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Herbert William (Buddy) O'Connor

Herbert William O'Connor was born on June 21, 1916 in Montreal, Quebec and died on August 24, 1977. He was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers in the National Hockey League. He was nicknamed as Buddy. He has played 10 NHL seasons from 1941 to 1951. NHL, the National Hockey League is a premier professional North American Sports League played in indoor stadiums. It is divided into two conferences, each comprising of three divisions of ice hockey teams.

He has played pick-up hockey while attending grade school and soon graduated to Montreal's city league and played his first game at the Montreal Forum at 12 years of age when his Bantam team made it to the city finals. He leads the Juniors with 15 goals and 22 points in 1934 to 1935 and was promoted to the Royals Senior team for the Allan Cup playdowns, scoring a goal in the only game he appeared in. The following year, he was with the Senior Royals to stay and was the Quebec Senior Hockey League's leading scorer in the season from 1938 to 1939.

He continued as a solid contributor with the Canadiens and played with the Stanley Cup winners in the season from 1943 to 1944 and from 1945 to 1946 before being traded to the New York Rangers on August 19, 1947. In the season from 1947 to 1948, at age 31 and in his first season with the Blueshirts, he recorded career high marks for goals, with 24, and points, with 60. He missed the league scoring title by only one point and was named NHL Second Team All-Star centre, behind former teammate Elmer Lach.

He received his due by winning the Hart Trophy as league's MVP, Most Valuable Player as well as the Lady Byng Trophy as most gentlemanly player. He was the first player to win both awards in the same season. In a fitting tribute to his great season he was named Canada's athlete of the year for 1948. Buddy O'Connor was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the year 1988.

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