Punch Broadbent
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Harry L. "Punch" Broadbent (b. 1892, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada - d. March 6, 1971, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) was an ice hockey player for the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Maroons and the New York Americans, and generally regarded as one of the first true power forwards in National Hockey League history.
The rangy right winger started his career with Ottawa of the National Hockey Association before World War I, being paired on a line with Jack Darragh. He was seventh in the league in scoring his rookie year of 1913, and while hobbled with injuries the next, was fourth in scoring the following year. He scored a hat trick in his last game in the Stanley Cup finals against the Vancouver Millionaires in 1915 before going to the war for three and a half years.
After resuming his career and teamed with great forwards Frank Nighbor and Cy Denneny, he starred for the Senators (which in the interim had joined the NHL) for six more seasons, playing for three Stanley Cup champions. Though he was a holdout for most of the 1921 season, Broadbent came back strong to win the league scoring title in 1922. He also set a mark that season by scoring goals in an incredible sixteen consecutive games, still the NHL record over eighty years later.
In 1925, along with veteran teammate Clint Benedict, Broadbent was sold by an increasingly impoverished Ottawa club to the expansion Maroons. Broadbent was the Maroons' leading scorer that first season, including in his feats a five goal game against the Hamilton Tigers, and in the second ably assisted his team -- and leading all players in penalty minutes in the playoffs -- to its first Stanley Cup championship against the Victoria Cougars. He was traded back to the Senators in 1928 with cash for star Hooley Smith, but by that time Broadbent's starring days were through. He played out the string for the Americans in 1929 and retired after that season.
Broadbent finished his career with 172 goals and 58 assists in 360 professional games, and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962.
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| Preceded by: Newsy Lalonde |
NHL Scoring Champion 1922 |
Succeeded by: Babe Dye |
Categories: 1892 births | 1971 deaths | Hockey Hall of Fame | Canadian ice hockey players | Montreal Maroons players | New York Americans players | National Hockey League scoring leaders (prior to 1947-48) | Ontario sportspeople | Ottawa Senators (original) players | People from Ottawa | Stanley Cup champions
