team that year.

But even before that legendary season he was a hit. In fact, on March 18th, 1938, Kerr became the first hockey player to be pictured of Time Magazine. He was hockey's first cover boy.

The Toronto born Kerr was extremely popular with the fans, in part because he was as agile as a ballet dancer. He loved to do the splits to take away the entire lower part of the net. In practice one of Davey's favorite maneuvers was to lay his stick across the goal mouth in front of the goal line while he did the splits to take away the lower portion. Then he'd have both hands free to catch his teammates practice shots. He would dare his buddies to beat him, and they rarely did.

One of the most impressed was teammate and later Ranger coach Frank Boucher.

"Kerr was gifted with an excellent right hand that picked off shots like Bill Terry playing first for the (Baseball's NY) Giants. He was deliberate and methodical in everything he did. Davey retired long before his time, when he was at his peak and only 30 years old," said Boucher.

Boucher, one of the all time greats, also saw Kerr as a leader. Davey was very vocal in the nets, often instructing his team, almost acting as an on-ice coach.

"In a commanding way, Davey was able to shout at his defensemen, giving them guidance without offending them and getting them to do the job he wanted done in front of him, talking continually when the puck was in our end. I don't ever remember Dave accusing a defense player for a mistake when a goals was scored against him. He always assumed the blame," said Boucher.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4WhkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=o3wNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5983,2475988&dq=en

New York last won the trophy in 1939-40 season, defeating Toronto four games to two in the best-of-seven series. Watson was a playing member of the that team, sparked by the defensive play of goalie Dave Kerr in the nets. Kerr won the Vezina Trophy the same season.

When Lorne (Gump) Worsley and Harry Lumley were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this week it re-opened a campaign by one of Montreal's smaller but enduring fan clubs, specifically "the Dave Kerr for Hall of Fame Society."

The paper had just landed on the doorstep yesterday when Terry (Aislin) Mosher phoned to say, "Gump and Lumley made it. Now's your chance to do something for Davey."

Somehow, the Hall of Fame selectors, who have installed more than their share of unworthies over the years, keep overlooking David Alexander Kerr, one of the best, if not the best goalie from 1930-1941 in the NHL. A native of Toronto, Kerr become a hero here when he led the MAAA Winged Wheelers to the Allan Cup in 1929. He joined the old Montreal Maroons in the NHL in the 1930-'31 season, but it was later with the New York Rangers that he had his best seasons.

The Gazette's Dink Carroll remembers him as a "cocky little guy with exceptional eyesight and a great right hand and extraordinary reflex. He said nobody could score on him on a breakaway or a penalty shot, and I can't remember anyone actually doing it. Like Ted Williams he went out of his way to protect his eyes, wearing sunglasses and refusing to look out a train window at the snow."

His career (10 years) goals-against average was 2.23 per game (less than Ken Dryden's 2.24) and in 1940, the last year the Rangers won the Stanley Cup, it was a phenomenal 1.60. He retired in 1941 when many of the Rangers' stars went into the armed forces (the club has never been the same again).

Dave Kerr's name came up for the selection to the hall in 1969 and in 1975, but Danny Gallivan, one of the selection committee, said he didn't get enough support.
But take heart, Kerr fans, it's coming up again in 1981.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fEowAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TKgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6479,2845298&dq=en

Maroons Held to Scoreless Tie By Chicago's Hawks
Chuck Gardiner and Dave Kerr Star in Battle of Goaltenders

The Maroons' scoring guns seem to be effectively spiked. The club that had nine men among the first 15 point-makers in the Canadian Section of the NHL last season and that rattled goals past opposing netminders so fast it seemed to be using machine-guns instead of sticks can't even find a popgun in its equipment just now.

Last night at the Forum Maroons were shut out again, held to a scoreless tie by Charles "Chattering Chuck" Gardiner and his associate Chicago Black Hawks through seventy minutes of fast hockey before a small crowd. And it wasn't for want of trying. Maroons worked like demons, Managed Eddie Gerard shuffled his lines frequently and thoroughly. Four-man attacks were used time and again. They outplayed the Hawks in the first, third and overtime periods but still they could not score against the close-knot Chicago defence and Mr. Gardiner's usual brand of highly-effective goaltending, tinged with a bit of luck here and there and aided and abetted by poor marksmanship by Maroons on some occasions.
There's one thing about the Maroons; they're not alibiing themselves. They can't understand why they are not getting goals. They are convinced they are trying their hardest. Bit they just can't click, and they admit it, wonderingly, vowing grimly to do better next time.
...Dave Trottier, given more work than any other member of the team except Dave Kerr...

Both Goalers Star
So it turned out to be one of those games that was a double triumph for the goalkeepers, Messrs. Gardiner and Kerr-the former having more work, but the latter showing his share of brilliancy when necessary-adding shutout to their records. The highlights of their performances were a particularly sensational save each. Early in the game, Northcott got right through on Gardiner alone, Baldy made his play well, tricked Chuck into a dive, Northcott coasted across the empty goal-mouth and slipped the puck toward the net. Gardiner in a despairing effort, flung out his stick, while he was flat on the ice, and knocked the puck clear. In the second period, Kerr rivaled this save with one from Johnny Gottselig, Gottselig was right in and Dave was diving forward when Gottselig shot and the puck zoomed upward, heading into the net over Dave's shoulder. Kerr threw up his right hand caught the disc expertly as he was falling on his face.

Maroons forced the pace in all but the second period when the Hawks outplayed them distinctly. As the game entered its late stages still scoreless the Chicagoans became more and more careful in playing for a tie and despite the driving finish of the Maroons, the solidity of the Hawks' defence could not be shaken.

1937 Playoff Run

Detroit Red Wings Confident of Stopping Inspired Rangers
Play Next Three Games of Stanley Cup Series on Home Ice-Norm Smith, Star Goalie, May Be Absent From Lineup When Warfare Is Resumed Tonight-Dave Kerr, Ranger Netminder, Faces Task of Stopping League's Best Offense

The injury-ridden Red Wings of Detroit, one game down of New York Rangers in the five-game Stanley Cup series, came home today with a feeling that "we'll pull out of the hole."
To retain the Cup they won last year, the league champions must stop the inspired rush of the "hot" Ranger team and win three games here before Lester Patrick's young men get two more victories.
The Wings think they'll do it. They have pulled out of tight places before, most recently at Montreal in the championship playoffs when, after dropping two decisions to the Canadiens following Goalie Norm Smith's injury, they came back to win the overtime deciding game.

...Detroit Red Wings, who overcame an amazing series of injuries to win the league title, don't think that Dave Kerr, Ranger netminder who has held the opposition to two goals in 313 minutes of playoff hockey, can continue to hold off the Detroit attack, which was the league's most effective offense during the scheduled season.
...The Detroit strategy for the remained of the Cup series was gone over by Adams tonight in conference with three captains...
Principal subject of the conference was how to slow down the attack of a young Ranger team that has found its most blazing speed in the important final series.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Zg1QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NFUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3602,2159960&dq=en

The New York Rangers, who finished third in the American division of the National Hockey League, stood one game away from the Stanley Cup today.
Resuming their sensational conquering drive last night the Blueshirted New Yorkers defeated the Detroit Red Wings, cup defenders and league champions, 1-0. Victory Tuesday night when the Stanley Cup series continues will give the Rangers the trophy.

...Dave Kerr, the great Ranger goalie, scored his fourth shutout in seven playoff games last night. Except for the second game of the Stanley Cup series, which Detroit won 4 to 2, Kerr has been supreme master of net play. Only six goals have scored against him in seven games.

The Rangers ended up getting shutout in the 4th and 5th games by Earl Robertson, while allowing 4 goals, and lost their chance to bring the Cup home.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RyNkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VXsNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1359,3007023&dq=en

Boston's Tiny Thompson returns to the first team after being selected first in 1936 and giving way to Smith last season. The 32-year-old netminder is finishing one of the greatest seasons of his 10-year NHL career after having won the Vezina trophy for the fourth time.

His only serious rival for the job was Dave Kerr and he had a comfortable margin over the New York Ranger. Kerr won the alternate team job without a struggle.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0KRHAAAAIBAJ&sjid=V_4MAAAAIBAJ&pg=989,1596516&dq=en

Rangers Can Equal Record Team To Seek 18th Straight Hockey Victory
Would Tie Mark Set By Canadiens in 1927-28

A record that has withstood every assault for 10 years-the 18 game unbeaten streak of Montreal Canadiens in the season of 1927-28-is within the Rangers' grasp, and the strain has been telling recently. It affects them until they step on the ice where they don't know the meaning of the word jitters.

...If they tie or defeat Chicago the Rangers will equal the mark set by a Canadien team propelled by the late Howie Morenz, who led the league in scoring that season, and backed by Goaler George Hainsworth, who allowed only 48 goals in 44 games. Providing they get by tonight, the Rangers will have a chance of setting a record against the Maple Leafs in Toronto Saturday.
Hotter than live coals since they last lost a game in mid-November, the Rangers have uncovered tremendous power and remarkable defensive ability during the streak. Their forwards- and it has been a case of every forward doing his share - have fired 64 goals. Dave Kerr has been beaten only 25 times in 17 games.

New Defensive Scheme
They have licked every team in the league expect Toronto, twice. Their only meeting with the Leafs in that period was a 4-1 victory.

The Rangers have introduced a new method of offsetting penalties this season that hasn't attracted the attention it deserves as a crowd - please and as an effective means of defence. The idea is to get the puck into the opposition's defending zone, then throw every man up on the theory that a savage four-man attack is a better defence than just checking or ragging the puck.The figured show the method works-when you have a team of skaters like the Rangers. They had two goals scored on them while playing a man short, but they've scored four themselves.

Under ordinary circumstances a contest between Boston and Toronto would be bound to hold the National League spotlight, but the circumstances are not ordinary tonight and because of this, attention is focused on a clash between Chicago and the Rangers.

The Rangers won this game 5-3 and picked up a 19th win over Toronto, before missing their chance to hit 20 straight against Chicago again.

news.google.com/newspapers?id=K-hkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EIENAAAAIBAJ&pg=1901,1577446&dq=en

The business at hand, so far as Dave Kerr is concerned, is catching up with and then passing Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League standing. The famed 19-game undefeated streak set by New York Rangers-with Kerr as the sparkplug-has been all but forgotten.

"People come up to me and say 'Boy, you must feel good now that Rangers have set a new unbeaten record'," declared the Ranger goalie Wednesday after a workout. "Well, we certainly were glad to set the mark but it isn't anything to cheer about to find ourselves still two points down to the Bruins after those 19 straight unbeaten games."

Thrill No. 1 in a 10-year NHL career for Kerr didn't come the night, as one would suppose, that the Rangers defeated Toronto Maple Leafs to wipe out the mark of 18 successive unbeaten games set a dozen years ago by Montreal Canadiens.

"Certainly, I got a big kick out of winning that one," said Kerr, "but I think that my biggest moment came when I was traded to Rangers by Montreal Maroons five years ago and we beat Maroons 2-1 the next time out."

Kerr is a man with a mind divided about winning the Vezina trophy, awarded annually to the goalie with the lowest-goals against record. "It seems to be a jinx to win the trophy," he said.

"There was Charlie Gardiner of Chicago-he became ill and died, and there was Lorne Chabot, who won it and then got hurt at the start of his next season," said Kerr, ticking names off on his fingers. "Normie Smith won it and next season when Detroit hit the skids he was sent out to have his eyes examined and finally gave up hockey. Tiny Thompson had the same thing happen as Chabot. He got hurt and Art Ross brought up Brimsek for a couple of games. Finally Brimsek became the regular goalie and Thompson was sold to Detroit."

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Yh9kAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QXsNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5900,506963&dq=en

The simple, main reason why Boston Bruins are trailing the first-place New York Rangers in the National Hockey League standings is that they haven't beaten them all season.

The Rangers invade Boston tonight with a record of four victories in five meetings with the second-place Bruins. In their first collision of the season the two clubs played a tie.
Bruins will seek again to solve the intricate passing style and quick closing defensive system of the Blueshirts. A great inspirational player like Eddie Shore, whom Manager Art Ross traded to New York Americans, would go well in a spot like this.

This is one of the last chances, that Frankie Brimsek will have to show during the schedule that he ranks in a class with Goalie Dave Kerr of the Rangers this season. Voted the league's all-star goalie in 1938-39, and the No. 1 rookie, Brimsek has been scored on 67 times this season to 49 goals against Kerr.

1940 Cup Win
news.google.com/newspapers?id=IR0vAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xdsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=944,1595218&dq=en

Frankie Boucher's Young Men of Manhattan sprang something of a surprise when they blanked the league champions, 4-0. The Blue Shirts tied up the Bruins' famous Kraut line-one that had set a high mark in the league season's scoring activities-and went on to bang four tallies behind Frank Brimsek. The veteran Dave Kerr, acclaimed as the loop's top goaler this season, stood the Bostonese off while his teammates were salting the verdict away.

news.google.com/newspapers?id=eBo_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=W08MAAAAIBAJ&pg=1801,5050801&dq=en

After being held scoreless for more than 157 minutes by Dave Kerr, the aroused Boston Bruins drove four goals past that All-Stars goalie in about 35 minutes Thursday as they came from behind for a 4-2 victory that evened their Stanley Cup semi-final series with the New York Rangers.

news.google.com/newspapers?id=ja9TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=hocDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4333,3244112&dq=en

Scoring their second straight shutout in the Stanley Cup playoff series, the New York Rangers defeated the Boston Bruins, 1 to 0, to take a lead of 3 games to 2, before 16,428 persons at Boston Gardens.
The game developed into a goalies' battle, with Dave Kerr of the Rangers having the edge. Kerr made 31 stops for 19 for Frank Brimsek.

news.google.com/newspapers?id=430tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_JgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3741,514337&dq=en

Young Alf Pike, the 15th or spare man, came out for his turn on the Rangers' third line just in time tonight, driving home the goal that gave the New Yorkers a 2-1 victory over Toronto Maple Leafs after fifteen and a half minutes overtime in the first game of the Stanley Cup final.
...Both clubs were playing tight, careful hockey, seemingly ready to continue any length of time when Pike made his move.
...If the Rangers had lost-and they were 2 to 1 favorites in the pre-game betting-the 22-year-old Pike would have been the "goat" for he had knocked the puck into his own net for Toronto's only goal.
...Less than two minutes later, Dave Schriner passed forward through the Ranger defence to Red Heron who was beaten to the puck by Dave Kerr in the Ranger nets. But Pike was coming up fast to check Heron and he couldn't stop from barging into Kerr's leg pads. The loose pad[sic] was knocked out of Kerr's pads and over the line, Herron getting credit for the goal.

After that the teams settled back to play it close, waiting for the breaks. The Leafs bumped heavily from the start, attempting to knock some of the speed out of the Rangers and early in the overtime it appeared as if their bumping corps, led by Red Horner and Bingo Kampman, had been successful.
They were forcing the play just before Pike's clincher. Kerr had kicked, caught and fallen on pucks to stop a drive by the Leaf line of Gus Marker, Schriner and Pep Kelly.

...The game had few of the expected playoff thrills. Though the checking was hard throughout there were only seven penalties.
...The Leafs put on their strongest drives in the closing half of the third period and in the overtime, after the Rangers carried a wide edge for nearly 50 minutes.
...Just before Pike's goal, Marker broke from a five-man Ranger attack and sped in on Kerr alone. Kerr's great save set the stage for the passing bout between Patrick and Pike, and the latter's winning shot.

The Rangers followed this 2-0 start by dropping games 3 and 4. Kerr then outdueled Broda winning games 5 and 6 in overtime to clinch the Cup.

news.google.com/newspapers?id=07RQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qiIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6489,4043923&dq=en

Brimsek has improved steadily at goal and is ranked right up with Dave Kerr of the Rangers among the game's great net minders.

Kerr's announcement in Toronto that he is retiring from hockey was not entirely unexpected here. After winning the Vezina Trophy two years ago he was known to have felt disappointment with his showing last year. He is 31, a veteran of 11 years in the NHL with Montreal Maroons and Rangers.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Normie Smith 1

The Vancouver Maroons select back-up goalie Normie Smith

"That bird Normie Smith robbed me more than any goaltender I ever fired at" -Harvey Jackson

A man who can step his game up big time and hold the fort down during a playoff run, if Brimsek were ever to get injured. Smith has a pretty dominant two-year peak: he was the MVP of the 1936 playoffs, and then followed that up the next season by leading all goalies in wins, GAA, and shutouts to pick up a 1st team all-star selection and Vezina trophy, and then backstop his team to another championship in the playoffs that year.

- 1st Team All-Star (1937)
- Stanley Cup Champion x2 (1936, 1937)
- Vezina Trophy (1937)
- retro Conn Smythe Trophy
- 9 periods of shutout hockey in the playoffs

Originally posted by the HHOF:
1935-36 Normie Smith-Detroit
Detroit were out-shot in every playoff game. Smith stole the opener against the Maroons blocking all 90 shots as his team won 1-0 after 117 minutes of overtime. He followed up with 36 saves in a 3-0 shutout and was solid in every game against Toronto as he stopped 95.7% of the 281 shots that he faced.

Originally posted by Joe Pelletier:
Smith took the brunt of the collision and was injured so badly he was out for the rest of the season. Smith spent the next two seasons in the minors, improving his rebound control and all around game. It is there that he discovered that wearing his trademark peaked cap over his eyes cut down the glare from the overhead lights, allowing him to follow the play more easily.

Smith got a second chance the following year and was in the Detroit goal for one of the most remarkable games ever played. After the Wings and Maroons finished on top of their respective divisions, they met in Montreal in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. On March 24, 1936, Smith and Lorne Chabot were in their respective nets when the teams faced off at the Montreal Forum before more than 9000 fans. Many of those fans would not be around for the finish of the match - they would be back home and fast asleep when the Wings Mud Bruneteau scored the game's only goal at 2:25 - at 16:30 of the sixth overtime period! Norm Smith had recorded a shutout in the longest game ever played! 176 minutes and 30 seconds. Years later the Guinness Book of World Records also listed Smith's 92 saves as a world record.

Smith's mastery over the Maroons continued into game 2 of the series. He chalked up his second consecutive shutout when the Red Wings blanked the Maroons 3-0.

In game three, back in Detroit, the Maroons Gus Marker finally put a puck past Smith in the first period, ending Smith's shutout streak at 248 minutes and 32 seconds. But Johnny Sorrell and Scotty Bowman (no, not the famous coach, a different guy altogether) replied for the Wings, who won the game 2-1, ending the best of 5 series.

The Red Wings went on to defeat Toronto in the finals, three games to one, to capture the Stanley Cup!

The next year, thanks largely to Smith who won the Vezina Trophy, the Red Wings repeated as league champions.

Originally posted by Legends of Hockey:
Normie Smith will always be remembered for the first game of the Stanley Cup semi-finals in 1936 against the Montreal Maroons when he and his Red Wind teammates won the longest game in hockey history. After three regulation periods of shutout hockey, the game went into overtime--six overtime periods to be exact. The Red Wings finally scored at 2:25 a.m. and 176 minutes of game time. Smith earned the shutout by making 92 saves.

When asked to name the best netminder he faced during his twelve-year NHL career, Red [Horner] stated, 'Normie Smith of the Wings.'

Normie Smith 2

He got a second chance the following year and was in the Detroit goal for one of the most remarkable games ever played. After the Wings and Maroons finished on top of their respective divisions, they met in Montreal in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. On March 24, 1936, he and Lorne Chabot were in their respective nets when the teams faced off at the Montreal Forum before more than 9000 fans. Many of those fans would not be around for the finish of the match - they would be back home and fast asleep when the Wings**** scored the game's only goal at 2:25 - at 16:30 of the sixth overtime period! He had recorded a shutout in the longest game ever played! 176 minutes and 30 seconds. Years later the Guinness Book of World Records also listed his 92 saves as a world record.-Joe Pelletier

During the 1935-36 and 1936-37 seasons, no NHL goalie was better than he- Red Wings.com

The next year, thanks largely to him who won the Vezina Trophy, the Red Wings repeated as league champions.-Joe Pelletier

His career was short, but memorable. A Vezina Trophy, 2 Stanley Cups and over 9 periods of shutout hockey in the playoffs!-Joe Pelletier

That bird Normie Smith robbed me more than any goaltender I ever fired at," -Harvey (Busher) Jackson.

With our 22nd selection, the Cairo Desert Dogs proudly select...



NORMIE SMITH!

Awards and Achievements
2x Stanley Cup Champion (1936, 1937)
1 x Vezina Trophy Winner (1937)-For best GAA
1 x First Team All-Star (1937)
1 x Retro Conn Smythe Trophy (1936)
2 x NHL Wins Leader (1936, 1937)
1 x NHL shutout leader (1937)

Biography
Normie Smith was having a good rookie season in 1931-32 for the Montreal Maroons, before Howie Morenz ran into him, and was injured badly and out for the rest of the season. He would spend his next two seasons in the minor, developing his game, and discovering that wearing a cap could cut down the glare from the overhead lights, allowing him to play more easily.

Normie Smith's time in the minors developing his game would prove to be beneficial. He would be signed by the Red Wings in 1934, and although the Red Wings would not be pleased with his play at frist, he would soon shine.

In the 1936 playoffs, Smith would play one of the most remarkable games ever, with a 92 save shutout. The Wings would go on to win the cup, largely due to Smith's brilliance.

Smith's great play would continue into the next season, as he was a big part in the Wings repeating as cup champions, taking home first team all-star honors.

The Wings would falter in the next season however, and Smith's career would end soon after, playing a few more games without doing much of note. His career would be shot, but memorable, and his peak was incredible.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Mike Karakas

With our 24th selection, the 741st overall in this year All-Time Draft, the Detroit Falcons are very happy to select Mike Karakas

Nickname: Iron Mike
Height: 5'11''
Weight: 147 lbs
Position: Goaltender
Catch: Left
Date of Birth: December 12, 1911
Place of Birth: Aurora, United States
Date of Death: May 02, 1992 (Age: 80)

Stanley Cup Champion (1938)
Stanley Cup Finalist (1944)
NHL Second All-Star Team (1945)
Calder Trophy (1936)
United States Hockey Hall of Fame (1973)

Top-5 Wins (2nd, 4th, 4th, 5th)
Top-5 Shutouts (1st, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th)
Top-5 Goals Against Average (2nd, 4th, 5th, 5th)
Calder Nomination (1st)

- Karakas is the first goaltender to introduce the now common trapper glove to the NHL
- After suffering from a broken toe in the first game of the 1938 Stanley Cup Finals against the Montreal Canadiens, he returned two games later wearing a steel-toed boot and helped the Blackhawks their second Stanley Cup in their franchise history
- In 1941, Karakas won the Calder Cup in the American Hockey League with the Providence Reds
- Inaugural inductee into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1973

Mike Karakas was the first American-born goalie to star in the NHL. He was lauded for having one of the quickest glove hands in hockey along with outstanding balance. In eight NHL seasons he recorded 28 shutouts and a goals against average of 2.82. Karakas recorded three blank sheets in the post-season and was considered at his best in key games. He handled the puck well and was always quick to credit his defence after a strong game.

He was awarded the Calder Memorial trophy after posting a 1.92 goals-against mark and nine shutouts. Two years later he recorded a pair of playoff shutouts while leading the Hawks to an unexpected Stanley Cup championship after finishing with a losing record in the regular season. This achievement was even greater considering Karakas missed the first two games with a broken toe and eventually led the Hawks to their triumph wearing a cast.

The talented Minnesotan recorded 114 career regular season wins and helped lead the way for future American born and trained goalkeepers. During his six NHL seasons he appeared in every one of Chicago's games and earned the nickname "Iron Mike". Karakas' immense contribution to the game in his native country was recognized when he was named as an original member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.

Karakas joined the Chicago Blackhawks at the start of the 1935 season and proceeded to dazzle the opposition by posting a 1.92 goals against average and 9 shutouts over the 48-game season. This was more than sufficient to gain him the forerunner to the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie. In 1938 Karakas backstopped the Hawks to a Stanley Cup victory despite an injury during the final series. He recorded two shutouts during the eight playoff games. He played with the Blackhawks into the 1940 season and ended that year with the Montreal Canadiens.

Playing the next three seasons in the American Hockey League with Providence, Karakas returned to the Hawks in 1944 and took them all the way to the Stanley Cup finals against the Montreal Canadiens. Though the Blackhawks went out in four straight games, all but the first was close and Karakas performed brilliantly.

Alphonse Lacroix and Moe Roberts were the first American born goalies to play in the NHL, but it was Mike Karakas who became the first American-born star goalkeeper.

He used that glove hand spectacularly. It was said that Karakas had the quickest glove hand of his time. He was a maddening goalie in that he was highly inconsistent. He tended to be at his best in big games, but otherwise really struggled with consistency.

The Blackhawks didn't look like they'd last long in the 1938 playoffs, but not only did they, but they shocked the experts by beating the powerful Leafs to win the Stanley Cup. Karakas played very well in the semifinal and final, even though Karakas was forced out of the first two games of the finals with a broken toe. Alfie Moore took over and won the game. After Moore was ruled ineligible and Paul Goodman lost the second game, Karakas returned for game three and four wearing a steel toe guard and completed the storybook upset over the Leafs. Allowing only 15 goals all post-season, Karakas was very sharp, giving the Hawks their last Cup until 1961 when a new generation took over.

Karakas returned and showed improved consistency. He played the final 26 games of the 50 game schedule in 1943-44 and his great goalkeeping helped the Blackhawks into the playoffs. He had a 3.04 goals against average and three shutouts in the high-scoring NHL, which was remarkable. In the playoffs he unthinkably led another Cinderella Hawks team into the Stanley Cup finals. But this time the Montreal Canadiens were unbeatable in the playoffs, and though Karakas was good, he wasn't good enough to stop the Habs powerful attack.

The next year, Doug Bentley joined his brother Max in the armed forces and only the goalkeeping of Karakas prevented the Hawks from avoiding the cellar. That he recorded a league high 4 shutouts was miraculous, and he was selected for the second all-star team.

Sites:
http://www.usahockey.com/ushhof/default.aspx?NAV=AF_01&id=230260&DetailedNews=yes
http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=18576
http://www.sihrhockey.org/member_player_sheet.cfm?player_id=4575&mode=0
http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SilverwareTrophyWinner.jsp?tro=STC&year=1937-38
http://blackhawkslegends.blogspot.com/2007/03/mike-karakas.html

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Turk Broda

With their third round pick (95) in the 2011 ATD, the Guelph Platers have selected: Walter "Turk" Broda, G

Regarded as perhaps the best clutch goaltender of all time, Walter "Turk" Broda was "Mr. Maple Leaf" for 16 seasons, with two years lost to Canadian armed forces duty in World War II.

-Greatest Hockey Legends


Career Highlights:
5 time Stanley Cup Champion 1942,1947,1948,1949,1951.
Vezina Trophy winner 1941,1948.
2 x 1st Team All Star at G (Post Season) 1941,1948.
2nd Team All Star at G (Post Season) 1942.
#60 on The Hockey News 100 Greatest NHL players (1998)
Inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame 1967.



Vitals:
Born: May 15, 1914.
Position: G
Height: 5-9
Weight: 180 lbs
Catches: Left.


Regular Season:
Broda led the league in regular season wins in 1941 & 1948.
At the time of his retirement, Broda was the career leader in regular season wins with 302. Currently 23rd.
Was 6th in career shutouts at his retirement. Currently he is ranked 15th in career shutouts with 62.



Playoffs:
Career playoff record: 60W - 39L, 1.98GAA, 13SO, 5 Stanley Cups.

Broda was a member of the famous 1942 Leaf squad that was down 3-0 in the Stanley Cup finals but rallied to win 4 straight games and capture the Cup. He recorded a shutout in game 6 and allowed only one goal in game 7.



Quotations and Perspective:

he is without doubt one of if not the greatest money goalie of all time

- Greatest Hockey Legends

The bonus money for winning wasn't much but I always needed it. Or maybe I was just too dumb to know the situation was serious.

- Turk Broda, jokingly and literally, a "money" goalie

Broda’s rise to the top was completely unexpected. He was a pudgy fellow and a poor skater, yet he contained an incredible enthusiasm for playing hockey. As a boy he was always stuck in net because of his poor skating. Although he wasn’t overly refined, he stuck with the game admirably.

- Greatest Hockey Legends

I couldn't beat him. Toe Blake couldn't. None of the Canadiens could

- Maurice Richard said after the 1951 series where all 5 games went to OT.

Broda’s reign as the top goalie in the league was put on hold in 1943 when he spent 2 and ½ years in the military during World War II. He would return late in the 1945-46 season.

Broda’s second tour of duty with the Leafs proved to be more successful than the first. The Leafs emerged as one of the greatest teams of all time. Broda would be the puck stopper in each of the Leafs Stanley Cup wins in 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1951. He was very good during those regular seasons, but come playoff time he somehow was able to take his game to a new level – he led the entire league in wins and shutouts in each of those Stanley Cup years, and in goals against average in 3 of the 4.

- Greatest Hockey Legends

​

TDMM addition:

There was a great post from BM67 many years ago, comparing various goalies in regular season vs playoff stats. From what I remember, Broda was near the top in many categories, supporting his reputation as a great clutch goalie. Will try to dig up this post.

Edit: I think I was referring to this post - http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=2603196&postcount=34 - which shows that Broda has the best improvement in GAA and 4th best improvement in win percentage out of a sample of 22 elite goalies.

I'll point out that:

- this post is seven years out of date (though obviously that wouldn't affect Broda or the majority of the goalies listed)

- obviously some of Broda's improved playoff numbers is due to his teammates (the tricky part is trying to find out, ideally through first-hand contemporary accounts, how much of the improvement is attributable to Broda)

- ideally the change in GAA should be on a percentage basis rather than an absolute basis (for example, based on the 2005 numbers, which I realize are now out of date, Fuhr gets credit for a larger decrease in his playoff GAA than Brodeur, but Brodeur's GAA actually dropped by a slightly larger percentage - Fuhr in effect gets credit for playing in a higher-scoring era if we look at the absolute rather than percentage change)

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Frank Brimsek 1

With our third selection, the 87th overall in this year All-Time Draft, the Detroit Falcons are very proud to select a goaltender who know Detroit's locker room very well, Monsieur Francis Charles Brimsek

Stanley Cup Champion (1939, 1941)
Stanley Cup Finalist (1943, 1946)
First All-Star Team Goalie (1939, 1942)
Second All-Star Team Goalie (1940, 1941, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1948)
Calder Memorial Trophy (1939)
Vezina Trophy (1939, 1942)
Hockey Hall of Fame (1966)

Top-3 Wins (1st, 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
Top-3 Shutouts (1st, 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd)
Top-5 Hart Nomination (2nd, 3rd, 5th)
Top-5 Vezina Nomination (1st, 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd)

"The kid had the fastest hands I ever saw - like lightning." - XXX XXXX

- #67 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players
- #71 on History of Hockey list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players
- He's nicknamed ''Mr.Zero'' because he twice had three consecutive shutouts in his first year as a goalie for the Boston Bruins..
- He was well-respected by his peers and XXX XXX and Frank Selke asserted that Brimsek was the finest goalie during his era. Canadiens and NHL legend Maurice Richard called Brimsek one of the toughest goaltenders he ever faced.
- Originally, the Detroit Red Wings claimed an interest in the goaltender. But after showing up for a Red Wings training camp, he decided he wanted no part of the Detroit organization citing XXXX XXXXX, the intimidating, dictatorial General Manager who "had a bad habit of favoritism", as the reason. (HockeyArchives.info)
- Won the George L. Davis Jr Trophy in the Eastern American Hokcey League, given to the goaltender who allowed the fewest goals in the season.
- Won the Calder Cup (winners of the International American Hockey League playoffs) in 1938 with the Providence Reds.
- On his 2nd, 3rd and 4th games after XXXXX XXXXXXXX was traded to Detroit for 15 000$, Brimsek registered three shutouts in a row. His shutout streak extended to 231 minutes, 54 seconds, breaking XXXXXXXX's modern mark of 224:47
- In 1940, he became the first American born goaltender to win the Vezina Trophy.
- His career was interrupted from 1943 to 1945 because of the WWII.
- Brimsek registered nine 20-win seasons in a 10 years career in the NHL.
- He was the first American-born and trained player to dominate the league
- He was an original inductee into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1973.
- In honor of the Hall of Famer, the Frank Brimsek award is given to the top senior goaltender of Minnesota states, as selected by the panel of scouts and coaches.

Quotes:

Netminder Frank "Mr. Zero" Brimsek was one of the greatest players ever to hail from the United States. In a decade of NHL service, the accurately nicknamed Mr. Zero registered 40 shutouts and won 252 regular-season games.

Brimsek was a classic standup goalie whose confidence on the ice threw off many a shooter. On breakaways and penalty shots he would often lean back calmly against his net as the foe approached. But he was not a passive figure while guarding his cage - Brimsek used his custom-made heavy stick to knock the puck off opposition sticks or to take the feet out from under someone who took too many liberties around his goal.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Research by Sturminator in ATD2012 on Frank Brimsek:

Esposito over Brimsek is completely unjustifiable IMO. If you value longevity highly, I guess I can see Esposito over Gardiner, but considering Gardiner had a peak that had many calling him the best goalie to have ever played (up until that point which ended in 1934), I find it a real stretch to prefer Esposito to him.

Yes, Esposito over Brimsek is crazy talk, especially when one considers that Brimsek was probably cheated out of a first team all-star selection twice by the strange Vezina = 1st team all-star voting rules of the era, and lost another 1st team nod by a single vote to Broda.

Here's what I mean:

- Brimsek lost a close vote (12-14) in 42-43 to undrafted, in spite of being 5th in Hart voting (undrafted didn't place). But more important than the Hart voting is how the press of the era reacted to Brimsek's performance that season and the results of the all-star picks. To wit:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RK5TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=czgNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5776,3397174

Leader Post - Apr 4th, 1943:

Returning NHL performers who have been turning up in various prairie rinks there last few weeks, concede that they have little quarrel with the all-star band of puckists collected in the Canadian Press vote this spring. They put up a stout argument on Frankie Brimsek's behalf for the goaltending assignment, but nod assent to all other choices from then on as they sum up the dream team this way:

xxxxxxx: A fine goalkeeper playing behind the strongest team in the big-league. Worthy of all-star recognition, but the hockey players' goaltender is Frank Brimsek. They unanimously point to Brimsek as the king of custodians. "Frankie is our man, " they chorus."

Strong endorsement. Here's a better one.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NslGAAAAIBAJ&sjid=H_gMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1758,2016926

The Day - Feb 3rd, 1943:

Detroit's xxxxxxxx can't miss winning the Vezina goal-tending award but he appears far back in the running for a National Hockey league All-Star berth...Judging by the talk of the visiting hockey masterminds, the Bruins' Frankie Brimsek still is the greatest goalie in pro hockey.

xxxxxxxxxx can not depend upon the vote of his own boss, xxxxxxx. The latter rates xxxxxx as a very good goaltender, "But when I am called upon to name the best one, I must pick Brimsek," xxxxxxx explained. "If there ever has been a better goalie anywhere at any time than Brimsek, I've never seen him."

xxxxxxx sadly confessed that Brimsek gives the Bruins a goal and a half start before they even take to the ice..."The only reason why xxxxxx has had fewer goals scored against him is because our Red Wing defensemen give him much better support than the Bruins provide Brimsek," xxxxxxx points out....xxxxxx's high opinion of Brimsek has been loudly seconded by xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx...that group is almost as enthusiastic about Brimsek as xxxxxxxx, who predicted that Frankie would be the greatest goalie in history long before he ever appeared in a major league net.

An interesting article. It is absolutely superlative praise of Brimsek, and should make it 100% clear that he was the true 1st team all-star in 42-43, if not for the apparently silly Vezina tradition.

The other time Brimsek was likely the true 1st team all-star was in 1947-48, when Brimsek lost the 1st team on a tiebreak to Vezina winner Broda (who had more first place votes), but placed 2nd in Hart trophy voting. He also lost the 1st team placement to Broda (in his only other Vezina season) by a single vote in 1940-41.

I wouldn't normally make too much of the Vezina / 1st team all-star phenomenon, but the newspaper articles make it so obvious who the better goalie was and that for whatever reason the voters stuck with the Vezina winner, anyway, that it sort of calls the entire all-star system for goalies into question for that era. But once you see the papers and realize the obvious distortion, then a lot of results start to look strange. I mean...Turk Broda was only a 1st team all-star twice in his long career, the exact same years he won the Vezina, both times beating Brimsek by the thinnest of margins.

This is all very suspicious stuff. I think Brimsek is rightfully probably a 4 time 1st team / 4 time 2nd team all-star and one can quibble about another of the 2nd teams maybe being really a 1st. He also lost two prime years to the war, and if there is ever a scenario where we should count lost war years, it is for Brimsek, who was an all-star in the five years preceding the war, and in the three years after the war.

I'll post a bit more on Brimsek later, but the more I look at this player, the more I see the greatest goaltender before Sawchuk, and a guy who may well belong on the same level as Brodeur.

Well, looks like my night is going to be devoted to restoring the good (albeit drunken) reputation of Clint Benedict...

I don't think Brimsek getting more respect would diminish Benedict in any way. I've seen tons of praise of Benedict in old papers; he was very much the real thing. I just get the feeling when reading about Brimsek that he was a Glen Hall type of player: the defining and dominant goalie of an entire decade of hockey. Brimsek doesn't seem to have any playoff blemishes, either, and was probably the playoff here of at least one of his team's two Cups.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mqg0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=6GkFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5544,1228271&

Lewiston Evening Journal - Apr. 14, 1941:

Brimsek Logical Hero of Stanley Cup Hockey Series

Boston -AP: As goes Brimsek so goes the Bruins was the watchword and little Frank came thru (sic)...When you start adding up the credits for the Stanley Cup this year the cool goalie is the answer...

Watching the whole series - from Toronto thru Detroit - there is only one logical hero and that is Brimsek... You can name more of them and the one on the tip of your tongue is Milt Schmidt...That great center was tremendous and so was xxxxxxx."

Looks to me like Brimsek had at least a couple of years in the early 40's of absolute dominance.

Here's another interesting one:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pBZlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UYkNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1386,3581773

It seems to indicate that in 1943 when xxxxxx won the Vezina, he may not have even been the second best goalie - that he thought himself behind both Brimsek and Broda. Also interesting the bit about Brimsek handling rebounds better than Turk.

1942: 1st out of 7 (Crawford took over as Boston's #1 defensive defenseman, an undrafted offensive-minded teammate was a 2nd Team All Star)

It should be noted that this was the season when Frank Brimsek began peaking - the season in which he was the press' pick for the hero of Boston's Cup run. In the next season, this is the kind of praise they were throwing on Brimsek:

The Calgary Herald - Dec 15, 1942:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DzpkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DnwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1003,1612089

Bruins' Brimsek gets credit for team's victories:

Boston Bruins, riding along atop the National Hockey League heap, have good reason to be thankful that Frankie Brimsek is holding down the job between the goalposts. Praise for Brimsek's goaltending ability has come from time to time from the various league coaches.

xxxxxxx of Montreal Canadiens is the latest to add his word of praise for the Bruins' goalie. Home from a two-day road tour that included a game in Boston Saturday, xxxxx said, "We outplayed the Bruins and outshot them, but we just couldn't outscore them because Frankie Brimsek was simply unbeatable."

All of which brings to mind a remark made by Boston's coach, xxxxxxx, before the present season opened. xxxxx said that Brimsek was at his peak and added "He is one of the best goalers in hockey history."

This is more very strong praise for Brimsek, who was then in his fourth consecutive all-star season, and was quite possibly (probably?) the single most dominant player in the league at the time. Remember this was the early 40's and the old stars of the 30's had waned. We question from time to time which skaters replaced them as the superstars in the NHL, and I think one of the answers to that question is that Frank Brimsek emerged as a true generational superstar in the league.

More on Brimsek...this from one of his quite possibly ill-rewarded 2nd team all-star seasons (1940-41):

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=niI_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=y08MAAAAIBAJ&pg=4110,3160618

The Windsor Daily Star - Feb 11, 1941:

Then, just in case you think the Boston rearguard isn't so good, let us consider the last line of the Bruin defence - Frankie Brimsek. As successor to the peerless Tiny Thompson, Brimsek was sensational as a rookie. Today Brimsek, all reports to the contrary, is a better goalie than he was then.

As the Boston club was held to a 2-2 tie by an inspired band Red Wings at Olympia last Sunday evening, Brimsek gave the best display of puck fending for two periods that this observer has seen all season. Right now we'd rate him as the best goalie in the league with xxxxxxx of the Wings second and Turk Broda of the Maple Leafs third - and we are not just judging on the basis of their goals against records.

This is an interesting commentary on Brimsek and the incongruity between the perceptions of his relative greatness by everyone that commented on him and his 2nd all-star selections. The thing about Brimsek is that if you think about it, all those 2nd team all-star selections in an era when the first-team selection almost always went to the Vezina winner is really impressive - moreso than it appears at first glance. What it means is that in a year where the Vezina winner wasn't one of the two best goalies, Brimsek had to be the best goalie in the league just to make the second team, because the second-best goalie was not represented, at all, on the all-star team. Brimsek made eight consecutive all-star teams, with a two year break for the war almost directly in the middle of his career.

Also, it appears that those Boston teams after the war were really not very good defensively. I think may have been held at the level of an "average" defensive team largely because of Brimsek.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jZJjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QXoNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1421,3734088

The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix (great paper name) Apr 10, 1946:

Canadiens Defeat Bruins, 6-3, to take Stanley Cup

Staying at the torrent pace they set all winter, Montreal Canadiens put on a three-goal splurge against Boston Bruins Tuesday night to break a 3-3 stalemate and win 6-3, capturing the Stanley Cup, emblematic of world hockey supremacy. It was the fifth game of the cup final and Canadiens won by four games to one.

Boston Defense Falters

Both teams staged furious hockey in the first two periods but in the last frame the Boston defense broke down under the pressure, paving the way for Canadiens' scoring spree.

After taking the National Hockey League championship during three consecutive seasons the smooth-working Canadiens captured their second Stanley Cup in the same number of years. They waltzed through the semifinal series in easy fashion to beat Chicago Black Hawks in four straight games and took four games from Bruins and dropped one to take the cup.

Montreal's Bill Durnan and Boston's Frankie Brimsek, who staged a terrific goaltending duel throughout the series, again turned in outstanding exhibitions of puck stopping Tuesday night. Brimsek deserved no part of the Boston defeat, which was mainly due to a weak defence that left him time and time again without protection.

Not the highest praise for Boston's defense, nor for it's checking forwards, for that matter, but then it is already known that 45-46 was a terrible season for the Kraut Line, who were not yet back into game shape.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...352&dq=dink+carroll+|+crease+|+montreal&hl=en

The Montreal Gazette - April 9th, 1946:

Which brings us back to the series again. If there has ever been any better goaltending exhibited in a Stanley Cup final than that offered by Bill Durnan and Frankie Brimsek, no one can recall it. These two are high on the list of all-time great netminders. They are largely responsible for the low scores and the tenseness of the games.

- there's some other information in there about the Cup finals series, but nothing else of any great interest.

- more information on Brimsek's postseason record, which seems to have been very strong.

- Durnan at his peak seems to have been comparable to Brimsek, so we shouldn't underrate Durnan, though he was obviously not as dominant as Brimsek for as long.

I think the fap between Brimsek and Brodeur, insofar as it exists, is smaller than the gap between Brimsek and "the pack". Based on what I've recently read about Brimsek, I believe he may have peaked higher than Brodeur, and the longevity comparison has to take into account Brimsek's lost prime seasons and the fact that even eight seasons was outstanding longevity for his era. His record for all-star team appearances by a goalie stood until Glenn Hall came along.

I think people have undervalued Brimsek around here because of all the 2nd team appearances, which are deceptively good given the circumstances of his era. During Frank Brimsek's career, the winner of the Vezina trophy was the first team all-star every single season. That fact, alone, is extremely dubious, but when we combine it with multiple pieces of clear evidence that Brimsek was at times better than the Vezina winners...well, I think he starts to look more like a superstar and less like "that guy with a bunch of 2nd team all-star nods".

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Chuck Rayner

“A classic example of a superb goaltender yoked to a mediocre hockey club... almost singlehandedly guided the Rangers to the final round of the 1950 Playoffs, only to see them fall to the mighty Wings in the final game...The Ranger coach during that cinderaella season, remembered his inspiring heroics with the defenseless blueshirts. "He never had great protection. Yet he always came up with a better than average record and very often with a sensational performance."...A courageous netminder who constantly played with a painful assortment of injuries that would have kept lesser men on the sidelines.†– Fischler’s Hockey Encyclopedia

“He was a tower of strength for the Rangers for which he was eventually rewarded with the Hart trophy.†– Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol. 3

“He liked to yap during games, directing his team like a sergeant directing a military offense. He was a roving goaltender with the skating and stickhandling abilities of a forward...†– Ultimate Hockey

â€A superb skater, it was not unusual to see him carrying the puck down the ice… It wasn't until Jacques Plante starred with Montreal a decade later that other goalkeepers exhibited strong puckhandling and playmaking skills.

During the late 1940s, the New York Rangers used him on the point during powerplays late in a handful of games. "That was Frank (Boucher's) idea all the way. I used to do a lot of skating and shooting in practice, so he decided to try it in a game. I'd only come out half way up the blueline. It only happened four of five times," he laughed.†– Legends of Hockey

†There were times when he must have felt he was wearing a bullseye on his sweater instead of the diagonal ‘Rangers’ his teammates wore. He joined the Blueshirts at the start of the 1945-46 season, and was only fortunate enough to see post-season play twice while on Broadway (1948 and 1950). But he made his mark as one of the best Rangers netminders ever.

He never played in front of a big, rugged group of defensemen, but his goals against average slowly dropped. His best season came in 1949-50, when he posted a 2.62 average and six shutouts, which helped the Rangers make the playoffs and in very close reach of the Stanley Cup. For that performance, he was awarded the Hart Trophy as the MVP of the League, only the second goalie to receive the honor (Roy Worters of the Americans was the first). His five shutouts in 1946-47 led the league in that category.†– New York Rangers official website

†Despite his relatively short 10-season NHL career (1945-1953), he quickly became one the most popular players in Rangers’ history. He was voted the team’s most valuable player three times, and won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s MVP in 1950, only the second goalie in League history to win the award at the time. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1973.

It was the 1950 team that was his most memorable. Despite finishing fourth in the regular season standings, the Rangers surprised the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and played the Detroit Red Wings in the finals. Madison Square Garden was booked with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, so the Rangers got only two “home†games at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The balance of the series was played at the Olympia in Detroit.†– New York Rangers official website

"Deserves the purple heart for leading a band of journeymen to the seventh game of the finals. Saved 92% of the shots that he faced, even though it was often a barrage. Held Montreal to only seven goals in five games. Stopped 39 shots in final game loss to Detroit. Circus in New York cut back on the Rangers home games in the final." -- Legensd of Hockey

“He is to the Blueshirts what Joe DiMaggio is to the Yanks.†– New York Daily News

“During the 1940s, the 5’11" he was considered tall and was aggressive in (and out of) the crease. One of his trademark moves was a pokecheck.†– Legends of Hockey

“When you threw it in the corer, he would just go out and get the puck. He really forced us to change the way we came into the zone. No one other than Jacques Plante later on was doing that.†– Gordie Howe

“To appreciate the greatness of him, you must remember that he played on some very weak New York teams...You would be going in on him and that stick would come out like a serpent’s tongue, you’d be on your fanny in no time.†– Ted Kennedy

“He was the best pokechecking goaltender I had ever seen. If he missed you with his stick, he was so big, he would knock you ass-over-teakettle with his body.†– Emile Francis

With our 19th selection, McGuire’s Monsters are pleased to select a back-up goalie who we feel is strong enough to be a bottom end starter. He was never part of a team that won the Stanley Cup, but he did carry his mediocre team to the finals once. Please welome….



Chuck Rayner!!!

“Glenn Hall ranks Rayner second, behind Sawchuk, in his assessment of historic talent... Rayner was a star, if not in the record books, then certainly among his peers...†– A Breed Apart

Awards and Achievements:
Retro Conn Smythe (1950)
Hart Trophy (1950)

3 x Second Team All-Star (1949, 1950, 1951)
AHL Second Team All-Star (1941)

Hart Voting – 1st(1950), 4th(1947), 7th(1949)

Hockey Hall of Fame (1973)
Honoured Member of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame

3 x New York Ranger MVP (1946, 1947, 1949)

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Johnny Mowers

Johnny Mowers, G

Summary: Mowers was considered one of the "big 3" goaltenders in the early 40s, along with Frank Brimsek and Turk Broda. He had a brilliant 3 year run:

- A proven "3rd Team All Star" in 40-41, a likely one in 41-42, and a First Team AS in 42-43 all competing against Brimsek and Broda.

- Stanley Cup finals all three years, including a Cup in 42-43.

Then he went off to serve in World War II for three years. When Mowers returned, it was opined that Bill Durnan would finally have competition for his awards (Brimsek and Broda returned late the previous year and weren't considered in form yet). Mowers was 31 by this time, and wasn't able to beat out future HHOF Harry Lumley (who had taken over during the war) to reclaim his starting job.

When Mowers returned from the War, writers were excited that "the last of the old Big 3" was returning and that Durnan would finally have competition for his awards:

With the return of Johnny Mowers, completing the old "Big Three" of National Hockey League netminding, Goalie Bill Durnan of the Stanley Cup Montreal Canadiens may as well prepare now for a first-class struggle to defend his stranglehold on the Vezina trophy for these last three years
...
The other two of goaltending's big three, Frankie Brimsek of Boston and Walter (Turk) Broda of Toronto Maple Leafs rejoined their clubs late last season and this will be their first full test. Now Manager Jack Adams of Detroit Red Wings has decided that the 31 year old Mowers is "ready to go".

-The Calgary Herald, Oct 23, 1946

Before coming back from war, Mowers was considered among the great all-time goalies:

Bill Durnan, says Coach Dick Irvin - who should know or who should be prejudiced, depending on which way you look at it, is "the best goaler in 20 years in the National Hockey League."

The coach of the Montreal Canadiens admits he's taking in a wide territory with that "20 years" business, but adds that he has formed his opinion while fully aware of the merits of such stars as Charlie Gardiner, Frank Brimsek, Johnny Mowers, George Hainsworth, and Turk Broda.

-Ottawa Citizen, Dec 7, 1945

YEAR BY YEAR:

1940-41 ---

- Second in Calder voting.

-Third in All-Star voting behind Turk Broda and Frank Brimsek (Source)

- A few months into his career, Mowers was already considered "a star in every game" and "one of the chief reasons for Detroit's success":

Johnny Mowers' brilliant puck stopping is one of the chief reasons for Detroit's success in the National Hockey League wars this season. The new Red Wing goal-tender has been a star in every game played by Jack Adams' club[/B] and latest achievement came at the expense of the Maple Leafs last night in Detroit. He yielded two first-period goals, then shut the Toronto team out during the remainder of the game while his mates went about nosing out the league leaders.

-Ottawa Citizen, Dec 26, 1940

- An article on Jan 3 was titled, Johnny Mowers Is Backbone of Red Wings

- Deciding between Brimsek, Broda, and Mowers for the All Star Team was a tough choice for one writer:

It is a long time since the N.H.L. had as many high calibre performers as are parading their wares this winter.

First you try to pick a goalie. My gosh! You say to yourself, there is Boston's Brimsek and Detroit's Mowers and Toronto's Broda.
...
Then there is Johnny Mowers, a kid just a year out of amateur ranks who is improving so fast, you marvel at his agility, his poise each time you see him.
...
(The writer picks Brimsek for First Team All Star and Mowers for Second Team)
...
However, we must admit it was a tough decision to make. Mowers, for a kid of his limited experience, is wizard, and he's going to be one of the really great goalies of all time or we'll be disappointed. Broda, who has always appeared awkward and in past years permitted too many "soft" goals, this year has been nothing short of sensational. He may still appear awkward but certainly hasn't given away any counters as in years gone by.

-The Windsor Daily Star, Feb 25, 1941

- Reached the Stanley Cup Finals

1941-42 ---

- Full All-Star voting isn't available, but it's highly likely that Mowers was 3rd behind Brimsek and Broda, since he was still considered in the same tier as them as a goalie:

The Quebec Senior Hockey League team had no luck against Frank Brimsek. If the latter isn't the best goaltender in the major circuit, he will do until Turk Broda and Johnny Mowers are seen here

-Ottawa Citizen, Nov 6, 1941 (After Frank Brimsek and Boston shut out the QSHL Ottawa team in an exhibition).

- Reached the Stanley Cup Finals for the second year in a row

1942-43 ---

- Won Vezina Trophy and was voted First Team All Star over Brimsek (and Broda).

- When he signed a new contract at the beginning of the season, he was credited with "carrying" Detroit to the finals the previous two seasons:

Fast moving Johnny Mowers, whose agility in the nets has twice carried Detroit to the Stanley Cup finals, is equally quick at the cashier's cage

The Calgary Herald, Oct 19, 1942

- Won the Stanley Cup

- At least one writers considered him the star of the playoffs:

Star of the playdowns was goalie Johnny Mowers who climaxed a season in which he won the Vezina Trophy (for lowest goals scored on him) by blanking Boston with two shutouts on successive nights and these action pictures from Boston demonstrate how Mowers dominated the finals games.

-The Calgary Herald, Apr 13, 1943

- He was the first goalie since Tiny Thompson in 1929 to come up with back to back shutouts in the playoffs (doing so in the final two games). Thompson, however, did it in the first round, not finals.(Source).

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Bill Durnan

Real quick one on Durnan. I can add to it later. I am pretty convinced to the point that I'm certain he was better than Broda, but am unsure of how he compares to Brimsek. For whatever it's worth, Durnan was the first of the big three goalies of the era to get inducted to the Hall, with his induction in 1964, Brimsek's in 1966, and Broda's in 1967. Whenever the top goaltenders are brought up in books, newspapers, etc. it's always Durnan and Brimsek that are brought up, not Broda. Broda was certainly a money goalie, but was not better than the other two.

Bill Durnan

Vezina Trophy winner: 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950

Hart Trophy Voting: 2, 3, 5, 8, 8,

All-Star Voting: 1 (1944, war year unanimous), 1 (1945, war year, unanimous), 1 (1946), 1 (1947), 1 (1949), 1 (1950), 3 (1948),

LOH:

Bill Durnan entered the professional game late and didn't stay for long, but he packed an entire career's worth of awards and recognition into his seven National Hockey League seasons with the Montreal Canadiens. He won the Vezina Trophy as the league's top netminder an amazing six times, missing out on the award only once when Toronto's Turk Broda borrowed it in 1948.
In 1936, the ambidextrous Durnan played hockey in the northern Ontario league with the Kirkland Lake Blue Devils. He spent four seasons with the Devils, backstopping the team to the Allan Cup in 1940. Friends in Montreal convinced him to take a job with the Royals in that city following his success with Kirkland Lake. After three years in the Quebec senior league he finally caught the attention of a National Hockey League team when the Montreal Canadiens began noticing the goalie star in their own backyard.

Incredibly, the rookie netminder was a few months shy of his 29th birthday.
That first season the Canadiens had the offensive services of the Punch Line - Elmer Lach, Rocket Richard and Toe Blake - but it was the often spectacular play of Durnan that took Montreal back to the Stanley Cup after 13 years of frustration. He led the league in games played, wins and goals-against average in the regular season and in the playoffs, when he allowed only 1.53 goals per game as the Canadiens skated to the title. Durnan was awarded the Vezina Trophy, the first rookie to win the award, and was selected to the league's First All-Star Team.

Durnan was an easygoing man, friendly and calm, but over time the stress of playing - and the mental and physical toll of so many minutes and games between the posts - began to wear him down. In 1950 he abruptly retired from the game at the age of 35, while still in his prime

Pelletier on Greatest Hockey Legends:

Durnan had a very peculiar trait that helped him excel: he was ambidextrous. Instead of wearing a blocker, he'd wear gloves on both hands. He would then switch which hand he used to hold the stick depending on which side of the rink the opposition was attacking from. Thus, the shooter would always be facing his big glove. He became known as Dr. Strange-Glove

Although his career lasted only 7 seasons, it was long enough to earn him top consideration as perhaps the greatest goalie in hockey history. He won the Vezina trophy in his rookie season, and would win the Vezina every year he played in the league except one. He was a 6 time First Team All Star and led the Habs to two Stanley Cup championships.

Playoff Performance:
One thing overblown about Durnan is his playoff record. He seems to have been the same or slightly better in the playoffs throughout his career outside of his final season, which will be delved into later. During his first 4 playoff appearances, his GAA went down in the playoffs, three times by the considerable margin of .4 Goals against per game. The fifth playoffs he appeared in his GAA only went up .01 goals against per game. The final season was obviously a disaster, but for his career his GAA in the playoffs went down .29. For his career, his GAA in the playoffs is only .09 higher than Broda's in the playoffs throughout their overlapping careers (taking away that final season from Durnan, he is equal to Broda's 1.98 career GAA, but that's not fair to do in my opinion). Now of course, the Canadiens had a stronger defense, meaning these numbers aren't the be-all-end-all in comparison to Broda, and Broda was a better playoff goalie than Durnan. But Durnan was far from a slouch in the playoffs, and I actually believe him to be a solid playoff goalie.

Contemporary Quotes on his level of Greatness:
Ottawa Citizen February 6, 1945

Bill Durnan, says Dick Irvin - who should know or may be prejudiced, depending on the way you look at it – is “the best goaler in 20 years in the National Hockey League.”

The coach admits he’s taking in a wide territory with that “20 years” business, but adds that he has formed his opinion while fully aware of the merits of such stars as Charlie Gardiner, Frankie Brimsek, Johnny Mowers, George Hainsworth and Turk Broda.

Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, March 20, 1946

The National Hockey League announced its first 1945-46 season trophy winner Tuesday night, and it came as a surprise to no one to learn that Big Bill Durnan , goaltender for the champion Montreal Canadiens was awarded the Vezina Trophy

The Montreal Gazette, April 9, 1946 (Playing the Field by Dink Carroll)

If there has ever been any better goaltending exhibited in a Stanley Cup Final than that offered by Bill Durnan and Frankie Brimsek, no one can recall it. These two are high on the all-time list of great goaltenders.

The Calgary Herald, November 14, 1949

Big Bill Durnan has proven again that he’s just about the “hottest” goaler ever to don pads in the National Hockey League.

Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, January 19,1950

Big Bill Durnan, as good a goalie as can be found anywhere, wielded his shutout brush again Wednesday night…

The Leader Post, July 13, 1950

Durnan told Frank Selke, Montreal Canadiens’ general manager Wednesday that he is through. Said Durnan, “I could never stand another season. My nerves are all shot and I know it.”

Boston Globe, November 5, 1961

Chicago's Glenn Hall is regarded by a good many competent students as the best minder of a major league net since Montreal's Bill Durnan.

Pelletier on how Durnan’s career ended:

Durnan left the game he loved because of the pressures involved in tending the net.

"Hockey started to get rough for me at the end of the 40's. I had broken my hand and after it mended it felt as if my arm was falling off whenever I'd catch the puck," said Durnan. "One of my main reasons for chucking it all was because the fun was going out of the game for me. A lot of my old pals were leaving - or had gone - and much of the camaraderie was missing."

Durnan also cited the money as a reason he got out of hockey.

"My reflexes had gotten a little slow and, besides, the money wasn't really that good. I'll admit, if they were paying the kind of money goaltenders get today, they'd have had to shoot me to get me out of the game! But at the end of any given season when I was playing I never seemed to have more than $2000 in the bank, so I wasn't really getting anywhere that way. I wasn't educated and I had two girls to raise."

Things came to a head in the 1950 playoffs against the New York Rangers however. The Rangers were on the verge of an upset when they had the Habs on the brink of elimination 3 games to 1. Durnan pulled himself from the series.

"I was afraid I was blowing things. I really wasn't, I guess, but we hadn't won a game and I didn't want to be blamed for it. And I felt I wasn't playing as well as I did in the past.. The nerves and all the accompanying crap were built up. It was the culmination of a lot of thinking and I realized 'What the hell, I'm quitting and this is as good as time as any'"

Gerry McNeil stepped in and finished the playoffs.

"A lot of people thought it was a nervous breakdown but it wasn't. To this day, people still won't believe me."

Maurice Richard, on Bill Durnan in The Flying Frenchmen by he and Stan Fischler sums up Bill Durnan nicely. He starts it by talking about the 1950 series where Durnan had his troubles, but then goes into his opinion on Durnan and Durnan's style:

With Durnan in the nets, we lost the first three games of the series. The Montreal fans were unmerciful. Finally, Irvin threw McNeil in for the fourth game and we won, but New York bounced back and took the fifth game, and we were eliminated from the play-offs. Durnan couldn't take the punishment from the fans anymore, so he quit. On top of that, he had had a lot of trouble with his knees and they were hurting him so it was all for the best that he got out of the game. But as far as I'm concerned, Durnan was the best goaltender I've ever seen, with Boston's Frankie Brimsek right behind.

What put Durnan head and shoulders above the others was his style. He could switch hands with ease and use either his left or his right glove to spear shots. Very few goaltenders have ever been ambidextrous like Durnan and none has ever mastered the art the way he did. He'd rarely commit himself on a play and had a great knack of waiting for the forward to make the first move, which was the reason he was so hard to beat on breakaways. Brimsek was almost the same, but he could only use one hand.

In the same book, Stan Fischler comments on Durnan's ability, this about the 1946 season:

Goalie Bill Durnan, already acclaimed as the greatest since Vezina and possibly even better than Vezina...

Durnan won the Vezina Trophy for the third consecutive time and was now regarded as superior to Vezina.