- Harry Watson (ice hockey b. 1898)
-
Olympic medal record Men's ice hockey Competitor for 
CanadaGold 1924 Chamonix Team competition - This article is about the amateur hockey player from the 1910s and 1920s; for the professional hockey player from the 1940s and 1950s, see Harry Watson (ice hockey b. 1923).
Harold Ellis "Moose" Watson (July 14, 1898 – September 11, 1957) was a Canadian amateur ice hockey forward. He was a member of the Toronto Granites team that won a gold medal for Canada in ice hockey at the 1924 Winter Olympics. [1]
Contents
Early years
Born in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Watson also lived in England and Winnipeg, Manitoba before moving to Toronto at the age of 15. He played for the Whitby Athletics in the Ontario Hockey Association. He then played for St. Andrews College and was a first team all-star in 1915. Watson played for the Toronto Aura Lee before serving in the Canadian military during World War I.
Royal Flying Corps
He served in the Royal Flying Corps as a fighter ace. He flew a Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a to victory over an Albatros D.V on 25 January 1918, sharing the win with fellow Canadian Frank H. Taylor. By the time he scored his sixth and final win on 4 July, he had destroyed another enemy plane and sent four more down out of control.[2]
Playing career
After the war, Watson joined the Toronto Dentals in a playoff series against the Hamilton Tigers, which the Tigers won. For the 1919-20 season, he joined the new Toronto Granites, the OHA team from the Toronto Granite Club. Led by Watson, the Granites won the Allan Cup in 1921-22 and 1922-23, with Watson named a first-team all-star in both seasons. They then represented Canada at the 1924 Winter Olympics, winning the ice hockey gold medal. At the Olympics, Watson scored 36 goals[3] in five games as the Canadian team outscored the opposition 132-3 over six games. In one game against Switzerland, Watson scored 13 goals.[4]
He turned down several lucrative offers to play professionally in the National Hockey League. Charlie Querrie, manager of the Toronto St. Patricks, offered Watson $10,000 to join his team for the 1924-25 season,[5] but Watson declined. His Granites teammate Hooley Smith would have a 17-year NHL career, but Watson wanted to enter the business world and retired as a player in 1924.
Coaching career
In 1930, he became coach of the Toronto National Sea Fleas senior amateur team. During the 1931 playoff season, Watson refereed several OHA games. In December 1931, during his second season behind the bench for the Sea Fleas, Watson made a brief comeback as a player at the age of 33 after one of his players was unable to make a road trip. As coach, Watson guided the team to the Allan Cup in 1932.
Honours
Watson was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962 and the IIHF Hall of Fame in 1998.
References
- ^ The Official Olympic Games Companion: The Complete Guide to the Oylmpic Winter Games 1998 Edition, London - Washington: Brassey’s Sports, 1998, p. 128, ISBN 1-85753-244-9
- ^ http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/watson1.php Retrieved on 2 May 2010.
- ^ Story #53: Harry Watson scores at will in Olympics. International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
- ^ IIHF Top 100 Hockey Stories of All Time, Szymon Szemberg and Andrew Podnieks, p.76, Fenn Publishing, Bolton, Ontario, Canada, 2008, ISBN 978-1-55168-358-4
- ^ "Still on the trail of Harry Watson," Toronto Star, December 16, 1924, p. 10.
External links
Categories:- 1898 births
- 1957 deaths
- Canadian ice hockey forwards
- Canadian World War I flying aces
- Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
- Ice hockey people from Newfoundland and Labrador
- Ice hockey players at the 1924 Winter Olympics
- Olympic gold medalists for Canada
- Olympic ice hockey players of Canada
- People from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
- Olympic medalists in ice hockey
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