Cliffside Hockey Team IAHU team champions, Allan Cup holders, amateur champions of the world,1909 (HS85-10-20692)

Stephen Alphonse "Coo" Dion (December 23, 1886 – April 10, 1959) was a Canadian amateur

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 h ...

player and

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

. Dion, a

rover Rover may refer to: People * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Places * Rover, Arkansas, US * Rover, Missouri, US ...

or a centre forward position wise, played two games for the Ottawa Hockey Club during the 1905–06 ECAHA season, scoring one goal.

Biography

Stephen Dion was born in 1886 in Ottawa, Ontario to Mr. and Mrs. Alfred A. Dion."Stephen A. Dion Formerly of Ottawa Dies in Toronto". Ottawa Journal. April 11, 1959 (p. 3).

Ice hockey

Between 1905 and 1911 Dion was a member of the

Ottawa Cliffsides The Ottawa Cliffsides were a senior ice hockey team that played in the Inter-Provincial Amateur Hockey Union from 1908–1911. From 1905 to 1908 they played in the Ottawa City Senior League. They were the first winner of the Allan Cup in 1909 ...

, famous as the first holders of the

Allan Cup The Allan Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the national senior amateur men's ice hockey champions of Canada. It was donated by Sir Montagu Allan of Ravenscrag, Montreal, and has been competed for since 1909. The current champions are the ...

as 1909 champions of the IPAHU. He also played two games for the Ottawa Hockey Club during the 1905–06

ECAHA The Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA) was a men's amateur – later professional – ice hockey league in Canada that played four seasons. It was founded on December 11, 1905 with the top clubs from two other leagues: four ...

season, scoring one goal, thus being part of the team which held the Stanley Cup in February 1906. Dion was the first player to win both the Stanley Cup and the Allan Cup. In February 1911 Dion was offered $1,000 by

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 ...

manager George Kennedy to finish off the schedule (8 games) with the NHA club, but he promptly refused the offer claiming he was not for sale. The next season Dion instead joined the

Winnipeg Victorias The Winnipeg Victorias were a former amateur senior-level men's amateur ice hockey team in Winnipeg, Manitoba, organized in 1889. They played in the Manitoba Hockey Association (MHA) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Victorias wo ...

of the Winnipeg Amateur Hockey League, because he had been offered a job with the National Transcontinental Railway. With the Victorias Dion would win his second Allan Cup as the Winnipeg side won the amateur trophy in 1911–12. During the 1912–13 season Dion played with the Ottawa Stewartons in the IPAHU when another NHA club tried to recruit him. Martin Rosenthal and Pete Green of the Ottawa Hockey Club ( Senators) witnessed Dion play in a game with the Stewartons and were so impressed by him that they talked Stewartons president Frank Ahearn into granting them permission to sign Dion, but the player himself still was not interested in turning professional.

World War I

In 1915 Dion enlisted as a soldier in World War I, where he would hold the rank of Lieutenant. He was severely wounded on May 24 with shattered bones in his left forearm at

Festubert Festubert is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. The village was on the Western Front during the First World War and was largely destroyed in the May 1915 Battle of Festubert. Geography A farming v ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

when hit by bullets."Feeling like before a big hockey game"
''Ottawa Citizen''. Sept. 24, 1915 (p. 10). Retrieved 2021-01-20. When leaving Europe for Canada on the S/S Hesperian, embarking from

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

, the ship was hit by a German submarine outside the Irish coast on September 4, 1915. Dion survived but 32 other lives were lost during unsuccessful attempts to tow the liner to port, and the ship eventually sank. Dion instead reached Canada with the

Allan Line The Allan Shipping Line was started in 1819, by Captain Alexander Allan of Saltcoats, Ayrshire, trading and transporting between Scotland and Montreal, a route which quickly became synonymous with the Allan Line. By the 1830s the company had off ...

steamship Corsican on September 21, 1915."Coo Dion arrives on the Corsican"
''Ottawa Citizen'', Sept. 21, 1915 (p. 3). Retrieved 2022-07-24.

Death

Dion died in Toronto, Ontario, on April 10, 1959, after a short illness, aged 72.

Achievements

* Stanley Cup – 1906 (Ottawa Hockey Club) *

– 1909 (Ottawa Cliffsides) & 1912 (Winnipeg Victorias)

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dion, Coo 1886 births 1959 deaths Canadian ice hockey players Canadian ice hockey centres Ice hockey people from Ottawa Ottawa Senators (original) players Winnipeg Victorias players