1902-03 Rat Portage Thistles Tom Hooper Jersey

Born on this date in 1883 in Rat Portage, Ontario, Tom Hooper, known as a formidable checker and clever stickhandler, joined the Rat Portage Thistles of the Manitoba Senior Hockey League at the age of 18. The Thistles won the league championship in 1903, and emboldened by their local success, travelled east to challenge the Ottawa Silver Seven for their grip on the Stanley Cup in March of 1903.

1902-03 Rat Portage Thistles

Their series was a two-game, total-goal contest in which the Silver Seven took a dominant 6-2 win in Game 1, leaving Rat Portage a task they could not overcome. Game 2 also went the way of the Silver Seven 4-2, allowing them to retain their hold on the trophy.

Two seasons later following a 7-1 regular season record in which he scored a career high 9 goals, Hooper and the Thistles, now older and wiser than the teenagers of 1903, once more challenged mighty Ottawa for the rights to the Stanley Cup. This time around, the contest was a best-of-three format and the Thistles broke out on top with a 9-3 win in Game 1, which certainly must have had the Thistles faithful pining for a return to the two-game, total-goals format. The Senators welcomed back center Frank McGee for Game 2, and Ottawa responded with a 4-2 win to even the series. The decisive Game 3 once again went the way of Ottawa in a nail biting 5-4 win for the home Senators, sending the Thistles back to Rat Portage empty handed. Hooper finished the series with a pair of goals this time out.

The MAHA league champions and Stanley Cup challenging 1904-05 Rat Portage Thistles

In 1905 the town renamed itself Kenora while the hockey club continued to be known as the Thistles. The Thistles won the MAHA title in 1906, but circumstances out east did not allow time for an immediate challenge, so one was scheduled during the following 1906-07 season.

The 1905-06 Kenora Thistles pose with their Manitoba league championship trophy

In January of 1907, the time arrived for the Thistles challenge for the Stanley Cup and they traveled east once more, this time to face the Montreal Wanderers, who had wrestled away control of the cup from Ottawa during their league playoffs.

The Thistles, with future hall of famers Joe Hall, Tommy Phillips, Art Ross, Billy McGimsie, Roxy Beaudro and Hooper, defeated Montreal 4-2 in Game 1 on January 17 and won the coveted Stanley Cup on four days later with an 8-6 triumph to win the two-game, total goal series 12-8, with Hooper contributing 3 goals in the second game , making Kenora, population 4000, the smallest town to have ever won a major sports championship in North America.

The 1907 Stanley Cup holders the Kenora Thistles

Following the Thistles' Manitoba Professional Hockey League season, they defeated Brandon Wheat City 8-6 and 4-1 to win the league's playoff championship, which also allowed them to retain possession of the Stanley Cup. Five days later, on March 23, the Thistles took to the ice to defend their cup against the Wanderers, this time in Winnipeg but without Hooper who had fractured his collarbone. Montreal took Game 1 by a score of 7-2, and although Kenora won the second game 6-5, it was not enough to overcome Montreal's 5 goal margin from the first game, and the cup was again headed back east, ending tiny Kenora's reign as champions of all of Canada after just two months.

Gutted by player defections to professional clubs, the Thistles folded after just one game of the 1907-08 season and Hooper moved east to play one game with the Pembroke Lumber Kings prior to joining the Wanderers for two regular season games, as well as their defense of the Stanley Cup they had claimed back from Kenora a year earlier. The Wanderers easily fended off the challenge from the Ottawa Victorias 9-3 and 13-1 with Hooper having moved back to a defensive role with the Wanderers.

1908 Stanley Cup holders the Montreal Wanderers

Hooper then joined the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association club for the remaining seven games of the season in which he scored 9 goals and subsequently retired as a player, having played for seven seasons in 65 games and scoring 48 goals as well as winning the Stanley Cup twice. He was later elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962.

Today's featured jersey is a 1902-03 Rat Portage Thistles Tom Hooper jersey. The Thistles name was selected from a local name the team contest, with the winner, a local Scottish carpenter named Bill Dunsmore, who not only submitting the name "Thistles", but a drawing for the logo that would adorn the team's sweaters as well.

Most often the Thistles logo would appear centered on the teams sweaters, but as seen in the above team photo from the 1903-04 season, there was some inconsistency in 1902-03 and 1903-04 where some sweaters had what would become the standard centered logo, some had the logo over the left breast and some had no logo whatsoever.

Today's video segment is a look at the Kenora Thistles. While the original Thistle club disbanded in 1908, subsequent clubs in Kenora have adopted the Thistle name, which was the case for the club that interview subject Louis McKay played on in 1934.

For those of you interested in the Kenora Thistles, please check out the nice shirts and hoodies available from Team on Top Retro Sports.

1974-75 Kansas City Scouts Simon Nolet Jersey

Born on this date in 1941, Simon Nolet played his junior hockey with the Quebec Citadelles of the QJHL. In 1961-62 he scored 52 points in 39 games and another 8 in 10 playoff games as the Citadelles qualified for the 1962 Memorial Cup, where Nolet added another 6 points in 9 games.

From there he moved to the Windsor Maple Leafs of the Nova Scotia Senior Hockey League for two seasons where he was a dominant force, averaging 120 points a year at a two point per game average including scoring 68 goals in 68 games in 1963-64. He sat out the following regular season, but joined the Sherbrooke Beavers for the playoffs and scored 21 goals and 35 points in 15 games to lead Sherbrooke to the 1965 Allan Cup championship.

He turned professional with the Quebec Aces of the American Hockey League the following season. After two seasons with the Aces, he made his NHL debut with the expansion Philadelphia Flyers for four games in the 1967-68 season, but played the majority of his games with the Aces for a third year.

Simon Nolet as a member of the Quebec Aces

Nolet spilt time with the Flyers and Aces in 1968-69, which included scoring his first NHL points with 4 goals and 10 assists in 35 games for the Flyers. He increased his games played the following season to 56 and topped the 20 goal mark for the first time with 22. He also played his final 22 games with the Aces, the fifth season as an Aces regular.

Starting with the 1970-71 season, Nolet played exclusively in the NHL, suiting up for 74 games, a career high. The next season Nolet pushed his high in goals up one to 23 and appeared in his first NHL All-Star Game. After two more seasons with the Flyers, which included winning a Stanley Cup in 1974.

1973-74 Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers

With the NHL expanding for the 1974-75 season, Nolet was left unprotected in the 1974 NHL Expansion Draft, and was claimed by the Kansas City Scouts. The change from Stanley Cup champions to expansion doormats was a mixed blessing for Nolet. While another championship was out of the question, the seven-year NHL veteran was named as the first ever team captain for the Scouts and was heavily relied upon by Kansas City. He did not disappoint, setting a career high in goals with 26, which included the first goal in Scouts history, assists with 32 and points with 58 to lead the team in scoring as well as being the Scouts representative at the NHL All-Star Game.

The first captain of the Scouts, Simon Nolet

He played the first half of the 1975-76 season with the Scouts prior to being traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he would play the second half of the season. He was then transferred to the Colorado Rockies for the 1976-77 season as compensation for the Penguins signing goaltender Denis Herron. In actuality, the Rockies were the same Scouts franchise he had previously played for, only freshly relocated to Denver. Nolet was again named as team captain and retired at the conclusion of the season with 150 goals and 332 points in 10 seasons.

Today's featured jersey is a 1974-75 Kansas City Scouts Simon Nolet jersey as worn during the season in which Nolet made his second NHL All-Star Game appearance after being named the first captain in franchise history.

While the club retained the same color pattern after moving to Denver, the jerseys were thankfully simplified, as the Scouts striping pattern was far busier than needed thanks to the red pinstripes running inside the yellow stripes, making for a pattern which included nine different stripes, making for a quite busy pattern which was not easy on the eyes.

Bonus Jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1975 NHL All-Star Game Simon Nolet jersey as worn in the second NHL All-Star Game of Nolet's career which was held in Montreal. This style of All-Star jersey was first used in 1973 and lasted until 1981, a very long run by today's standards.

In this video clip, the Flyers and Nolet win the 1974 Stanley Cup and hold one heck of a parade.

1991-92 Detroit Red Wings Steve Yzerman Jersey

On this date in 1927, the Detroit Olympia hosted it's first NHL contest when the Detroit Cougars welcomed the Ottawa Senators in front of a standing room crowd of 14,000 fans as Johnny Sheppard of the Cougars scored the first goal in the history of the arena only to have the Senators come back for a 2-1 win.

The arena was built at a cost of $1.3 million with a seated capacity of 11,563 with room for another 5,000 standing room patrons. The Victoria Cougars of the WHL were purchased by Charles Hughes, a member of the Detroit Athletic Club and played their first season across the Detriot River in Windsor, Ontario prior to moving into the brand new Olympia for the 1927-28 season.

The 1927-28 Detroit Cougars

The Cougars would later change their name to first the Falcons in 1930 and then the Red Wings in 1932, but would remain tenants of the Olympia, nicknamed "The Old Red Barn", until December 15, 1979, a span of 52 years. While calling the Olympia home, the Red Wings would win the Stanley Cup seven times in 1936 and 1937, 1943 and, led by "The Production Line" of Sid Abel, Ted Lindsay and Gordie Howe, in 1950 and 1952. Alex Delvecchio replaced Abel in 1952 and the Red Wings would win two more Stanley Cups in 1954 and 1955.

Harry Lumley and Pete Babando celebrate Babando's Game 7 double overtime cup winning goal in 1950 at the Olympia

As defending champions, the Red Wings would host the NHL All-Star Game at the Olympia four times in 1950, 1952, 1954 and 1955.

In addition to the Red Wings, the Detroit Olympics played minor league hockey at the Olympia from 1927 to 1936, which included winning the Calder Cup as champions of the International Hockey League in 1935 and 1936. Despite winning the championship in 1936, the Olympics would move to Pittsburgh the very next season to become the Hornets.

A Detroit Olympics jersey, handed down from the Cougars

The NCAA college hockey Frozen Four was also held near the end of the Olympia's run in 1977 and 1979.

The Detroit Pistons of the NBA spent four seasons at the Olympia which included hosting the NBA All-Star game in 1959.

In addition to hockey and basketball, the Olympia was a major venue for boxing as well as wrestling, ice shows and concerts, which included The Beatles, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones and Frank Sanatra.

A ticket from The Beatles 1964 concert at the Olympia. Note the $5 price!

At the end of the Olympia's run as home of the Red Wings, it had become the smallest building in the NHL. Once the Red Wings moved to Joe Louis Arena, the final hockey game at the Olympia was a Red Wings old timers game on February 21, 1980 to commemorate the arena, which was torn down in July of 1986.

Today's featured jersey is a 1991-92 Detroit Red Wings Steve Yzerman jersey. To celebrate the NHL's 75th anniversary, the Original 6 clubs all wore throwback jerseys to mark the occasion, with the Red Wings wearing the jerseys worn by the 1927-28 Detroit Cougars.

After wearing a jersey with an old English "D" on the front for their first season, which was revived for the 2009 Winter Classic, the Cougars changed to the original version of today's featured jersey for their inaugural season in the Olympia of 1927-28. This style lasted only one season before being replaced by a white jersey with a cougar head below the word "Detroit" for one season prior to a return to the 1927-28 template for 1929-30, only now with the word "Detroit" on the front in red outlined in white. The jerseys changed once again for 1930-31 to a similarly designed white jersey with multiple horizontal red stripes with "Detroit Falcons" in yellow outlined in red for two seasons, giving the club two names and five different jerseys in six seasons.

All that would change in 1932 when the team adopted the name "Red Wings" and wore a solid red jersey with simple white stripes around each arm and around the waist, which has remained essentially unchanged for nearly 80 years.

In today's video section, here are highlights of Game 7 of the 1950 Stanley Cup Finals played at the Olympia.

Once more the Stanley Cup Finals comes down to Game 7 at the Olympia, where the Red Wings again prevailed.

Our final video todays is a melodramatic photo tribute to the Detroit Olympia.

A now a word from our sponsors

With "Black Friday" on the horizon, which kicks off the holiday shopping season, we wanted to take a moment to mention the shopping opportunities we have chosen for this blog.

First, is the Third String Goalie Online Shop, where you can purchase all manner of goods -clothing, carry bags, home office items and mugs - which feature our patron saint Georges Vezina's confident image.

The next item of note is the Third String Goalie Online Book Store. We have created our own storefront inside of Amazon.com which has several departments within it. Readers of this blog will certainly enjoy many of the hockey books on our front page, as well as the "TSG Recommendations", which are books we personally own, enjoy and endorse. There is also a section of DVD's, video games and jerseys and apparel to be found inside our store.

Staying in the Amazon family, we have a search box for Amazon.com's bookstore, where we update the search parameters frequently to reflect that day's topic. You can also enter any topic you'd like, hockey or not, to see if there are any items of interest to you.

Below the Amazon search box, we have the first two of three Third String Goalie Marketplace sections, which link you to a number of online retailers, most of which we have personally done business with, and the rest chosen because they deal in products we feel are relevant to you, our readers. We have made every attempt to freshen these sections with new artwork and new links, so if it's been some time since you have clicked on those ads, please take a moment to see what they have to offer.

The third marketplace section, lower down below our favorite blogs and links, is dedicated to the Canadian clothing company Roots, who have outfitted not only Canada's Olympic athletes, but the United States Olympic Team as well. Rather than a single link to the Roots homepage, we have created direct links to the most relevant products they have to offer the hockey fan.

Finally, in case you ever venture all the way down to the bottom of our front page, hopefully to take a look at our infinitely fascinating Third String Goalie World Map of locations of the jerseys we have written about, there are some additional banner ads for the same fine folks who populate our Marketplace sections.
None of these are paid ads, but "affiliate programs", where we earn a commission on any purchases you might make, and we do not get paid per click, such as with a program like Google AdSense, which we removed from this web site due to content we could not control, as it often posted links to sellers of illegal Chinese knockoff jerseys and other various irrelevant websites, such as the one for women's thongs, which we could never understand how it related to "hockey jerseys".
Our apologies for being so commercial today, but blogging is a labor of love and we just wanted to point out the various modules and sections down the right side of the page, the differences in what they have to offer and relate how they have all been chosen with you, our readers, in mind in hopes that you might find something of interest to you and that someday, perhaps, all our efforts on this blog might amount to a free tank of gas now and then!
Speaking of hockey and shopping...
Here is a 70 year old grandma winning a $10,000 shopping spree in a between periods "shoot the puck from the far blueline through the microscopic hole" contest. We love her reaction.

Next, members of the Blackhawks are asked if they ever shop for their own stuff on ebay.

Finally, only in Canada, a hockey rink at the shopping mall. Actually, we take that "only in Canada" part back, because the St. Louis Blues also practice at a rink located in a shopping mall.

2006-07 Columbus Blue Jackets Dan Fritsche Jersey

Dan Fritsche was born in the Cleveland suburb of Parma, Ohio in 1985 and played junior hockey with the Cleveland Jr. Barons of the NAHL in 2000-01. From there he moved to the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League in Canadian Junior hockey.

Fritsche played 61 games with Sarnia in 2002-03, scoring 32 goals and 71 points in 61 games which led to the Ohioan being drafted 46th overall in the second round of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Fritsche with the Sarnia Sting

He generated quite a number of game worn jerseys in 2003-04 by first earning a roster spot in training camp with the Blue Jackets. He played in 19 games, which included scoring his first NHL goal on this date in 2003, making him the first Ohio native to score a goal for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

At Christmas time, Fritsche joined Team USA at the World Junior Championships in Helsinki, Finland where he score four points in six games as the United States captured the gold medal over Canada 4-3 in the final.

At the conclusion of the World Juniors, Fritsche was returned to Sarnia by the Blue Jackets, where he woudl score 29 points in 27 games. Once Sarnia's season concluded, Fritsche joined the Blue Jackets top minor league club, the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL for the final four regular season games plus four additional playoff games.

With the 2004-05 lockout taking away the NHL season, Fritsche returned to Sarnia once more, but was traded to the London Knights. He scored 35 points in 28 regular season games for the high powered Knights, who finished the regular season with a dominant 59-7-2 record. London blitzed the OHL in the playoffs and Fritsche contributed 22 points in 17 playoff games, fourth on the club, as they captured the 2005 Memorial Cup.

Drew Larman, Robbie Schremp, and Dan Fritsche celebrate the London Knights Memorial Cup championship in 2005

With the NHL back in business for 2005-06, Fritsche split time with Syracuse (19 games) and Columbus, where he played in 59 games and scored six goals and 13 points. He would stick with the Blue Jackets for the next two seasons, with his best being 2006-07 when he scored 12 goals and 27 points while seeing action in 59 games.

Following the 2007-08 season, Fritsche was included in a trade along with Nikolai Zherdev to the New York Rangers. He found little ice time waiting for him in New York and got into only 16 games with the Rangers by late January prior to being traded to the Minnesota Wild, where he played in 34 games and scored nine points.

He became a free agent at the conclusion of the season and signed with the Blue Jackets organization, once more returning to Syracuse where he played 67 games with the Crunch, scoring 42 points, good for second on the team.

Fritsche during his return to Syracuse in 2009-10

At the start of the 2010-11 season, Fritsche followed the footsteps of his uncle John Fritsche, and played in Switzerland for Geneve Servette in the Swiss National League A.

Fritsche wearing the colors of Geneve Servette

Through the end of last season, Fritsche remains the highest scoring Ohio native in Blue Jackets history, with 63 points in 206 games, 22nd overall in the nine seasons of the club. Other Ohioans to have skated for the Blue Jackets are Brett Harkins (from North Ridgeville, 14 points in 25 games in 2001-02), Mike Rupp (Cleveland, 6 pts in 39 games in 2005-06), Brian Holzinger (Parma, 1 point in 13 games in 2003-04) and Ben Simon (Shaker Heights, no points in 13 games in 2005-06).

Today's featured jersey is a 2006-07 Columbus Blue Jackets Dan Fritsche jersey. The Blue Jackets original jerseys featured cartoonish secondary logo of the head of their team mascot "Stinger". Their jerseys were originally made by CCM/Koho and were adorned with the Blue Jackets Inaugural Season patch.

For 2003-04, an alternate jersey was introduced with a new main logo and Stinger was replaced on the shoulders of the home and road jerseys with the new alternate jersey logo on the left shoulder and a Civil War cap on the right.

Coming out of the lockout, the jerseys remained the same, but were now branded as Reebok for two seasons before the league-wide wholesale change to the Edge jerseys beginning in 2007.

Today's video segment is Fritsche scoring on a breakaway during a delayed penalty call while with the Minnesota Wild.

1988-89 Edmonton Oilers Jari Kurri Jersey

It was on this date in 1983 at home in Edmonton versus the New Jersey Devils and goaltenders Ron Low and later Glenn Resch that Jari Kurri scored five goals in a single game, still the only Finnish player to ever do so in an NHL game. The five goals in one game is an Oilers record he shares with Wayne Gretzky and Pat Hughes.

Kurri also holds the Oiler record for Most Points in One Period with five, on two goals and three assists versus the Los Angeles Kings on October 26, 1984 against Darren Eliot, and shares the Oiler record for Most Assists in One Period with four in the second period against the Winnipeg Jets and goaltender Bryan Hayward on October 7, 1983, which is also the NHL record as well.

Other Oiler records to Kurri's credit are;

• Most Points in One Season by a Right Wing - 135
• Most Goals in One Season by a Right Wing - 71
• Most Points in One Season by a Rookie - 75
• Most Assists in One Season by a Rookie - 41
• Most 20 Goal Seasons - 10
• Most Consecutive 20 Goal Seasons - 10
• Most 30 Goal Seasons - 10
• Most Consecutive 30 Goal Seasons - 10
• Most Career Playoff Goals - 92
• Most Playoff Goals by a Rookie - 5
• Most Playoff Goals in One Game - 4
• Most Game-Winning Goals in One Playoff Year - 5
• Most Playoff Points by a Rookie - 12
• Most Career Playoff Power Play Goals - 22
• Most Shorthanded Goals in One Playoff Series - 2
• Most Shorthanded Goals in One Playoff Game - 2

Kurri is second in Oiler history in career goals with 474, third in career assists with 569, second in career points at 1,043.

He is fourth in single season goals with 71, third in career playoff assists with 110, third in career playoff points with 202. His 19 goals in one playoff year is also he NHL record.

Other NHL records Kurri holds are;

• Most Hat Tricks in One Playoff Year - 4
• Most Hat Tricks in One Playoff Series - 3
• Most Goals in One Playoff Series - 12
• Most Power Play Goals in One Playoff Game - 3
• Most Shorthanded Goals in One Playoff Period - 2
• Most Points by a European-born and Trained Player - 1,398

Kurri finished his NHL career with five Stanley Cup Championships the 1985 Lady Byng Trophy, 601 goals, 797 assists and 1398 points in 1251 games.

Kurri shares a moment with an old friend

Internationally, Kurri played in the World Junior Championships twice, in 1979 and again in 1980, earning a silver medal while scoring the most points, the European Junior Championships in 1978 winning gold and being named Best Forward of the tournament. He also competed for Finland in the Canada Cup in 1981, 1987 and 1991, the 1996 World Cup of Hockey where he was team captain, the World Championships in 1982, 1989, 1991 and 1994, when he earned a sliver medal, as well as the Winter Olympics in 1998, earning a bronze medal.

Kurri on his way to winning a bronze medal at the 1998 Olympics

His #17 was retired by Jokerit Helsinki, the Edmonton Oilers and the Finnish National Team. He was inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame in 1998, the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001.

Today's featured jersey is a CCM 1988-89 Edmonton Oilers Jari Kurri jersey and features the Edmonton Oilers 10th Anniversary patch. This is a bit of an odd patch since the Oilers were founded in 1972 as one of the original members of the WHA. This would make 1988-89 the Oilers 16th Anniversary season. This patch was clearly meant to commemorate the Oilers 10th Anniversary of joining the NHL following the demise of the WHA in 1979, a league the NHL chooses to pretend never actually existed.

There is also an image of a single Stanley Cup in the patch, but the Oilers had actually won four cups at that point, something most teams would have probably driven home by putting multiple images of the cup on the patch, as the Islanders would do three seasons later.

Here is a tribute video from the night the Oilers retired Kurri's #17.

1910-11 Ottawa Senators Percy LeSueur Jersey

Goaltender Percy LeSueur was born in Quebec City, Quebec on this day in 1881. He was a member of the 1903-04 Smith Falls Seniors of the Ontario Hockey Association, where the right winger converted to goaltender, going 3-3 in six games played, and stayed with the club the following season when they moved to the Federal Amateur Hockey League. Smiths Falls won the league title by going a perfect 7-0 with LeSueur winning all seven games while posting a 1.9 goals against average, far ahead of the next best goalkeeper's 4.5 average.

Smiths Falls, encouraged by their strong performance in the FAHL, challenged the current Stanley Cup holders, the Ottawa Senators. Ottawa won the first game of their best-of-three series 6-5 on March 6, 1906 and successfully defended their rights to the cup two days later with an 8-2 win. Despite the 14 goals scored against Smiths Falls in the two games, the Senators were so impressed by LeSueur that they obtained his rights and he made his Senators debut just nine days later.

At the time the Senators were involved in another playoff series for the championship of the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association against the Montreal Wanderers, with whom they had tied for the league lead with matching 9-1 records, with the league champion also earning possession of the Stanley Cup. Following Montreal's dominant 9-1 win in the first game of the two-game total-goals series, LeSueur was installed in the Senators goal. Anticipation for the game was high, attracting a crowd of over 5,400 people, which resulted in all manner of changes to the Dey's Arena seating to accommodate the throng, some of which paid five times face value for a ticket to the match, a lofty $10!

Facing an enormous task being down by eight goals, the Senators made things harder for themselves by giving up the first goal of the game, raising their deficit to nine. The Senators responded by scoring three goals prior to halftime, and Ottawa then stormed out in the second half, piling up six straight goals to even the series at ten goals apiece! Montreal's Lester Patrick would dash the Senators dream of a comeback by scoring with a minute and a half to play and clinch the title with another with seconds left on the clock, ending the Silver Seven's three year reign as holders of the Stanley Cup, which included nine straight successful defenses.

The Toronto Globe would call the game the "greatest game of hockey ever played on Canadian ice, or any other", while The Sporting News labeled it the "Greatest Hockey Game in History".

In his first two full seasons of 1906-07 and 1907-08 with Ottawa, LeSueur posted identical 7-3 records before he lead Ottawa to the league title in 1908-09 when he went 10-2. By winning the league championship, Ottawa regained their role as holders of the Stanley Cup for the first time since losing control of the cup in LeSueur's memorable first game as a Senator in 1906.

During this time period, he was also chosen to play goal in the Hod Stuart Memorial Game, the first All-Star game in hockey history on January 2, 1908.

LeSueur modeling a gorgeous Senators team sweater on this 1910 C56 hockey card

The next season was one of turmoil for Ottawa off the ice, as they joined the ill-fated Canadian Hockey Association for a few weeks prior to moving over to the National Hockey Association. During the season, the Senators successfully defended two separate challenges to their rights to the Stanley Cup, with LeSueur winning all four games, two against Galt and two against Edmonton. Back in the NHA, at the end of the season Ottawa had finished second in the seven team league, forcing them to relinquish the cup to the Wanderers once more.

Ottawa regained the cup following the 1910-11 season in which LeSueur went 13-3 and then withstood two single game challenges from Galt (7-4) and the Port Arthur Bearcats (13-4), giving LeSueur a six game winning streak in Stanley Cup challenge games.

1910-11 Ottawa Senators - holders of the Stanley Cup

LeSueur is in the center of the photo holding his goalie stick and wearing the leg pads

LeSueur would spend three more seasons with the Senators before being traded to the Toronto Shamrocks for the 1914-15 season and transferred to the Toronto Blueshirts for the final season of his playing days.

LeSueur was an innovator, being credited for the design of the hockey net used on the ice from 1912 to 1925 and the "gauntlet" style goaltending glove. He later coached the Hamilton Tigers of the NHL in 1923-24 and was a member of the broadcast team of Hockey Night in Canada during it's early days while still on the radio. He was also a member of the ownership group which won the rights to an NHL franchise for the city of Detroit, originally named the Cougars, who coincidentally played their first game also on this date in 1926.

LeSueur was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961.

Today's featured jersey is a 1910-11 Ottawa Senators Percy LeSueur jersey with the Senators trademark black, red and white horizontal "barberpole" stripes. This style of jersey was first adopted in 1904, and except for one season with vertical stripes in 1910-11, remained in use through the original Senators final season in Ottawa of 1933-34, with the addition of the letter "O" crest from 1929-30 on.