Cyclone Taylor

Frederick Wellington "Cyclone" Taylor, OBE, (June 23, 1884 – June 9, 1979) was a Canadian professional forward who played for the Ottawa Senators, Renfrew Creamery Kings, Vancouver Millionaires and Vancouver Maroons.

Playing career
Born in Tara, Ontario, Taylor grew up in Listowel, Ontario where he played for the Listowel junior and intermediate teams in the Ontario Hockey Association. In the 1904–05 season, he joined a team in Thessalon, Ontario led by Grindy Forrester when a dispute broke out as to which team held his OHA rights. The OHA, led by secretary W. A. Hewitt, refused to grant Taylor a change of residence permit and banned him from playing in the OHA. He applied for reinstatement, but was denied, and remained in Thessalon through the winter. According to some sources, Hewitt wanted Taylor to play for the Toronto Marlboros and blocked his attempts to play for other teams.

For the 1905–06 season, Taylor played a handful of games for Portage la Prairie in Manitoba. Several teams in the new International Professional Hockey League tried to get Taylor to join them, including Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and Calumet, Michigan, which even got Taylor to sign a contract. But in February 1906 he ended up reuniting with Forrester on the Portage Lake team, based in Houghton, Michigan. The team won the league championship with Taylor playing point. He had started as a forward, but was too fast for his linemates to keep up with him. Player salaries outpaced revenue in the league and the IPHL went out of business in 1907.

Fame in the National Capital
Taylor then joined the Ottawa Senators of the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association, for whom he played two seasons, for an annual salary and promise of a civil service job. While playing for Ottawa in 1907, the current Governor General gave him the nickname "Cyclone", based on his skating ability. In December 1907, it was reported that Taylor had been offered $1,500 to leave Ottawa and play for the team in Renfrew, Ontario for the 1907–08 season. He declined the offer.

Taylor played lacrosse in 1908 for the Ottawa Capitals, and was arrested during a game on June 27 1908 for punching referee Tom Carlind in the face after receiving a penalty. The referee wouldn't press charges but the league president was in attendance and recommended that Taylor be given a lifetime suspension from the National Lacrosse Union. The league governors decided only to issue a censure. The team expected Taylor to join them the following season, but he chose not to return and to focus on his job and hockey. He tried to return to the Capitals in 1910, but was released by the team, but was back playing for the Caps in 1911.

At the start of the 1908–09 season, Taylor was given a month's vacation from his government job in Ottawa and went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to play in the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League. The WPHL season opened in mid-November, so Taylor could play there for a month and not miss any of Ottawa's ECHL games.

One of the Renfrew Millionaires
In December 1909, coming off a Stanley Cup winning season in Ottawa, it was reported that Taylor had a falling out with the club over his government job and his demand for more money. The Renfrew Creamery Kings of the new National Hockey Association (NHA) announced that they had signed Taylor, but a week later Taylor said that he had decided to stay in Ottawa. After another week, Taylor changed his mind and said he would join Renfrew, signing for a reported $5,250 for one season (because of the high salaries the players got, the fans called them the Renfrew Millionaires).

Taylor then quit his federal government job with the Department of the Interior in Ottawa. At the same time, Lester Patrick was given a similar contract to join the Renfrew team, along with his brother, Frank Patrick. Newsy Lalonde joined the team mid-season. Despite the high-priced talent, with four future hall-of-famers in their starting seven, Renfrew finished third. It was reported at the end of February 1910 that the team would lose $17,000 during the season and was in danger of folding. The team played one more season—with significantly reduced salaries, and without the Patricks and Lalonde—and then disbanded.

In 1911, Taylor became the property of Sam Lichtenhein and the NHA Montreal Wanderers. Lichtenhein wanted Taylor to be a drawing card in Montreal, but, in November 1911, Taylor said he would sooner retire from hockey than join the Wanderers. To the uproar of the Wanderers, he played for Ottawa against the Wanderers on January 24 1912. Taylor's play was so poor, he was replaced after one period, with Montreal in the lead 2-0. Ottawa came back to win the game, 10-6. The Wanderers formally protested and the game was ordered replayed. Taylor and the Ottawa team were each fined $100 by the league and Taylor was given an indefinite suspension. However, despite this, at the end of the season in March, Taylor was selected for an NHA All-Star team which played against the three PCHA teams in British Columbia.

A Vancouver Millionaire
Meanwhile, the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) was formed by Taylor's former teammates, Lester Patrick and Frank Patrick, and they encouraged Taylor to come west. In November 1912, it was announced that he would be paid $1,200 to join the Vancouver Millionaires. As he prepared to leave for the west coast, Taylor said he wouldn't play in the NHA again under any circumstances. Before he left, Taylor said one of the two new Toronto teams in the NHA was owned by Lichtenhein, who was plotting to send Taylor to Toronto and prevent him from playing for Ottawa. The accusation was denied by the presidents of both Toronto teams and by Lichtenhein, who all said he had no ownership stake in either team. In Vancouver, Taylor was moved from cover-point (defence) to centre where he played the rest of his career. Taylor helped lead the Millionaires to their only Stanley Cup victory in 1915. He won five scoring titles in the PCHA, including 32 goals in 18 games in 1917–18. He had completed his career in 1921, but came back for one more game in 1922–23.

Post-playing activities and legend
After retiring from hockey, Taylor was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947. His retirement years featured some painful moments with the death of his mother in 1934, and not being able to make it to her funeral, the loss of his wife — whom he had married in 1914 — from a heart seizure in 1963 and the death of his youngest child, Joan Franklin, in 1976 due to a heart weakness brought on by stringent dieting in her days as a figure skater.

A popular legend claims that before a game, Taylor said that he could score skating backwards, and he did just that. However, Taylor himself long disputed the legend, saying he made the comments as a joke, and his famous "backwards" goal, only involved a brief period of backward skating and the actual goal was scored just like any other.

Eric Whitehead's book Cyclone Taylor: A Hockey Legend says Taylor was a fixture at Vancouver Canucks games from the time the Canucks came into the NHL, sitting in the crowd with his Homberg hat. He was president of the Pacific Coast Hockey League from 1936 to 1940. Taylor helped start the B.C. Hockey Benevolent Association in the 1950s, and served as a director until his death.

After breaking his hip in 1978, his health went downhill and he died in his sleep in Vancouver on June 9, 1979 — two weeks short of his 95th birthday. In pregame ceremonies prior to the first game of the 1979–80 season, he was honoured by the Canucks and the award for Vancouver Canucks most valuable player was renamed the Cyclone Taylor Award.

There is also a chain of popular hockey equipment stores in Greater Vancouver and Edmonton named "Cyclone Taylor Sports", which were started by Taylor's oldest son, Fred Taylor Jr., in 1957. A grandson, Mark Taylor, played during five seasons in the National Hockey League with the Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals, from 1981 to 1986.

Furthermore, in Ottawa, a street surrounding the Ottawa Senators arena, Scotiabank Place is named after Taylor.

Regular season and playoffs
‡ Taylor played one period in game January 24, 1912 versus Montreal Wanderers. Taylor's rights belonged to Montreal, but he refused to leave Ottawa to join Montreal. The Wanderers protested and the game was ordered replayed without Taylor.

Great Grandchildren
Justin Taylor (BCHL)

Trevor Cox (WHL - Medicine Hat Tigers)

Matt Cox (SJHL)

Megan Taylor (CIS - Western Mustangs)

Tarrah Harvey (Team Canada - Figure Skating)