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Thomas J. Smith

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. Thomas J. Smith was born on 27 September 1885 in Ottawa, Ontario. He had played 13 professional seasons from 1905 to 1920. He played school hockey at Saint Patricks Lyceum. He moved up to play senior hockey in 1905.

He had joined the Ottawa Vics of the Federal Amateur Hockey League in 1906 and led the league in scoring with 12 goals in eight games. He had made enough of an impression that he was asked to stay on and play in the first game of the Stanley Cup challenge series against Smiths Falls. For his efforts, he is recognized as a member of the 1906 Ottawa Cup winning team.

He had turned professional with the Pittsburgh of the IHL, International Hockey League the following season and led the league in scoring with 33 goals in only 16 games. He moved on from league to league and team to team during the next five seasons but his goal-scoring prowess always followed him. He had counted 40 more goals in 13 games, including an outburst of nine goals in a game against Galt, as a member of the Brantford Redmen of the OPHL, Ontario Professional Hockey League in the seasons from 1909 to 1910 and tallied 53 times in 18 games for the Moncton Victorias of the MPHL, Minnesota Power Hockey League in the season from 1911 to 1912. He led the Moncton team to the league championship that season and gained the attention of the Quebec Bulldogs who successfully defended a Cup challenge from Moncton that spring.

He got settled in for a five-year career in the NHA, National Hockey Association from 1912 to 1913 and 1916 to 1917, playing mainly with the Bulldogs, and posted back-to-back 39 goals seasons in his first two years in the league. He had played on his second Cup winner as a member of the Quebec squad in 1913.

Thomas J. Smith got retired as an active player at the end of the season. Unfortunately he died on 1 August 1966. Later he was inducted in the Hall of Famers in the year 1973.

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