Tiny Thompson

Tiny Thompson
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1959
Thompson, as a member of the Boston Bruins in the early 1930s
Born	(1903-05-31)May 31, 1903 Sandon, BC, CAN
Died	February 9, 1981(1981-02-09) (aged 77) Calgary, AB, CAN
Height	5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight	160 lb (73 kg; 11 st 6 lb)
Position	Goaltender
Caught	Left
Played for	Boston Bruins Detroit Red Wings (NHL)
Playing career	1928–1941

Cecil Ralph "Tiny" Thompson (May 31, 1903 – February 9, 1981) was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. He played 12 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), first for the Boston Bruins, and later for the Detroit Red Wings. A four-time Vezina Trophy winner, Thompson was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1959. He was a member of one Stanley Cup-winning team, as a rookie in the 1928–29 season with the Boston Bruins. At the start of the 1938–39 season, after ten full seasons with Boston, he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings, where he completed the season, and played another full one before retiring. During his NHL career, he recorded 81 shutouts, the sixth highest of any goaltender. After retiring from playing, he coached lower-league teams before becoming a noted professional scout. Thompson helped popularize the technique of catching the puck as a method of making a save. A competent puckhandler, he was the first goaltender in the NHL to record an assist by passing the puck with his stick to a fellow player.

Thompson was born in the mining community of Sandon, BC. He grew up in Calgary, Alberta, where his brother, Paul—who also became a professional ice hockey player—was born in 1906. As a child, he enjoyed playing baseball and ice hockey. Initially, Thompson was not a goaltender, though he agreed to play the position to get into games. As a teenager playing competitive ice hockey, he acquired the nickname "Tiny" as a joke, as he was the tallest player on the team, standing 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m); the nickname stuck with him for the rest of his career.