Great Hockey Nicknames: The Embalmer

Alf Pike has one of the game's all time great nicknames: The Embalmer.

Pike did not earn his nickname by being one of the game's great villains like you might expect. No, he came about his handle much more innocently and literally - he was a licensed mortician.

But first and foremost Pike was a hockey player, and a very versatile one at that. He started in the NHL as a center, moved back to defense and completed his career on the wing. But he was probably best known as the Rangers third line center. He was a utility player if there ever was one.

Pike was another Winnipeg product the Rangers found during the years of World War II. He joined the Rangers as a 22 year old in 1940. As any good Ranger fan knows, that was a good year to join the team, as the Rangers won the Stanley Cup. Pike, who centered Dutch Hillier and Snuffy Smith, scored the overtime winning goal in game one.


Read the full Alf Pike biography