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Thomas Ernest "Moose" Johnson (February 26, 1886 – March 25, 1963), also known as Ernie Johnson, was a Canadian
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 ...
player whose professional career spanned from 1905 to 1931. He was a member of four
Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...
winning teams between 1905 and 1910 with the
Montreal Wanderers The Montreal Wanderers were an amateur, and later professional, ice hockey team based in Montreal. The team played in the Federal Amateur Hockey League (FAHL), the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA), the National Hockey Association ...
of the
Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association 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 ...
(ECAHA) and later the National Hockey Association (NHA). He moved west, and switched from
left wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
to
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, in 1911 to join the newly formed
Pacific Coast Hockey Association The Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) was a professional ice hockey league in western Canada and the western United States, which operated from 1911 to 1924 when it then merged with the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL). The PCHA was cons ...
(PCHA). He spent the following decade playing with the
New Westminster Royals The New Westminster Royals was the name of several professional ice hockey teams based in New Westminster, British Columbia, first established in 1911 for the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). Though nominally based in New Westminster, ...
, Portland Rosebuds and
Victoria Aristocrats The Victoria Cougars were a major league professional ice hockey team that played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) from 1911 to 1924 under various names, and (after the PCHA's merger with the Western Canada Hockey League) in the W ...
where he was named a PCHA first-team all-star eight times and played in the
1916 Stanley Cup Finals The 1916 Stanley Cup Finals was played between the National Hockey Association (NHA) champion Montreal Canadiens and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) champion Portland Rosebuds. This was the first time that a best-of-five Cup champion ...
with Portland. Johnson later played minor professional hockey in California, Minnesota and Oregon before retiring at the age of 45. Johnson was known for using perhaps the longest stick in the game's history, giving him a reach. Johnson was inducted into the
Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...
in 1952.


Playing career


Montreal Hockey Club and Montreal Wanderers

Johnson's playing career began in 1902 in the Montreal City Hockey League where he would, at times, play with his junior, intermediate and senior teams all in the same weekend. He moved on to the Canadian Amateur Hockey League in 1903 and played two seasons with the Montreal Hockey Club, scoring 9 goals in 11 games in that time. He then moved on to join the
Montreal Wanderers The Montreal Wanderers were an amateur, and later professional, ice hockey team based in Montreal. The team played in the Federal Amateur Hockey League (FAHL), the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA), the National Hockey Association ...
of the newly formed
Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association 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 ...
in 1905, and finished tenth in league scoring with 12 goals. The Wanderers tied with
Ottawa HC The Ottawa Senators were an ice hockey team based in Ottawa, which existed from 1883 to 1954. The club was the first hockey club in Ontario, a founding member of the National Hockey League (NHL) and played in the NHL from 1917 until 1934. The c ...
for the best record in the league with 9–1 records, necessitating a playoff to determine the league champion. Johnson scored a goal in the first game of the two-game, total goal series as Montreal won 9–1 on home ice. Ottawa came back to lead the second game 9–1, and tie the series, but two late goals by Montreal's Lester Patrick gave Montreal the victory, 12–10 on aggregate, to win both the ECAHA championship, and the
Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...
as Canada's national amateur champions. The ECAHA turned professional in 1906–07, and the Wanderers signed Johnson to a contract. Along with teammates
Jack Marshall Sir John Ross Marshall New Zealand Army Orders 1952/405 (5 March 1912 – 30 August 1988) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party. He entered Parliament in 1946 and was first promoted to Cabinet in 1951. After spending twelve years ...
, Hod Stuart,
Frank Glass Frank "Pud" Glass (February 10, 1884 – March 2, 1965) was a Scottish-Canadian professional ice hockey player who played in various professional and amateur leagues, including the National Hockey Association and Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey ...
and Riley Hern, Johnson became the first professional player ever allowed to compete for the Stanley Cup as the Wanderers defended a challenge by the New Glasgow Cubs of the Maritime Hockey League prior to the ECAHA season's start. The Wanderers lost a second challenge for the Cup, this time by the
Kenora Thistles The Kenora Thistles, officially the Thistles Hockey Club, were a Canadian ice hockey team based in Kenora, Ontario. Founded in 1894, they were originally known as the Rat Portage Thistles. The team competed for the Stanley Cup, the ice hockey ...
in January 1907 but finished the ECAHA season with a perfect 10–0 record to earn the right to challenge Kenora to a return matchup in March. Johnson improved to 15 goals in 10 games during the season, and was named to the second all-star team on left wing. He scored five more goals in the six games played over three Stanley Cup challenges, including two in the final game of the second series against Kenora to help the Wanderers regain control of the Cup. Johnson was again named to the second all-star team on left wing in 1907–08. His offence fell in the ECAHA season, as he recorded nine goals in 10 games for the ECAHA champion Wanderers, but he added 11 goals in five Stanley Cup challenge games as the Wanderers successfully defended their title on three occasions. Johnson was an offensive star in the challenges, scoring four goals on one game against the Ottawa Victorias in a January 1908 challenge, and again scoring four in a game against the Winnipeg Maple Leafs in a March 1908 challenge. He ended the season by scoring the game-winning goal in a single game challenge by the Toronto Professionals just days after Montreal had defeated Winnipeg. He scored one goal as Montreal again defended the Stanley Cup against the
Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...
in a challenge that preceded the 1908–08 ECAHA season, and added ten more during the campaign, but Montreal lost the league title to Ottawa, and with it control of the Stanley Cup. In 1909–10, the Wanderers jumped to the newly formed National Hockey Association (NHA). Johnson scored seven goals during the season to help the Wanderers win the inaugural league championship, and consequently re-capture the Stanley Cup from Ottawa. The victory marked the fourth time Johnson and the Wanderers had won the trophy since 1905. Johnson completed his second NHA season in 1910–11, scoring six goals and recording 60
penalty minutes A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for an infringement of the rules. Most penalties are enforced by sending the offending player to a penalty box for a set number of minutes. During the penalty the player may not participate in play. Penaltie ...
in 16 games. Johnson grew up in the same neighbourhood of Pointe-Saint-Charles in Montreal as fellow Wanderers player Frank "Pud" Glass. The two were inseparable companions off the ice and also teamed well together on the ice. Johnson and Glass played together on the 1902–03 Montreal St. Lawrence team in the Montreal City Hockey League before rejoining in the 1906 season on the Montreal Wanderers. At the onset of the 1905–06 season
Brooklyn Skating Club The Brooklyn Skating Club was an amateur ice hockey team from Brooklyn in New York City. The Brooklyn Skating Club played in the American Amateur Hockey League between 1896 and 1906 and won the championship title in 1898–99. History The ice ho ...
manager Tom Howard tried to acquire both Johnson and Glass to his club, but the AAHL rules committee ruled the Canadians ineligible to play with the American club on counts of professionalism.


New Westminster, Portland and Victoria

When Lester and Frank Patrick formed the
Pacific Coast Hockey Association The Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) was a professional ice hockey league in western Canada and the western United States, which operated from 1911 to 1924 when it then merged with the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL). The PCHA was cons ...
(PCHA) in 1911, they sought to lure the NHA's top stars out west. Johnson, by then considered one of the game's best players, was among the players who jumped at the higher salaries the Patricks were offering. Johnson was placed on the
New Westminster Royals The New Westminster Royals was the name of several professional ice hockey teams based in New Westminster, British Columbia, first established in 1911 for the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). Though nominally based in New Westminster, ...
, and switched positions from left wing to cover-point (defence). He remained a star on offence, scoring nine goals in 14 games, and was named to the PCHA's first all-star team, as New Westminster won the inaugural PCHA championship. Prior to the 1912–13 season, and despite being branded an "outlaw" by the NHA, Johnson appeared ready to return to the Wanderers as he signed a new contract with the eastern team. However, he previously signed a contract with the Royals, and ultimately chose to remain with New Westminster. Johnson was again named to the all-star team that season, then played a third year in New Westminster in 1913–14 though he missed a month of the season after suffering a deep laceration on his leg during a game. Following the season, he moved to
Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
when the Royals transferred south to become the Portland Rosebuds. He again made the all-star team in 1915, the first of five consecutive seasons in which he did so. Johnson again faced contract issues prior to the
1915–16 NHA season The 1915–16 NHA season was the seventh season of the National Hockey Association. Five teams played a 24 game schedule. Montreal Canadiens won the league championship and defeated the Portland Rosebuds to win their first ever Stanley Cup. Le ...
when he refused to sign Portland's offer, demanding better terms. He eventually signed with Portland, and was reported to have turned down lucrative offers to return to the NHA. The Rosebuds won the PCHA championship that season, and in doing so became the first American team to compete for the Stanley Cup. For Johnson, it marked his first in a Stanley Cup final in six years, and was not without controversy. The Rosebuds faced the NHA's
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 ...
, and the entire series was played in Montreal. As a consequence of his jumping to the PCHA in 1911, Montreal Wanderers owner
Sam Lichtenhein Samuel Edward Lichtenhein (October 24, 1870 – June 21, 1936) was an American-Canadian businessman and sports executive. He was the owner and president of the Montreal Wanderers ice hockey team of the National Hockey Association (NHA), later Na ...
had won a judgement against Johnson for $2,000 for breach of contract, but it was not enforceable unless he returned to the jurisdiction of Quebec's courts. When it became known that Lichtenhein would gain Johnson's salary for playing in the series, Johnson contemplated refusing to play. He decided to play in the series anyway, and scored one goal in the five-game series. The Canadiens won the best-of-five series 3–2. Lester Patrick, managing the
Spokane Canaries The Spokane Canaries (officially ''Spokane Hockey Club'') were a professional ice hockey team in Spokane, Washington. They played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association for only one season in 1916–17. In the fall of 1916, the Canadian governme ...
, thought he had an agreement to secure Johnson's playing rights for the 1916–17 season. Portland had come to verbal agreement with Patrick that they would do so if he would relinquish claims on four players Portland sought to sign. When it was determined that some of those players would not report to Portland, the Rosebuds refused to relinquish Johnson, leading Patrick to claim he had been "double crossed". Remaining with the Rosebuds, Johnson posted a career-high 21 points in 1916–17. When the Rosebuds relocated to
Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...
to become the
Victoria Aristocrats The Victoria Cougars were a major league professional ice hockey team that played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) from 1911 to 1924 under various names, and (after the PCHA's merger with the Western Canada Hockey League) in the W ...
, Johnson moved north with the team. His offence had declined since 1917, as he scored only five, six and five points in the following three seasons, and no goals in that third season of 1919–20. He improved to five goals and seven points in 1920–21, and was named a first-team all-star for the eighth time. However, when his play was met with jeers from the home fans in the 1921–22 season, Johnson felt it was time to retire. Johnson returned to hockey in 1926 with the ''Los Angeles Palais-de-Glace'' when he played a couple of games in the Commercial Hockey League before spending the winter of 1926–27 with the
Minneapolis Millers The Minneapolis Millers were an American professional minor league baseball team that played in Minneapolis, Minnesota, through 1960. In the 19th century a different Minneapolis Millers were part of the Western League. The team played first in ...
of the American Hockey Association. He again returned to the game in 1928–29 with the
Portland Buckaroos The Portland Buckaroos was the name of several professional ice hockey teams based in Portland, Oregon. PCHL/NWHL era (1928–1941) The first incarnation of Portland Buckaroos played their home games at the Portland Ice Arena. The Buckaroos ini ...
of the Pacific Coast Hockey League, then played two seasons in the
California Hockey League The California Hockey League was a professional ice hockey league that existed from 1925 until 1933. Background The popularity of ice hockey in southern California grew rapidly between World War I and the Great Depression, as the region experienc ...
between 1929 and 1931 with the Hollywood Millionaires and then the San Francisco Tigers before retiring for good at the age of 45. Johnson was elected to the
Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...
in 1952.


Playing style

Johnson was one of the most dominant rushing defensemen of the late-1900s and 1910s. Drawing frequent comparisons to
Cyclone Taylor Frederick Wellington "Cyclone" Taylor, MBE (June 23, 1884 – June 9, 1979) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and civil servant. A cover-point and rover, he played professionally from 1906 to 1922 for several teams, and is most well ...
– as Brad Park would to
Bobby Orr Robert Gordon Orr (born March 20, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest of all time. Orr used his ice skating speed, scoring, and play-making abilities to revolutionize the pos ...
sixty years later – Johnson was noted for his long, smooth skating stride which allowed him to cover a large amount of ice very quickly and contribute to the attack. He was a consistent scoring threat from the back end through his whole career; in his rookie and sophomore seasons with the Wanderers, he was among the top ten goal scorers in the league, and scored eleven goals over five challenge games during the successful 1908 post-season.Career statistics
hhof.com
Johnson's offensive upside was such that his coaches would occasionally play him on the left wing, as against the
Kenora Thistles The Kenora Thistles, officially the Thistles Hockey Club, were a Canadian ice hockey team based in Kenora, Ontario. Founded in 1894, they were originally known as the Rat Portage Thistles. The team competed for the Stanley Cup, the ice hockey ...
in a 1907 challenge match.
Si Griffis Silas Seth "Si" Griffis (September 22, 1883 – July 9, 1950) was a Canadians, Canadian athlete of the early 20th century. In ice hockey, Griffis was a two-time Stanley Cup winner, with the 1907 Kenora Thistles and the 1915 Vancouver Millionai ...
, playing for the Thistles at the time, claimed that it was Johnson's play which determined the Wanderers' victory. In six playoff games that year, Johnson scored five goals. Although he sometimes drew complaints about his inconsistent checking through the first half-decade of his career, Johnson was able to effectively use his speed to break up plays and transition the puck. Nevertheless, Johnson was able to round out his defensive game by the midpoint of his career, and became infamous for his use of the poke check. Combined with his 5'11" height and 31-inch wingspan, Johnson's use of abnormally long sticks gave him a reach of anywhere from 81 to 99 inches. In this way, he was able to check nine feet of ice at any given time. One of the very few players who could do so at the time, Johnson was as capable skating backwards as he was going forwards. His favourite defensive tactic was to face an oncoming puck carrier head on, skating backwards whilst continuously jabbing and poking at the puck. Johnson's poke check could also be used to force turnovers and generate offensive rushes. Combining good breakaway speed with positional awareness, Johnson would charge an oncoming attacker, use his poke check to strip the player of the puck, bank it off the sideboards and race after it. While on the attack himself, he would often deliberately make as if he were dumping the puck in. Instead, when thirty feet from the opposing net, he would deliberately fire the puck along the boards so that it rimmed around behind the opponent's goalie; however, rather than chase after it, he would subsequently cut across the slot and pick up the puck as it came out the other side. Johnson was the first hockey player to earn the nickname "Moose", and became infamous for his rough style of play – though he was rarely known to be dirty, as contemporaries Sprague Cleghorn and
Billy Coutu Wilfrid Arthur "Billy" Coutu (March 1, 1892 – February 25, 1977), nicknamed "Wild Beaver", was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played ten seasons in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens, the Hamilton Tigers, ...
were. He was the frequent source of injuries on whichever team he played for – while playing for the Portland Rosebuds in 1915, he had his jaw broken, two ribs fractured, two stitches each in his right leg and left ankle, a flattened shin bone and a badly bruised thigh. The prior season with New Westminster, he received seventeen stitches in one shin after it was laid open to the bone by an opposing player's skate, and had his eye loosened in its socket from an especially violent body check. Nevertheless, in tribute to his toughness, Johnson missed only one game in those two seasons. During the 1917–18 season, Johnson's final one in Portland, he collided with Vancouver Millionaires defenseman Si Griffis when the two teams met in Vancouver on January 14 and suffered torn ligaments to his shoulder. Despite the serious injury Johnson continued playing the game, and he also played the following game between the two teams in Portland two days later on January 16 before finally collapsing. Johnson missed three weeks and seven games resting his wrenched shoulder but was back again on February 8 against the Vancouver Millionaires, Portland winning the home contest 8 goals to 4 and Johnson playing with his shoulder strapped in a leather case. To his supporters, Johnson's proneness to injury was a result of his physical style of play and the retaliation that came with it, and he was often touted as a relatively clean player. Notwithstanding, his detractors pointed to a few notable incidents as evidence of his being overbearing, such as when he was involved in a brawl with Frank Patrick of the
Vancouver Millionaires The Vancouver Millionaires (later known as the Vancouver Maroons) were a professional ice hockey team that competed in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and the Western Canada Hockey League between 1911 and 1926. Based in Vancouver, British Col ...
while drunk on the ice after a losing effort:
...The climax was reached when Johnson and Patrick came together in the second period, a scrap being started immediately. Previous to this Johnson had checked Patrick across the face...the men came together and it took practically all members of both teams and the referee to pry them apart...The big fellow had made himself disagreeable throughout the game, hacking, checking and doing everything possible to hurt the Vancouver
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Not satisfied with this, he had to trip the referee...Johnson then picked his quarrel with Frank Patrick and they came to blows. They rolled over the ice locked in each other's arms and it took quite a bunch of husky fellows to pry them apart.
Johnson accumulated eight seasons where his penalty totals were triple or quadruple the number of games played. Johnson's gritty play, however, complemented his offensive prowess exceptionally well. He was named to the
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 ...
Second All-Star team in 1908, and the PCHA First All-Star Team in 1912, 1913, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919, and 1921. In 1937, Arthur Mann wrote in ''
The Washington Evening Star ''The Washington Star'', previously known as the ''Washington Star-News'' and the Washington ''Evening Star'', was a daily afternoon newspaper published in Washington, D.C., between 1852 and 1981. The Sunday edition was known as the ''Sunday Star ...
'', "Nobody ever knew how Moose Johnson got so tough, but tough he was. He had taken up hockey after losing three fingers on his right hand in a railroad accident — he had been a train brakeman. At the age of forty-four, Moose went back to railroading. The ice game had been a pleasantly rough interlude through life."


Off the ice

Johnson was born in the neighbourhood of Pointe-Saint-Charles in
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
,
Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
on February 26, 1886. As a 14-year-old in 1900, he suffered an accident in which he survived a 2,300 volt electrical shock, but the incident resulted in the loss of two fingers on his right hand. Upon moving to the pacific coast, Johnson took on a job working for the
Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
, working with the railway during the summers in between hockey seasons. He settled in Portland when his career ended and worked full-time as a brakeman for Union Pacific until he retired to White Rock, British Columbia in 1954. He suffered a
stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
in 1961, and died two years later at the age of 77.


Career statistics


Regular season and playoffs

*
Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...
Champion.


Stanley Cup challenges


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Moose 1886 births 1963 deaths Anglophone Quebec people Canadian ice hockey defencemen Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Ice hockey people from Montreal Montreal Hockey Club players Montreal Wanderers (NHA) players Montreal Wanderers players New Westminster Royals players Portland Rosebuds players Stanley Cup champions Victoria Aristocrats players