Herbert William "Buddy" O'Connor (June 21, 1916 – August 24, 1977) was a Canadian 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 ...

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

who played 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 ...

and

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. The Rangers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team plays ...

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 ...

between 1941 and 1951. He won the

Hart Trophy The Hart Memorial Trophy, originally known as the Hart Trophy, is an annual award for the most valuable player to his team in the National Hockey League (NHL), voted by the members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. The original t ...

and

Lady Byng Trophy The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, formerly known as the Lady Byng Trophy, is presented each year to the National Hockey League "player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard o ...

in 1948.

Playing career

O'Connor played for the Montreal Canadiens from 1941 to 1947 and won two

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 ...

s during his career in

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

and

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

while playing for the Canadiens. In 1947, O'Connor was traded to the New York Rangers. He had 60 points that season, finishing second to Montreal's

Elmer Lach Elmer James Lach ( , January 22, 1918 – April 4, 2015) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 14 seasons for the Montreal Canadiens in the National Hockey League (NHL). A Centre (ice hockey), centre, he was a member of the Pun ...

in the scoring race. He was also awarded the

Hart Memorial Trophy The Hart Memorial Trophy, originally known as the Hart Trophy, is an annual award for the most valuable player to his team in the National Hockey League (NHL), voted by the members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. The original tr ...

and

Lady Byng Memorial Trophy The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, formerly known as the Lady Byng Trophy, is presented each year to the National Hockey League "player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard ...

and was the first player to win both in the same year. He was also the first Ranger to win the Hart. These achievements were reflected in his being named winner of the

Lionel Conacher Award The Lionel Conacher Award is an annual award given to Canada's male athlete of the year. The sports writers of the Canadian Press (CP) first conducted a poll to determine the nation's top athlete, of either gender, in 1932. Separate polls for the ...

, as Canada's male athlete of the year for 1948. O'Connor played for the Rangers until 1951. He was inducted 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 ...

in 1988, becoming the first inductee into the now-defunct Veteran category. In the 2009 book ''100 Ranger Greats'', the authors ranked O'Connor at No. 38 all-time of the 901 New York Rangers who had played during the team's first 82 seasons.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Personal

In the mid-1950s, Danny Gallivan was known to assist with the Department of Education's Physical Fitness Division's annual hockey school in PEI, along with NHL chief referee

Red Storey Roy Alvin "Red" Storey, (March 5, 1918 – March 15, 2006) was a Canadian athlete, referee and broadcaster. He played football, lacrosse and ice hockey. While active as an athlete, he turned to officiating in all three sports, and continued as ...

and NHL star Buddy O'Connor.

References

External links

* 1916 births 1977 deaths Anglophone Quebec people Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Canadian ice hockey centres Cincinnati Mohawks (AHL) players Hart Memorial Trophy winners Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Ice hockey people from Montreal Lady Byng Memorial Trophy winners Montreal Canadiens players Montreal Royals (QSHL) players New York Rangers players Place of death missing Stanley Cup champions 20th-century Canadian sportsmen {{Canada-icehockey-centre-1910s-stub