Alex Connell

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Alexander Connell (b. February 8, 1902 in Ottawa, Ontario - May 10, 1958) was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played for the New York Americans (loaned from the Ottawa Senators) , Ottawa Senators, Detroit Falcons (rights transferred from the Ottawa Senators for that season) and the Montreal Maroons in the National Hockey League.

Alex was the star goalie for the Senators team in the late 1920's. However he was acquired just after the 3rd Stanley Cup victory for Ottawa in a deal that saw Clint Benedict(Ottawa's former number one goalie) depart Ottawa for the Montreal Maroons. He was one of the first goalies to record a 30 win season in 1927 a year that the Ottawa Senators won the last of their Stanley cups. Alex currently holds the NHL record for longest shutout streak at 461:29 in 1928, which is over 6 games. His role in Ottawa was limited due to the decline of the team. in the early thirties his playing rights were switched to Montreal. He led the Montreal Maroons to a Stanley Cup in 1935 ; however, fell out of favour as Montreal's leading goalie due to allowing 5 goals to be scored against him in one game. This when compared to today's goalies (like Patrick Roy's 9 goal outburst in 1995-96 season) truly shows the difference in scoring of the old NHL towards the new NHL and the consistancy which goaltenders like him had to show. His 1.99 career goals against average is the all-time record among goaltenders of his era. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958.

He lived to see himself elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, but died before his formal induction, after a lengthy illness on May 10th,1958