Normie Smith

Normie Smith
Date of birth	March 18, 1908
place of birth	Toronto , Ontario , Canada
date of death	February 2nd, 1988
size	162 cm
Weight	68 kg
position	goalkeeper
Catch hand	Left
Career stations
1929-1930	Toronto Willys-Overland
1930-1931	Windsor Bulldogs
1931-1932	Montreal Maroons
1932-1933	Windsor Bulldogs
1933-1934	Québec Castors
1934-1939	Detroit Red Wings
1943-1945	Detroit Red Wings

Norman Eugene "Normie" Smith (born March 18, 1908 in Toronto , Ontario ; † February 2, 1988 ) was a Canadian ice hockey goalkeeper who played from 1931 to 1945 for the Montreal Maroons and Detroit Red Wings in the National Hockey League .

Career

Smith played for the Montreal AAA and the Windsor Bulldogs in the 1930–31 season before making his NHL debut with the Montreal Maroons in the 1931–32 season . Together with James Walsh he formed the goalkeeping team of the Maroons. The next few years he played again for the Windsor Bulldogs in the International Hockey League . In September 1934, the Maroons gave it to the St. Louis Eagles , who immediately transferred it to the Detroit Red Wings .

After another year in the IHL, now at the Detroit Olympics , he made his breakthrough with the Red Wings. He stood in goal in the memorable 1-0 playoff win against his former Montreal team and kept all 92 shots on goal before Mud Bruneteau ended the longest game in NHL history with his goal after 176:30. He gave the team the support they needed to bring the Stanley Cup to Detroit for the first time. The following year he was awarded the Vezina Trophy and was elected to the NHL All-Star Team . With the Red Wings he was able to defend the Stanley Cup. Shortly after the start of the 1938/39 season , there was a dispute with Jack Adams , the general manager of the Wings. He was given to the Boston Bruins for Tiny Thompson . There he saw no way to prevail against Frank Brimsek and ended his career.

When there were shortages in the Red Wings squad because of the Second World War , he helped out in a few games in the seasons 1943/44 and 1944/45 . After the end of his career, he worked for the Ford automotive company . He spent his retirement in Florida.

NHL statistics

	Seasons	Games	Victory cut	Conceded goal	Shutouts
Regular season	8th	199	0.407	2.33	17th
Playoffs	2	12	0.750	1.32	3

Sporting successes

• Stanley Cup : 1936 and 1937

Personal awards

• First All-Star Team : 1937
• Vezina Trophy : 1937

Web links

• Normie Smith at hockeydb.com (English)
• Normie Smith at hockeygoalies.org
• Normie Smith at legendsofhockey.net (English)