Harry Hyland

One of hockey's earliest stars was Harry Hyland, a goal scoring right winger from Montreal who played mostly in his hometown and most famously with the Montreal Wanderers from about 1910 through 1918. 

"A fast skater with powerful, accurate shot," Hyland knew how to score goals. He once scored 8 times in a single game (January 25th 1913 against the Quebec Bulldogs). He scored a hat trick in the Stanley Cup championship game in 1910. He scored 4 goals in the PCHA championship game in 1912. He is the 4th highest scorer in National Hockey Association (fore-runner to the NHL) history. And on opening night in NHL history on December 19th, 1917, he scored no less than five times! In total (NHA, PCHA, NHL) he scored 198 goals in 159 big league games.

Harry Hyland was born in Montreal on January 21, 1889. He grew falling in love with the game of hockey, and soon became one of it's greatest heroes.

Harry played for the Montreal Galics, the St. Ann's and the Shamrocks. He entered into the Eastern Canadian Hockey Association (ECHA) by becoming a member of the Montreal Shamrocks while still within the junior age limit. Harry shared his ECHA debut with the famous Joe Malone who too was new into the league playing for the Quebec Bulldogs. Their introduction to the league were against one another where Harry scored twice leading the Shamrocks to a slight victory of 9-8 over the Bulldogs. Harry had an astounding first year racking up nineteen goals in the eleven games he played.

During the 1909-1910 season Harry played for the Montreal Wanderers...just in time to make a run for the Stanley Cup. During the two years with the Wanderers, Harry showed he was not much a playmaker as he was a pure goal scorer.

For the 1911-1912 season, the Pacific Canadian Hockey Association (PCHA) managed to get Hyland to play for the New Westminster Royals. In fifteen games, Harry terrorized goalies with a smashing twenty six goals! This amazing feat led his team to capture the league championship.

In 1913 Hyland - a small but tough little bugger - rejoined the Wanderers. On January 27, 1913 he scored eight goals which landed him in second for the highest single game total in history of the National Hockey Association (NHA). The only two people to do better were Newsy Lalonde and Tommy Smith who both managed to score nine goals in a single game.

Most famously teaming with Odie Cleghorn and Gordon Roberts, Harry remained with the Wanderers until they joined the National Hockey League (NHL) for the 1917 - 1918 season. At this time Harry was picked up by Ottawa in the dispersal draft after Montreal's arena was destroyed by a fire. That year Harry retired from the NHL.

Harry is one of the few players to win two national championships; the Stanley Cup with the Montreal Wanderers (1909-1910) and the Minto Cup, symoblic of the Canadian Professional Lacrosse supremacy, with the Montreal Shamrocks.

Harry Hyland was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962. Seven years later on August 8, 1969 Harry passed away.