HOCKEY NOTES

Art Ross

Defense

5-11 190

b. 13 Jan 1886 Naughton, Ontario
d. 5 Aug 1964 Boston, Massachusetts

Arthur Howie Ross was one of 13 children born to the boss of a Hudson's Bay Company fur-trading post in Northern Ontario. Ross, who spoke English and Ojibway growing up, learned to skate on Whitefish Bay using primitive clamp-on skates. His mother would swaddle him in layers of clothing, something he never forgot: "I must have become immune to body-checking in those days. I carried so much padding that an arrow couldn't pierce my armor." Deciding to make hockey a profession, he left home in 1904 to play for Westmount of the Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL). After a season there, he put in time with Brandon, the Montreal Wanderers, and Pembroke. Along the way, the Kenora Thistles signed him as a ringer for their 1907 Stanley Cup challenge.

On November 25, 1909, the CHA was formed and Ross jumped to the All-Montreal club. After only eight games the league folded, freeing Ross to join the Haileybury club for $2,700. In late 1910, he rejoined the Wanderers, putting up four seasons there before joining the Ottawa Senators. "Ross played like an eel," Harry Hyland once said. "He was one of the greatest stickhandlers I ever saw. He could spin on a dime, and he was so tricky there was no blocking him."

Ross invented the now-infamous "kitty-bar-the-door" strategy (today we call it the "trap") while traveling with his fellow Ottawans to Montreal for the 1915 National Hockey Association (NHA) championship. In his mind, the speedy Wanderers could be stopped if he strung three defenders across the ice, 30 feet out from the goal. The Senators won the two-game, total-goals series 4-1. (The strategy didn't work against the Vancouver Millionaires in that year's Cup finals, however: the Senators lost 6-2, 8-3 and 12-3.)

Ross spent two seasons in Ottawa before closing out his career with the Wanderers. After refereeing and coaching stints in the NHA and NHL, he was "discovered" by Boston Bruins owner Charles F. Adams in 1924. As the story goes, Adams had been seeking a manager for his franchise. One night, while watching a Stanley Cup match in Montreal, Adams' fancy was caught by a referee who, in the face of much criticism, called a clean, honest, "no apologies" game. That referee was none other than Ross. "Art Ross was a great player," Adams thought. "He knows the game and everybody in it. He's got courage, too. He's just the man to manage the Bruins."

Ross ran the Bruins with great distinction for the next 30 years. His teams won three Stanley Cups, racked up 10 first-place finishes, came in second 6 more times, and put up a record of 724-582-238 for a .546 winning percentage.

The B-shaped goal net he invented was used in the NHL through the 1980s, and he designed the bevel-edged puck still in use today. He also developed something called the "points system" -- a precursor to the plus-minus statistic -- introduced an Achilles tendon protector, and came up with an early helmet. He was a charter member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, inducted in 1945.

Bios 1910-1919   |  Next>>