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Walter (Babe) Pratt

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. The league was established in 1917 in Montreal, Quebec and it is composed of 30 teams out of which 24 teams based in U.S. and 6 in Canada.

Walter Pratt was a former Hall of Famer in the NHL. He was born on the 7th January, 1916 in Stony Mountain, Manitoba and died on 16th December, 1988. He played in 12 NHL seasons from 1935 to 1947. Walter was inducted in the hall of fame in 1966. His guidance and talent are backed by his extraordinary winning record, from the National Hockey League to junior, as his teams won 15 championships in 26 years in that game. Over a long profession in leagues across North America, he proved time after time that the best defense is a good offense. He was a defenseman who kept the puck deep in the other team's zone, on occasions, deep in their net, and goalies on his squads could be sure their goals against averages would go down when he was at his best abilities.

Pratt played minor hockey in Winnipeg, much of it with the Atlantic Avenue Rink. He won the Winnipeg Playground Championship in the under 12 division with the club as a 10 year old. Pratt's love after hockey was baseball and he was a talented young player. He turned professional in 1935, after being signed by the New York Rangers. Ranger scout Al Ritchie called Pratt as the best prospect that he ever saw. Pratt vindicated Ritchie's assurance with his play for the Rangers' farm team, the Philadelphia Ramblers, and the midway through his initial season with the Ramblers he was called by the Rangers. Pratt persisted to play hockey for six more years, many of them in the Pacific Coast Hockey League, after being traded to Boston in 1946-47 and then being downgraded to the minors.

Pratt was a high scoring defender with the two time league champion New Westminster Royals, a team in his adopted province of British Columbia, and he later coached the club when he retired from play in 1952.

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