Bertram Orion "Pig Iron" Corbeau (February 9, 1894 – September 21, 1942) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference t ...

who played ten seasons in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

for the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

Hamilton Tigers The Hamilton Tigers were a professional ice hockey team based in Hamilton, Ontario. They competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1920 to 1925. The Tigers were formed by the sale of the Quebec Bulldogs NHL franchise to Hamilton intere ...

Toronto St. Pats The Toronto St. Patricks (colloquially known as the St. Pats) were a professional ice hockey team which began playing in the National Hockey League (NHL) in 1919. The Toronto NHL franchise (league membership) had previously been held by the Arena ...

and

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

. He was a member of the Canadiens' first

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

championship team in 1916. His brother Con also played professional ice hockey.

Playing career

Corbeau played junior hockey for the Penetang Hockey Club from 1910 until 1912, when he moved up to the Penetang intermediate team. Corbeau signed as a professional with the

Halifax Crescents The Halifax Crescents were an early amateur and later, professional ice hockey team operating in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The team operated in several leagues, gone defunct and been resurrected. The original club challenged for the Stanley Cup ...

in 1913, playing one season before signing with the

in 1914. Corbeau would be a member of the Canadiens until October 1922 when he was traded to the

for cash. In December 1923, he became a member of the

as part of a trade. He stayed with the Toronto franchise and was one of the original

before being waived in October 1927. He then played two seasons in the minor

Canadian Professional Hockey League The Canadian Professional Hockey League, also known as Can-Pro, was a minor professional hockey league founded in 1926. After three seasons, it became the International Hockey League (IHL) in 1929. The Can-Pro name was then given to a new league o ...

with Toronto Ravinia and the London Panthers before retiring as a player. From 1928 to 1929 he coached the Panthers and then for a decade was an NHL referee. Corbeau then returned to coaching with the Atlantic City Sea Gulls of the

Eastern Hockey League The Eastern Hockey League was a minor professional United States ice hockey league. Eastern Amateur Hockey League (1933–1953) The league was founded in 1933 as the Eastern Amateur Hockey League (EAHL). The league was founded by Tommy Lockhart, ...

from 1939 to 1942. Corbeau finally left hockey and returned to Penetanguishene, where he lived and worked as a plant superintendent at the Midland Foundry and Machine Company (supporting Canada in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

) until his death from a boating accident. Corbeau was the first player to play for both the Canadiens and the Maple Leafs. In the 1926–27 season, he became the first player to record 100 minutes in penalties in one season. He was posthumously inducted into the Penetanguishene Sports Hall of Fame in 1987.

Awards and achievements

1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that had been stored and cooled. * J ...

Champion (

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

) *1940–1941 United States National Championships Finals *1987 Inducted into the Penetanguishene Sports Hall of Fame

Death

Corbeau died as the result of a boating accident in

Georgian Bay Georgian Bay (french: Baie Georgienne) is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. T ...

. During a party hosted by Corbeau aboard his boat, the boat struck a sand bar. Portholes on the sides of the boat were open and water entered the boat through them, sinking the boat within a matter of minutes. Of the 42 persons aboard, 25 died, including Corbeau.

Hockey card

A collectible hockey card featuring Corbeau from the 1923–24 season is one of the rarest cards in existence. Only a handful were made by a company that featured them in a contest. Contestants who collected a complete set of 40 cards were awarded a pair of skates. The Corbeau card was "short printed" in order to limit the number of winners.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Source: Hockey Hall of Fame

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Corbeau, Bert 1894 births 1942 deaths Accidental deaths in Ontario Boating accident deaths Canadian ice hockey defencemen Franco-Ontarian people Hamilton Tigers (ice hockey) players Ice hockey people from Simcoe County London Panthers players Montreal Canadiens (NHA) players Montreal Canadiens players People from Penetanguishene Stanley Cup champions Toronto Falcons (CPHL) players Toronto Maple Leafs players Toronto Ravinas players Toronto St. Pats players