Tommy Smith (ice hockey)

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Thomas J. Smith (September 27, 1885 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada - August 1, 1966) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played one season in the National Hockey League for the Quebec Bulldogs.

[edit] Playing career

Smith also played for the Montreal Canadiens, Quebec Bulldogs and Toronto Shamrocks in the National Hockey Association. Tommy Smith was a 5-foot 4-inches goal scorer who played for 16 teams in his career. While skating for the Ottawa Vics in 1906, Smith led the FAHL with 12 goals (including eight goals in a game against Brockville on February 23, 1906). In future years, he would be the leading goal-scorer in the OPHL (1908–09) and the NHA (1910–11, 1913–14, 1914–15).

After the 1913–14 season in Quebec, he was traded (twice) to Toronto Shamrocks. This caused a dispute with the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. At that time, the NHA and PCHA had an agreement whereby the PCHA teams could draft one player from 3 of the 6 teams of the NHA. He was traded away from Quebec, which was eligible to lose a player. He started play for Shamrocks, though he had been drafted by Victoria of the PCHA. It was found that the initial trade was not allowed, and Quebec re-traded him to Toronto during the season, disregarding the PCHA efforts to get him. After the 1914–15 season, he was traded back to Quebec, avoiding the PCHA draft again.