James Henry Gardner (May 21, 1881 – November 6, 1940) 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 ...

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 and coach. Gardner started his career as professionalism was just starting in ice hockey. He won championships with both amateur and professional teams. After his hockey career ended, Gardner coached professionally, most notably with 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 ...

of 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 ...

(NHA). Gardner helped found the NHA, the predecessor of today's

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 ...

, and the Canadiens, including suggesting the team name.

Hockey career

Jimmy Gardner of the Pittsburgh Pros in 1907

Gardner's playing career started with

Montreal Hockey Club The Montreal Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was a senior-level men's amateur ice hockey club, organized in 1884. They were affiliated with Montreal Amateur Athletic Association (MAAA) and used the MAAA 'winged wheel' logo. The team was t ...

amateur men's team of the

Canadian Amateur Hockey League The Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL) was an early men's amateur hockey league founded in 1898, replacing the organization that was formerly the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC) before the 1898–99 season. The league existed for ...

in 1900, where he played until 1903, winning 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 ...

twice, in 1902 and 1903 as one of the 'Little Men of Iron'. In 1903, the players of the Montreal Hockey Club left to form the new

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

Federal Amateur Hockey League The Federal Amateur Hockey League (FAHL) was a Canadian men's senior-level ice hockey league that played six seasons, from 1904 to 1909. The league was formed initially to provide a league for teams not accepted by the rival Canadian Amateur Hock ...

(FAHL). After one season with the Wanderers, Gardner then turned professional, playing two years for US teams the

Calumet Miners The Calumet Miners, also known as the Calumet-Laurium Miners and the Calumet Wanderers, was a professional ice hockey team from Calumet & Laurium, Michigan. The team played for three seasons in the International Professional Hockey League, the fi ...

and the

Pittsburgh Professionals The Pittsburgh Professional Hockey Club, also referred to as the Pittsburgh Professionals and Pittsburgh Pros, were a professional ice hockey team that participated in the International Professional Hockey League (IPHL) from 1904 until 1907. The te ...

before returning to Canada and the

Montreal Shamrocks The Montreal Shamrocks were an amateur, later professional, and then amateur again men's ice hockey club in existence from 1886 to 1924, based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They were spun off from the Montreal Shamrocks lacrosse club. Starting off ...

. He would return to the Wanderers in 1908 and play for the club until 1911, winning the Cup in 1908 and 1910. He joined the new PCHA and played for New Westminster for two seasons, before returning to Montreal to play for the

for two seasons before retiring as a player. Gardner then coached the Canadiens for two seasons and in later years coached the

Hamilton Tigers The Hamilton Tigers were a professional ice hockey team based in Hamilton, Ontario. They competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1920 to 1925. The Tigers were formed by the sale of the Quebec Bulldogs NHL franchise to Hamilton intere ...

Providence Reds The Providence Reds were a ice hockey, hockey team that played in the Canadian-American Hockey League (CAHL) between 1926 and 1936 and the American Hockey League (AHL) from 1936 to 1977, the last season of which they played as the Rhode Island Re ...

, and teams in the Western Canada Hockey League and Quebec Hockey League. Gardner is credited with helping to found the

in 1909, including its name. As an official of the Wanderers, he met with

Ambrose O'Brien John Ambrose O'Brien (May 27, 1885 – April 24, 1968) was a Canadian industrialist and sports team owner. He was a founder of the National Hockey Association (NHA), owner of the Renfrew Millionaires and the founding owner of the Montreal Canad ...

during the hockey meetings of December 1909, when the Wanderers and O'Brien's teams were left out of a new professional league. Gardner and O'Brien together worked on the idea of the new National Hockey Association, and the idea of a new francophone team for Montreal, to be named "Les Canadiens". The club would be a natural rival for the anglophone Wanderers. O'Brien, whose family controlled railway and mining business, underwrote both the new league and the Canadiens franchise. A month later, the rival league folded and O'Brien's teams absorbed some of the rival teams. O'Brien would sell the Canadiens one year later to

George Kennedy George Harris Kennedy Jr. (February 18, 1925 – February 28, 2016) was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 film and television productions. He played "Dragline" opposite Paul Newman in ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), winning the Academ ...

, who owned Club Athletique Canadien. Gardner died in Montreal on November 6, 1940 after a lengthy illness."Jimmy Gardner, Former Ice Star, Dies After Long Illness at 59"
''The Gazette'' (Montreal). Nov. 7, 1940 (pg. 17). He was inducted posthumously 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 1963.

Career statistics

Player statistics

Champion.

Coaching record

References

;General *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Jimmy 1881 births 1940 deaths Anglophone Quebec people Calumet Miners players Canadian ice hockey coaches Canadian ice hockey forwards Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Ice hockey people from Montreal Montreal Canadiens (NHA) players Montreal Canadiens coaches Montreal Hockey Club players Montreal Wanderers (NHA) players Montreal Wanderers players New Westminster Royals players Montreal Shamrocks players Pittsburgh Professionals players Stanley Cup champions