Butch Keeling
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Melville Sydney "Butch" Keeling (August 10, 1905 – November 12, 1984) 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 ...
player. A left winger, he played 12
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 ...
seasons with the
Toronto St. Patricks 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 Aren ...
/
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. The Maple Leafs compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the A ...
and the
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 ...
between 1926 and 1938.


Playing career

Keeling was born in
Owen Sound Owen Sound (2021 Canadian Census, 2021 Census population 21,612) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The county seat, seat of government of Grey County, it is located at the mouths of the Pottawatomi River, Pottawatomi and Sydenham River ...
,
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 ...
and began his hockey career in his hometown, learning the game at Victoria Public School under the tutelage of principal Henry Kelso, for whom Owen Sound's Kelso Beach was named. Several Victoria students, including Keeling, eventually ended up playing for the city's junior club, the
Owen Sound Greys The Owen Sound Greys were a series of junior ice hockey, junior ice hockey teams based in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. They played in the Mid-Western division of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. The original Greys, in their early years, w ...
. He was a key member of the Greys when they captured their first
Memorial Cup The Memorial Cup () is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), a consortium of three Junior ice hockey, major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of the United States. It is a four-team round-robin tou ...
as Canadian junior hockey champions in 1924, scoring 37 goals and 46 points in 15 playoff games. Keeling's pro career began in 1926–27 with the London Panthers of the Canadian Professional Hockey League, although he was quickly elevated to the NHL's Toronto St. Patricks, with whom he had signed as a free agent on September 7, 1926. The St. Pats changed their name to the Maple Leafs later that season. Despite playing in only 30 of Toronto's 44 games, Keeling finished fourth in team scoring with 11 goals and 13 points, right behind fellow Owen Sound native
Hap Day Clarence Henry "Happy" Day (June 14, 1901 – February 17, 1990), later known as Hap Day, was a Canadian professional hockey player who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Americans. Day enjo ...
. He repeated that showing in 1927–28, again placing right behind Day, but was traded to the New York Rangers on the eve of the 1928–29 season. He was traded to the New York Rangers on April 16, 1928, in exchange for Alex Gray. Keeling slumped to only six goals and nine points for the Rangers in 1928–29, although he did lead the league in playoff goals and points as the Rangers marched to the Stanley Cup Finals against the
Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The t ...
. Boston swept the best-of-three series for its first Stanley Cup win. Among the victorious Bruins was
Cooney Weiland Ralph "Cooney" Weiland (November 5, 1904 – July 3, 1985) was a Canadian ice hockey forward who played for the Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators, and Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). Weiland was part of the Bruins' 1928 "Dy ...
, who had starred with Keeling on the 1924 Greys. Keeling continued to rebound in 1929–30, registering career bests in goals (19) and points (26). Once again, he ended up fourth in team scoring. The Rangers went back to the Cup Finals in 1931–32 against Toronto but were again swept aside. It was another bitter disappointment for Keeling to see even more of his old mates skating off with the Cup. But he and his new club got revenge in a rematch the following year, on April 13, 1933. Toronto's
Maple Leaf Gardens Maple Leaf Gardens is a historic building located at the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church and Wellesley, Church Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building was originally constructed in 1931 as an indoor arena to host ice hoc ...
was the site of Game 4 of the 1933 Cup Finals, and the Rangers held a 2–1 lead in the best-of-five series. The contest was scoreless through three periods but was decided at the 7:33 mark of sudden-death overtime. According to an article which appeared in the April 24, 1933 edition of
Time magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps as ''TIME'') is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York Cit ...
,
"''Butch Keeling took the puck at a face-off, whipped through the Toronto defense on the left side of the rink, made a pass all the way across the ice of which he later said: 'If I hadn't seen that Bill was there, I would have kept the puck myself.' Bill was Bill Cook, oldest active player on the Rangers, leading scorer of the National League ... (Cook) took the puck without breaking his stride, feinted to bring tall Lorne Chabot away from the Toronto net, then flipped the puck over Chabot's shoulder for the goal that ended the game 1 to 0, the series 3 to 1.''"
Keeling had finally won the Stanley Cup, but his finest campaign as a professional was still yet to come. In 1936–37 he led the Rangers with a career-high 22 goals (third in the league) and matched his previous career best with 26 points. He was fourth in team scoring for the fifth time (he never did place higher than fourth in any of his NHL seasons) and also posted high-water marks in the playoffs, notching three goals and five points as the Rangers advanced to a fifth and deciding game in the Stanley Cup Finals against the
Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...
. He left the NHL after the 1937–38 season and played one year with the
Philadelphia Ramblers The Philadelphia Ramblers were a minor professional ice hockey team based in the Philadelphia Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Ramblers played for six seasons during the infancy of the American Hockey League from 1935 to 1941. Histor ...
, a Rangers farm team in the International-American Hockey League. Keeling was also the team's captain. He then became a player-coach with the Kansas City Greyhounds of the American Hockey Association. Keeling later returned to the NHL, spending three seasons as a referee. During Keeling's NHL career, he played in 526 regular season games, scoring 157 goals and 220 points. He added five goals and 11 points in 26 playoff contests. He was 79 years old when he died suddenly at his
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 ...
,
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 ...
home in 1984. He is buried in
Park Lawn Cemetery Park Lawn Cemetery is a large cemetery in the Etobicoke district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It currently has around 22,000 graves. It is managed by the Park Lawn Limited Partnership, which also runs five other cemeteries in Toronto. The cemetery ...
in that city. In the 2009 book ''100 Ranger Greats'', the authors ranked Keeling at No. 45 all-time of the 901 New York Rangers who had played during the team's first 82 seasons.


Career statistics


Regular season and playoffs


References


External links

*
Butch Keeling on the New York Rangers' All-Time Roster
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keeling, Butch 1905 births 1984 deaths Canadian ice hockey left wingers Kansas City Greyhounds players London Panthers players New York Rangers players Ontario Hockey Association Senior A League (1890–1979) players Owen Sound Greys players Philadelphia Ramblers players Ice hockey people from Owen Sound Stanley Cup champions Toronto Maple Leafs players Toronto St. Pats players Burials at Park Lawn Cemetery 20th-century Canadian sportsmen