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William Ronald (Bill) Durnan

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.

William Ronald was born on January 22, 1916 Toronto, Ontario and died 31 October 1972. He played 7 NHL seasons from 1943 to 1950. Durnan was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1964. Bill Durnan entered the professional game late and did not stay for long, but he packed an entire career's worth of awards and recognition into his seven National Hockey League seasons with the Montreal Canadiens.

In 1936, the ambidextrous Durnan played hockey in the northern Ontario league with the Kirkland Lake Blue Devils. He spent four seasons with the Devils, backstopping the team to the Allan Cup in 1940.

Durnan had earned at most 15 dollar per week between playing hockey, softball and doing a variety of odd jobs. The Canadiens manager Tommy Gorman, was known to drive a hard bargain when it came to negotiating contracts with his players. He led the league in games played, wins and goals-against average in the regular season and in the playoffs, when he allowed only 1.53 goals per game as the Canadiens skated to the title. Durnan was awarded the Vezina Trophy, the first rookie to win the award, and was selected to the league's First All-Star Team.

He won the Vezina Trophy for the four consecutive seasons and cemented himself on the First All-Star Team. Montreal won the Stanley Cup again in 1946 and finished first in the league after the regular season each year. Durnan suffered his only losing season in 1947 to 1948. For the first and only time, he didn't lead the league in goals against average and Montreal missed the playoffs. Durnan returned to his winning ways in 1948 to 1949, setting a modern league record with a shutout streak that lasted over 309 minutes and four games.

Durnan was an easygoing man, friendly and calm, but over time the stress of playing and the mental and physical toll of so many minutes and games between the posts began to wear him down. In 1950 he abruptly retired from the game at the age of 35, while still in his prime.

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