Lionel Hitchman
| Lionel Hitchman | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||
| Born |
November 3, 1901 Toronto, ON, CAN |
||
| Died | January 12, 1969 (aged 67) Glens Falls, NY, USA |
||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) | ||
| Weight | 167 lb (76 kg; 11 st 13 lb) | ||
| Position | Defence | ||
| Shot | Right | ||
| Played for |
Ottawa Senators Boston Bruins |
||
| Playing career | 1922–1934 | ||
Frederick Lionel Hitchman (November 3, 1901 – January 12, 1969) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played twelve seasons in the National Hockey League for the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins.
Forming one of the greatest defensive pairings of all time with superstar Eddie Shore, Hitchman's #3 jersey was retired by the Boston Bruins on February 22, 1934, the second time in North American professional sports history that a player's number was officially retired, with the Toronto Maple Leafs retiring #6 for Ace Bailey on February 14, 1934.
The son of Edward F. Hitchman, a noted cricket authority and journalist, Hitchman was born in Toronto, although his family moved to Ottawa when he 21. He played his junior hockey with the Toronto Aura Lee club of the Ontario Hockey Association, appearing sporadically in four games in the 1920 season and three the following year.
Subsequently serving in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, he had shown enough to be invited to join the Ottawa New Edinburghs of the senior Ottawa City Hockey League, for whom he played in 24 games over the 1922 and 1923 seasons. Scoring seven goals, Hitchman gained greater notoriety as a hardrock defenceman, amassing 52 penalty minutes, and was named to the league All-Star Team both seasons. He also saw action with the RCMP team in the Civil Service League.
After the end of the New Edinburghs' playoffs that season, Hitchman was signed by the Senators in 1923, first appearing in a victory against the Hamilton Tigers on February 28. His first playoff game for the Senators was tumultuous, a match against the Montreal Canadiens on March 7 in which future teammate Sprague Cleghorn - with whom he had been sparring all evening - crosschecked Hitchman in the face, knocking him out. Cleghorn received a match penalty for the act, which provoked a near-riot from the home crowd and an assault on the referee. While too injured to play in the first Stanley Cup semifinal match against the Vancouver Maroons of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, he played in the three remaining matches. In the best-of-three finals against the Edmonton Eskimos of the Western Canada Hockey League, Hitchman starred in a decimated Senators' defence, scoring the tying goal which sent the first game into overtime, won by the Senators en route to their tenth Cup victory.
...
Wikipedia