Alexander Smart (May 29, 1918 – April 18, 2005) was a Canadian

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. He played 8 games in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

for the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...

during the 1942–43 season. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1938 to 1950, was mainly spent in the

Quebec Senior Hockey League The Quebec Senior Hockey League (QSHL) was an ice hockey league that operated from 1941 to 1959, based in Quebec, Canada. The league played senior ice hockey under the jurisdiction of the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association until 1953, when it becam ...

Playing career

Born in Brandon,

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

, Smart played

junior hockey Junior ice hockey is amateur-level ice hockey for 16 to 20 year-old players. National Junior teams compete annually for the IIHF World Junior Championship. The United States men's national junior ice hockey team are the defending champions from t ...

in the

Manitoba Junior Hockey League The Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) is a Junior ice hockey, Junior 'A' ice hockey league operating in the Canadian province of Manitoba and one of nine member leagues of the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). The MJHL consists of thirt ...

with the

Portage Terriers The Portage Terriers are a Canadian junior "A" ice hockey team from Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada. They are members of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, a part of the Canadian Junior Hockey League. History The Portage Terriers were foun ...

for two seasons. In 1937–38, joined the

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

ranks with the

Toronto Marlboros The Toronto Marlborough Athletic Club, commonly known as the Toronto Marlboros, was an ice hockey franchise in Toronto, Canada. Founded in 1903, it operated junior ice hockey and senior ice hockey teams in the Ontario Hockey Association and la ...

of the

Ontario Hockey Association The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) is the governing body for the majority of junior and senior level ice hockey teams in the province of Ontario. Founded in 1890, the OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern ...

and scored 23 points in 12 games at a goal-per-game pace. The following season, he began a three-year stint in the

Montreal City Hockey League The Montreal City Hockey League (MCHL) was a Canadian amateur senior ice hockey league in Montreal, Quebec which ran for 14 consecutive seasons between 1910 and 1924 when it merged with the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey League. A rivaling senio ...

(MCHL) with the Verdun Maple Leafs and

Montreal Sr. Canadiens Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. In 1941–42, Smart moved with the Sr. Canadiens to the

(QSHL). Affiliated with the

of the

, Smart was called up to the NHL in January of the

1942–43 NHL season The 1942–43 NHL season was the 26th season of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Brooklyn Americans were dropped, leaving six teams played 50 games each. This is the first season of the "Original Six" era of the NHL. The league's long-time ...

and, on January 14, became the first player in league history to score a

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in his NHL debut; this feat would not be matched for 36 years, by

Réal Cloutier Réal Cloutier (born July 30, 1956) is a Canadians, Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Cloutier spent five prolific seasons as a forward (ice hockey), winger in the World Hockey Association (WHA) with the Quebec Nordiques. In his rook ...

at the start of the

1979–80 NHL season The 1979–80 NHL season was the 63rd season of the National Hockey League. This season saw the addition of four teams from the disbanded World Hockey Association as expansion franchises. The Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, New England Whalers ...

, and since repeated by only

Fabian Brunnström Fabian Brunnström (born 6 February 1985) is a Swedes, Swedish former professional ice hockey Forward (ice hockey), forward. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Dallas Stars and Detroit Red Wings. Playing career Brunnström be ...

(

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Derek Stepan Derek Kenneth Stepan ( ; born June 18, 1990) is an American former professional ice hockey center who played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Rangers, Arizona Coyotes, Ottawa Senators and Carolina Hurricanes. Step ...

(

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

), Ryan Poehling (

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

), and not exceeded until

Auston Matthews Auston Taylour Matthews (born September 17, 1997) is an American professional ice hockey Centre (ice hockey), centre and captain (ice hockey), captain for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). Matthews is widely considere ...

(

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

), who scored four. He completed the season with 5 goals and 2 assists in 8 games – the lone NHL stint of his career. Smart spent the remainder of his career in the QSHL with the

Montreal Royals The Montreal Royals were a minor league professional baseball team in Montreal, Quebec, during 1897–1917 and 1928–1960. A member of the International League, the Royals were the top farm club ( Class AAA) of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1939; pi ...

and

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. The Senators compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Di ...

except for one more season in the MCHL with the Montreal Vickers and the final season of his career in the OVHL with Eastview St. Charles. He recorded a career-high 66 points in 47 games with the Senators in 1947–48, then helped the club to an

Allan Cup The Allan Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the senior ice hockey champions of Canada. It was donated by Sir Montagu Allan of Ravenscrag, Montreal, and has been competed for since 1909. It was most recently won by the Wentworth Gryphins ...

in 1949 as

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

's senior amateur champions. Smart retired after the 1950–51 season, spent with Eastview.

Post-playing career

After retiring from the QSHL, Smart became a scout for the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The Kings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. ...

and worked with

Goodyear Tire The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is an American multinational tire manufacturer headquartered in Akron, Ohio. Goodyear manufactures tires for passenger vehicles, aviation, commercial trucks, military and police vehicles, motorcycles, recreati ...

for forty years.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

References

External links

* * http://ourhistory.canadiens.com/player/Alex-Smart {{DEFAULTSORT:Smart, Alex 1918 births 2005 deaths 20th-century Canadian sportsmen Canadian ice hockey forwards Ice hockey people from Brandon, Manitoba Los Angeles Kings scouts Montreal Canadiens players Montreal Royals (QSHL) players Ottawa Senators (QSHL) players Portage Terriers players Verdun Maple Leafs (ice hockey) players