Frederick Edgar Lake (March 12, 1883 – November 29, 1937) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

professional

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. He was one of the first professional players and he played 181 games in various professional and amateur leagues, including the

National Hockey Association The National Hockey Association (NHA), officially the National Hockey Association of Canada Limited, was a professional ice hockey organization with teams in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is the direct predecessor of today's National Hockey Lea ...

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 ...

, and

International Professional Hockey League The International Professional Hockey League (IPHL) was the first fully professional ice hockey league, operating from 1904 to 1907. It was formed by Jack "Doc" Gibson, a dentist who played hockey throughout Ontario before settling in Houghto ...

. Amongst the teams he played with were the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

and

Toronto Ontarios The Toronto Ontarios were a professional men's ice hockey team in the National Hockey Association from 1912 to 1915 based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They were first named the Tecumseh Hockey Club, renamed the Ontarios in 1913 and renamed the Toro ...

. He won two Stanley Cups in 1909 and 1911 with Ottawa.

Playing career

Born in Moosomin,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

(then in the Northwest Territories), Fred Lake first played senior-level hockey for the Moosomin Hockey Club in 1900–01. In 1902, he turned professional with the Pittsburgh Keystones of the

Western Pennsylvania Hockey League The Western Pennsylvania Hockey League (WPHL) was an originally amateur and later professional ice hockey league founded in 1896 and existing through 1909. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the league became the pre-eminent ice hockey league in ...

(WPHL). In 1903, he played for the

Portage Lakes Hockey Club The Portage Lakes Hockey Club was one of the first professional ice hockey clubs. Based in Houghton, Michigan, the club played at the Amphidrome from 1904 until 1906. While members of the International Professional Hockey League, the team won t ...

(of Houghton, Michigan) that claimed the "US Professional Championship". For 1903–04, he would sign up for the new

(IPHL) first playing for the

Michigan Soo Indians The Michigan Soo Indians, also known as the American Soo Indians, was a professional ice hockey team from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, United States. The team played for three seasons in the International Professional Hockey League, the first full ...

Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan Sault Ste. Marie ( ') is the only city in, and county seat of, Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. With a population of 13,337 at the 2020 census, it is the second-most populated city in the Upper Peninsula after Marquette. It i ...

before moving back to Portage Lakes, where he would play for three seasons until 1907. Lake moved back to Canada in 1907, playing first for the Winnipeg Strathconas then the

Winnipeg Maple Leafs The Winnipeg Maple Leafs, or Maple Leaf Hockey Club, were a professional men's ice hockey team in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Winnipeg Maple Leafs played in the Manitoba Professional Hockey League from 1907–1909. In March 1908, as 1907–08 MPHL cha ...

. As a member of the Maple Leafs he would play in an unsuccessful Stanley Cup challenge against 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 ...

in 1908. For the 1908–09 season, Lake signed with the

Pittsburgh Athletic Club The Pittsburgh Athletic Club (PAC) was one of the earliest professional ice hockey teams. It was based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from around 1895 until 1904 and again from 1907 to 1909. The team was a member of the Western Pennsylvania Hockey Le ...

of the WPHL. However, after three games he was released because of his rough play. He was signed by the Ottawa Hockey Club of the

(ECHA) and helped Ottawa win the Stanley Cup. In the early years of his hockey career Lake had been a left winger, but with Ottawa he was converted into a

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

man. He would remain a player with Ottawa for four seasons, winning another Stanley Cup championship in 1911, before being traded to the

in 1913, where he played for one season. For his final season, he returned via a trade to Ottawa. He only played two games for the Senators that season and retired after the season.

Death

Fred Lake was found dead in his car in an unoccupied shed at the rear end of a vacant house near Connaught Park Racetrack in Aylmer, Quebec near Ottawa on November 30, 1937, with the exhaust pipe of the automobile connected to the inside of the vehicle. Cause of death was deemed asphyxiation by carbon monoxide gas."Recommend Probe Be Continued Into Death of F. Lake"
''Ottawa Citizen''. Dec. 16, 1937 (pg. 22). Retrieved 22-08-01 He had been involved in a motor accident two years prior and had been in ill health ever since the accident."Fred Lake Found Dead in Car Near Aylmer Rd. Track"
''Ottawa Citizen''. Nov. 30, 1937 (pg. 1). Retrieved 2020-10-27. He was 54 years old.

Statistics

Exh. = Exhibition games

Transactions

* Released by Pittsburgh Athletic Club (WPHL) for rough play, November 25, 1908 * Signed as a free agent by Ottawa (ECHA), December 1, 1909 * Traded to Toronto Ontarios (NHA) by Ottawa (NHA) for cash, December 4, 1913 * Traded to Ottawa (NHA) by Toronto Ontarios (NHA) for

Percy LeSueur Percivale St-Helier LeSueur (November 21, 1881 – January 27, 1962) was a Canadian senior and professional ice hockey goaltender. He was a member of the Smiths Falls Seniors for three years, with whom his performance in a 1906 Stanley Cup ch ...

and $300, December 14, 1914

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lake, Fred 1883 births 1937 deaths Canadian ice hockey defencemen Ice hockey people from Saskatchewan Michigan Soo Indians players Ottawa Senators (NHA) players Ottawa Senators (original) players People from Moosomin, Saskatchewan Pittsburgh Athletic Club (ice hockey) players Pittsburgh Keystones (ice hockey) players Portage Lakes Hockey Club players Stanley Cup champions Toronto Ontarios players Winnipeg Maple Leafs players