Horace Jefferson Merrill (November 30, 1884 – December 24, 1958) was a Canadian

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

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 with the

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 ...

in both 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 ...

and

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 ...

from 1912 to 1920. He 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 Ottawa in

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its ow ...

. He was born in

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 ...

, but lived most of his life 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 ...

. Merrill was also an accomplished canoeist, holding the Canadian title from 1907 until 1909 in a single canoe.

Playing career

Born in

, Merrill moved to

, Ontario at an early age. By 1907, Merrill was playing senior-level hockey with the Ottawa Seconds of the

Ottawa City Hockey League The Ottawa City Hockey League (OCHL) was an amateur ice hockey league with junior, intermediate and senior level men's teams in Ottawa, Canada. Founded in 1890 by the local Ottawa Hockey Association (Ottawa HA), the OCHL was created to organize p ...

. The following year he also started playing for the Ottawa Cliffsides and was a member of their

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 ...

-winning squad in

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escapes death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Janu ...

. By 1912, he joined the

of the

(NHA). He stayed with the Senators as they joined the

in 1917, playing 9 games over 2 seasons until his retirement in 1920.

Canoeing

Merrill was an outstanding paddler in the decade 1902–1912. He was a member of the Rideau Canoe Club’s first war canoe crew in 1902. Paddling for Ottawa Canoe Club (OCC) in 1904 he won the senior singles in the Canadian Canoe Association (CCA) competition. By 1906 he had switched to the New Edinburgh Canoe Club (NECC) and took second place in the senior singles at the CCA championship. In 1908 and 1909 he took the title as Canadian senior singles champion. In 1908, 1909, and 1910 he led the NECC war canoe crew to second place finishes in the half-mile Canadian championships. The crew came second in the mile race in 1908 and finished first in 1909, 1910, and 1911. In 1912 he served as rear commodore of the CCA.C. Fred Johnston, ''100 Years of Champions - The Canadian Canoe Association 1900-2000''. Queens University, Kingston. 2003.

Personal life

Merrill retired to live and marry in Ottawa. He became the president of the Dadson-Merrill Press Company until he retired from that business in 1945. He also served as a school trustee. In 1958, he suffered a stroke on an automobile trip to Florida with his wife, while driving through

Cortland, New York Cortland is a city and the county seat of Cortland County, New York, United States. Known as the Crown City, Cortland is in New York's Southern Tier region. As of 2024, the estimated population of Cortland, New York, is 17,196, reflecting a dec ...

, and was returned to Ottawa on December 19, 1958. He died a week later and is buried in Ottawa at Beechwood cemetery along with numerous other Senators players.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Merrill, Horace 1884 births 1958 deaths Canadian ice hockey defencemen Ice hockey people from Ottawa Ice hockey people from Toronto Ottawa Senators (1917) players 20th-century Canadian sportsmen Ottawa Senators (NHA) players Stanley Cup champions Ontario school board trustees