Charles Bruce Stuart (November 30, 1881 – October 28, 1961) was a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

and professional

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 who played for the Quebec Bulldogs,

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 ...

Montreal Wanderers The Montreal Wanderers were an amateur, and later professional, ice hockey team based in Montreal. The team played in the Federal Amateur Hockey League (FAHL), the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA), the National Hockey Association ...

, Portage Lakes Hockey Club, Pittsburgh Victorias and Pittsburgh Professionals from 1899 to 1911. Stuart is considered to be an early version of a

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...

, a forward who combines size and physical play with scoring ability, in hockey history. Stuart won the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () 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, and the International Ic ...

with both the Ottawa Senators and the Montreal Wanderers.

Personal life

Stuart was born in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

on November 30, 1881, one of five children to Captain William Stuart and Rachel Hodgson Stuart. He had two brothers: Allan Gilbert and William Hodgson (Hod) and two sisters: Jessie Maud and Lottie May. His father had been a

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

player of note with the Ottawa Capitals, as well as a curler, and his older brother Hod was also a well-known athlete.

Playing career

Bruce and his older brother Hod played for

Ottawa Hockey Club Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core of the Ottawa–Gatinea ...

(Senators) in the Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL) in

1899 Events January * January 1 ** Spanish rule formally ends in Cuba with the cession of Spanish sovereignty to the U.S., concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas.''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (February 1899), p ...

, in their home city of

. In 1900, they moved to

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

for business. They started playing hockey again in 1901, joining the Quebec Bulldogs in the CAHL. He then played professionally with the Pittsburgh Victorias in the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League (WPHL) in 1902–03 and in Houghton, with the Portage Lakes Hockey Club, in the old

International Professional Hockey League The International Professional Hockey League (IPHL) was the first fully professional ice hockey, professional ice hockey leagues, ice hockey league, operating from 1904 to 1907. It was formed by Jack Gibson (ice hockey born 1880), Jack "Doc" Gi ...

(IPHL) between 1904 and 1907. With Portage Lakes Hockey Club he won two league titles in 1905–06 & 1906–07 as a teammate of Cyclone Taylor. Stuart joined the

for the 1907–08 season in time to win the Stanley Cup in 1908, and then captained the Ottawa Senators in 1909 to the Stanley Cup. Bruce Stuart's brother Hod, a defenseman who was considered one of the better hockey players in Canada at the time, died in a diving accident in the

Bay of Quinte The Bay of Quinte () is a long, narrow bay shaped like the letter "Z" on the northern shore of Lake Ontario in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is just west of the head of the Saint Lawrence River that drains the Great Lakes into the Gulf of ...

near Belleville,

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, on June 23, 1907, at an age of 28. At the time of the accident, the two brothers had not seen each other for over a year, as they had been playing in different cities. In 1910, when the

National Hockey Association The National Hockey Association (NHA), initially 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 Leagu ...

(NHA) imposed a salary cap, cutting player's salaries in half, Stuart attempted to form a rival league. The rival league failed to organize, as the

Montreal Arena The Montreal Arena, also known as Westmount Arena, was an indoor arena located in Westmount, Quebec, Canada on the corner of St. Catherine Street and Wood Avenue. It is considered the first arena designed expressly for ice hockey. Opened in 1898, ...

was refused to the players. Stuart returned to captain the Senators to the 1911 Stanley Cup.

Playing style

Bruce Stuart, a

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

position wise, was a tall player for his era measuring around 6 feet in height, and weighing around 180 pounds. When Stuart replaced Ernie Russell at the centre forward position on the Montreal Wanderers in March 1908, the

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

recognized that while he "is not as tricky a scorer as Russell" he was thought "to be a better man carrying the disc through a defense", and the newspaper also recognized that he still had good shot. He also played occasionally at other forward positions, including

rover Rover may refer to: People Name * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Stage name * Rover (musician), French singer-songw ...

and left wing. Stuart employed a physical playing style along with his size, which earned him a fair share of injuries throughout his hockey career. During the 1910 NHA season Stuart suffered a broken left collarbone in game against the Renfrew Creamery Kings on February 12, after a scuffle with Hay Millar and a subsequent collision with Frank Patrick. The injury held him out for the remainder of the 1910 season and significantly weakened the Senators in their quest on defending the Stanley Cup against the Montreal Wanderers. Stuart had also, on different occasions during his hockey career, both of his knees dislocated, three ribs broken, his nose smashed twice, a bone in his right foot splintered, several teeth knocked out and his right hand fractured. In the local Ottawa newspapers Stuart was often praised for his leadership qualities. During the 1910 season, when he captained the Ottawa Senators in the NHA, the

Ottawa Journal The ''Ottawa Journal'' was a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, from 1885 to 1980. It was founded in 1885 by A. Woodburn as the ''Ottawa Evening Journal''. Its first editor was John Wesley Dafoe who came from the ...

claimed him "unanimously conceded to be the greatest hockey general that ever wore skates" and that he had "complete control over his men from the minute the game starts". The newspaper also noted him to be a clutch scorer and claimed that he had "scored more goals, at critical moments, when his team was behind, than any other forward in the game". Even when Stuart represented the Montreal Wanderers, a rivaling club to his hometown Ottawa Senators, in 1907–08, Stuart still claimed he always played hard to win, despite his expressed preference of representing Ottawa that winter.

Post career

Stuart retired from playing after the 1910–11 season. He managed the Bruce Stuart and Co.

shoe A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot. Though the human foot can adapt to varied terrains and climate conditions, it is vulnerable, and shoes provide protection. Form was originally tied to function, but ...

store he owned in Ottawa until 1952 along with some coaching. The shoe store, located at 275 Bank Street in Ottawa, outside of shoes and boots also sold skates. After his player career Stuart took to

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

and

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...

for recreation. As a golf player he was a member of the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club. As a curling player he was active with the Ottawa Curling Club, and he donated a trophy to the club for competition. Despite his age, he attended his induction into the

Hockey Hall of Fame The Hockey Hall of Fame () is a museum and hall of fame located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League (NHL) records, memorabilia and National Hockey Le ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

in 1961. He died not long after, survived by his wife Irene Stuart (née MacDonald). He was interred at Beechwood Cemetery.

Statistics

Exh. = Exhibition games

Achievements

* IPHL champion – 1905–06 & 1906–07 (Portage Lakes Hockey Club) *

– 1908 (Montreal Wanderers); 1909, 1910 & 1911 (Ottawa Senators)

References

Bibliography

Notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stuart, Bruce 1881 births 1961 deaths Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Ice hockey people from Ottawa Montreal Wanderers players Ottawa Senators (NHA) players Ottawa Senators (original) players Pittsburgh Victorias players Portage Lakes Hockey Club players Quebec Bulldogs players Stanley Cup champions Canadian ice hockey centres 20th-century Canadian sportsmen