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Sprague Cleghorn
Spraguecleghorn
Position Defenceman
Shot Left
Height
Weight
5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
190 lb (86 kg)
Teams NHA
Renfrew Hockey Club
Montreal Wanderers
NHL
Ottawa Senators
Toronto St. Patricks
Montreal Canadiens
Boston Bruins
CAHL
Newark Bulldogs
Nationality Flag of Canada Canadian
Born March 11, 1890,
Montreal, QC, CAN
Died July 12, 1956 (age 66),
Pro Career 1909 – 1929
Hall of Fame, 1958


Sprague Horace "Peg" Cleghorn, (March 11, 1890 – July 12, 1956), was a Canadian professional player who played for the Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Renfrew Creamery Kings and Toronto St. Patricks in the National Hockey Association and National Hockey League from 1911 until 1929.

Playing Career[]

Born in Montreal, Cleghorn had a Hall of Fame career but was regarded as one of the dirtiest players of his era. He played on Stanley Cup-winning teams in 1920, 1921 and 1924.

In 1909–10, Cleghorn began his career with the Montreal Wanderers, becoming a professional with Renfrew of the National Hockey Association (NHA) the next season. He then played for the Montreal Wanderers for six seasons. In the NHL, he played defenceman for the Ottawa Senators from 1918 to 1920. In an attempt at league parity, the NHL transferred him to the Hamilton Tigers in December 1920, but Cleghorn refused to report. The Senators asked that he be allowed to return to their team. George Kennedy, owner of the Montreal Canadiens, threatened to have Ottawa thrown out of the league. Cleghorn eventually signed with Toronto, but was released in March after the St. Pats lost their play-off and he signed with Ottawa during the playoffs in time to be a member of the 1921 Stanley Cup-winning team.

The league transferred Cleghorn to Hamilton in 1921, and again he refused to go. Just before the start of the 1921–22 NHL season, Sprague was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for Harry Mummery and Amos Arbour. He played four seasons in Montreal and after the 1924–25 NHL season, was purchased by the Boston Bruins for $5,000. Sprague played his final three seasons in the NHL with Boston (1925 to 1928). He then moved to the minor-league Newark Bulldogs (1928–29) as a player-coach. Later, he coached the CAHL Providence Reds (1930–31) and NHL Montreal Maroons (1931–32). He later coached the Pittsburgh Shamrocks of the International Hockey League (1935–36) and the Cornwall Cougars of Quebec's Provincial Senior League in 1947-48..

Even in an era of rough play, Cleghorn was notorious for being among the dirtiest of the lot, and ranked amongst the league leaders in penalty minutes for nine of the first ten seasons of the NHL's history. In 1923, Cleghorn hit Ottawa Senators player Lionel Hitchman in the head with his stick. Charged with aggravated assault, Cleghorn was found guilty and fined $50.

Cleghorn was hit by a car in early June 1956, and died of his injuries in Montreal on July 12, 1956. His funeral was July 14, 1956 and he was buried in Montreal. Cleghorn's brother, Odie Cleghorn, was found dead in his bed just hours before the funeral, as a result of heart failure, perhaps induced by the stress of the loss of his brother.

Awards & Achievements[]

Career Statistics[]

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1910–11 Renfrew Creamery Kings NHA 12 5 0 5 27 -- -- -- -- --
1911–12 Montreal Wanderers NHA 18 9 0 9 40 -- -- -- -- --
1912–13 Montreal Wanderers NHA 19 12 0 12 46 -- -- -- -- --
1913–14 Montreal Wanderers NHA 20 12 8 20 17 -- -- -- -- --
1914–15 Montreal Wanderers NHA 19 21 12 33 51 2 0 0 0 17
1915–16 Montreal Wanderers NHA 8 9 4 13 22 -- -- -- -- --
1916–17 Montreal Wanderers NHA 19 16 9 25 62 -- -- -- -- --
1918–19 Ottawa Senators NHL 18 6 6 12 27 -- -- -- -- --
1919–20 Ottawa Senators NHL 21 16 5 21 62 -- -- -- -- --
1920–21 Ottawa Senators NHL 3 2 1 3 9 -- -- -- -- --
1920–21 Toronto St. Patricks NHL 13 3 4 7 26 1 0 0 0 0
1920–21 Ottawa Senators Stanley Cup - - - - - 5 1 2 3 36
1921–22 Montreal Canadiens NHL 24 17 7 24 63 -- -- -- -- --
1922–23 Montreal Canadiens NHL 24 9 4 13 34 -- -- -- -- --
1923–24 Montreal Canadiens NHL 23 8 3 11 39 -- -- -- -- --
1924–25 Montreal Canadiens NHL 27 8 1 9 82 -- -- -- -- --
1925–26 Boston Bruins NHL 28 6 5 11 49 -- -- -- -- --
1926–27 Boston Bruins NHL 44 7 1 8 84 -- -- -- -- --
1927–28 Boston Bruins NHL 26 2 2 4 14 -- -- -- -- --
1927–28 Newark Bulldogs CAHL 3 0 0 0 0 -- -- -- -- --
NHL totals 251 84 39 123 489 -- -- -- -- --


Trivia[]

  • Though a defenseman, Cleghorn wore jersey #1 for the entire 1926-27 NHL season while playing for the Boston Bruins.

Gallery[]

External Links[]

Preceded by
Newsy Lalonde
Montreal Canadiens captains
1922-25
Succeeded by
Billy Coutu


Boston Bruins Captains
Cleghorn | Hitchman | Owen | Clapper | Barry | Stewart | Shore | Weiland | Clapper | Cowley | Crawford | Bauer | Schmidt | Sandford | Flaman | McKenney | Boivin | Bucyk | Cashman | O'Reilly | Middleton | Bourque | Allison | Thornton | Chára | Bergeron
This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Sprague Cleghorn. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


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