Ebbie Goodfellow
Encyclopedia
Ebenezer Robertson "Poker Face" Goodfellow, "Ebbie" for short, (April 9, 1906 – September 10, 1985) was a Canadian ice hockey
player who played in the NHL
for fourteen seasons with the Detroit Red Wings
from 1929 to 1944 as both a forward
and defenceman. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Goodfellow helped the Red Wings win three Stanley Cup
s, back to back in 1935–36 and 1936–37, and another in 1942–43
. Ebbie was captain of the Wings for five seasons, until 1942 when he was succeeded by Syd Howe
. Goodfellow also won the NHL's Hart Trophy (MVP) for the 1939–40 season. Goodfellow was the first Red Wing to receive this award and one of only four Red Wings in history to win the Hart; the other three being six-time winner Gordie Howe
, Sid Abel
(1949) and Sergei Fedorov
(1994).
Early in his career Goodfellow was a high-scoring forward and the original center in the famous line of Herbie Lewis and Larry Aurie
. During the 1931 season he scored 25 goals (a Red Wings record for fourteen years) and 48 points and was second to Howie Morenz
in overall league scoring. After three seasons Ebbie switched to defense for the benefit of the team. Position switches were (and are) rare in the NHL, but it was as a defencemen that he gained notoriety and won the Hart Memorial Trophy in 1940
. Goodfellow displayed even more versatility during the 1942–43 season. He missed most of the season due to injury, but when coach Jack Adams was suspended during the 1943 playoffs, Goodfellow agreed to serve as coach during the suspension. Detroit went on to win the Stanley Cup in 1943, and Goodfellow's name was engraved on the Cup for a third and final time. He was one of the last NHL players to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup as both player and coach as league rules changed and playing coaches were eliminated. Goodfellow retired to the private sector the following season after knee problems began to slow him down.
At the start of the 1947-48 season he was persuaded out of retirement by the St. Louis Flyers of the American Hockey League. In his two years as coach of the Flyers, Ebbie was able to lead them from last place to the AHL Western Division Championship, the team's highest achievement at that time. Succeeding Charlie Conacher
, Goodfellow became the coach of the Chicago Blackhawks
for the seasons of 1950–51 and 1951–52
. After little success with the Blackhawks, Goodfellow finally retired from the NHL for good. Ebbie was a founding member of the Detroit Red Wings Alumni Association, a charitable organization formed in 1959 and still in operation today. Goodfellow was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame
in 1963 and served twenty one years on the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee. Ebbie was an avid golfer and one time caddy master at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He died of cancer on September 10, 1985 in Sarasota, Florida
and is buried at White Chapel Cemetery in Troy, Michigan.
Note: Ebbie Goodfellow's date of birth is often incorrectly printed as 1907. He was born in 1906 as verified by his surviving family members.
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 who played in the NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
for fourteen seasons with the Detroit Red Wings
Detroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York...
from 1929 to 1944 as both a forward
Forward (ice hockey)
In ice hockey, a forward is a player position on the ice whose primary responsibility is to score goals. Generally, the forwards try to stay in three different lanes, also known as thirds, of the ice going from goal to goal. It is not mandatory however, to stay in a lane. Staying in a lane aids in...
and defenceman. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Goodfellow helped the Red Wings win three 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...
s, back to back in 1935–36 and 1936–37, and another in 1942–43
1942–43 NHL season
-NHL awards:-All-Star teams:-Scoring leaders:Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, PTS = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes-Leading goaltenders:...
. Ebbie was captain of the Wings for five seasons, until 1942 when he was succeeded by Syd Howe
Syd Howe
Sydney Harris Howe was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger who played 17 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Quakers, Toronto Maple Leafs, St...
. Goodfellow also won the NHL's Hart Trophy (MVP) for the 1939–40 season. Goodfellow was the first Red Wing to receive this award and one of only four Red Wings in history to win the Hart; the other three being six-time winner Gordie Howe
Gordie Howe
Gordon "Gordie" Howe, OC is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player who played for the Detroit Red Wings and Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League , and the Houston Aeros and New England Whalers in the World Hockey Association . Howe is often referred to as Mr...
, Sid Abel
Sid Abel
Sidney Gerald Abel was a Canadian professional hockey player and later coach in the National Hockey League...
(1949) and Sergei Fedorov
Sergei Fedorov
Sergei Viktorovich Fedorov is a Russian professional ice hockey forward and occasional defenceman...
(1994).
Early in his career Goodfellow was a high-scoring forward and the original center in the famous line of Herbie Lewis and Larry Aurie
Larry Aurie
Harry Lawrence "Little Dempsey" Aurie was a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger who played 11 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Detroit Cougars, Detroit Falcons and Detroit Red Wings.- Playing career :Aurie was considered by owner James Norris as the heart and soul of the...
. During the 1931 season he scored 25 goals (a Red Wings record for fourteen years) and 48 points and was second to Howie Morenz
Howie Morenz
Howard William Morenz was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He played centre for three National Hockey League teams: the Montreal Canadiens , the Chicago Black Hawks, and the New York Rangers...
in overall league scoring. After three seasons Ebbie switched to defense for the benefit of the team. Position switches were (and are) rare in the NHL, but it was as a defencemen that he gained notoriety and won the Hart Memorial Trophy in 1940
1939-40 NHL season
-NHL awards:-All-Star teams:-Scoring leaders:Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points-Leading goaltenders:Note: GP = Games played; Min - Minutes Played; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = ShutoutsPlayoffs-Playoff scoring...
. Goodfellow displayed even more versatility during the 1942–43 season. He missed most of the season due to injury, but when coach Jack Adams was suspended during the 1943 playoffs, Goodfellow agreed to serve as coach during the suspension. Detroit went on to win the Stanley Cup in 1943, and Goodfellow's name was engraved on the Cup for a third and final time. He was one of the last NHL players to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup as both player and coach as league rules changed and playing coaches were eliminated. Goodfellow retired to the private sector the following season after knee problems began to slow him down.
At the start of the 1947-48 season he was persuaded out of retirement by the St. Louis Flyers of the American Hockey League. In his two years as coach of the Flyers, Ebbie was able to lead them from last place to the AHL Western Division Championship, the team's highest achievement at that time. Succeeding Charlie Conacher
Charlie Conacher
Charles William "The Big Bomber" Conacher, Sr. was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings and New York Americans in the National Hockey League. An early power forward, Conacher was nicknamed "The Big Bomber," for his size, powerful...
, Goodfellow became the coach of the Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They have won four Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926, most recently coming in 2009-10...
for the seasons of 1950–51 and 1951–52
1951-52 NHL season
-NHL awards:-All-Star teams:-Scoring leaders:Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, PTS = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes-Leading goaltenders:...
. After little success with the Blackhawks, Goodfellow finally retired from the NHL for good. Ebbie was a founding member of the Detroit Red Wings Alumni Association, a charitable organization formed in 1959 and still in operation today. Goodfellow was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame
Hockey Hall of Fame
The Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it is both a museum and a hall of fame. It holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League records, memorabilia and NHL trophies, including the Stanley Cup...
in 1963 and served twenty one years on the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee. Ebbie was an avid golfer and one time caddy master at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He died of cancer on September 10, 1985 in Sarasota, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and is buried at White Chapel Cemetery in Troy, Michigan.
Note: Ebbie Goodfellow's date of birth is often incorrectly printed as 1907. He was born in 1906 as verified by his surviving family members.
Career statistics
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season Season (sports) In an organized sports league, a season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session. For example, in Major League Baseball, one season lasts approximately from April 1 through October 1; in Association football, it is generally from August until May In an... |
Team | League | GP | G Goal (ice hockey) In ice hockey, a goal is scored when the puck completely crosses the goal line between the two goal posts and below the goal crossbar. A goal awards one point to the team attacking the goal scored upon, regardless of which team the player who actually deflected the puck into the goal belongs to... |
A Assist (ice hockey) In ice hockey, an assist is attributed to up to two players of the scoring team who shot, passed or deflected the puck towards the scoring teammate, or touched it in any other way which enabled the goal, meaning that they were "assisting" in the goal. There can be a maximum of two assists per goal... |
Pts Point (ice hockey) Point in ice hockey has three official meanings:* A point is awarded to a player for each goal scored or assist earned. The total number of goals plus assists equals total points. In some European leagues, a goal counts as two points, and an assist counts as one... |
PIM Penalty (ice hockey) A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for inappropriate behavior. Most penalties are enforced by detaining the offending player within a penalty box for a set number of minutes, during which, the player can not participate in play. The offending team usually may not replace the player on the ice,... |
GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1928–29 | Detroit Olympics Detroit Olympics The Detroit Olympics were a minor league hockey team located in Detroit, Michigan that was a member of the Canadian Professional Hockey League 1927-29 and the International-American Hockey League 1929-36. The team played all of their home games at the Detroit Olympia... |
CPHL Canadian Professional Hockey League The Canadian Professional Hockey League, also known as Canpro, was a minor professional hockey league founded in 1926. After three seasons, it became the International Hockey League in 1929... |
— | 26 | 8 | 34 | 45 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1929–30 | Detroit Cougars | NHL National Hockey League The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States... |
44 | 17 | 17 | 34 | 54 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1930–31 | Detroit Falcons | NHL | 44 | 25 | 23 | 48 | 32 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1931–32 | Detroit Falcons | NHL | 48 | 14 | 16 | 30 | 56 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1932–33 | Detroit Red Wings Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York... |
NHL | 40 | 12 | 8 | 20 | 47 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 11 | ||
| 1933–34 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 48 | 13 | 13 | 26 | 45 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 12 | ||
| 1934–35 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 48 | 12 | 24 | 36 | 44 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1935–36 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 48 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 69 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 1936–37 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 48 | 9 | 16 | 25 | 43 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 12 | ||
| 1937–38 1937–38 NHL season -European tour:After the Stanley Cup final finished, the Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Canadiens played a nine-game exhibition series in Europe, becoming the first NHL teams to play outside North America. Six games were played in England, three in France... |
Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 29 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 13 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1938–39 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 48 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 36 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 1939–40 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 43 | 11 | 17 | 28 | 31 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 9 | ||
| 1940–41 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 47 | 5 | 17 | 22 | 35 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 | ||
| 1941–42 | Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1942–43 1942–43 NHL season -NHL awards:-All-Star teams:-Scoring leaders:Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, PTS = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes-Leading goaltenders:... |
Detroit Red Wings | NHL | 11 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| NHL totals | 554 | 134 | 190 | 324 | 511 | 45 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 65 | ||||