Didier Pitre

Didier Pitre (1 September 1883&mdash; 29 July, 1934) was a Canadian professional forward. He was nicked named "Cannonball".

IHL
Didier Pitre's first major hockey league was in an early IHL playing with the American Soo Indians, who played in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. He joined the Soo team in 1904. By 1905/06, he was the top scorer in the league with 41 goals in 22 games played. Pitre was on the IHL first all-star team that year in 1906 and again in 1907.

Shamrocks
The next season, he left as a free agent and played with the Montreal Shamrocks in the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association. He lasted there only one year before leaving to play with the Edmonton Eskimos. He stayed there only three years before jumping contract and coming back to eastern Canada where he played with the Renfrew Creamery Kings for the remainder of the year.

Canadiens
He joined the Montreal Canadiens the next year in 1909. He stayed for four years, before leaving for the west again. He spent a year playing with the Vancouver Millionaires. Pitre returned to Montreal the next year. In 1916, Pitre led the National Hockey Association in regular season assists and points. He scored 24 goals, 15 assists (assists in those days were one per goal and only if the official scorer thought it contributed to the goal being scored) for 39 points. He also helped lead the Canadiens to their first ever Stanley Cup. He led the playoffs in goals as well. He remained with Montreal through the formation of the NHL and into 1923. In the 1919 Stanley Cup playoffs, which were never completed due to the influenza epidemic, he led the playoffs in points. By 1921, the Canadiens had so much depth at forward, and an opening on defence due to the death of future Hall of Famer Joe Hall in the influenza epidemic, so they decided to try Pitre as a defenceman; not as difficult a transition as one might think, because he had previously been a "Rover" during the days of "seven man" hockey. At age 38, Pitre first regularly played as a defenceman. He played defence for his final two seasons before retiring.

Last seasons
Pitre was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962.

Didier Pitre was also a member of the great line called "The Flying Frenchmen" alongside of Jack Laviolette and Edouard "Newsy" Lalonde.