Alf Smith (ice hockey)
Alf Smith | |||
---|---|---|---|
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1962 | |||
Born |
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | June 3, 1873||
Died |
August 21, 1953 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | (aged 80)||
Height | 5 ft 7 in (170 cm) | ||
Weight | 165 lb (75 kg; 11 st 11 lb) | ||
Position |
Right wing | ||
Shot | Right | ||
Played for |
Ottawa Hockey Club | ||
Playing career | 1894–1909 |
Alfred Edward Smith (June 3, 1873 in Ottawa, Ontario – August 21, 1953 in Ottawa, Ontario) was a Canadian amateur and professional ice hockey forward who played for the Ottawa Senators (a.k.a. Silver Seven) and Kenora Thistles. He had six younger brothers who played senior-level hockey in Ottawa: Daniel (b. 1876), Jack (b. 1878), Harry (b. 1883), Tommy (b. 1886), Billy (b. 1889) and George Smith (b. 1891). He was captain of the Ottawa Hockey Club and also coached the team.
He also played rugby football with the Ottawa Rough Riders, and, in 1902, won a championship with teammate in hockey as well Bouse Hutton.
Hockey career
Alf Smith began his hockey career playing for the Ottawa Hockey Club (Ottawa HC) of the AHAC in the 1890s. In 1897 he retired from the Ottawa HC. In 1898, he played for the Ottawa Capitals intermediate team, but did not finish the season because he was ruled to be ineligible. In 1896, Smith had accepted a $100 bonus for play with the Capitals lacrosse team. By 1898, the Amateur Athletic Association of Canada ruled that he was ineligible for play in amateur hockey.[1] He would not play for several years, but did coach the Ottawa Hockey Club to the 1901 CAHL title.
In 1901–02, he returned to active play, as a professional, in the
Smith was known as a rough player. In 1907 Smith and teammates Harry Smith and Charles Spittal were charged with assault after beating Montreal Wanderers players Hod Stuart, Ernie "Moose" Johnson and Cecil Blachford with their sticks. Harry Smith was acquitted while Spittal and Alf Smith were each fined $20.[3]
For the 1906–07 season, McGee retired and his place on the top line was taken by Alf's brother Harry.
In 1908–09, he had an eventful season. Lured back to Pittsburgh for the newly reformed Western Pennsylvania Hockey League, he was suspended from two teams for rough play. He returned to Ottawa and played with several former Silver Seven players on the Senators of the Federal League. He made time that season to coach the Ottawa Cliffsides to the first Allan Cup championship, only to lose it to Queen's University in a challenge. This was his final season of play.
In 1909–10, he resumed his coaching career with Renfrew, the so-called "Millionaires" of the new National Hockey Association (NHA). He returned to coach the Ottawa Hockey Club in 1913 and coached the team until 1917. Smith later coached and managed teams in Moncton, New Brunswick, and North Bay, Ontario.
Along with Harvey Pulford, Harry Westwick and Russell Bowie, Smith was one of the final active players who had played major senior hockey in the 19th century. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962.
He died in Ottawa on August 21, 1953.[6]
Career stats
Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
1894–95 | Ottawa HC
|
AHAC | 8 | 5 | 0 | 5 | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
1895–96 | Ottawa HC | AHAC | 8 | 7 | 0 | 7 | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
1896–97 | Ottawa HC | AHAC | 8 | 12 | 0 | 12 | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
1901–02 | Pittsburgh Athletic Club | WPHL | 14 | 11 | 9 | 20 | 17 | – | – | – | – | – | ||
1903 | Ottawa HC | CAHL | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
1904 | Ottawa HC | CAHL | 4 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 6 | – | – | – | – | – | ||
Stanley Cup | – | – | – | – | – | 7 | 13 | 0 | 13 | 20 | ||||
1904–05 | Ottawa HC | FAHL | 8 | 13 | 0 | 13 | 30 | – | – | – | – | – | ||
Stanley Cup | – | – | – | – | – | 5 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 9 | ||||
1906 | Ottawa HC | ECAHA | 10 | 13 | 0 | 13 | 36 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
Stanley Cup | – | – | – | – | – | 4 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 6 | ||||
1907 | Ottawa HC | ECAHA | 9 | 17 | 0 | 17 | 19 | – | – | – | – | – | ||
Kenora Thistles | MHL-Pro | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | – | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | |||
Kenora Thistles | Stanley Cup | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | |||
1907–08 | Ottawa HC | ECAHA | 9 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 20 | – | – | – | – | – | ||
1908–09 | Duquesne Athletic Club | WPHL | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
Pittsburgh Bankers | WPHL | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||
1909 | Ottawa Senators (FHL) | FHL | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | ||
WPHL totals | 19 | 16 | 9 | 25 | 17 | – | – | – | – | – | ||||
ECAHA totals | 28 | 42 | 0 | 42 | 75 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||
Stanley Cup totals | – | — | – | – | – | 18 | 33 | 0 | 33 | 38 |
Source: "Legends of Hockey -- The Legends -- Honoured Player -- Smith, Alf -- Statistics, Awards & Career". Hockey Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2009-01-08.
Coaching record
NHL
Team | Year | Regular season |
Post season
| |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G | W | L | T | Pts | Division rank | Result | ||
Ottawa Senators | 1918-19
|
18 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 24 | 1st in NHL | Lost NHL finals (1-4 vs. MTL) |
NHL totals | 18 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 24 | 1-4 (0.200) |
References
- ^ Kitchen 2008, p. 88.
- ^ "The usual method" The Gazette (Montreal). Aug. 14, 1903 (pg. 2).
- ^ Chi-Kit Wong 2009, pp. 160–161
- ^ "Ottawas won at Winnipeg" Ottawa Citizen. Dec. 31, 1906 (pg. 8).
- ^ "Challengers decisively defeat Kenora Thistles" Winnipeg Tribune. Mar. 25, 1907 (pg. 6).
- ^ "Hockey, Football, Lacrosse Great, Alf Smith, Dies" Ottawa Journal. Aug. 22, 1953 (pg. 1).
- General
- Kitchen, Paul (2008). Win, Tie or Wrangle. Manotick, Ontario: Penumbra Press. ISBN 978-1-897323-46-5.
- Chi-Kit Wong, John (2009). Coast to Coast: Hockey in Canada to the Second World War. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0802095329.
External links
- Biographical information and career statistics from Hockey-Reference.com, or Legends of Hockey
- "Online biography of Alf Smith". Archived from the original on 2009-10-27. Retrieved 2006-12-09.