John Ross Roach

John Ross Roach
Date of birth	June 23, 1900
place of birth	Port Perry , Ontario , Canada
date of death	July 9, 1973
size	167 cm
Weight	64 kg
position	goalkeeper
Catch hand	Left
Career stations
1919-1920	Toronto Aura Lee
1920-1921	Toronto Granites
1921-1927	Toronto St. Patricks
1927-1928	Toronto Maple Leafs
1928-1932	New York Rangers
1932-1935	Detroit Red Wings

John Ross Roach (born June 23, 1900 in Port Perry , Ontario ; † July 9, 1973 ) was a Canadian ice hockey goalkeeper and coach who worked for the Toronto St. Patricks and Toronto Maple Leafs , New York Rangers and from 1921 to 1935 Detroit Red Wings played in the National Hockey League .

Career

Roach played for the Toronto Aura Lee during his junior years. With the seniors he stayed in Toronto and moved to the Toronto Granites . From the 1921/22 season he played in the NHL for the Toronto St. Patricks . It took some time to get used to the level of the NHL, in the playoffs he then convinced with strong performances and helped the team to the Stanley Cup victory. His role in the team was underlined when he was team captain for the St. Patrick's in the 1924-25 season . Besides him, only six other goalkeepers have been captains in the history of the NHL. Roach was constantly on the move and irritated his opponents with his active style of play. His nickname was "Little Napoleon" .

After seven years in Toronto, the Maple Leafs, as the team was now called, gave it to the New York Rangers . The Rangers sent an outfield player, goalkeeper Lorne Chabot and $ 10,000 to Toronto for him . There he impressed in his first year with 13 shutouts and also in the following three seasons, until it went against his former team in the final series of the 1931/32 season . Against the Maple Leafs, he had to accept six goals in each of the three finals and fell out of favor in New York. After the end of the season he was sold to the Detroit Red Wings .

He also performed strongly in Detroit and narrowly missed winning the Vezina Trophy . The election to the NHL First All-Star Team was a consolation for him. In the years that followed, his performance deteriorated and he was repeatedly sent to the farm team . In 1935 he ended his career.

He later coached teams in the International Hockey League, among other things .

NHL statistics

	Seasons	Games	Victory cut	Conceded goal	Shutouts
Regular season	10	491	0.383	2.81	28
Playoffs	3	14th	0.286	2.66	1

Sporting successes

• Stanley Cup : 1922

Personal awards

• NHL First All-Star Team : 1933

Web links

• John Ross Roach at hockeydb.com (English)
• John Ross Roach at hockeygoalies.org
• John Ross Roach at legendsofhockey.net (English)