HOCKEY NOTES

Newsy Lalonde

Center / Rover

5-9 168

b. 31 Oct 1888 Cornwall, Ontario
d. 21 Nov 1971 Montreal, Quebec

Edouard Cyril "Newsy" Lalonde was, simply put, the greatest hockey player of his time. This brilliant goal-scorer, who once potted nine in a single outing, earned his famous nickname as a cub reporter and printer's apprentice for the Cornwall Free Press. Drawing on a fine blend of grit and glitter, he went on to become hockey's brightest luminary.

Lalonde made his debut with the Cornwalls of the Federal league in 1904. What should have been a magical night for the young fellow was just short of disastrous when he fell onto an opponent's skate, severing one of his leg arteries. He continued to work at the Free Press for the next couple of years, dreaming of a career in hockey. In 1906, the Canadian Soo team in the International Professional Hockey League sprung Lalonde from the print shop with a $35-a-week offer plus $16 to cover his traveling expenses. He immediately withdrew his last few dollars from the bank and boarded the train. The next night he was on the Soo bench, and he got his big chance when teammate Marty Walsh broke his leg. Lalonde later said of his debut: "I went all right for a while, and then I got jammed into the fence. It hurt and I didn't feel good." Famished and in pain, he took a deep, restorative swig from a bottle handed to him by boxer Jack Hammond. "It burned my mouth, my gums, and my throat. I thought I was a goner." As it turns out, Hammond had two bottles -- one of whiskey and one of ammonia! In the heat of the moment, Hammond had handed Lalonde the wrong bottle. The youngster did recover, though, well enough to pot two goals.

Lalonde was the complete package: he could skate, shoot, pass and stick-handle. He also was a skilled fighter with a volcanic temper. As a result, fans came out in droves to cheer him on or scream for his blood. Many of Lalonde's "bad" contemporaries -- Joe Hall, Ken Randall, Carol "Cully" Wilson, Sprague Cleghorn -- bore long-lasting scars from their run-ins with Lalonde.

Lester Patrick, who was playing professional hockey when Lalonde first came up, commented on the Frenchman's ability: "Lalonde had an absolutely wicked knee-high shot that was almost impossible to keep out of the goal if he had a clear area in front. The only way to stop that man was have three or four players, or more if you could spare them, and skate him into the side boards."

The formation of the National Hockey Association in late 1909 brought Lalonde to Montreal, where he signed on with the Canadiens. In midseason he was traded to the Renfrew Millionaires, where he topped all goal-getters. He rejoined the Canadiens for the 1910-11 season, playing between Didier Pitre and Skinner Poulin, before heading west for a season with the Vancouver Millionaires, where he led the Pacific league with 27 goals in 15 games. The next year it was back to the Canadiens, where he would be a mainstay for the next decade.

Lalonde was on his first and only Stanley Cup winner in 1916, when the Habs defeated Ernie Johnson and his Portland Rosebuds. Lalonde, of course, was the star of the series. The Canadiens traveled west to play the Seattle Metropolitans for the Stanley Cup in the spring of 1919, and Lalonde was sensational, earning acclaim from the local press. But the outbreak of Spanish influenza hit Seattle, claiming the life of Habs beef-truster "Bad Joe" Hall. The Department of Health canceled the finals in midseries.

Lalonde put in three more seasons in Montreal before running afoul of owner Leo Dandurand, who dealt his mercurial star to the Western Canadian Hockey League (WCHL) Saskatoon Sheiks in exchange for a youngster by the name of Aurel Joliat. Lalonde cheerfully assumed his new responsibilities as player-manager in Saskatoon, winning the league scoring derby at the ripe old age of 36. He played intermittently over the next three years in Saskatoon, at the same time helping develop stars such as Bill and Fred Cook. It has been implied that Bill Cook, a deserving Hall of Famer, learned his craft from Lalonde.

On March 2, 1925, in a game against Vancouver, Lalonde scored the last goal of his career, pushing his mighty career total to 449. When the WCHL was dissolved in 1926, Lalonde assumed head coaching duties with the New York Americans. He remained in hockey until the early 1930s when he took a job as branch manager of a government-run liquor store. Until his dying day in November 1971, he could often be found at the local rink watching a hockey game.

From one of the game's first superstars, the man who never made more than $4,500 a season, comes a lovely quote: "I can't go anywhere, on a train, a bus, or in a club without somebody who wants to talk to me. I tell you it's the most wonderful thing. It's worth more than any amount of money that I ever played for."

Lalonde made the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1950.

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