"Tiny" Thompson

Cecil Ralph "Tiny" Thompson (May 31, 1903 – February 9, 1981) was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played twelve seasons in the National Hockey League. Born in the mining community of Sandon, British Columbia, he reached the NHL with the Boston Bruins and won the Stanley Cup as a rookie in the 1928–29 season. He remained with Boston for ten full seasons before being traded to the Detroit Red Wings at the start of the 1938–39 campaign, completing that season and playing one more full season for Detroit before retiring. Thompson won the Vezina Trophy four times. Over his NHL career he recorded 81 shutouts, the sixth-highest total of any goaltender. He helped popularize the "glove save," the technique of catching the puck with his hands as a method of making a save. A competent puckhandler, he became the first goaltender in the NHL to record an assist, in 1936, by passing the puck with his stick to a teammate. After retiring as a player, he coached lower-league teams before becoming a noted professional scout. Thompson was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1959.