Frank Nighbor

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Frank Nighbor began his career with the Pembroke Debaters in the Upper Ottawa Valley Hockey League (UOVHL) in 1910–11, winning the Citizen Shield after Pembroke defeated Vankleek Hill 10 goals to 8 on March 1, 1911. He first played professionally for the Port Arthur Bearcats of the Northern Ontario Hockey League (NOHL) in 1911, after fellow Pembroke native Harry Cameron refused to go without him. Nighbor made the most of his opportunity by registering six goals in his first appearance. In 1912, he joined the Toronto Blueshirts of the NHA, scoring 25 goals in 18 games. He then jumped to the Vancouver Millionaires of the PCHA for two seasons and was an important member of the team that won the Stanley Cup over the Ottawa Senators in 1915. Nighbor did not return east immediately after that series; he played for the Vancouver Millionaires in 1915–16 before joining the Senators in 1916–17. He had his best season in 1916–17, scoring 41 goals in 19 games, finishing second in the league behind Joe Malone's 44 goals. In 1919–20 he scored 26 goals and had 15 assists in just 23 games, then had a further 6 goals in 5 playoff games and led the Senators to their first Cup in the NHL. Late in the 1925 season, Lady Byng invited Nighbor to Rideau Hall after a game, showed him an ornate trophy, and asked if he thought the NHL would accept it as an award for its most gentlemanly player. Nighbor said he thought it would be a good idea—and she presented him the trophy on the spot, making him the first winner of the Lady Byng Trophy. A year earlier, he had been the first winner of the Hart Trophy. In 1929–30, Nighbor was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Danny Cox and cash, playing 22 games before retiring. He made a brief comeback in 1931–32, playing one game for the Buffalo Bisons in the IHL.

In Their Own Story

The February 25, 1916, issue of the Ottawa Citizen claimed that Nighbor, up to that point in his career, had never taken a major penalty and that most of his fouls were tripping penalties or accidental fouls related to his famous poke check. In a 1960 interview with Bill Westwick of the Ottawa Journal, Nighbor claimed he had learned his famous poke checking technique from watching Port Arthur teammate Jack Walker, denying a claim from Jack Adams that he must have learned it from watching Fort William player Joel Rochon. Seattle Metropolitans star forward Frank Foyston gave high praise to Nighbor and the Senators after the 1920 Stanley Cup Final, where the Senators won the deciding fifth game of the series 6 goals to 1 after having scored five unanswered goals in the third period. Foyston said Nighbor had the Seattle forward line "demoralized with his speed and poke check."

Reader's Guide

Frank Nighbor was considered a master of the "sweep check," the act of laying the stick down flat on the ice and moving it in wide, circular motions, as well as the "poke check," an almost entirely different action, taking the puck off the opponent's stick. He was skilled and crafty with the puck and a good scorer. He impressed with his sportsmanship, inspiring Lady Byng to donate the Lady Byng Trophy in his honour to the "player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability." Nighbor spent the majority of his playing career as a centre forward, but early on in his professional career, while with the Toronto Blueshirts and the Vancouver Millionaires, he was also deployed as a left winger. Outside of his strong stick techniques, Nighbor also had good speed, and when the Ottawa Senators were at the top of the hockey world in the early 1920s they were known as a strong third-period threat who would run on all cylinders for all 60 minutes. After his playing career, Nighbor coached the Buffalo Bisons and London Tecumsehs of the International League and the New York Rovers of the Eastern Amateur Hockey League. He later turned to an insurance business he was a partner in and ran it until he became ill. Nighbor died of cancer on April 13, 1966, in Pembroke at the age of 73. He was survived by four children: Frank Stanley, Patrick, Pauline and Catharine. Nighbor was married twice; his first wife died in 1930 of tuberculosis, his second wife died in 1950. Nighbor was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947, the Canada Sports Hall of Fame, and the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame. In 1998, he was ranked number 100 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. In March 2010, at a Quebec auction, an American collector paid $33,000 USD to secure Nighbor's game-worn Ottawa Senators sweater from the 1926–27 season. A street in Ottawa's Kanata neighbourhood is named "Frank Nighbor Place."

Did You Know?

• Nighbor was the first player to be awarded both the Hart Trophy and the Lady Byng Trophy.
• He learned his famous poke checking technique from watching Port Arthur teammate Jack Walker, not from Jack Adams' claim about Joel Rochon.
• In March 2010, an American collector paid $33,000 USD for Nighbor's game-worn Ottawa Senators sweater from the 1926–27 season.
• Nighbor was ranked number 100 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players in 1998.
• A street in Ottawa's Kanata neighbourhood is named 'Frank Nighbor Place' in his memory.