Ebbie Goodfellow

Ebenezer Robertson "Poker Face" Goodfellow (April 9, 1907 – September 10, 1985) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach. Goodfellow played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Detroit Red Wings from 1929 to 1944 as both a forward and defenceman. He helped the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup in 1935–36, 1936–37 and 1942–43. He served as captain of the Wings for five seasons, and in 1939–40 was the first Red Wing to win the NHL's Hart Trophy as his team's most valuable player. After retiring from playing, he coached in the American Hockey League (AHL) and later with the Chicago Black Hawks of the NHL.

Hockey career

While still a junior, Goodfellow signed a contract with the professional Saskatoon Sheiks of the Western Canada Hockey League on December 25, 1924. When Saskatoon called him up in December 1926, he refused to report and played senior hockey with the Ottawa Montagnards of the Ottawa City Hockey League instead. In February 1927, his professional rights were sold to the Detroit Olympics of the AHL for $4,000. Goodfellow remained in Ottawa and was a member of the Montagnards' 1927–28 senior championship team. In 1928, he joined the Olympics and played with the club for one season. The following year, he signed with the Detroit Cougars of the NHL, starting a fourteen-year career with the team. Goodfellow was a high-scoring forward and the original center in a famous line with Herbie Lewis and Larry Aurie. During the 1930–31 season, he scored 25 goals (a franchise record that stood for fourteen years) and 48 points and was second to Howie Morenz in league scoring. After three seasons Goodfellow switched to defence, and at that position he won the Hart Memorial Trophy in 1940 and was named to the All-Star Team three times.

Goodfellow missed most of the 1942–43 season due to injury, but when coach Jack Adams was suspended during the 1943 playoffs, Goodfellow agreed to serve as coach during the suspension. Detroit went on to win the Stanley Cup, and Goodfellow's name was engraved on the Cup for a third and final time. He was one of the last NHL players to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup as both player and coach, as league rules changed and playing coaches were disallowed. Goodfellow retired the following season after knee problems began to slow him down.

At the start of the 1947-48 season Goodfellow was persuaded out of retirement by the St. Louis Flyers of the American Hockey League (AHL). In two years as coach of the Flyers, he led them from last place to the AHL Western Division Championship, the team's highest achievement to that date. Goodfellow then became coach of the Chicago Black Hawks in 1950. After two lacklustre seasons with the Black Hawks, Goodfellow retired from the NHL for good.

In 1959 Goodfellow took part in founding the Detroit Red Wings Alumni Association, a charitable organization still in operation today. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1963 and served for twenty-one years on the Hall's selection committee. He was an avid golfer and one-time caddy master at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He died of cancer on September 10, 1985, in Sarasota, Florida, and is buried at White Chapel Cemetery in Troy, Michigan.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Awards

• NHL Second All-Star Team - 1935–36
• NHL First All-Star Team - 1936–37, 1939–40
• Hart Trophy (MVP) - 1939–40
• Hockey Hall of Fame - 1963
• Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame
• Michigan Sports Hall of Fame - 1968

Coaching record

References

External links

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or Legends of Hockey, or The Internet Hockey Database