Alphonse Albert Lacroix (October 21, 1897 – April 12, 1973), known as "Al" or "Frenchy", was an American

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

who is best known as a member of the silver medal-winning American ice hockey team at the

1924 Winter Olympics The 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the I Olympic Winter Games (french: Iers Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Chamonix 1924 ( frp, Chamôni 1924), were a winter multi-sport event which was held in 1924 in Chamonix, France ...

, and as the emergency goaltender who replaced

Georges Vezina Georges may refer to: Places * Georges River, New South Wales, Australia * Georges Quay (Dublin) *Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania Other uses *Georges (name) * ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas * "Georges" (song), a 19 ...

when he collapsed in a game in 1925.

Career

Lacroix was born in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...

, and began his hockey career playing for the high school team in 1914. By 1917 he began playing in the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

city senior amateur league. He joined the

Boston Athletic Association The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) is a non-profit, running-focused, organized sports association for the Greater Boston area. The B.A.A. hosts such events as the Boston Marathon, the B.A.A. 5K, the B.A.A. 10K, the B.A.A. Half Marathon, the ...

in 1919 and played for their hockey team in the city senior league and later the

United States Amateur Hockey Association The United States Amateur Hockey Association (USAHA) was an ice hockey governing body in the United States from 1920 to 1925, which operated at an amateur level. The league was filled with predominantly Canadian-born players, but struggled to ach ...

. He was selected to the United States Olympic team at the

, winning a silver medal. In 1925 he was retained by the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

as an emergency goaltender, on hand to replace any of the clubs' goalies should they suffer serious injury. His only experience at the top professional level came in 1925, when he replaced the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

. Vézina was unknowingly suffering from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

. Running a fever of 102 °F and coughing up blood on the ice, Lacroix relieved Vézina at the start of the second period of the opening game of the 1925–26 Montreal Canadiens season against the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

on November 28. By December 15 the Canadiens had signed Herb Rheaume as Vézina's permanent replacement. Lacroix would stay on with the Canadiens as a spare goaltender until 1927, but never played another game in the NHL. Lacroix continued his career in the

Can-Am League The Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, commonly known as the Can-Am League, was a professional, independent baseball league with teams in the Northeast United States and Eastern Canada, founded in 2005 as a reorganization of ...

and the semi-pro North East Hockey League. He retired from hockey in 1931. He died in

Lewiston, Maine Lewiston (; ; officially the City of Lewiston, Maine) is List of cities in Maine, the second largest city in Maine and the most central city in Androscoggin County, Maine, Androscoggin County. The city lies halfway between Augusta, Maine, August ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lacroix, Alphonse 1897 births 1973 deaths American men's ice hockey goaltenders Boston Athletic Association ice hockey players Boston Tigers players Ice hockey players from Massachusetts Ice hockey players at the 1924 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1924 Winter Olympics Montreal Canadiens players Olympic silver medalists for the United States in ice hockey Providence Reds players Sportspeople from Newton, Massachusetts