NHL Lockout ... but you cant, Hockey is in my blood !!!

well, maybe not in my blood, but definitely in my family's DNA !    I come from a hockey family.   If we were home on a Saturday night, then hockey was on the TV... me cheering on the Habs, while my Dad cheered on the Leafs (booooo, hisssss).    I remember my Dad telling me that, Al Arbour, who played with Detriot, Chicago, Toronto and St Louis was a distant cousin.    I dont think my Dad knew exactly how, but I thought it was pretty cool none the less .... well, it turns out our family ties to hockey and the NHL goes even deeper than that !!

My Dad's Mother was an Arbour.   My 7th Great-Grandfather, Michel Arbour (1647-1699) emigrated from Normandie France to Neuville Quebec in 1671.   That same year he married Marie-Catherine Constatineau in Quebec.  

Skipping ahead a few generations, in 1883/84, my 2nd Great-Grandfather, Joseph Magloire Arbour (1845-1924) brought his wife Leocadie Cartier dit Robert (1850-1926) and children to Simcoe County in Ontario.   My Great-Grandfather, William Joseph Arbour (1884-1965) was the first of their children born in Ontario.   They settled in Victoria Harbour, where my Grandmother was eventually born.

Althought many of my ancestors stayed in Quebec, some decided to join family members in Ontario.   My 3rd Great-GrandUncle, Narcisse Arbour (1874-?) was one of the family that also ended up settling in Victoria Harbour.   Narcisse Arbour married Marie Jean Laforge (1877-) after arriving in Ontario, and hey had a son Joseph Amos Arbour (1895-1943), my 1st Cousin 4x removed.

Joseph Amos Arbour, or Amos "Butch" Arbour, as he came to be known as, was an original member of the NHL.

Amos Arbour came by his nickname obviously enough. "Butch" was a butcher by trade, while playing two seasons for the National Hockey Assoiation and six seasons in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens, Hamilton Tigers and Toronto St Patricks.   Butch was a member of the 1916 Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens team.

Born in Victoria Harbour, Ontario way back in 1895, Arbour first arrived on the big league hockey scene back in 1915 when he joined the Montreal Canadiens. This was back when there was no such thing as the NHL. Instead, the Canadiens were part of the NHA - National Hockey Association - the forerunner to the NHL.

Butch, a 5'8" 160lb left winger, played 20 games with the Habs that season, scoring 5 goals. He seemed to be hitting his stride with linemates Goldie Prodgers and Louis Berlinquette when World War I interrupted his career. Even though his commitments to the Canadian military prevented him from playing with the Habs, he continued playing in the NHA while stationed in southern Ontario. Arbour scored an impressive 13 goals in 10 games with the Toronto 228th Battalion entry in the league.

There is no statistical evidence to suggest Arbour played at all during the 1917-18 season, possibly because he was in Europe fighting in the war. He eventually resurfaced, playing a single game of the 1918-19 season back with the Habs now of the NHL.

Arbour's best big league season came in 1919-20 when he scored 21 goals in 22 games with the Habs. He would play another season in Montreal before being traded with Cully Wilson and Harry Mummery to Hamilton for the infamous Sprague Cleghorn. Arbour played two seasons in Hamilton and a final season with the Toronto St. Pats in 1923-24 before retiring and returning to his meat counter.

His NHL totals were 52 goals and 20 assists in 113 games. In the NHA he scored 19 goals and 3 assists in 30 games.