Cecil William Blachford (June 24, 1880 – May 10, 1965) was a Canadian professional ice hockey

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

player who played for the Montreal Hockey Club and the Montreal Wanderers. He was a member of

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 ...

-winning teams in 1903, 1906, 1907, 1908 and 1910, and captain of the 1906 to 1908 teams.

Playing career

Born in Montreal, Quebec, Blachford played junior hockey for Montreal Mintos in 1898–99, before graduating to senior-level hockey the following season with Montreal Stirling, for which he played until 1902. He joined the Montreal Hockey Club's intermediate squad, and played one game with the Montreal HC senior team (also known as the "Little Men of Iron") in the regular season, and two games of Stanley Cup challenge play, helping to defeat the Winnipeg Victorias. He left Montreal HC with several other Montreal HC players in the off-season to join the new Montreal Wanderers for whom he played continuously until the end of the 1907–08 season. He was captain of the 1906 through 1908 squads.Coleman, p. 574 In the 1906 season, he was sidelined for most of the season with blood poisoning. In 1907 he was the victim of a blow to the head from Charlie Spittal of the

Ottawa Hockey Club Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core of ...

for which Spittal was convicted in criminal court. Blachford served as a coach for the Wanderers in 1906 and 1907 while he was recovering from his illnesses. After the 1908 season, he retired, but returned for the 1909–10 season for the Wanderers in the new National Hockey Association, helping to win another Stanley Cup title before retiring for good. Blachford died at Lachine Hospital in Montreal, Quebec in 1965.

Playing style

Outside of the rover position, the more free-roaming position in the seven man game between defence and the forward line, Blachford also played as a winger. The March 21, 1908 issue of 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 '' ...

, in a review of the players on the Montreal Wanderers, listed Blachford as a right winger and claimed that the late defenceman Hod Stuart, a teammate of Blachford on the 1906–07 Wanderers prior to his death in June 1907, had rated him as the best winger in the ECAHA that season. The newspaper claimed that Blachford was "easily the most finished player on the forward line" on the Montreal team, and that he was "speedy, aggressive and a beautiful stick-handler.""Who Wanderers Are"
''Ottawa Citizen''. March 21, 1908 (pg. 17). Retrieved 2021-05-13.

Statistics

CAHL-I = CAHL-Intermediate ''Statistics per Society for International Hockey Research at sihrhockey.org''

References

Notes

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blachford, Cecil 1880 births 1965 deaths Anglophone Quebec people Canadian ice hockey forwards Montreal Hockey Club players Montreal Wanderers (NHA) players Sportspeople from Montreal Stanley Cup champions Ice hockey people from Quebec