Newsy Lalonde facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Newsy Lalonde |
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| Hockey Hall of Fame, 1950 | |||
Lalonde with Vancouver Lacrosse Club in 1920
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| Born | October 31, 1887 Cornwall, Ontario, Canada |
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| Died | November 21, 1970 (aged 83) Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
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| Height | 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) | ||
| Weight | 168 lb (76 kg; 12 st 0 lb) | ||
| Position | Centre | ||
| Shot | Right | ||
| Played for | Montreal Canadiens Renfrew Creamery Kings Vancouver Millionaires Saskatoon Sheiks New York Americans |
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| Playing career | 1904–1927 | ||
Édouard Cyrille "Newsy" Lalonde (born October 31, 1887 – died November 21, 1970) was a famous Canadian professional ice hockey player and a professional lacrosse player. Many people think Lalonde was one of the greatest players in both hockey and lacrosse during the first half of the 1900s. He was also known as a very interesting person in Canadian sports. He played for the Montreal Canadiens, and some called him the original "Flying Frenchman." He also played for the WCHL's Saskatoon Sheiks.
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About Newsy Lalonde's Early Life
Lalonde was born to Pierre and Rose Lalonde. When he was younger, he worked as a reporter and then a printer for newspapers. This is how he got his nickname, "Newsy."
In 1913, Lalonde married Iona Elizabeth Letters. They had two children together.
Newsy Lalonde's First Hockey Teams
Newsy Lalonde started his hockey career in 1904 with the Cornwall Victorias. The next year, he played for the Woodstock team. In 1906, he went to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario to play in the International Professional Hockey League (IHL). This was one of the first professional hockey leagues. In his only season there, he was named to the IHL Second All-Star Team.
In 1907, Lalonde joined the Toronto Professionals. He helped them win the league championship. They lost a close game for the Stanley Cup against the Montreal Wanderers, but Lalonde scored two goals.
In 1910, the National Hockey Association (NHA) was created. This league was the start of the NHL. Lalonde joined the Montreal Canadiens for their very first season. He scored the first goal ever for the Montreal Canadiens team! Later that season, he moved to the Renfrew Creamery Kings and led the league in scoring.
He came back to the Canadiens for the 1911 season. Back then, players could move between teams more easily. Lalonde was known for playing tough and sometimes getting into fights with his stick.
In 1912, Lalonde moved to the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) to play for the Vancouver Millionaires. He was the top scorer in that league in its first year. The next season, Vancouver traded him back to Montreal. Lalonde stayed with the Canadiens for the next ten years. He won the NHA scoring title again in 1916. He also led the Canadiens as captain to his only Stanley Cup victory that year.
Newsy Lalonde in the NHL
Newsy Lalonde played in the very first NHL game on December 19, 1917. His Montreal Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators 7–4. He scored in his first six NHL games, which was a record for many years!
During the 1919 Stanley Cup playoffs, Lalonde scored 17 goals in 10 games. However, before the sixth game of the finals, many players from the Canadiens got very sick with the flu. Because so many players were ill, the game was called off. The other team, the Seattle Metropolitans, did not want to win the trophy that way, so the final game was never played.
After this, Lalonde had two more good years with the Canadiens. But he started to have problems with the new team owners. This made his playing suffer. He even left the team for a few games.
The manager of the Saskatoon Crescents wanted Lalonde to be their player-coach. The Canadiens traded Lalonde to the Crescents for a young player named Aurèle Joliat. When Lalonde and Joliat played against each other later, Lalonde, who was not happy that Joliat was becoming popular in Montreal, played very roughly against him.
Lalonde won his last scoring title as a player-coach for the Sheiks. He played on a line with future Hall of Famer Bill Cook. The team got much better in the next two seasons. Lalonde was getting older and not playing as well. He scored his last goal on March 2, 1925. The next season, he played only a few games before the Western Hockey League closed down.
In 1927, Lalonde became the head coach of the New York Americans. He played one last game in November 1926 before he stopped playing hockey for good. After he retired, he also coached the Ottawa Senators and the Montreal Canadiens.
Newsy Lalonde's Lacrosse Career
Even though Newsy Lalonde is mostly remembered for hockey today, he was also a huge star in lacrosse. In the early 1900s, lacrosse was one of the most popular sports in Canada. Lalonde actually earned more money playing lacrosse than hockey!
He started playing lacrosse in 1905 as a goalie. But in 1910, he moved to an attacking position and became the sport's biggest star. In 1910, he broke the scoring record for his Montreal team with 31 goals.
In 1912, he was offered a huge contract of $5,000 to play for Vancouver. To compare, his hockey salary in 1910–11 was $1,300, which was a lot for that time. In 1914, Lalonde scored an amazing 66 goals for the Montreal Nationals.
Lalonde helped Vancouver win three Minto Cup championships in 1911, 1918, and 1920. He played as an attacking forward, scoring many goals against tough goalies.
During his nine seasons with Vancouver teams, Lalonde scored 147 goals in 93 games. He led the league in goal-scoring in five of those nine seasons. From 1910 to 1918, he was the top goal scorer in almost every league he played in.
Lacrosse was a very rough sport back then, and players wore no padding. They swung wooden sticks. Lalonde was known for being a tough player who never backed down. He would often push his way through opponents to score. He also got many penalties during his career.
In 1950, Canadian sports writers voted him the greatest lacrosse player of the first half of the 20th century. He was also one of the first people chosen for the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1965.
Newsy Lalonde's Legacy and Playing Style
Newsy Lalonde was a top scorer for the Canadiens for six years. He was also their captain from 1915 to 1921. He was part of the first Montreal Canadiens team to win the Stanley Cup in 1916.
He won the scoring title seven times in different major hockey leagues. This was a huge achievement that wasn't matched until Wayne Gretzky won his tenth scoring title in 1994. From 1910 to 1954, Lalonde held the record for the most regular-season goals scored by a major league hockey player, with 468 goals. This record was later broken by Maurice Richard.
Lalonde scored many goals because he had a very accurate snap shot. He also played for a long time, for over 23 seasons, with a very physical style. Lester Patrick, a famous hockey person, said in 1912 that Lalonde had the best shot in hockey.
Before 1918, Lalonde used a special hockey rule to his advantage. Goalies were not allowed to drop to their knees to block shots. Lalonde would shoot the puck knee-high, which made it hard for goalies to decide how to stop it. His shot was so powerful that other coaches would often have three or four players try to stop him. Lalonde was not the fastest player, but he was very smart and always thought ahead.
People said he was one of the toughest players of his time. He was not always liked by opposing players or even some of his teammates. As a coach, he once punched a player to show he would not tolerate talking back. He also had a long-running rivalry with another tough player, Joe Hall, which often led to fights on the ice.
In 1950, Lalonde was named the athlete of the half-century in lacrosse. He was also chosen for the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1950 and the Sports Hall of Fame of Canada in 1955.
In 1998, The Hockey News ranked him number 32 on their list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. This made him the highest-ranked player who played professionally before the NHL was founded.
Lalonde has the third-best points per game total in NHL history at 1.667, behind only Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky.
Awards and Achievements
Ice Hockey
- Stanley Cup – 1916 (Montreal Canadiens)
- NHL Scoring Champion – 1918–19 & 1920–21
Lacrosse
- Minto Cup – 1911 (Vancouver Lacrosse Club), 1918 (Vancouver Greenshirts) & 1920 (Vancouver Terminals)
See also
