Eddie Shore

Lore & Background

Shore grew up in Cupar, Saskatchewan, on a ranch with six siblings; his older brother Aubrey was considered the more talented player. He did not take hockey seriously until his teenage years, after taunting from his brother. He attended an agricultural college in Manitoba, initially failing to make the team before improving and earning a spot. He began his career with the Cupar Canucks, then played for the Melville Millionaires, winning the 1923–24 Saskatchewan senior championship. He turned professional with the Regina Capitals of the Western Canada Hockey League in 1925, then moved to the Edmonton Eskimos in 1926, where he converted from forward to defence and earned the nickname 'the Edmonton Express'. When the Western Hockey League folded in 1926, Shore was sold to the Boston Bruins. As a rookie, he scored 12 goals and 6 assists with 130 penalty minutes. He was paired with defenceman Lionel Hitchman, forming the league's best defensive pairing. In his second year, they reached the Stanley Cup Final but lost to the Ottawa Senators. Two years later, the Bruins surrendered only 52 goals over 44 games, winning their first Stanley Cup in 1929. That year Shore became one of the highest paid athletes in the country with a $25,000 salary.

Reader's Guide

Shore was named to the NHL First All-Star Team for the first time in 1931 after recording 31 points with a career-high 15 goals. His best statistical season came in 1932–33, when he scored 8 goals and 35 points, earning him the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player for the first time. He finished 12th in the league's scoring race that year, unheard of for a defenceman. He was one of the earliest defencemen to use speed and stick-handling to carry the puck deep into the offensive zone. Bruins trainer Hammy Moore said, 'He was the only player I ever saw who had the whole arena standing every time he rushed down the ice. He would either end up bashing somebody, get into a fight, or score a goal.' Shore brought a brand of rough-and-tumble hockey the league had never seen, antagonizing fans and fighting opponents. He quickly became one of the league’s first star players during the 1920s and 1930s, credited with helping gain Boston's interest in the NHL. He regularly faced physical punishment; former teammate Milt Schmidt commented, 'He was bruised, head to toe, after every game, everybody was after him. They figured if they could stop Eddie Shore, they could stop the Bruins.' In the 1925–26 season, during a practice with Billy Coutu and Sprague Cleghorn, Shore collided with Coutu, who was knocked out for a week; Shore's ear was almost ripped off, and he found a doctor who sewed it back on while Shore watched in a mirror. In 1929, Shore got into a record five fights in one game against the Montreal Maroons, suffering a concussion, broken nose, two black eyes, and three broken teeth. In January 1930, a proposed boxing match with baseball player Art Shires was vetoed by baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. On January 24, 1933, Shore accidentally punched referee-in-chief Cooper Smeaton during a fight and was fined $100. On March 30, 1933, he scored a playoff overtime goal against Toronto, the only such goal of his career. On December 12, 1933, Shore ended the career of Toronto Maple Leafs star Ace Bailey by hitting him from behind; Bailey suffered a fractured skull and was in critical condition but recovered, though he never played again. Shore was suspended 16 games. An all-star benefit game raised $20,909 for Bailey. Shore was named captain of the Bruins for the 1935–36 season and won the Hart Trophy in back-to-back seasons (1935 and 1936). In 1937 he missed half the year after a cracked vertebra, but returned to win a fourth Hart Trophy in 1938. Shore and the Bruins won their second Stanley Cup in 1939. He then retired and bought the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League, where he was player-owner in 1939–40, and was later persuaded to rejoin the Bruins after injuries to the defence.

Did You Know?

• Shore won the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player four times, the most of any defenceman; only Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe have won it more often.
• In his second season, Shore set a then-NHL record for 165 penalty minutes.
• During a 1929 game against the Montreal Maroons, Shore got into a record five fights and ended up with a concussion, broken nose, two black eyes, and three broken teeth.
• Shore's ear was almost ripped off in a practice collision with Billy Coutu; he watched the doctor sew it back on using a mirror.