Syl Apps

This article is about the Canadian ice hockey player. For other meanings, see Syl Apps (disambiguation) .

Syl Apps
Hockey Hall of Fame , 1961
Date of birth	January 18, 1915
place of birth	Paris , Ontario , Canada
date of death	December 24, 1998
Place of death	Kingston , Ontario , Canada
size	183 cm
Weight	84 kg
position	center
Shot hand	Left
Career stations
1936-1948	Toronto Maple Leafs

Charles Joseph Sylvanus "Syl" Apps , CM (born January 18, 1915 in Paris , Ontario ; † December 24, 1998 in Kingston , Ontario) was a Canadian ice hockey player and pole vaulter who worked for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the National from 1936 to 1948 Hockey League played. Apps won the Stanley Cup three times with the Maple Leafs . He also took part in the pole vault at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.

Career

As a teenager, he was above average in all sports and so Toronto manager Conn Smythe heard about this talented player. When he saw him for the first time, he knew immediately that he had found a head for his team. He wasn't immediately sure whether he wanted to pursue a career as an athlete. First of all, he wanted to go to Berlin for the 1936 Olympic Games . There he competed for Canada in the pole vault, where he shared sixth place with several other athletes. Smythe was finally able to persuade him to hockey and in 1936 he ran for the Maple Leafs. After the end of the 1936/37 season , Apps was named rookie of the year with the Calder Trophy , where he prevailed against his second-placed teammate Gordie Drillon .

He played for the Leafs until 1948, interrupted by two years spent with the Canadian Army during World War II . As captain, he led the Leafs to Stanley Cup victory in 1943 , 1947 and 1948 . At the age of 33, he had announced that he would end his career after his 200th goal. In the last game of the 1947/48 season , he reached the 200 mark with a hat trick. After the season, Conn Smythe gave him a blank check to get him back. Apps had decided to return when he learned that Theodore Kennedy had been chosen as the new captain. In order to avoid difficulties, he decided not to return.

From 1963 to 1980 he was a Member of the Ontario Parliament .

Syl Apps was honored with induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961 . In 1977 he was accepted as a member of the Order of Canada .

NHL statistics

	Seasons	Games	Gates	Assists	Points	Penalty minutes
Regular season	10	423	201	231	432	56
Playoffs	8th	69	25th	29	54	8th

Sporting successes

• Stanley Cup : 1943 , 1947 and 1948

Personal awards

• First All-Star Team : 1939 and 1942
• Second All-Star Team : 1938, 1941 and 1943
• Calder Trophy : 1937
• Lady Byng Memorial Trophy : 1942

family

Apps is the founder of a true ice hockey dynasty. His son Syl Apps junior (* 1947) was also a very successful player in the National Hockey League . His children, Syl Apps III (* 1976) and Gillian Apps (* 1983), also pursued a career in ice hockey. While Syl III was active in the American Hockey League and ECHL , Gillian is, among other things, a two-time gold medalist at the Winter Olympics. The second granddaughter Amy Apps (* 1978) was a player on the Canadian women's national soccer team . Another grandchild of Apps is Darren Barber (* 1968), who as a rower is also the holder of an Olympic gold medal.

Web links

• Syl Apps in the database of the Hockey Hall of Fame (English)
• Syl Apps at hockeydb.com (English)
• Syl Apps in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )