Eric "Cowboy" Pettinger was a Canadian  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. Pettinger played 98 games in the National Hockey League

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...

 (NHL) with the Ottawa Senators

Ottawa Senators (original)

The Ottawa Senators were an amateur, and later, professional, ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Canada which existed from 1883 to 1954. The club was the first hockey club in Ontario, a founding member of the National Hockey League and played in the NHL from 1917 until 1934...

, Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...

, and Boston Bruins

Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...

. Pettinger is the brother of fellow NHL player Gord Pettinger

Gord Pettinger

Gordon Robert "Gosh" Pettinger is a retired British professional ice hockey centre who played 8 seasons in the National Hockey League for the New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, and Boston Bruins...

.

Playing career

As a child, Pettinger's family moved to Saskatchewan. Pettinger started junior hockey in the Southern Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League with the Regina Pats

Regina Pats

The Regina Pats are a junior ice hockey team that plays in the Western Hockey League. The Pats are based out of Regina, Saskatchewan and the Brandt Centre is their home arena.-History:...

, competing in three Memorial Cup

Memorial Cup

The Memorial Cup is a junior ice hockey club championship trophy awarded annually to the Canadian Hockey League champion. It is awarded following a four-team, round robin tournament between a host team and the champions of the CHL's three member leagues: the Ontario Hockey League , Quebec Major...

 finals. In 1922, Pettinger joined the Regina Victorias

Regina Victorias

The Regina Victorias were both a senior and junior ice hockey team from Regina, Saskatchewan. They have played in the Allan Cup Finals three times , winning the Allan Cup in their first appearance...

 of the Southern Saskatchewan Senior Hockey League, playing there for five seasons. With the Victorias, Pettinger competed in two Allan Cup

Allan Cup

The Allan Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the national senior amateur men’s ice hockey champions of Canada. It has been competed for since 1909. The current champion is the Clarenville Caribous hockey club of Newfoundland and Labrador.-History:...

 finals before joining the Manitoba-Thunder Bay Hockey League's Fort William Forts in 1926. After one season in Fort William, Pettinger signed as a free agent with the 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...

. Pettinger never joined the Rangers, as his rights were traded a month later to the Toronto Maple Leafs, then two months later traded to Boston, all while playing in Fort William.

Pettinger joined the Bruins for the 1928-29 season, only to be traded once again, this time to the Maple Leafs. Pettinger played one season with the Leafs before being traded to Ottawa as part of the King Clancy

King Clancy

Francis Michael "King" Clancy was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, referee, coach and executive. Clancy played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs. He was a member of three Stanley Cup championship teams and won All-Star honours...

 deal. Pettinger played in only 13 games with the Senators before he was dealt to the International Hockey League's London Panthers

London Panthers

The London Panthers were a professional ice hockey team based in London, Ontario, Canada that existed from 1926 until 1936. The team played in the Canadian Professional Hockey League from 1926, joining the International Hockey League in 1929. In 1930, the team was renamed the London Tecumsehs...

. Pettinger would not return to the NHL, playing with London for five years, before stints with the International-American Hockey League(IAHL)'s Cleveland Barons, the Pacific Coast Hockey League

Pacific Coast Hockey League

The Pacific Coast Hockey League was an ice hockey minor league with teams in the western United States and western Canada that existed in several incarnations: from 1928 to 1931, from 1936 to 1941, and from 1944 to 1952.-PCHL 1928-1931:...

's Portland Buckaroos

Portland Buckaroos

The Portland Buckaroos was the name of several professional ice hockey teams based in Portland, Oregon.-PCHL/NWHL era :The first incarnation of Portland Buckaroos played their home games at the Portland Ice Arena. The Buckaroos initially played in the four-team Pacific Coast Hockey League from...

 and the IAHL's Pittsburgh Hornets.

When 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...

 was redone during the 1957-58 season, Pettinger's name was added to the Stanley Cup as a 1929 Boston Bruin, despite being ineligible. Pettinger was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs the day Boston won the Stanley Cup.

Transactions

• September, 1927 - Signed as a free agent by New York Rangers
• October, 1927 - Rights traded to Toronto by New York Rangers for the rights to Yip Foster
  Yip Foster
  Harry "Yip" Foster was a professional ice hockey player who played for the Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers in the National Hockey League. He is also the Grandfather of AA pitcher and owner of the world's fastest side-armed fastball, Joe Warbis.- External links :*-References:...
  
  
• December 21, 1927 - Rights traded to Boston by Toronto with $15,000 for Jimmy Herbert
• January 10, 1929 - Traded to Toronto by Boston with the rights to Hugh Plaxton
  Hugh Plaxton
  Hugh John Plaxton was a Canadian ice hockey player who competed in the 1928 Winter Olympics and later served in the Canadian House of Commons....
  
   for the rights to George Owen
  George Owen (ice hockey)
  Harvard George Owen Jr. was a professional ice hockey defenceman for the Boston Bruins of the NHL. He was also elected into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983. In 1928, Owen became the first player to wear a helmet in an NHL game. He wore the same leather helmet that he had worn when...
  
  
• October 11, 1930 - Traded to Ottawa by Toronto with Art Smith
  Art Smith (ice hockey)
  Art Smith was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 137 games in the National Hockey League. Born in Toronto, Ontario, he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators.- External links :...
  
   and $35,000 for King Clancy
  King Clancy
  Francis Michael "King" Clancy was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, referee, coach and executive. Clancy played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs. He was a member of three Stanley Cup championship teams and won All-Star honours...
  
  
• October 31, 1932 - Traded to London (IHL) by Ottawa for cash

Source: Hockey Hall of Fame