Charles A. Liffiton was an early professional ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 player. Over the span of his career, hee played for the amateur Montreal Amateur Athletic Association (MAAA), the professional Pittsburgh Bankers

Pittsburgh Bankers

The Pittsburgh Bankers were a Pittsburgh hockey club that consisted of a group of local men from Pittsburgh that were employeed by local banks during the early 1900s. The Bankers began as the amateur Banker's League. The league later merged into one team which became members of the Western...

 of the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League

Western Pennsylvania Hockey League

The Western Pennsylvania Hockey League , was a semi-professional ice hockey league from the early 1900s. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the league was the pre-eminent ice hockey league at the time in the United States...

 and the Portage Lakes Hockey Club

Portage Lakes Hockey Club

The Portage Lakes Hockey Club was one of the first professional ice hockey clubs. Based in Houghton, Michigan, the club played at the Amphidrome from 1904 until 1906...

 of the International Professional Hockey League

International Professional Hockey League

The International Professional Hockey League was the first fully professional ice hockey league, operating from 1904 to 1907. It was formed by Jack 'Doc' Gibson, a dentist who played hockey throughout Ontario before settling in Houghton, Michigan. The IPHL was a five team circuit which included...

.

Biography

Charlie was the son of a jeweler, who grew up in a family of one sister and six brothers. He worked in his father's jewelry and confection store in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, but preferred playing hockey. During the 1899-1900 season

1899 CAHL season

The inaugural 1899 Canadian Amateur Hockey League season lasted from January 7 until March 4. Teams played an eight game schedule The Montreal Shamrocks were the league champion with a record of seven wins and one loss.-Highlights:...

 of the Canadian Amateur Hockey League

Canadian Amateur Hockey League

The Canadian Amateur Hockey League was an early men's amateur hockey league founded in 1898, replacing the organization that was formerly the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada before the 1898–99 season. The league existed for seven seasons, folding in 1905 and was itself replaced by the Eastern...

 (CAHL). Charlie was the top scorer for his Montreal Amateur Athletic Association and the league's eighth leading scorer posting 8 goals in 8 games. However during the 1901-02 season

1902 CAHL season

The 1902 Canadian Amateur Hockey League season lasted from January 5 until March 1. Teams played an eight game schedule. The Montreal HC were the league champion with a record of six wins and two losses.-Executive:...

, he helped the MAAA win the CAHL championship and later defeat the Winnipeg Victorias

Winnipeg Victorias

The Winnipeg Victorias were a former amateur senior-level men's amateur ice hockey team in Winnipeg, Manitoba, organized in 1889. They played in the Manitoba Hockey Association in the late 19th and early 20th centuries...

 and capture the Stanley Cup

Stanley Cup

The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...

. He was also one of the top ten league scorers for the third season in a row.

Liffiton played only one game of the 1902-03 season

1903 CAHL season

The 1903 Canadian Amateur Hockey League season lasted from January 3 until February 28. Teams played an eight game schedule. Ottawa and Montreal Victorias tied for the league championship with records of six wins and two losses.-Executive:...

 for Montreal, before traveling to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

 to help the Pittsburgh Bankers win the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League championship. The WPHL was a professional league and by playing there, Charlie became a professional player. Over the next 2 season, he played for the Bankers and at least one match for the Montreal Wanderers

Montreal Wanderers

The Montreal Wanderers were a Canadian amateur, and later becoming a professional men's ice hockey team. The team played in the Federal Amateur Hockey League , the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association , the National Hockey Association and briefly the National Hockey League . The Wanderers are...

.

In 1904, the Portgage Lakes Hockey Club of Houghton, Michigan

Houghton, Michigan

Houghton is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan's Upper Peninsula and largest city in the Copper Country on the Keweenaw Peninsula. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 7,708. It is the county seat of Houghton County...

, lured him away from the Wanderers to play the remainder of the season for $1350. He was reported to be the highest paid player in the International Professional Hockey League that year. Statistics from his hockey career show he was active through the 1906 - 07 professional exhibition season.

Family

Charlie's brother was Ernie Liffiton

Ernie Liffiton

Ernest James Liffiton an early professional ice hockey player. Over the span of his career, he played for Pittsburgh Bankers, Pittsburgh Professionals, Renfrew Creamery Kings, Montreal Wanderers, Halifax Crescents and the Toronto Tecumsehs. In 1908, he played on the Montreal Wanderers team that...

 and is an ancestor of David Liffiton

David Liffiton

David Liffiton is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing with the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League, under contract to the Colorado Avalanche organization of the National Hockey League....

 of the Colorado Avalanche

Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver, Colorado, United States. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The Avalanche have won the Stanley Cup twice, in 1995–96 and 2000–01. The franchise...

 and New York Rangers

New York Rangers

The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...

. Around 1916, Charlie married Lena Margaret Clark. The couple had 5 children. It was also around 1916, that Charlie began his own business building automobile garages.

Stanley Cup engraving

While Charlie is a Stanley Cup champion, his name is not on the Cup. 1902 is one of the few years when only the team's name was engraved on the Cup, not each player's.