Home > Hockey > Hockey Hall of Famers > Didier Pitre

Didier Pitre

NHL, the National Hockey League is a premier professional North American Sports League played in indoor stadiums. It’s divided into two conferences, each comprising of three divisions of ice hockey teams.

Didier Cannonball Pitre is a Hall Of Famers in the NHL. He was born on 1st September, 1883 in Sault Ste, Ontario and died on 29th July, 1934. He was accredited with having the hardest shot of his day and there were some times when his goals were challenged as they had gone through the net. Didier Pitre was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962. Didier first made his mark on the hockey world as a member of the International Hockey League in 1905 and 1906 by scoring a league and leading 41 goals in only 22 games. His excellent play was acknowledged by his being named in the IHL, International Hockey League First All Star teams in 1906 and 1907.

During the start of the last century, players would move to new teams on a yearly basis, so it was not strange that he signed on with the newly created Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey Association in 1909. What was odd is that he played for the Habs for the subsequent 15 seasons, save for 1913 and 1914 when he went west to play for the Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. Didier was a member of the 1915 Stanley Cup champion Canadiens and led the NHA, National Hockey Association in scoring that year with 39 points in 24 games. He even was a member of the Montreal team which took part in the finals of 1919 that were cancelled as a result of the influenza outbreak.

Didier played more than 300 professional games in his career before retiring in 1923. He was a big man, as far as hockey players go, but was never a rough player in an era marked by rugged play. He was also noted as one of the fastest skaters of his time and it has been said that he could skate backward as fast as he could skate forward.

Back to Hockey Hall of Famers