Sprague Cleghorn
Encyclopedia
Henry William Sprague "Peg" Cleghorn, (March 11, 1890 – July 11, 1956), was a Canadian professional hockey
player from Westmount who played for the Boston Bruins
, Montreal Canadiens
, Montreal Wanderers
, Ottawa Senators
, Renfrew Creamery Kings
and Toronto St. Patricks
in the National Hockey Association
and National Hockey League
from 1911 until 1929. His brother Odie Cleghorn
also played professional ice hockey and the two played several seasons together.
, Cleghorn had a hall of fame
career but was regarded as one of the dirtiest players of his era. He played on Stanley Cup
-winning teams in 1920, 1921 and 1924.
In 1909–10, Cleghorn began his career with the New York Wanderers, becoming a professional with Renfrew of the National Hockey Association
(NHA) the next season. He then played for the Montreal Wanderers for six seasons. In the NHL, he played defence
for the Ottawa Senators
from 1918 to 1920. In an attempt at league parity, the NHL transferred him to the Hamilton Tigers in December 1920, but Cleghorn refused to report. The Senators asked that he be allowed to return to their team. George Kennedy, owner of the Montreal Canadiens
, threatened to have Ottawa thrown out of the league. Cleghorn eventually signed with Toronto, but was released in March after the St. Pats lost their play-off and he signed with Ottawa during the playoffs in time to be a member of the 1921 Stanley Cup
-winning team.
The league transferred Cleghorn to Hamilton in 1921, and again he refused to go. Just before the start of the 1921–22 NHL season, Sprague was traded to the Montreal Canadiens
for Harry Mummery
and Amos Arbour
. He played four seasons in Montreal and after the 1924–25 NHL season, was purchased by the Boston Bruins
for $5,000. Sprague played his final three seasons in the NHL with Boston (1925 to 1928). He then moved to the minor-league Newark Bulldogs (1928–29) as a player-coach. Later, he coached the CAHL Providence Reds
(1930–31) and NHL Montreal Maroons
(1931–32). He later coached the Pittsburgh Shamrocks
of the International Hockey League (1935–36) and the Cornwall Cougars of the Quebec league (1947–48).
Even in an era of rough play, Cleghorn was notorious for being among the dirtiest of the lot, and ranked amongst the league leaders in penalty minutes for nine of the first ten seasons of the NHL's history. In 1923, Cleghorn hit Ottawa Senators player Lionel Hitchman
in the head with his stick. Charged with aggravated assault, Cleghorn was found guilty and fined $50.
Cleghorn was hit by a car in early June 1956, and died of his injuries at Montreal's St. Luc Hospital on July 12, 1956. His funeral was July 14, 1956 and he was buried at Mount Royal Cemetery
in Montreal. Cleghorn's brother, Odie Cleghorn
, was found dead in his bed just hours before the funeral, as a result of heart failure, perhaps induced by the stress of the loss of his brother.
's 1987 book King Leary
, as the on-ice rival to protagonist
Percival Leary.
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 from Westmount who played for the 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...
, Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
, 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...
, 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...
, Renfrew Creamery Kings
Renfrew Creamery Kings
The Renfrew Hockey Club, also known as the Creamery Kings and the "Renfrew Millionaires" was a founding franchise in 1909 of the National Hockey Association, the precursor to the National Hockey League...
and Toronto St. Patricks
Toronto St. Patricks
The Toronto St. Patricks professional men's ice hockey team started as an amateur ice hockey organization. In 1919, the club purchased the Toronto National Hockey League franchise from the NHL. The club renamed the franchise the Toronto St. Patricks club and operated the franchise until 1927, when...
in the National Hockey Association
National Hockey Association
The National Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey organization with teams in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is the direct predecessor organization to today's National Hockey League...
and 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...
from 1911 until 1929. His brother Odie Cleghorn
Odie Cleghorn
James Ogilvie "Odie" Cleghorn was a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger, linesman and referee...
also played professional ice hockey and the two played several seasons together.
Playing career
Born in the upscale Westmount area of MontrealMontreal
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...
, Cleghorn had a 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...
career but was regarded as one of the dirtiest players of his era. He played on 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...
-winning teams in 1920, 1921 and 1924.
In 1909–10, Cleghorn began his career with the New York Wanderers, becoming a professional with Renfrew of the National Hockey Association
National Hockey Association
The National Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey organization with teams in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is the direct predecessor organization to today's National Hockey League...
(NHA) the next season. He then played for the Montreal Wanderers for six seasons. In the NHL, he played defence
Defenceman (ice hockey)
Defence in ice hockey is a player position whose primary responsibility is to prevent the opposing team from scoring...
for 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...
from 1918 to 1920. In an attempt at league parity, the NHL transferred him to the Hamilton Tigers in December 1920, but Cleghorn refused to report. The Senators asked that he be allowed to return to their team. George Kennedy, owner of the Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
, threatened to have Ottawa thrown out of the league. Cleghorn eventually signed with Toronto, but was released in March after the St. Pats lost their play-off and he signed with Ottawa during the playoffs in time to be a member of the 1921 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...
-winning team.
The league transferred Cleghorn to Hamilton in 1921, and again he refused to go. Just before the start of the 1921–22 NHL season, Sprague was traded to the Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
for Harry Mummery
Harry Mummery
Harold "Mum" Mummery was an Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman. Mummery played professionally from 1911 until 1923, including six seasons in the National Hockey League for the Toronto Blueshirts, Toronto Arenas, Quebec Bulldogs, Montreal Canadiens and Hamilton Tigers...
and Amos Arbour
Amos Arbour
Joseph Hermas "Amos, Butch" Arbour was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger who played seven seasons in the National Hockey Association and six seasons in the National Hockey League for Montreal Canadiens, Hamilton Tigers and Toronto St. Patricks.-Career statistics:-External links:...
. He played four seasons in Montreal and after the 1924–25 NHL season, was purchased by the 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...
for $5,000. Sprague played his final three seasons in the NHL with Boston (1925 to 1928). He then moved to the minor-league Newark Bulldogs (1928–29) as a player-coach. Later, he coached the CAHL Providence Reds
Providence Reds
The Providence Reds were a hockey team that played in the Canadian-American Hockey League between 1926–1936 and the American Hockey League from 1936 to 1977, the last season of which they played as the Rhode Island Reds. The team won the Calder Cup in 1938, 1940, 1949, and 1956...
(1930–31) and NHL Montreal Maroons
Montreal Maroons
The Montreal Maroons was a professional men's ice hockey team in the National Hockey League . They played in the NHL from 1924 to 1938, winning the Stanley Cup in 1926 and 1935...
(1931–32). He later coached the Pittsburgh Shamrocks
Pittsburgh Shamrocks
The Pittsburgh Shamrocks played in the International Hockey League in 1935–36. The Shamrocks played all of their home games at the Duquesne Gardens. During that lone season, the team finished in fourth place in the West Division behind the Detroit Olympics, Cleveland Falcons and Windsor Bulldogs....
of the International Hockey League (1935–36) and the Cornwall Cougars of the Quebec league (1947–48).
Even in an era of rough play, Cleghorn was notorious for being among the dirtiest of the lot, and ranked amongst the league leaders in penalty minutes for nine of the first ten seasons of the NHL's history. In 1923, Cleghorn hit Ottawa Senators player Lionel Hitchman
Lionel Hitchman
Frederick Lionel Hitchman was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played 12 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins....
in the head with his stick. Charged with aggravated assault, Cleghorn was found guilty and fined $50.
Cleghorn was hit by a car in early June 1956, and died of his injuries at Montreal's St. Luc Hospital on July 12, 1956. His funeral was July 14, 1956 and he was buried at Mount Royal Cemetery
Mount Royal Cemetery
Opened in 1852, Mount Royal Cemetery is a 165-acre terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The burial ground shares the mountain with the much larger adjacent Roman Catholic cemetery -- Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges...
in Montreal. Cleghorn's brother, Odie Cleghorn
Odie Cleghorn
James Ogilvie "Odie" Cleghorn was a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger, linesman and referee...
, was found dead in his bed just hours before the funeral, as a result of heart failure, perhaps induced by the stress of the loss of his brother.
Awards and achievements
- 1924 name was engraved on the Stanley Cup
- 1958 – Inducted into the Hockey Hall of FameHockey Hall of FameThe 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 1998, he was ranked number 88 on The Hockey News list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.
Literary References
Cleghorn is featured prominently in Canadian author Paul QuarringtonPaul Quarrington
Paul Lewis Quarrington was a Canadian novelist, playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker, musician and educator.-Background:...
's 1987 book King Leary
King Leary
King Leary is a novel by Canadian humorist Paul Quarrington, published in 1987 by Doubleday Canada.-Plot introduction:The novel's protagonist is Percival "King" Leary, a legendary retired ice hockey player living in a smalltown nursing home, who is invited to Toronto by a young hotshot advertising...
, as the on-ice rival to protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
Percival Leary.
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 | ||
| 1910–11 | Renfrew Creamery Kings Renfrew Creamery Kings The Renfrew Hockey Club, also known as the Creamery Kings and the "Renfrew Millionaires" was a founding franchise in 1909 of the National Hockey Association, the precursor to the National Hockey League... |
NHA NHA The acronym "NHA" can refer to:* National Healthcareer Association * National Highway Authority * National Hockey Association * National Housing Act of 1934 * National Housing Act of 1938... |
12 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 27 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1911–12 | 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... |
NHA | 18 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 40 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1912–13 | Montreal Wanderers | NHA | 19 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 46 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1913–14 1913–14 NHA season The 1913–14 NHA season was the fifth season of the National Hockey Association . At the end of the regular season, a tie for first place necessitated a playoff to determine the championship. The Toronto Hockey Club defeated the Montreal Canadiens 6–2 in a two-game, total-goals playoff... |
Montreal Wanderers | NHA | 20 | 12 | 8 | 20 | 17 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1914–15 1914–15 NHA season The 1914–15 NHA season was the sixth season of the National Hockey Association and played from December 26, 1914 until March 3, 1915. Each team played 20 games. The Ottawa Senators won the NHA championship in a two game, total goal playoff against the Montreal Wanderers... |
Montreal Wanderers | NHA | 19 | 21 | 12 | 33 | 51 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | ||
| 1915–16 | Montreal Wanderers | NHA | 8 | 9 | 4 | 13 | 22 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1916–17 | Montreal Wanderers | NHA | 19 | 16 | 9 | 25 | 62 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1918–19 | 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... |
NHL | 18 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 27 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1919–20 | Ottawa Senators | NHL | 21 | 16 | 5 | 21 | 62 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1920–21 | Ottawa Senators | NHL | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1920–21 | Toronto St. Patricks Toronto St. Patricks The Toronto St. Patricks professional men's ice hockey team started as an amateur ice hockey organization. In 1919, the club purchased the Toronto National Hockey League franchise from the NHL. The club renamed the franchise the Toronto St. Patricks club and operated the franchise until 1927, when... |
NHL | 13 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 26 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1920–21 | Ottawa Senators | Stanley Cup | — | — | — | — | — | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 36 | ||
| 1921–22 | Montreal Canadiens Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ... |
NHL | 24 | 17 | 7 | 24 | 63 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1922–23 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 24 | 9 | 4 | 13 | 34 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1923–24 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 23 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 39 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1924–25 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 27 | 8 | 1 | 9 | 82 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1925–26 | 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... |
NHL | 28 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 49 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1926–27 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 44 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 84 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1927–28 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 26 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 14 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1927–28 | Newark Bulldogs | CAHL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| NHL totals | 251 | 84 | 39 | 123 | 489 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||