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William (Bill) Cook

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.

William Cook was a well known hockey player. He was born on 9th October, 1896 in Brantford, Ontario and died on 6th April, 1986. He played in 16 professional seasons from 1921 to 1937 and was inducted in the hall of fame in 1952. The Bread Line led the Rangers to their initial Stanley Cup triumph in 1928 by accounting for each of the team's goals in an exciting five game final series with the Montreal Maroons. He was believed to be the greatest right winger to play the game. He was an extraordinarily gifted and a rough competitor who was the catalyst on the New York Rangers' famous Bread Line with his brother Bun and Frank Boucher. Cook's input was vital to the Rangers first two Stanley Cup achievements in 1928 and 1933. He learned to skate on the close by Rideau Canal and made his junior hockey entrance with the Kingston Frontenacs in 1916.

After the Great War, William came back to Kingston and matched with the Frontenacs transitional outfit. His motivated play assisted the team to reach the OHA, Ontario Hockey Association finals during that year. In the subsequent season, he led the Sault Marie Greyhounds to the championship of the Northern Ontario Hockey Association. He guided the AHL's, American Hockey League Cleveland Barons to the 1939 and 1941 Calder Cup championships during his six years at the helm which began in the 1937 season. In 1950, he trained the Minneapolis Millers to the Paul W Loudon Trophy in the United States Hockey League. He even trained the Denver Falcons of the same league in the next season before coming back to Saskatoon.

Williams’s enormous involvement in the New York franchise didn't go unobserved. On January 10, 1986, just three months before he passed away, the New York Rangers offered him with their alumni association award before a cheering crowd at Madison Square Garden.

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