Joseph Alfred Pierre Hormisdas "Pit" Lépine (July 30, 1901 – August 2, 1955) was a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

forward and coach. He was born in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec. Lepine played in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

from 1925 to 1939, spending his entire career with the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...

, winning two

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () 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, and the International Ic ...

s, in 1930 and 1931. Lepine, a center, played over 500 games with Montreal and was an excellent goal scorer who could also check and battle for the puck in the corners. Lepine still holds the NHL record for the most goals without an assist in a season, with 16 scored in 1926-27. He had played senior hockey in Montreal with the Royals, Hochelega and Nationale squads. After 13 years in the NHL, Lepine finally played a year in the minors with the

New Haven Eagles The New Haven Eagles were a professional ice hockey team that played in New Haven, Connecticut. The Eagles were one of five inaugural franchises in the Canadian American Hockey League, and a founding member of the American Hockey League. Histor ...

of the AHL in 1938–39. When Babe Siebert drowned in 1939 after being named the coach of the Canadiens, Lepine was named coach for the 1939–40 season. The erosion of talent from older players and failure to bring in adequate youngsters doomed the team to a last place finish that season and he was fired and replaced by Dick Irvin, who would rebuild the team. Pit suffered a paralytic stroke in 1951, and had two more strokes in 1954. He died August 2, 1955, in a convalescent home in Ste-Rose, Quebec, from effects of these strokes, only three days after he turned 54. Alfred was the brother of

Hector Lépine Joseph Hector "Hec" Lépine (December 7, 1897 — March 29, 1951) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played 33 games in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens during the 1925–26 season. The rest of his career, wh ...

Career statistics

NHL coaching record

References

External links

* 1901 births 1955 deaths Canadian ice hockey centres Ice hockey people from Montreal (region) Montreal Canadiens coaches Montreal Canadiens players People from Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec Stanley Cup champions 20th-century Canadian sportsmen {{Canada-icehockey-player-stub

Career statistics

NHL coaching record

See also

References

External links