David Bruce Ridpath (January 2, 1884 – June 4, 1925) 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 rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

player and general manager. He was a member of the 1911 Stanley Cup champion

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member ...

before an automobile accident ended his playing career. Ridpath, born in Lakefield, Ontario, as well as playing ice hockey, also was a member of the Toronto Canoe Club and became known as a canoe racer and stunt paddler, performing in shows in

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and

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."Bruce Ridpath's Canoe Stunts"
''Ottawa Citizen''. August 10, 1910 (pg. 8). Retrieved 2021-05-18. Ridpath never married and died in 1925 at the age of 41 at St. Michael's Hospital in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

. He suffered a stroke on May 18 and never regained consciousness.

Playing career

Bruce Ridpath played junior hockey in 1904 with the Westerns (representing

Parkdale, Toronto Parkdale is a neighbourhood and former village in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, west of downtown. The neighbourhood is bounded on the west by Roncesvalles Avenue, on the north by the CP Rail line where it crosses Queen Street and Dundas Street. ...

) in 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. The OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern Ontario Hockey As ...

(OHA). As a senior, he joined the

Toronto Marlboros The Toronto Marlborough Athletic Club, commonly known as the Toronto Marlboros, was founded in 1903. It operated junior ice hockey and senior ice hockey teams in the Ontario Hockey Association and later the Ontario Hockey League. The Marlboros ...

of the OHA in 1905. In the season of 1905–06, Ridpath secretly played for money in the Temiskaming League. His appearance in the league was found out, and he was banned from the OHA in November 1906. He subsequently helped to found the

Toronto Pros The Toronto Professional Hockey Club was a professional ice hockey team in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was Toronto's first professional ice hockey team, founded in 1906. The team played the 1906–07 season in exhibition games against other prof ...

team and was their initial captain. He played in eight games, scoring 17 goals in the Pros' exhibition schedule during the 1906–07 season. He played three seasons for the Torontos, helping the team to win the 1908 OPHL league title and scored a goal in a 6-4 loss to the Montreal Wanderers in a one-game Stanley Cup challenge. On January 30, 1909, he scored seven goals in one game as Toronto defeated

Brantford Indians The Brantford Indians were a professional ice hockey team from Brantford, Ontario in Canada. The team played for four seasons in the Ontario Professional Hockey League (OPHL), from 1907 to 1911. Biography The Brantford Indians had their best ...

15-10. Later that season, he played for

Cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, ...

in the Temiskaming League that would form the foundation of the new

National Hockey Association The National Hockey Association (NHA), officially the National Hockey Association of Canada Limited, was a professional ice hockey organization with teams in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is the direct predecessor of today's National Hockey Lea ...

(NHA) later that year. Ridpath signed with the

in 1909–10, playing in the NHA. He played on a forward line with Gordon Roberts and

Marty Walsh Martin Joseph Walsh (born April 10, 1967) is an American politician and former union official. He has been the 29th United States Secretary of Labor since March 23, 2021. A Democrat, he previously served as the 54th mayor of Boston from 2014, ...

and rover

Bruce Stuart Charles Bruce Stuart (November 30, 1881 – October 28, 1961) was a Canadian amateur and professional ice hockey forward who played for the Quebec Bulldogs, Ottawa Senators, Montreal Wanderers, Portage Lakes Hockey Club, Pittsburgh Victo ...

and later with the line of Walsh, Dubbie Kerr and

Jack Darragh John Proctor Darragh (December 4, 1890 – June 28, 1924) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. Darragh played the forward position for the Ottawa Senators in the National Hockey League (NHL) and its predecessor the National Ho ...

. In 1910–11, his most productive season, he scored 23 goals in 16 games and help Ottawa win the NHA final and the Stanley Cup. Ridpath suffered a fractured skull when he was hit by a car on

Yonge Street Yonge Street (; pronounced "young") is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Great Lakes#Geography, Upper Great Lakes. Once the southernmost ...

in Toronto on November 2, 1911, and missed the entire 1911–12 season. The new Toronto Blueshirts wanted him to play for them, and Ottawa demanded $500 for his rights, but he never fully recovered from his injuries, which were initially life-threatening, ending his playing career. Benefits were held in Ottawa and Toronto for Ridpath, who was a popular player. Ridpath was appointed the first manager of the Blueshirts and assembled the Toronto Blueshirts for their first season of play in the NHA. He resigned as manager in October 1913. He was considering playing for the team, but his sight was not good enough to play. His hearing had also been impaired as a result of the accident.

Statistics

''Statistics from sihrhockey.org''

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ridpath, Bruce 1884 births 1925 deaths Ice hockey people from Ontario Ottawa Senators (NHA) players Ottawa Senators (original) players People from Peterborough County Stanley Cup champions Toronto Blueshirts Canadian ice hockey forwards

Playing career

Statistics

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography