William James "Peg" Duval (August 3, 1877 – June 7, 1905) 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 ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

who played for the Ottawa Hockey Club and the

Pittsburgh Victorias The Pittsburgh Victorias were one of the earliest professional ice hockey teams. The club was based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and were members of the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League, the first league to openly hire hockey players, from 1902� ...

in the late 1890s and early 1900s. He was a member of the Canadian champion 1901 Ottawa team and captain of the Ottawa team for the 1902 season. He was one of the first professional players in ice hockey.

Playing career

Born in

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Canada, Duval played intermediate hockey for the

Ottawa Aberdeens The Ottawa Aberdeens (or Aberdeen Hockey Club) were an amateur ice hockey team from Ottawa that played in various junior, intermediate and senior amateur leagues from the 1890s to the 1910s. Between 1915–1919 the club figured in the Ottawa C ...

and Ottawa Atlantic Railway teams before joining the Ottawa Hockey Club in the 1899–1900 season. He played two further seasons for Ottawa, and was named captain prior to the 1902 season. In February 1903, his teammate

Rat Westwick Harry "Rat" Westwick (April 23, 1876 – April 3, 1957) was a Canadian athlete in ice hockey and lacrosse. Westwick – nicknamed the ''Rat'' for his small size – is most noted for his play with the Ottawa Hockey Club, nicknamed the ''Silver ...

married Duval's sister Ruby. Duval moved to Pittsburgh to play professional ice hockey with the Pittsburgh Victorias 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 1902–03. After two seasons with the Victorias, Duval joined the

Pittsburgh Pros 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 ...

of the

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 ...

for 1904–05. Duval died due to alcoholism on June 7, 1905. Duval had been acting in an unusual manner in the weeks previous, and had been drinking heavily. The reason for the heavy drinking was not fully disclosed publicly, however, a letter arrived at his boarding house after his death from his sister, advising Duval that the "girl and the baby were doing well and that he should not be downcast." Duval had been suspended in December 1904 without pay by the Pros team for not being in condition to play although he returned to the team in time to score the winning goal in a game against

Hod Stuart William Hodgson "Hod" Stuart (February 20, 1879 – June 23, 1907) was a Canadian professional ice hockey cover-point (now known as a defenceman) who played nine seasons for several teams in different leagues. He also played briefly for the ...

's Calumet team on January 7, 1905. He was released by the team in February 1905 for being unable to stay in condition to play. A ''Pittsburg Press'' newspaper report at that time said that "'Peggy' when in condition can hold his end up with any of them, but the wine when it is red seems to have a fascination for him, hence his downfall." At the time of death, Duval was working for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Duval had previously worked for the

Canada Atlantic Railway The Canada Atlantic Railway (CAR) was a North American railway located in Ontario, southwestern Quebec and northern Vermont. It connected Georgian Bay on Lake Huron with the northern end of Lake Champlain via Ottawa. It was formed in 1897 throu ...

in Ottawa.

Statistics

''Statistics per Society for International Hockey Research at sihrhockey.org''

References

Bibliography

Notes

1877 births 1905 deaths Ottawa Senators (original) players Pittsburgh Professionals players Pittsburgh Victorias players Ice hockey people from Ottawa Canadian ice hockey defencemen Alcohol-related deaths in Pennsylvania {{Canada-icehockey-defenceman-1870s-stub