Robert Ernest MacDougall (March 2, 1876 – March 26, 1950) was a notable

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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 businessman. He played in the early days of organized ice hockey, before professionalism. He played the position of forward for the

Montreal Victorias The Victoria Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was an early men's amateur ice hockey club. Its date of origin is ascribed to either 1874, 1877 or 1881, making it either the first or second organized ice hockey club after McGill University. ...

and was a member of five

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-winning teams.

Personal life

MacDougall was born in

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 ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. He attended Bishop's College School boarding school in

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as a youth. At BCS he played hockey with future Victorias teammates

Hartland MacDougall Hartland Brydges MacDougall (March 10, 1876 – April 28, 1947) was a Canadian ice hockey player and businessman. MacDougall was generally regarded as one of the most versatile players of the pre-NHL era of the sport. He initially played the posit ...

(no relation) and Ernie McLea. At age twelve, MacDougall played on the BCS first team of ice hockey, and is noted as one of the youngest to ever do so. After ice hockey, MacDougall would become a partner with Hartland MacDougall in the stock-trading firm MacDougall & MacDougall of Montreal. The company continues today as MacDougall MacDougall & MacTier.

Playing career

Macdougall was the highest scoring forward before the 1900s in Stanley Cup play. MacDougall scored a confirmed total of 49 goals in 36 recorded games. Overshadowed today by the likes of teammates and

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Graham Drinkwater and

Mike Grant Michael Grant (November 27, 1873 – August 20, 1955) was a Canadian ice hockey player. He played nine seasons of senior amateur hockey between 1894 and 1902 for the Montreal Victorias and Montreal Shamrocks. Grant was a member of the Victoria ...

, MacDougall was consistently one of the Montreal Victorias' highest scoring forwards. Later in life his career would take an approach to banking (working alongside

of no relation) and he would leave the sport of hockey near the end of the Montreal Victorias' championship run.

Championship controversy

Near the end of MacDougall's career he would generally only play championship games due to his work schedule. In his last season his career would end in some controversy. In the 1899

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, with Montreal leading a total goal series with 4 goals to 2 against 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 ...

, with about 12 minutes left in the game, MacDougall slashed Winnipeg's Tony Gingras. As Gingras was carried off the ice, referee Bill Findlay only called MacDougall for a two-minute minor. Angry that he should have been assessed a larger penalty, Winnipeg went into their dressing room in protest. Insulted, Findlay abruptly went home, but returned after officials followed him on a sleigh and persuaded him to return. Once back at the rink, the referee gave Winnipeg 15 minutes to return to the ice themselves. They refused and thus Findlay disqualified the team and declared Montreal the winners. 4,000 were attending the Winnipeg Auditorium rink to hear returns of the game by telegraph.

Career statistics

Notes: :*Led league in scoring in 1895–96 (bold denotes league leader) :*Statistics do not include non-regular-season tournaments. Statistics for 1893–94 and 1896–97 are not fully available. ''Globe and Mail'' editions from 1897 indicate that Robert MacDougall played out the full season and is credited for scoring a minimum of 2 goals, perhaps more. Scoring summaries for most games were not published.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdougall, Robert 1876 births 1950 deaths Ice hockey people from Montreal Bishop's College School alumni Montreal Victorias players Stanley Cup champions