 = Art Ross = 
 
 Arthur Howey " Art " Ross ( January 13 , 1885 – August 5 , 1964 ) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and executive from 1905 until 1954 . Regarded as one of the best defenders of his era by his peers , he was one of the first to skate with the puck up the ice rather than pass it to a forward . He was on Stanley Cup championship teams twice in a playing career that lasted thirteen seasons ; in January 1907 with the Kenora Thistles and 1908 with the Montreal Wanderers . Like other players of the time , Ross played for several different teams and leagues , and is most notable for his time with the Wanderers while they were members of the National Hockey Association ( NHA ) and its successor , the National Hockey League ( NHL ) . In 1911 he led one of the first organized player strikes over increased pay . When the Wanderers ' home arena burned down in January 1918 , the team ceased operations and Ross retired as a player . 
 After several years as an on @-@ ice official , he was named head coach of the Hamilton Tigers for one season . When the Boston Bruins were formed in 1924 , Ross was hired as the first coach and general manager of the team . He would go on to coach the team on three separate occasions until 1945 and stayed as general manager until his retirement in 1954 . Ross helped the Bruins finish first place in the league ten times and to win the Stanley Cup three times ; Ross personally coached the team to two of those victories . After being hired by the Bruins , Ross , along with his wife and two sons , moved to a suburb of Boston , and became an American citizen in 1938 . He died near Boston in 1964 . 
 Outside of his association with the Bruins , Ross also helped to improve the game . He created a style of hockey puck still used today , and advocated an improved style of goal nets , a change that lasted forty years . In 1947 Ross donated the Art Ross Trophy , awarded to the leading scorer of the NHL regular season . Ross was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1949 . 
 
 = = Early life = = 
 
 Ross was born January 13 , 1885 , in Naughton , Ontario . His father , Thomas Barnston Ross , was the head of a Hudson 's Bay Company trading post in the area . The ninth of ten children , Ross grew up speaking both English and Ojibwe , a native Canadian language . Ross moved to Montreal in 1902 to play in organized hockey leagues , living in the affluent Westmount district . He played high school and junior hockey with Lester and Frank Patrick , both of whom were later inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame . Ross and Lester had a financially successful ticket resale business at the Montreal Arena , buying tickets for thirty @-@ five cents and selling them for up to a dollar . 
 
 = = Playing career = = 
 
 
 = = = 1905 – 09 = = = 
 
 The best hockey players on their high school team , Ross and the Patrick brothers were invited to play occasional games for local league teams in Montreal . Ross first played in an organized league in 1905 , joining Montreal Westmount of the Canadian Amateur Hockey League ( CAHL ) , the top amateur league in Canada . He scored ten goals in eight games during the season . His opponents regarded him as one of the best rushing defencemen . Most defenders at the time either shot the puck down the ice or passed to a forward ; in contrast , Ross skated up the ice , taking the puck into the offensive zone . Later that year , wishing to pursue a career in banking , he moved to Brandon , Manitoba , where he joined the Brandon Elks of the Manitoba Hockey League , the senior league in the province . In 1906 , his first season , he scored six goals in seven games while he recorded six goals in ten games in 1907 . Around this time , the Kenora Thistles , the Manitoba League champions , wanted to strengthen their team for the Stanley Cup challenge against the Montreal Wanderers in Montreal during January 1907 . They paid Ross $ 1 @,@ 000 to play both matches , a common practice at the time , and the Thistles won the Cup . While failing to score , Ross started many plays and proved an important part of the team . Although he played for the opposing team , he received a good reception from the Montreal crowd . Ross did not play for the Thistles when the two teams played for the Cup again in March , which the Wanderers won to take back the Cup . 
 The following year Ross moved back to Montreal . He joined the Wanderers , the team he had helped to defeat , who played in the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association ( ECAHA ) , the successor league to the CAHL as the premier league in the country . He scored eight goals in ten games over the two @-@ month season that lasted from January to March . He helped the team to finish first in the ECAHA and retain the Cup in 1908 with challenges from Ottawa , Winnipeg and Toronto . The Wanderers were Cup champions throughout these challenges , so Ross became the second player to win the Cup with different teams in consecutive years , after Jack Marshall in 1901 and 1902 . In January 1908 , he participated in the first all @-@ star game in sports history , a benefit for the family of former Wanderer defender Hod Stuart , who died the previous summer . Aside from his time with the Wanderers , Ross repeated his practice of playing for other teams who paid for his services in important matches . For the 1909 season Ross demanded a salary of $ 1 @,@ 600 . Although he settled for $ 1 @,@ 200 , the average salary of hockey players at the time was $ 600 . Ross received a cash bonus of $ 400 to play in a Stanley Cup challenge against a team from Edmonton in December 1908 , in which the Wanderers won the two @-@ game , total @-@ goal series 13 – 10 . He finished the season with two goals in nine games . 
 
 = = = 1909 – 18 = = = 
 
 A new league , the Canadian Hockey Association ( CHA ) , was formed in late November 1909 . One of the teams , the All @-@ Montreal Hockey Club , hired Ross as a playing @-@ manager , but the league only lasted to mid @-@ January 1910 before disbanding . Ross , who scored four goals in four games in the CHA , then signed with the Haileybury Comets of the National Hockey Association ( NHA ) , a league formed in December 1909 , which proved to be the stronger replacement to the ECAHA as the highest level of hockey in Canada . He received $ 2 @,@ 700 to play in the 1910 season , which lasted from January to March , playing twelve games for the team and finishing with six goals . Before the following season , the NHA imposed a salary cap of $ 5 @,@ 000 per team . The players , including Ross , were unhappy as this would result in a pay decrease , and began looking to form their own league without a cap . Ross wrote to the Montreal Herald , stating " all the players want is a fair deal ... The players are not trying to bulldoze the NHA , but we want to know where we get off at . " The plans were abandoned when they realized all the suitable arenas would be unavailable as they were owned or leased by the NHA . Ross scored four goals in eleven games with the Wanderers , who finished fourth in the five team league . During a match against the Quebec Bulldogs on February 25 , 1911 , Ross knocked out Eddie Oatman in a fight , provoking a massive brawl between the two teams , which the police had to break up . The fight helped to increase the reputation Ross had as a tough player unwilling to back down from any opponent . The following season Ross had eleven goals in nineteen games as the Wanderers improved to second in the league . 
 Prior to the 1913 – 14 NHA season , Ross refused to sign a contract for the Wanderers , requesting a salary increase . As one of the top players on the team , the Wanderers agreed to his demands of $ 1 @,@ 500 for the forthcoming season , in which he finished with four goals and nine points in eighteen games . The next season Ross , again concerned with his salary , began negotiating with other players in the NHA to leave their teams and form a new league that would offer higher wages . These actions resulted in his suspension in November 1914 by Emmett Quinn , president of the NHA . Ross responded by declaring himself a free agent and claiming his contract with the Wanderers was no longer valid . Consequently , although having no technical power to do so , Quinn suspended Ross from all organized hockey . The proposed new league failed to materialize and Ross applied for reinstatement to the NHA , which was granted at a meeting of the team owners on December 18 , 1914 . The owners realized if they suspended Ross , they would also have to suspend all those he signed , hurting the league . However , Ross 's actions led to his release by the Wanderers . At first he trained with the Montreal Canadiens , then joined the Ottawa Senators . 
 At the conclusion of the 1914 – 15 season , the Senators and Wanderers finished with identical records of fourteen wins and six losses . A two @-@ game , total goal series was played to determine the NHA league champion who would contest the Stanley Cup with the Pacific Coast Hockey Association winner , the Vancouver Millionaires . Ross , who finished with three goals in sixteen games in the season , scored one goal in the first match against the Wanderers , a Senators 4 – 0 victory , and though Ottawa lost the second game 1 – 0 , they won the series , 4 – 1 . To help the Senators stop the Wanderers , who were known for their speed , Ross created a new system of defence . Termed " kitty bar the door " , it required three defenders to align themselves across the ice 30 feet in front of the goaltender to stop offensive rushes . This style of defence would later be used in a modified version known as the neutral zone trap , later used widely to stop opposition offensive chances . 
 The following year Ross , who had eight goals and eight assists in twenty @-@ one games , was the second highest paid player on the team ; his salary of $ 1 @,@ 400 was $ 100 less than Frank Nighbor made . Even so , Ross left the team in 1916 , returning to Montreal in order to look after his sporting @-@ goods store , and rejoining the Wanderers . He scored six goals and had two assists in sixteen games for the team . The Wanderers , along with the Montreal Canadiens , Toronto Arenas , Quebec Bulldogs and Ottawa Senators dissolved the NHA and founded the National Hockey League ( NHL ) in November 1917 . Ross became coach of the Wanderers , but a fire on January 2 , 1918 , destroyed their home , the Montreal Arena , and forced them to fold after four games . However , the NHL insisted the team continue to play , and recorded two additional scheduled matches as defaulted losses for the Wanderers , even though the matches were not played . With the Wanderers disbanded , Ross retired as a player . His NHL career yielded one goal in three games played . 
 
 = = Managerial career = = 
 
 
 = = = 1918 – 36 = = = 
 
 Ross began his career as a hockey coach in the midst of his playing days , when at age 24 he led the McGill University Redmen to a 4 – 2 – 1 record during the 1910 – 11 season . Following his playing career , Ross became a NHL referee . He was hired to coach the Hamilton Tigers for the 1922 – 23 season , and adopted new methods in training camp that emphasized physical fitness , including work off the ice . However , the Tigers finished with a record of six wins and eighteen losses , last in the NHL for the third successive year , and Ross did not return the next season . His next coaching appointment arose from meeting Boston grocery store magnate Charles Adams during the 1924 Stanley Cup Finals . Before the 1924 season , the NHL awarded Adams an expansion team . Adams ' first move was to hire Ross as vice president , general manager , coach and scout . Adams instructed Ross to come up with a nickname portraying an untamed animal displaying speed , agility and cunning . With this in mind , Ross named the team the Boston Bruins , after the Old English word for a bear . The team 's nickname went perfectly with the original colours of brown and yellow , which were the same colours of Adams ' grocery chain , First National Stores . 
 Ross utilized his many hockey connections throughout Canada and the United States to sign players . Even so , the team started poorly . Early in the first season the University of Toronto hockey team was in Boston for matches against local universities . The team 's manager , Conn Smythe , who later owned and managed the Toronto Maple Leafs , said that his team could easily defeat the Bruins — Ross 's team had won only two of their first fifteen NHL games . This began a feud between Smythe and Ross which lasted for over 40 years , until Ross ' death ; while mostly confined to newspaper reports , they refused to speak to each other at NHL Board of Governor meetings . The Bruins finished their first season with six wins in thirty games , one of the worst records in the history of the league . Several records were set over the course of the season ; the three home wins are tied for the second fewest ever , and an eleven @-@ game losing streak from December 8 , 1924 , until February 17 , 1925 , set a record for longest losing streak , surpassed in 2004 and now second longest in history . With 17 wins in 36 games the following season , the team greatly improved , and finished one point out of a playoff spot . 
 In 1926 the Western Hockey League , the other top professional hockey league , was in decline . The Patrick brothers , who controlled the league , offered to sell the remaining five teams for $ 300 @,@ 000 . Ross realized the potential talent available and convinced Adams to pay the money . As a result , the Bruins acquired the rights to several future Hall of Fame players , the most notable being defender Eddie Shore . Ross signed goaltender Cecil " Tiny " Thompson in 1928 , who was with a team in Minnesota , despite never watching him play ; Ralph " Cooney " Weiland was also brought over from Minnesota . Ross acquired Cy Denneny from Ottawa and made him a player @-@ assistant @-@ coach while he assumed the role of coach and team manager . On November 20 , 1928 , the Bruins moved to a new arena when the Boston Garden opened . The team played the Canadiens who won the match 1 – 0 in front of 16 @,@ 000 fans . The players signed by Ross helped the Bruins to improve quickly , and they won the Stanley Cup in 1929 . Denneny retired after the Cup win , Ross guiding the team to several league records in the 1929 – 30 season . The team won 38 of 44 games for an .875 winning percentage , the highest in league history ; the five losses tied a record for fewest ever , and the four road losses tied a record for second fewest . The Bruins also only finished one game in a tie , a record for fewest ties in a season since the NHL began recording the record in 1926 . One of the longest winning streaks was also set during the season . From December 3 , 1929 , until January 9 , 1930 , the team won fourteen games in a row , a record that lasted until 1982 and now tied for third longest , as of October 2010 . A home winning streak began the same day and lasted for twenty games , until March 18 , 1930 , which was tied for the longest of its kind in 1976 . In 1930 – 31 , the Bruins again lost only one home game , which equalled their previous record . 
 On March 26 , 1931 , Ross substituted a sixth skater for goaltender Tiny Thompson in the final minute of play in a playoff game against the Montreal Canadiens . Although the Bruins lost the game 1 – 0 , Ross became the first coach to replace his goaltender with an extra attacker , a tactic which became widespread practice in hockey . Stepping aside as coach in 1934 to focus on managing the team , Ross hired Frank Patrick as coach with a salary of $ 10 @,@ 500 , which was high for such a role . However rumours spread during the season that Patrick was drinking heavily and not being as strict with the players as Ross wanted . After the Bruins lost their playoff series with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1936 playoffs , the result of an 8 – 1 score in the second game , a newspaper claimed that Patrick had been drinking the day of the game and had trouble controlling the team . Several days later , Ross relieved Patrick of his duties and once again assumed the role of coach . 
 
 = = = 1936 – 54 = = = 
 
 Ross took over an improved team . He had recently signed three players , Milt Schmidt , Bobby Bauer and Woody Dumart , who all grew up together in Kitchener , Ontario , and had them play on the same line , soon nicknamed the Kraut Line in reference to the German heritage of all three . Along with them , Ross had acquired a new goaltender in 1938 , Frank Brimsek ; after Brimsek earned six shutouts in his first eight games , the Bruins traded away Tiny Thompson to allow Brimsek to play . With these players the Bruins finished first in the league in 1937 – 38 ; Ross was named as the second best coach in the league , selected for the end of season All @-@ Star Second Team . The next season the Bruins won 36 of 48 games , and won the Stanley Cup in the playoffs ; Ross was named to the First All @-@ Star Team as the best coach in the league for the season and the team only tied two games , which is tied for the second fewest in a season . He hired the recently retired Cooney Weiland to coach the Bruins for the 1939 – 40 NHL season . The Bruins would win the Cup again in 1941 , and tied their record of only four away losses all season . Ross once again took over as coach of the team before the 1941 – 42 season began , as Weiland became coach of the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League , and led the team to 25 wins in 48 games , which was enough to earn third place in the league . By this time the Second World War had caused several Bruins players , including the entire Kraut Line and goaltender Brimsek , to enlist in their respective armed forces . The Bruins finished second in the NHL during the 1942 – 43 season with 24 wins in 50 games and Ross was again named in the Second NHL All @-@ Star Team as second best coach in the league . The Bruins missed the playoffs in 1943 – 44 , the first time in ten years they failed to qualify , but returned to the playoffs the next season , something they did for five straight years . 
 In 1949 , Ross had signed Georges Boucher as coach , but Boucher did not work well with Ross and team president Weston Adams . Looking to hire a new coach in the summer of 1950 , Ross phoned Lynn Patrick , the son of Lester , who had just resigned from the New York Rangers after coaching the team to the Stanley Cup Final . Lynn had moved his family back to Victoria , British Columbia , where he grew up as a child , with the intention of coaching the Victoria Cougars , a team in the minor professional Pacific Coast Hockey League . Though reluctant to move back to the eastern United States , Lynn was hired by Ross after he was offered a salary of $ 12 @,@ 000 . He would coach the team for the next four seasons and become the second general manager of the Bruins when Ross retired at the end of October 1954 . 
 
 = = = Legacy = = = 
 
 Aside from his career in hockey , Ross was interested in improving the game . Prior to the start of the 1927 – 28 season , the NHL adopted a new style of goal net created by Ross . With the back molded into a B @-@ shape , it was better designed to catch pucks and the net was used until 1984 , when a modified version was adopted . He also improved the design of the puck . Ross ' design had bevel edges , which prevented it bouncing too much , and used synthetic rubber , rather than the natural rubber previously in vogue . Along with New York Rangers coach Frank Boucher , Ross helped to create the red line , which was introduced to help speed up the game by removing the ability for defenders to pass the puck from the defensive to offensive zone ; until 2006 it was against the rules of hockey to make a two line pass . More scoring chances resulted as teams could not simply send the puck down the ice with impunity . In order to help tell the red line and blue lines apart on television , Ross suggested that the red line be striped . 
 Regarded throughout his playing career as one of the best defenders in hockey , Ross was named to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1949 , selected for his playing career rather than his work as an executive . A ceremony for his induction was held prior to a Bruins game on December 2 , 1949 , where he was given his Hall of Fame scroll and a silver tray with the emblems of the six NHL teams on it . In 1975 he was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame . Along with his two sons he donated the Art Ross Trophy to the NHL in 1947 , to be awarded to the leading scorer in the league 's regular season . In 1984 he was posthumously awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy for service to hockey in the United States . 
 A descriptive biography entitled Art Ross : The Hockey Legend who Built the Bruins by Eric Zweig was published by Dundurn Press in Sept 2015 . 
 
 = = Personal life = = 
 
 Ross also excelled in baseball , football , lacrosse and motorcycle racing . Before he became a hockey executive , he had a career as a bank clerk and ran a sporting @-@ goods store in Montreal . Ross had moved to Brandon , Manitoba , in 1905 at the advice of his parents so he could get a job with a bank , with a salary of $ 600 per year . He gave that career up when he began playing hockey professionally . He was married to Muriel , a native of Montreal , and had two sons , Art and John . During the Second World War , both sons served in the Royal Canadian Air Force . After the war Ross made his son Art the business manager for the Bruins . Ross was named coach and manager of the Boston Bruins in 1924 and moved his family to Brookline , Massachusetts , a suburb of Boston , after being hired . In 1928 , he served as the traveling secretary of the Boston Braves baseball team , which was owned by Bruins owner Charles Adams . He became a naturalized American citizen on April 22 , 1938 . On August 5 , 1964 , Ross died at a nursing home in Medford , Massachusetts , a suburb of Boston , at the age of 79 . A sister , both his sons , and three grandchildren survived him . 
 
 = = Career statistics = = 
 
 
 = = = Regular season and playoffs = = = 
 
 * Playing stats from Total Hockey 
 
 = = = Coaching record = = = 
 
 * Coaching stats from Total Hockey 
 
 = = Awards = = 
 
 
 = = = NHL = = = 
 
 * Awards from Legends of Hockey 
 
 