Art Ross

Art Ross

Arthur Howe Ross (January 13, 1885 – August 5, 1964) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and executive. He was one of the first defenders to skate with the puck up the ice rather than pass it to a forward. He helped the Boston Bruins finish first place in the league ten times and to win the Stanley Cup three times. Ross was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1949.

About Art Ross in brief

Summary Art RossArthur Howe Ross (January 13, 1885 – August 5, 1964) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and executive. He was one of the first defenders to skate with the puck up the ice rather than pass it to a forward. Ross was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1949. He helped to improve the game by creating a style of hockey puck still used today. He also advocated an improved style of goal nets, a change that lasted forty years. Ross helped the Boston Bruins finish first place in the league ten times and to win the Stanley Cup three times; Ross personally coached the team to two of those victories. He died near Boston in 1964. His father, Thomas Barnston Ross, was of Scottish descent and originally from Chicoutimi, Quebec, while his mother was Marguerite McLeod. He grew up speaking English, and was taught French by his mother, and later in life claimed he knew Ojibwe and Montagnais. Ross played for several different teams and leagues, and is most notable for his time with the Montreal Wanderers while they were members of the National Hockey Association and its successor, the National Ice Hockey League. Ross first played in a senior league in 1905, joining Montreal Westmount of the Canadian Amateur Hockey League, the amateur league in 1907. He scored six goals in seven games in 1907, while he recorded ten goals in ten games in 1908. Around this time the Kenora Thistles, the champions of the Manitoba Hockey League, wanted to challenge the Wanderers.

In January 1907 he joined the Brandon Elks of the Brandon Hockey League in the province of Manitoba, where he played for the senior league for the next two seasons. He retired as a player in 1918, and after several years as an on-ice official, he was named head coach of the Hamilton Tigers for one season. He would go on to coach the team on three separate occasions until 1945 and stayed as general manager until his retirement in 1954. In 1947 Ross donated the Art Ross Trophy, awarded to the leading scorer of the NHL regular season. The trophy was given to the winner of the game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Rangers. Ross’ wife and two sons, along with his wife, moved to a suburb of Boston in 1938, and he became an American citizen in 1938. He had ten children: nine sons and one daughter. His parents initially lived in Lake St. John, Quebec, where Thomas worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company. In 1876 Thomas was transferred to a trading post in Northern Ontario close to the Whitefish Lake. The family would trek 370 kilometres each way twice a year for supplies. In 1896 they moved again in 1896, settling in the affluent Westmount district of Montreal. In 1904 Thomas also re-married, and by 1904 was living in Victoria, British Columbia,. where he died in 1930. In 1895 Margaret left Thomas, and moved back to Ontario with her younger children.