Skinner Poulin

George Vincent "Skinner" Poulin (September 17, 1887 May 3, 1971[1]) was a professional ice hockey player who played for the Montreal Canadiens in the National Hockey Association and the Victoria Aristocrats in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. He was part of the original Montreal Canadiens team in the 1909–10 season and played in the team's first game on January 5, 1910.[2]

Skinner Poulin
Poulin with the Montreal Canadiens in 1910.
Born (1887-09-17)September 17, 1887
Smith's Falls, Ontario, Canada
Died May 3, 1971(1971-05-03) (aged 83)
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Height 5 ft 6 in (168 cm)
Weight 155 lb (70 kg; 11 st 1 lb)
Position Centre
Shot Left
Played for Portage la Prairie
Winnipeg Maple Leafs
Galt Professionals
Victoria Aristocrats
Montreal Canadiens
Saskatoon Crescents
Playing career 19041921
A cigarette pack hockey card showing Poulin in the original Canadiens uniform of 1910.

Poulin won a Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in 1916.[3]

During the tail-end of his playing career, while playing in Saskatoon, Poulin became engaged as a referee, and for the 1922–23 WCHL season he was appointed referee-in-chief for the league.[4]

Playing style

Poulin, standing at five feet and six inches, was a fairly small forward among his contemporaries, but he deployed a physically engaging style of play to compensate for his lack of height and weight. In the local Victoria newspapers, while playing for the Victoria Aristocrats in the PCHA, he was often referred to as the "pepper box", in reference to his aggressive and peppery playing style.[5]

When the PCHA, prior to the 1914–15 season, lay forward a rule change that would prevent body-checking from within ten feet of the fence, Poulin voiced his displeasure and claimed that ice hockey was the only sport where a light man like himself could use his body to his advantage. Poulin claimed that hard checking and Victoria's "get the man" tactics had played a large part in the club winning two consecutive PCHA championships in 1913 and 1914.[6]

Despite Poulin's fears of a less hard-hitting league in 1914–15 he continued to deploy a physically engaging style of hockey which led to him leading the PCHA in penalty minutes that season, something he had also done the season prior, earning him the "bad man" moniker of Pacific coast hockey for a second consecutive year.[7]

Career statistics

    Regular Season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1904–05Smiths Falls Mic-MacsOHA Jrdata not available
1905–06Smiths Falls Mic-MacsOHAdata not available
1906–07Smiths Falls Mic-MacsOHA41901934040
1907–08Portage la PrairieMan-Pro1514014
1908–09Winnipeg Maple LeafsMan-Pro4731018
Winnipeg Maple LeafsMan-Pro45160
1909–10Galt ProfessionalsOPHL22023
Montreal CanadiensNHA1280853
1910–11Montreal CanadiensNHA1530361
1911–12Victoria AristocratsPCHA1690950
1912–13Victoria AristocratsPCHA1564106332020
1913–14Victoria AristocratsPCHA15971640
1914Victoria AristocratsStanley Cup31010
1914–15Victoria AristocratsPCHA1644852
1915–16Montreal CanadiensNHA165164331019
1916–17Montreal CanadiensNHA40000
Montreal WanderersNHA63030
1917–18did not play
1918–19Victoria AristocratsPCHA10000
1919–20Saskatoon CrescentsN-SSHL1242631
1920–21Saskatoon CrescentsN-SSHL41121140003
1921–22Saskatoon SheiksWCHL20110
PCHA totals6328154320532020
NHA totals531912015731019
WCHL totals20110

Sources: [8][9]

References

Notes

  1. Ottawa Journal. May 7, 1971, p. 33
  2. (in French) La Patrie (newspaper), Friday, January 7, 1910, p.2, link to the digital collection of Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec
  3. Stanley Cup Annual Record 1916 NHL (nhl.com). Retrieved 2020-10-27.
  4. "Poulin named chief official for W.C.H.L." Star-Phoenix (Saskatoon). Oct. 12, 1922 (p. 5). Retrieved 2021-04-27.
  5. "Poulin may remain at Calgary – Trouble in Taylor case looms up" Victoria Daily Times. Oct. 14, 1915 (p. 9). Retrieved 2021-04-27.
  6. "Prohibition of body check may hamper hockey" Winnipeg Tribune. Nov. 14, 1914. Retrieved 2021-04-27.
  7. "Scoring records eclipsed" Victoria Daily Times. Mar. 20, 1915. (p. 9). Retrieved 2021-04-27.
  8. Bruneau et Normand (2003) p. 668.
  9. Skinner Poulin's Just Sports Stats

General

  • Bruneau, Pierre; Normand, Léandre (2003). La glorieuse histoire des Canadiens (in French). Montréal: Éditions de l'Homme. p. 823. ISBN 2-7619-1860-6.
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