Robert Ernest MacDougall (March 2, 1876 – March 26, 1950) was a notable

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 businessman. He played in the early days of organized ice hockey, before professionalism. He played the position of forward for the

Montreal Victorias The Victoria Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was an early men's amateur ice hockey club. Its date of origin is ascribed to either 1874, 1877 or 1881, making it either the first or second organized ice hockey club after McGill University. ...

and was a member of five

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.

Personal life

MacDougall was born 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 ...

. He attended Bishop's College School boarding school in

Lennoxville Lennoxville is an ''arrondissement'', or borough, of the city of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. Lennoxville is located at the confluence of the St. Francis and Massawippi Rivers approximately five kilometres south of downtown Sherbrooke. Lennoxvi ...

as a youth. At BCS he played hockey with future Victorias teammates

Hartland MacDougall Hartland Brydges MacDougall (March 10, 1876 – April 28, 1947) was a Canadian ice hockey player and businessman. MacDougall was generally regarded as one of the most versatile players of the pre-NHL era of the sport. He initially played the posit ...

(no relation) and

Ernie McLea Ernest Hope "Ernie" McLea (February 5, 1876 – June 17, 1931) was a Canadian ice hockey player. McLea played in the 1890s for the Montreal Victorias and was a member of four Stanley Cup-winning teams. He scored the first hat trick in Stanley Cup ...

. At age twelve, MacDougall played on the BCS first team of ice hockey, and is noted as one of the youngest to ever do so. After ice hockey, MacDougall would become a partner with Hartland MacDougall in the stock-trading firm MacDougall & MacDougall of Montreal. The company continues today as MacDougall MacDougall MacTier.

Playing career

Macdougall was the highest scoring forward before the 1900s in Stanley Cup play. Robert scored a confirmed total of 49 goals in 36 recorded games. Overshadowed today by the likes of teammates and Hall of Famers

Graham Drinkwater Charles Graham Drinkwater (February 22, 1875 – September 27, 1946) was a Canadian ice hockey player, businessman and philanthropist. Drinkwater played for the Montreal Victorias in the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC) in the early er ...

and

Mike Grant Michael Grant (November 27, 1873 – August 20, 1955) was a Canadian ice hockey player. He played nine seasons of senior amateur hockey between 1894 and 1902 for the Montreal Victorias and Montreal Shamrocks. Grant was a member of the Victorias ...

, Robert was consistently one of the Montreal Victorias' highest scoring forwards. Later in life his career would take an approach to banking (working alongside

of no relation) and he would leave the sport of hockey near the end of the Montreal Victorias' championship run.

Championship controversy

Near the end of MacDougall's career he would generally only play championship games due to his work schedule. In his last season his career would end in some controversy. In the 1899

Stanley Cup Finals The Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey (also known as the Stanley Cup Final among various media, french: Finale de la Coupe Stanley) is the National Hockey League's (NHL) championship series to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup, North America ...

, with Montreal leading a total goal series with 4 goals to 2 against 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 ...

, with about 12 minutes left in the game, MacDougall slashed Winnipeg's

Tony Gingras Antoine Blanc Gingras (October 20, 1875 – April 27, 1937) was a top scoring Metis amateur ice hockey right winger who was active in the late 1890s and early 1900s. Born at Saint Boniface, Winnipeg, to Métis parents François Gingras and Annie M ...

. As Gingras was carried off the ice, referee Bill Findlay only called MacDougall for a two-minute minor. Angry that he should have been assessed a larger penalty, Winnipeg went into their dressing room in protest. Insulted, Findlay abruptly went home, but returned after officials followed him on a sleigh and persuaded him to return. Once back at the rink, the referee gave Winnipeg 15 minutes to return to the ice themselves. They refused and thus Findlay disqualified the team and declared Montreal the winners. 4,000 were attending the Winnipeg Auditorium rink to hear returns of the game by telegraph.

Career statistics

Notes: :*Led league in scoring in 1895–96 (bold denotes league leader) :*Statistics do not include non-regular-season tournaments. Statistics for 1893–94 and 1896–97 are not fully available. ''Globe and Mail'' editions from 1897 indicate that Robert MacDougall played out the full season and is credited for scoring a minimum of 2 goals, perhaps more. Scoring summaries for most games were not published.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdougall, Robert 1876 births 1950 deaths Ice hockey people from Quebec Bishop's College School alumni Montreal Victorias players Stanley Cup champions