Eddie William Shore (November 25, 1902-March 16, 1985)
Boston Bruins Legend Eddie Shore was a Canadian professional ice hockey player; he played defense for the NHL’s Boston Bruins from 1926-1940. He was primarily known for his toughness and no-nonsense disposition.
Playing Career
Eddie Shore began his hockey career in Cupar, Saskatchewan, with the Cupar Canucks. In the 1923-24 season. While playing for the Melville Millionaires, he won the Saskatchewan senior championship.
In 1925 Shore joined the Regina Capitals of the West Canada Hockey League (WCHL). The league was founded in 1921 and was defunct by 1926. After the 1925 season, Shore moved on to play in the newly named Western Hockey League (WHL) with the Edmonton Eskimos. In Edmonton, Shore would transition from playing forward to defense and earning the nickname “the Edmonton Express.”
When the (WCHL) ceased and later became the (WHL), Shore’s rights were sold to the NHL’s Boston Bruins. In his rookie season (1926-27) with the Bruins, Shore played 40 games registering 12 goals and 18 points to go along with his 130 penalty minutes. Two seasons later, in 1928-29, he helped the Bruins win their first Stanley Cup.
Eddie Shore was a Boston Bruins Legend; he was one of the toughest players ever to lace up a pair of skates. Testimony to this is when the Montreal Canadians traded Billy Coutu and Sprague Cleghorn to the Bruins. During their first practice with the Bruins, Shore antagonistically swaggered back and forth in front of the two new acquisitions. This apparently angered Billy Coutu, who took matters into his own hands. Coutu attacked Shore, body-slamming, head-butting, and elbowing Shore. Coutu picked up the puck and rushed at Shore; when the two players collided, Shore dug in, upending Coutu and sending him into the air, where he violently crashed to the ice. The impact left Coutu crumpled on the ice and knocked out, while Shore suffered a partially severed ear, which he overlooked. It took Shore a week to find a doctor who would sew his ear back on without anesthetic as per Shore’s request (LOL), while other doctors recommended amputation. Coutu was fined $50.00 for the incident, which Shore refunded back to Coutu, but not before he gave him an ear-full.
A Boston Bruins Legend was now in the making. Shore next garnered headlines when on January 24, 1933, during a game against the Canadians, Shore unintentionally punched referee-in-chief Cooper Smeaton while engaged in fisticuffs with Sylvio Mantha; Shore was fined $100 for his actions.
On December 12, 1933, in a Boston Garden game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Shore became embroiled in his career’s most infamous altercation. In a case of mistaken identity, Shore savagely hit Maple Leaf’s star Ace Bailey from behind, Bailey’s head hit the ice, and he was rendered unconscious and went into convulsions. Unbeknownst to Shore, it was King Clancy who had delivered a hit that upended Shore, causing him to seek revenge for the hit on Ace Bailey mistakenly. In retaliation to Shore’s actions, Leaf’s tough-guy Red Horner punched Shore; Shore fell to the ice hitting his head, and was knocked out. Shore required seven stitches and was not seriously injured; Ace Bailey, on the other hand, was not as fortunate; he was rushed to the hospital in critical condition with a fractured skull and underwent a more than four-hour operation. Bailey went in and out of a coma twice over the next ten days, with many fearing for his life. Ace Bailey recovered from his injuries, but he never played professional hockey again. After Bailey made a full recovery, league president Frank Calder suspended Shore for 16 games. On February 14, 1934, an all-star benefit game was held at Maple Leaf Gardens that raised $20,909 to help the Bailey family. Bailey and Shore shook hands and hugged at center ice before the opening face-off. This event led directly to today’s all-star game. On October 13, 1947, the first NHL All-Star game was held at Toronto Maple Leaf Garden; the NHL All-Stars defeated the Stanley Cup Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3.
Shore won his second Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins in 1939; after that season, he made an agreement to play in Bruin home games only, for $200 a game; after reportedly being uninspired, Shore only played in four games for the Bruins before being traded to the New York Americans on January 25, 1940, for Eddie Wiseman and $5000. He played with the Americans until they were eliminated from the playoffs, playing his final game against the Detroit Red Wings on March 24.
In 2017 Shore was named one of the ‘100 Greatest NHL Players in history
Shore won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player four times, the most of any defenceman; only Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe have won it more times. Shore was named First Team All-Star in seven of his last nine NHL seasons and was named a Second Team All-Star during one season. He also set the bar in his second NHL season as the single-season all-time penalty minute record with 165 minutes. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947 and is ranked number 10 on The Hockey News’ list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. The AHL media and players choose the Eddie Shore Award; it has been awarded annually since 1958-59. The first recipient was Rochester Americans Steve Kraftcheck; the latest winner is Jake Bean of the Charlotte Checkers (2019-20). The Boston Bruins retired Shorès number 2 in 1947.
Retirement
After playing his last game in the NHL, Shore played two more years in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Springfield Indians, calling it quits after the 1941-42 season. He made one final appearance as a player in the AHL, playing one game for the Buffalo Bisons in 1943-44.
During World War II, the Indians ceased running the team; Shore then moved his players to Buffalo, where he coached the team to the Calder Cup championship in 1943 and 1944. After the war, the Indians resumed hockey operations, and Shore returned to the team in 1946.
Under Shore’s ownership, the Indians made the playoffs 12 times, winning the Calder Cup three consecutive seasons from 1960-1962. Shore was known as a curmudgeon who treated his players callously. He used to call players on the practice roster “Black Aces,” a term still used today. One example of how headstrong Shore could be was in 1967 when his players refused to play for him after he suspended three players without pay for what he called “indifferent play.” Two prominent players that Shore suspended were NHL star Bill White (Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks) and future Ottawa 67’s legendary coach Brian Kilrea. Fledgling lawyer Alan Eagleson was brought in to negotiate with Shore on behalf of the players. After months of legal haggling, Shore eventually was forced to give up hockey operations to the Los Angeles Kings; out of this confrontation, the seeds of the National Hockey League Players Association were planted. By 1974 Shore regained full control of the team and eventually sold it in 1976.
Eddie William Shore passed away on March 15, 1985, and the cause of death was liver cancer.
Eddie Shore wasn’t a big man by today’s standards (5-foot-11, 190 pounds), but in his heyday, he could electrify fans like no one else. He possessed a fierce determination and passion for the game of hockey. He was the consummate competitor. To illustrate the determination that Eddie brought to the game and his eccentric ways off the ice, consider the night of January 2, 1929.
January 2, 1929
The Bruins had an away game at the Forum in Montreal against the Maroons. The Bruins were to take the overnight train from North Station. All the players arrived for the trip except for one, Eddie Shore. Bruins GM Art Ross had implemented a hard rule that if any of his players missed the train, he would be fined $500.
Due to extenuating circumstances, Eddie missed the train that night.
As the train began to roll away from the platform slowly, Eddie could be seen running frantically, trying to catch up, hoping he could jump onto the last car, but he could not catch the train. Eddie later explained that his taxi had been tied up in traffic, which caused him to be late.
With the train gone and Eddie stranded, he checked the train schedule to see if he could catch another train, but the next express wouldn’t reach Montreal until after the game. He checked the airlines, but no flights were available due to a sleet storm. He considered renting a car but changed his mind when a friend offered him his limousine and chauffeur.
At 11:30 p.m., Shore and the chauffeur embarked northward on a harrowing 350-mile trip in the black of night in the cold, snow-covered New England mountains. The roads were not paved, and there weren’t any sanders on the treacherous roadway.
The chauffeur was driving at three miles per hour; when Shore noticed this, he berated the driver. He apologized and said he didn’t have any chains and that maybe we should head back to Boston.
That’s when the car slid off the road and onto the edge of the ditch. Shore took over driving the car and drove to an all-night service station where he had the attendant install chains. By this time, the storm had intensified into a blizzard. Back on the road, with the car encased in thick snow and only one windshield wiper, the lone blade froze to the windshield. Shore removed the top half of the windshield to see; windshields were partly removable in those days.
By 5 a.m., with his face frozen from the direct icy blasts of winter, the car began to lose traction due to the chains being worn out.
After rounding a bend in the road, Shore was able to spot the lights of a not-to-distant construction camp. Once there, he was able to have the gas station attendant install new chains. Back on the road again, Shore struggled to keep the car on the road; four times, he hit the ditch, and each time he was able to get the car back on the road.
At three in the afternoon, the second set of chains wore out. At this point, Shore had the chauffeur take the wheel. Shore said: “I felt that a nap would put me in good shape,” He told the driver to keep the car in the center of the road and to drive at least 12 miles an hour.
As soon as Shore dozed off, the driver hit the ditch. This time they couldn’t get the car out, forcing Shore to walk a mile to a farmhouse for help.
“I paid $8 for a team of horses,” Shore said, “harnessed the horses and pulled the car out of the ditch. We weren’t too far from Montreal, and I thought we’d make it in time if I could keep the car on the road.”
At 5:30 p.m., Shore pulled up to the Windsor Hotel, where the Bruins stayed, ironically the same Hotel where the NHL was founded. He hobbled into the lobby and nearly collapsed.
“He was in no condition for hockey,” Ross said. “His eyes were bloodshot, his face frostbitten and wind-burned, his fingers bent and set like claws after gripping the steering wheel so long. And he couldn’t walk straight. I figure his legs were almost paralyzed from hitting the brake and clutch.“
Shore ate a steak dinner, his first meal in 24 hours. The coach ordered him to get some sleep. Shore rejected the coach’s order, opting for a 20 or 30-minute nap.
Teammates Dit Clapper and Cooney Weiland entered Shore’s room an hour later. They gently nudged him; Shore was unresponsive; they rolled him off the bed and onto the floor, still no response; Weiland poured several glasses of water over Shore’s face, finally awakening him; this time, he immediately insisted on playing. Art Ross refused his demand to play over concerns that he was still too weak and vulnerable to injury.
Once the game was underway, the Maroons relentlessly pressured the Bruins, but Shore and the B’s were able to repel each attack. Shore played the entire game, except for two minor penalties he took. he even threw a devastating body check on Hooley Smith, which made Ross consider benching him from the game.
After the penalty had elapsed, Shore leaped onto the ice, looking invigorated. At the halfway point of the second period, Shore retrieved the puck from behind his own net and proceeded up the ice, faking one Maroon, gathering speed through the neutral zone, and swerving to the left at the Montreal blue line; he darted around the last defender and snapped a hard shot into the right corner of the net.
“I would say I was 15 feet out to the left,” he said. “I can remember exactly how my shot went. It was low, about six inches off the ice, and went hard into the right corner of the net.”
It was the only goal of the game. The goal was scored at 8:20 of the second period. Boston won 1-0.
Almost 24 hours after his ordeal began, Shore showed no signs that he was the worse for wear.
Art Ross decided not to fine him for missing the train.
The moral of this story is that there is no excuse for being late.
Keep Your Stick on the Ice, and remember to put chains on the car before you drive in a blizzard.
Awards and achievements
- Stanley Cup winner in 1929 and 1939.
- Named to the WHL First All-Star Team 1926.
- Won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player in 1933, 1935, 1936, 1938.
- Named to the NHL First All-Star Team in 1931, 1932, 1933, 1935, 1936, 1938, 1939.
- Named to the NHL Second All-Star Team in 1934.
- Won the Lester B. Patrick Award for contributions to hockey in 1970.
- Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947.
- Inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1975.
- In 1998, he was ranked #10 on The Hockey News’ list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.
- His number, 2, was retired by the Boston Bruins in 1947.
- NHL Record for most Hart Memorial Trophies as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player by a defenceman: (4)
- In January 2017, Shore was part of the first group of players named one of the ‘100 Greatest NHL Players in history.
Career statistics
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 1923–24 | Melville Millionaires | S-SSHL | — | — | — | — | — | 2 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 0 |
| 1923–24 | Melville Millionaires | Al-Cup | — | — | — | — | — | 9 | 8 | 6 | 14 | 0 |
| 1924–25 | Regina Capitals | WCHL | 24 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 75 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1925–26 | Edmonton Eskimos | WHL | 30 | 12 | 2 | 14 | 86 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 1926–27 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 40 | 12 | 6 | 18 | 130 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 40 |
| 1927–28 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 43 | 11 | 6 | 17 | 165 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 1928–29* | Boston Bruins | NHL | 39 | 12 | 7 | 19 | 96 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 28 |
| 1929–30 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 42 | 12 | 19 | 31 | 105 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 26 |
| 1930–31 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 44 | 15 | 16 | 31 | 105 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 24 |
| 1931–32 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 45 | 9 | 13 | 22 | 80 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1932–33 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 48 | 8 | 27 | 35 | 102 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 14 |
| 1933–34 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 30 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 57 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1934–35 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 48 | 7 | 26 | 33 | 32 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 1935–36 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 45 | 3 | 16 | 19 | 61 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 12 |
| 1936–37 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 20 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 12 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1937–38 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 48 | 3 | 14 | 17 | 42 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 1938–39* | Boston Bruins | NHL | 44 | 4 | 14 | 18 | 47 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 19 |
| 1939–40 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1939–40 | New York Americans | NHL | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 1939–40 | Springfield Indians | IAHL | 15 | 1 | 14 | 15 | 18 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 1940–41 | Springfield Indians | AHL | 56 | 4 | 13 | 17 | 66 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 1941–42 | Springfield Indians | AHL | 35 | 5 | 12 | 17 | 61 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 1943–44 | Buffalo Bisons | AHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — |
| NHL totals | 550 | 105 | 179 | 284 | 1047 | 55 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 181 | ||
| WCHL/WHL totals | 54 | 18 | 2 | 20 | 161 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
