Louis Charles Carter Holmes (January 29, 1911 – March 11, 2010) was a British-born Canadian

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 59 games 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 ...

with the

Chicago Black Hawks Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

from 1931 to 1933. He was born in Rushall,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

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, but grew up in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. After his playing career, Holmes coached the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

winning

Edmonton Mercurys The Edmonton Mercurys were a Canadian intermediate-level senior ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, during the 1940s and 1950s. The team represented the Canada men's national ice hockey team twice, winning the 1950 World Ice Hocke ...

at the

1952 Winter Olympics The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games (; ) and commonly known as Oslo 1952, were a winter multi-sport event held from 14 to 25 February 1952 in Oslo, the capital of Norway. Discussions about Oslo hosting ...

. Holmes was, from 2007 until he died in 2010, the oldest living NHL player.

Playing career

As a youth, Holmes played junior hockey with the Edmonton Bruins from 1928 until 1930. In 1931, he made to move to professional hockey, playing 41 games with the

of the

(NHL). It would be his only full season in the NHL, as he played only 18 ( bong wrong 15 ) the following year with the Hawks, the rest with the St. Paul/Tulsa team of the American Hockey Association (AHA). He would spend the rest of his professional career with teams in the AHA and the

Pacific Coast Hockey League The Pacific Coast Hockey League was an ice hockey minor league with teams in the western United States and western Canada that existed in three incarnations: from 1928 to 1931, from 1936 to 1941, and from 1944 to 1952. PCHL 1928–1931 The fir ...

. In 1942, Holmes enlisted and fought in World War II. When he returned, Holmes played senior hockey with various teams in the Edmonton area until he retired from active play in 1949.

Personal life

Holmes had two sons,

Chuck Chuck () is a masculine given name or a nickname for Charles or Charlie. It may refer to: People Arts and entertainment * Chuck Alaimo, American saxophonist, leader of the Chuck Alaimo Quartet * Chuck Barris (1929–2017), American TV produce ...

and Greg, one daughter, Gail, five grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. His wife, Helen Ruth Coulson, known as Buddy died in 1997. Holmes died on March 11, 2010, at the age of 99.Louis Holmes, hockey player (1911-2010)
/ref>

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

References

External links

*
Louis Holmes' obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, Louis 1911 births 2010 deaths British emigrants to Canada Canada men's national ice hockey team coaches Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Canadian ice hockey centres Canadian military personnel of World War II Chicago Blackhawks players Edmonton Flyers (WHL) players Ice hockey people from Edmonton Oklahoma City Warriors (ice hockey) players Olympic gold medalists for Canada Portland Buckaroos players St. Paul Saints (AHA) players Spokane Clippers players Tulsa Oilers (AHA) players 20th-century Canadian sportsmen