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Alex Smart

{{short description|Canadian ice hockey player (1918–2005)}}

{{Infobox ice hockey player

| image = Alex_Smart_hockey_player.jpg

| image_size = 230px

| position = Left wing

| played_for = Montreal Canadiens

| shoots = Left

| height_ft = 5

| height_in = 10

| weight_lb = 150

| birth_date = {{birth date|1918|5|29|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Brandon, Manitoba, Canada

| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|2005|4|18|1918|5|29}}

| death_place = Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

| career_start = 1938

| career_end = 1953

}}

Alexander Smart (May 29, 1918 – April 18, 2005) was a Canadian ice hockey forward. He played 8 games in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens during the 1942–43 season. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1938 to 1950, was mainly spent in the Quebec Senior Hockey League.

Playing career

Born in Brandon, Manitoba, Smart played junior hockey in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League with the Portage Terriers for two seasons. In 1937–38, joined the senior ranks with the Toronto Marlboros of the Ontario Hockey Association and scored 23 points in 12 games at a goal-per-game pace. The following season, he began a three-year stint in the Montreal City Hockey League (MCHL) with the Verdun Maple Leafs and Montreal Sr. Canadiens.

In 1941–42, Smart moved with the Sr. Canadiens to the Quebec Senior Hockey League (QSHL). Affiliated with the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League,{{cite web | title=Legends of Hockey - Alex Smart | url=http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=14346 | accessdate=2008-10-15 | publisher=Hockey Hall of Fame | archive-date=2016-10-14 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161014062311/http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=14346 | url-status=live }} Smart was called up to the NHL in January of the 1942–43 NHL season and, on January 14, became the first player in league history to score a hat trick in his NHL debut; this feat would not be matched for 36 years, by Réal Cloutier at the start of the 1979–80 NHL season, and since repeated by only Fabian Brunnström (2008), Derek Stepan (2010), Ryan Poehling (2019), and not exceeded until Auston Matthews (2016), who scored four.{{cite news|title=Newcomer's historic debut sparks Stars victory|url=http://www.star-telegram.com/stars/story/977993.html|accessdate=2008-10-15|date=2008-10-15|newspaper=Star Telegram|archive-date=2020-05-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200524183655/http://www.star-telegram.com/stars/story/977993.html/|url-status=dead}} He completed the season with 5 goals and 2 assists in 8 games – the lone NHL stint of his career.

Smart spent the remainder of his career in the QSHL with the Montreal Royals and Ottawa Senators except for one more season in the MCHL with the Montreal Vickers and the final season of his career in the OVHL with Eastview St. Charles. He recorded a career-high 66 points in 47 games with the Senators in 1947–48, then helped the club to an Allan Cup in 1949 as Canada's senior amateur champions. Smart retired after the 1950–51 season spent with Eastview.

Post-playing career

After retiring from the QSHL, Smart became a scout for the Los Angeles Kings and worked with Goodyear Tire for forty years.{{citation needed|date=October 2008}}

Career statistics

=Regular season and playoffs=

border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; width:60em"
bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff"|

! rowspan="100" bgcolor="#ffffff"|

! colspan="5"|Regular season

! rowspan="100" bgcolor="#ffffff"|

! colspan="5"|Playoffs

bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! Season

! Team

! League

! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM

! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM

1935–36

| Portage Terriers

| MJHL

| 16

104144

| 6

96152
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1936–37

| Portage Terriers

| MJHL

| 16

1541910

| 4

0226
1937–38

| Toronto Marlboros

| OHA

| 12

12112310

| 6

48129
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1938–39

| Verdun Maple Leafs

| QSHL

| 22

691518

| 2

1124
1939–40

| Verdun Maple Leafs

| QSHL

| 21

891713

| 8

7189
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1940–41

| Montreal Senior Canadiens

| MCHL

| 33

7152221

| —

————
1941–42

| Montreal Senior Canadiens

| QSHL

| 36

1562140

| 6

4484
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1942–43

| Montreal Canadiens

| NHL

| 8

5270

| —

————
1942–43

| Montreal Senior Canadiens

| QSHL

| 23

1211238

| —

————
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1943–44

| Montreal Royals

| QSHL

| 20

914239

| 5

4372
1944–45

| Montreal Royals

| QSHL

| 24

19193812

| 7

2352
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1945–46

| Montreal Royals

| QSHL

| 37

16244033

| 11

55106
1946–47

| Ottawa Senators

| QSHL

| 38

14213526

| 9

1674
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1947–48

| Ottawa Senators

| QSHL

| 47

28386611

| 12

28106
1947–48

| Ottawa Senators

| Al-Cup

| —

————

| 10

47112
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1948–49

| Ottawa Senators

| QSHL

| 40

14274129

| 11

3476
1948–49

| Ottawa Senators

| Al-Cup

| —

————

| 14

1452
bgcolor="#f0f0f0"

| 1949–50

| Ottawa Senators

| QSHL

| 28

8122028

| 7

03312
bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan="3" | QSHL totals

! 336 !! 149 !! 190 !! 339 !! 227

! 78 !! 29 !! 38 !! 67 !! 55

bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! colspan="3" | NHL totals

! 8 !! 5 !! 2 !! 7 !! 0

! — !! — !! — !! — !! —

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • {{icehockeystats}}
  • http://ourhistory.canadiens.com/player/Alex-Smart {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100503155149/http://ourhistory.canadiens.com/player/Alex-Smart |date=2010-05-03 }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smart, Alex}}

Category:1918 births

Category:2005 deaths

Category:Canadian ice hockey forwards

Category:Ice hockey people from Brandon, Manitoba

Category:Los Angeles Kings scouts

Category:Montreal Canadiens players

Category:Montreal Royals (QSHL) players

Category:Ottawa Senators (QSHL) players

Category:Portage Terriers players

Category:Verdun Maple Leafs (ice hockey) players

Category:20th-century Canadian sportsmen

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