Harry Watson (ice hockey player, 1923)

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CanadaCanada  Harry Watson Ice hockey player
Hockey Hall of Fame , 1994
Harry Watson, 1940/41 as a player in the Saskatoon Quakers

Harry Watson, 1940/41 as a player in the Saskatoon Quakers
Date of birth May 6, 1923
place of birth Saskatoon , Saskatchewan , Canada
date of death November 19, 2002
Place of death Toronto , Ontario , Canada
Nickname Whipper
size 185 cm
Weight 93 kg
position Left wing
number # 5
Shot hand Left
Career stations
1940-1941 Saskatoon Quakers
1941-1942 Brooklyn Americans
1942-1943 Detroit Red Wings
1945-1946 Detroit Red Wings
1946-1954 Toronto Maple Leafs
1954-1957 Chicago Black Hawks
1957-1958 Buffalo bison

Harold Percival "Harry" Watson (born May 6, 1923 in Saskatoon , Saskatchewan , † November 19, 2002 in Toronto , Ontario ) was a Canadian ice hockey player and coach . The left winger played over 800 games for the Brooklyn Americans , Detroit Red Wings , Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Black Hawks in the National Hockey League between 1941 and 1957 . After winning his first Stanley Cup with the Red Wings in 1943 and then doing two years of military service, he spent most of his career with the Maple Leafs, with whom he was able to win another four Stanley Cups. In 1994, Watson was in the Hockey Hall of Fame added.

Career

Harry Watson was born in Saskatoon and played there in his youth for various youth teams, most recently in the 1940/41 season for the Saskatoon Jr. Quakers . At the age of 18 he made the leap into the National Hockey League (NHL) when the Brooklyn Americans signed him for the 1941/42 season. For the New York franchise , however, it should be the last NHL year, since the team was dissolved in 1942, so that Watson was committed to a dispersal draft by the Detroit Red Wings . At the Red Wings, the winger increased his personal statistics significantly to 31 scorer points from 50 games, while he won the Stanley Cup with the team in the 1943 playoffs . After this success he was drafted for military service in the Royal Canadian Air Force due to World War II , in whose service he was stationed in Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Montréal over the course of the following two years . At the same time, he took part in regional senior leagues with ice hockey teams in the army.

After the end of the war, Watson returned to the Red Wings for the 1945/46 season, but after a season in September 1946 they gave him in exchange for Billy Taylor to the Toronto Maple Leafs . The Canadian spent over eight years there, which was also the most successful time of his career. Mostly used in a row with Syl Apps and Bill Ezinicki , Watson, as a regular scorer, was instrumental in the fact that the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup four times between 1947 and 1951. The left winger recorded more than 20 goals four times and more than 40 points in two seasons, while he took part in the NHL All-Star Game six times during his time in Toronto .

Finally, Watson was transferred in December 1954 for financial consideration to the Chicago Black Hawks , with whom he spent his last three NHL years, and in 1955 a seventh and last time was part of the selection of the All-Star Games. He let his career end in the 1957/58 season with the Buffalo Bisons in the American Hockey League and then ended his active career. In total, he had completed 871 NHL games and recorded 468 scorer points. After he had already worked as a player-coach in Buffalo, he looked after the junior team of the St. Catharines Teepees in the Ontario Hockey Association for one season after his active career .

Watson, nicknamed "Whipper" because of his resemblance to the Canadian wrestler Whipper Billy Watson , was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1994 in the "Veteran" category . This category was dissolved in 2000 and all players honored so far were accepted as regular Hall of Fame members. Harry Watson died in Toronto on November 19, 2002 at the age of 79.

Achievements and Awards

Career statistics

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp T V Pt SM Sp T V Pt SM
1941/42 Brooklyn Americans NHL 47 10 8th 18th 6th - - - - -
1942/43 Detroit Red Wings NHL 50 13 18th 31 10 7th 0 0 0 0
1943 / 44-1944 / 45 Military service due to World War II
1945/46 Detroit Red Wings NHL 44 14th 10 24 4th 5 2 0 2 0
1946/47 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 44 19th 15th 34 10 11 3 2 5 6th
1947/48 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 57 21st 20th 41 16 9 5 2 7th 9
1948/49 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 60 26th 19th 45 0 9 4th 2 6th 2
1949/50 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 60 19th 16 35 11 7th 0 0 0 2
1950/51 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 68 18th 19th 37 18th 5 1 2 3 4th
1951/52 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 70 22nd 17th 39 18th 4th 1 0 1 2
1952/53 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 63 16 8th 24 8th - - - - -
1953/54 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 70 21st 7th 28 30th 5 0 1 1 2
1954/55 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 8th 1 1 2 0 - - - - -
1954/55 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 43 14th 16 30th 4th - - - - -
1955/56 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 55 11 14th 25th 6th - - - - -
1956/57 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 70 11 19th 30th 9 - - - - -
1957/58 Buffalo bison AHL 52 8th 15th 23 10 - - - - -
NHL overall 809 236 207 443 150 62 16 9 25th 27

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; 1  play-downs / relegation )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Laurel Zeisler: Historical Dictionary of Ice Hockey. The Scarecrow Press, 2013, p. 330, ISBN 978-1-4422-5532-6 .
personal data
SURNAME Watson, Harry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Watson, Harold Percival (full name); Watson, Whipper (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ice hockey player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH May 6, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Saskatoon , Saskatchewan , Canada
DATE OF DEATH November 19, 2002
Place of death Toronto , Ontario , Canada