Lloyd Cook

Who is the greatest hockey player in the history of the Vancouver hockey scene? Stan Smyl? Trevor Linden? Pavel Bure?

Well those three are likely to garner a lot of votes, true hockey historians will quickly point to Fred "Cyclone" Taylor as the greatest player in BC's Lower Mainland. Taylor joined Frank Patrick's Vancouver Millionaires in 1912. He along with linemate Mickey MacKay lit up the PCHA and brought the Stanley Cup to Vancouver in 1915.

"Cyclone" played center/rover for the Millionaires, which was unusual for him as he usually played defense. But the Millionaires had their own high scoring defenseman that enabled Cyclone to move up front to score more often. Lloyd Cook was that high scoring defenseman. Often forgot about in hockey history, Cook deserves as much mention as Cyclone or MacKay as the best hockey player on Canada's west coast in hockey's formative years.

Cook starred in Vancouver for 9 seasons in the old PCHA. In that time Cook anchored the defense as Vancouver won 4 consecutive PCHA titles and the 1915 Stanley Cup. Perhaps the greatest blueliner in PCHA history, he scored more goals than any other defenseman. In fact on one night, February 1, 1916, he scored 5 goals in one game!!

In 1924 the Vancouver team joined the Western Canada Hockey League however Cook didn't stay with the team. He was one of several western players who were signed by the Boston Bruins to stock the NHL expansion franchise. Cook, who was 34 years old at the time, only appeared in 4 NHL games however, scoring one goal.

After his stint in the NHL, Cook, who was nicknamed "Farmer" as he was from a farming family in Lynden Ontario, moved out to California where he played professional hockey in very low level Californian League. He would later coach in that league as well, planting the seeds of hockey in the Golden State.