Stephen Alphonse "Coo" Dion (December 23, 1886 – April 10, 1959) was a Canadian amateur

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 and

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...

. Dion, a

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or 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, played two games for the

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 ...

during the 1905–06 ECAHA season, scoring one goal.

Biography

Stephen Dion was born in 1886 in Ottawa, Ontario to Mr. and Mrs. Alfred A. Dion."Stephen A. Dion Formerly of Ottawa Dies in Toronto". Ottawa Journal. April 11, 1959 (p. 3).

Ice hockey

Between 1905 and 1911 Dion was a member of the Ottawa Cliffsides, famous as the first holders of the

Allan Cup The Allan Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the senior ice hockey champions of Canada. It was donated by Sir Montagu Allan of Ravenscrag, Montreal, and has been competed for since 1909. It was most recently won by the Wentworth Gryphins ...

as 1909 champions of the IPAHU. He also played two games for the Ottawa Hockey Club during the 1905–06

ECAHA The Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA) was a men's amateur – later professional – ice hockey league in Canada that played four seasons. It was founded on December 11, 1905 with the top clubs from two other leagues: four ...

season, scoring one goal, thus being part of the team which held 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 ...

in February 1906. Dion was the first player to win both the Stanley Cup and the Allan Cup. In February 1911 Dion was offered $1,000 by

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 ...

manager

George Kennedy George Harris Kennedy Jr. (February 18, 1925 – February 28, 2016) was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 film and television productions. He played "Dragline" in ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), winning the Academy Award for Best Supp ...

to finish off the schedule (8 games) with the NHA club, but he promptly refused the offer claiming he was not for sale. The next season Dion instead joined the

Winnipeg Victorias The Winnipeg Victorias were an amateur senior-level men's amateur ice hockey team in Winnipeg, Manitoba, organized in 1889. They played in the Manitoba Hockey Association (MHA) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Victorias won the ...

of the Winnipeg Amateur Hockey League, because he had been offered a job with the National Transcontinental Railway. With the Victorias Dion would win his second Allan Cup as the Winnipeg side won the amateur trophy in 1911–12. During the 1912–13 season Dion played with the Ottawa Stewartons in the IPAHU when another NHA club tried to recruit him. Martin Rosenthal and Pete Green of the Ottawa Hockey Club ( Senators) witnessed Dion play in a game with the Stewartons and were so impressed by him that they talked Stewartons president Frank Ahearn into granting them permission to sign Dion, but the player himself still was not interested in turning professional.

World War I

In 1915 Dion enlisted as a soldier in World War I, where he would hold the rank of Lieutenant. He was severely wounded on May 24 with shattered bones in his left forearm at

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when hit by bullets."Feeling like before a big hockey game"
''Ottawa Citizen''. Sept. 24, 1915 (p. 10). Retrieved 2021-01-20. When leaving Europe for Canada on the S/S Hesperian, embarking from

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, the ship was hit by a German submarine outside the Irish coast on September 4, 1915. Dion survived but 32 other lives were lost during unsuccessful attempts to tow the liner to port, and the ship eventually sank. Dion instead reached Canada with the

Allan Line The Allan Shipping Line was started in 1819, by Captain Alexander Allan of Saltcoats, Ayrshire, trading and transporting between Scotland and Montreal, a route which quickly became synonymous with the Allan Line. By the 1830s the company had of ...

steamship Corsican on September 21, 1915."Coo Dion arrives on the Corsican"
''Ottawa Citizen'', Sept. 21, 1915 (p. 3). Retrieved 2022-07-24.

Death

Dion died in Toronto, Ontario, on April 10, 1959, after a short illness, aged 72.

Achievements

– 1906 (Ottawa Hockey Club) *

– 1909 (Ottawa Cliffsides) & 1912 (Winnipeg Victorias)

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dion, Coo 1886 births 1959 deaths Canadian ice hockey players Canadian ice hockey centres Ice hockey people from Ottawa Ottawa Senators (original) players Winnipeg Victorias players 20th-century Canadian sportsmen