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 challenge series attracted the attention of his opponents, the Ottawa Silver Seven. Although his team lost the series, LeSueur excelled in goal, keeping the games close. Nine days after the defeat, he joined the Silver Seven and played in a challenge match against the Montreal Wanderers. He remained with Ottawa through the 1913–14 season where he served as team captain for three seasons, and assumed coaching duties in his final season with the team.

LeSueur was traded to the Toronto Ontarios (who later changed their name to the Toronto Shamrocks mid-season) for the 1914–15 season. After playing the following season for the Toronto Blueshirts, he enlisted in the army and fought for Canada during the First World War. He returned to hockey following the conclusion of the war, serving in various roles including referee, coach, manager, arena manager, and hockey journalist. He coached ten games in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Hamilton Tigers. As a journalist, he was the first reporter to include shots on goal statistics in game summaries.

During his playing career, LeSueur improved upon existing ice hockey equipment: he invented the gauntlet-style goaltender glove which protected the forearms, and created and patented the LeSueur net which was designed to catch high-rising shots. LeSueur was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961, and died a few months later following a lengthy illness.

Playing career

Smiths Falls

Born in Quebec City, Quebec on November 21, 1881, Percy LeSueur played amateur hockey in his hometown with several teams on the right wing, among them the Quebec Crescents and the Quebec Seconds. He scored a regular season goal with the Quebec Hockey Club (known as the Bulldogs) in 1901. For the 1903–04 season, he moved to Smiths Falls, Ontario, to play for the Seniors in the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA). When the team's usual goaltender fell ill, LeSueur agreed to play goal.

In March 1906, the Smiths Falls Seniors, as a member of the Federal Amateur Hockey League (FAHL), issued a challenge for the Stanley Cup to the Ottawa Silver Seven (during that era, teams were allowed to challenge the present Cup holder once a year for possession, provided they were part of a senior hockey association and had won their league championship). In the two-game, total goals series, Smiths Falls lost the first game 6–5, and the second game 8–2. Both games were played at Dey's Arena in Ottawa, on March 6 and 8. Despite giving up 14 goals during the series, LeSueur's work in net was impressive: the ''Montreal Star'' remarked that his performance in the first game had kept the Seniors in contention, noting that the "most spectacular saves of the match were made by im.

Ottawa

Following Smith Falls's loss in the challenge match against Ottawa, LeSueur, a bank clerk, moved 60 kilometres northeast along the rail line to Ottawa (during his playing years, it was customary for players to have an occupation outside of hockey). Impressed by his performance, the Silver Seven asked him to join their team. Ottawa had lost confidence in its previous goalkeeper, Billy Hague, following a 9–1 defeat at the hands of the Montreal Wanderers in the first game of their two-game, total-goals Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA) playoff series for control of the Stanley Cup. The Silver Seven called the timing of LeSueur's arrival a coincidence, but with an eight-goal lead in the series, the Wanderers did not protest LeSueur's eligibility.

In the second game, played on March 17, LeSueur surrendered an early goal to Moose Johnson but subsequently held the Wanderers scoreless while the Silver Seven scored nine straight goals to bring the two teams even. Harry Smith appeared to put Ottawa ahead 11–10, but what would have been his seventh goal of the game was disallowed by an offside call. The Wanderers responded with a "furious attack", resulting in Lester Patrick scoring two late goals, leading Montreal to a 12–10 series victory and the Stanley Cup. LeSueur was the first goaltender, and one of only two (with Hugh Lehman, 1909–10) to play for two different teams in Stanley Cup challenges in the same season.

LeSueur played for Ottawa through the 1913–14 season. He finished second in the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA) in goals against average in his first season with Ottawa, giving up 54 in 10 games played. He repeated the feat in the 1907–08 season, with 51 goals against in 10 games. That season LeSueur was Ottawa's sole representative at the Hod Stuart Benefit All-Star Game, played on January 2. Stuart, a member of the Wanderers squad who won the Stanley Cup in 1907, had drowned in the previous off-season and the ECAHA responded by organizing an All-Star game, the first of its kind in any sport, with its proceeds going to Stuart's widow and their two children. The Wanderers defeated a team of All-Stars, made up of the top players of the league's other teams, 10–7. LeSueur remarked in the '' Ottawa Free Press'' that while joining the Silver Seven was his "biggest thrill", his participation in the All-Star Game came a "close second".

In the 1909 ECHA season, LeSueur won the Stanley Cup with Ottawa, now nicknamed the Senators, after the team led the league with 10 wins. During the same season, he wrote a 48-page booklet entitled ''How to Play Hockey'', a work similar to Arthur Farrell's handbook '' Hockey: Canada's Royal Winter Game'', the first book on ice hockey, which had appeared 10 years earlier. Published right before the start of the 1910–11 season, the book provided instructions on how to play every position, and contained photos of the star players of the era. LeSueur's book was particularly popular among youngsters.

LeSueur was named captain of the Senators for the 1910–11 season. The team led the regular season standings in the National Hockey Association (NHA) with 13 wins, regaining possession of the Stanley Cup. LeSueur was the league leader in goaltender wins in both the 1909 and 1910–11 seasons, having appeared in every game Ottawa played. During 1913–14, his last season with the Senators, LeSueur served as both the coach and captain of the team. He also led the NHA in goals against, though he only played 13 of the 20 games.

Toronto

LeSueur was traded to the Toronto Shamrocks for Fred Lake and $300, as the Ottawa club engaged Clint Benedict for its goaltender's job. At the time of the deal, LeSueur had been the last member of either the 1909 or 1911 Stanley Cup winning teams still in Ottawa. LeSueur helped the Shamrocks lower their goals against during the 1914–15 season, from 118 the previous season to 96 (more than one goal per game). However he still finished last among the six regular goalies that season in goals against. Coincidentally, LeSueur's last season with Ottawa also marked the end of the Stanley Cup challenge era. In Stanley Cup play, LeSueur had a 7–2 overall record and was undefeated in seven games with Ottawa.

After one season with the Shamrocks in 1914–15, LeSueur finished his playing career with the cross-town rival Toronto Blueshirts in 1915–16. He had a losing record with both Toronto clubs. LeSueur initially became a full-time practicing accountant after retiring as a player, but with the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 enlisted with the 48th Highlanders, who served as the 134th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. However he was redeployed to Divisional Headquarters to serve as a physical training and bayonet instructor. He was also recruited for the 228th Battalion, which fielded a team in the 1916–17 NHA season, and appeared in some team photos, but never played for them.

Post-war

Following the war, LeSueur returned to hockey in a variety of roles. Over time, he appeared as a referee, coach, manager, arena manager, and journalist. His first job was as a referee in the National Hockey League (NHL). Afterwards, he coached in the minor leagues and the NHL. In 1921, he was behind the bench when the Galt, Ontario intermediate team won the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) championship. He was appointed the Hamilton Tigers' head coach for the 1923–24 NHL season, but coached only the first 10 games of the 24-game schedule. When LeSueur was fired, the team had a 3–7 record, and finished the season last in the standings with an overall record of 9–15.

LeSueur went on to manage several arenas and guided the creation of new teams. As manager of the Windsor Arena and the Detroit Olympia, he helped assemble an ownership group that acquired the Victoria Cougars from the Western Hockey League (WHL) prior to the 1926–27 season. The team joined the NHL as the Detroit Cougars, now known as the Red Wings. During 1928–29, he managed the Peace Bridge Arena in Fort Erie, Ontario. He guided the Buffalo Bisons' entry as an inaugural member of the International Hockey League (IHL) when it split from the Canadian Professional Hockey League (CPHL), and served as the team's coach. LeSueur joined the Syracuse Stars of the IHL as head coach for the 1930–31 season, but was replaced mid-season by Frank Foyston. LeSueur also managed the Syracuse Arena. While he was an IHL coach, he used his spare players during game intermissions to explain the rules of hockey to new spectators.

Following his coaching and managing career, LeSueur turned to journalism. He was a columnist for ''The Hamilton Spectator'', and was the first reporter to list shots on goal in game summaries. In addition to writing, he was a radio broadcaster. He used this role to help sell the game in regions without an ice hockey tradition. In 1931, LeSueur was an original member of ''Hockey Night in Canadas "Hot Stove League", a panel of hockey writers which discussed issues within hockey during intermissions.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961 as a player. In 1968, he was posthumously inducted as one of the 55 original members of the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame.

Playing style and innovations

During LeSueur's career, ice hockey rules forbade goalkeepers from lying, sitting, kneeling, or otherwise falling onto the ice to make a save. Forced to play a stand-up style, LeSueur was aggressive in goal and was sufficiently athletic to be able to stop two or three shots in quick succession. Hockey historian Bill Fitsell noted that he had an "intense roving style", playing the puck outside of his crease in a style popularized forty years later by Jacques Plante. His playing style was exemplified in a game against the Quebec Bulldogs, where LeSueur was reported to have sprinted towards and "floored" an opposing forward who was on a breakaway.

Described as a "thinking man's custodian", LeSueur is credited with two major innovations to ice hockey equipment. Around 1909, he experimented with using a baseball catcher's glove with extra padding to catch the puck. LeSueur later developed gauntlet-style gloves to protect the goaltender's forearms. He also designed the patented LeSueur net which was used from 1911 to 1925, first by the NHA and then its successor, the NHL. The net was designed to trap rising shots, with the rear frame 22 inches behind the goal mouth at the bottom of the net but only 17 inches at the top. Art Ross later improved on LeSueur's design, and his eponymous net was used by the NHL from 1927 to 1984.

Personal life

LeSueur died on January 27, 1962 in Hamilton, Ontario, following a lengthy illness, a few months after his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. In a Canadian Press obituary, fellow Hall of Famer Newsy Lalonde described him as "one fthe best goalies he ever faced", and Cyclone Taylor, a teammate on the 1909 Stanley Cup-winning Senators team, stated that LeSueur would always be in goal whenever "he was asked to pick an All-Star team".

Percy, a Presbyterian, was married to Georgia LeSueur. His son, Steve Douglas, followed his father into radio broadcasting. At the time of his father's death, Douglas was a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) sports commentator. Through Steve, LeSueur had four grandchildren.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Coaching record

Source:

References

Bibliography

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External links

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Hockey: A People's History
at CBC.ca; radio clips of LeSueur explaining various stories about the game.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lesueur, Percy
1881 births
1962 deaths
Canadian Expeditionary Force soldiers
Canadian ice hockey coaches
Canadian ice hockey goaltenders
Columbia Lions men's ice hockey coaches
Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
Ice hockey people from Quebec City
Ontario Hockey Association Senior A League (1890–1979) players
Ottawa Senators (NHA) players
Ottawa Senators (original) players
Stanley Cup champions
Toronto Blueshirts players
Toronto Ontarios players
Toronto Shamrocks players