Irwin, James Dickinson

Childhood

Born in Hamilton , Ontario , in a butcher's family. He was one of ten children in the family - he had five brothers and four sisters. Two brothers died in infancy, sisters died of tuberculosis in childhood ^[1] . When Dick was eight years old, his family moved to Winnipeg .

Since childhood, he began to play hockey, following the example of his elder brother Alex. Father poured a rink for his sons in the courtyard of the house. Dick also set up a throwing ground in the attic ^[2] . In Winnipeg, he began his career when he was 12 years old ^[1] .

Irwin also played baseball well , which he played with his brothers Alex and George, and curling .

Career

Irwin began his professional career in 1916 as part of the Portland Rosebuds , speaking at PCHA . In the first season for the club, he scored 35 goals, showing a fourth result among beginners. In August 1917, before the start of the next season, the Canadian government introduced conscription and in November Irwin was drafted into the army. In May 1918 he arrived in England, and in August part of it was transferred to France. In November 1918, the war ended and in 1919, Irwin, along with other demobilized soldiers, returned to Halifax .

As an amateur, Irwin played for Regina Victorias for three seasons. In 1921, he resumed his professional career with Regina Capitals , performing at WCHL . In 1926, when he was 34 years old, he ended up in the NHL , signing a contract with the newly created Chicago Blackhawks team.

In Chicago, he became the first captain in the history of the team and spent a great season, becoming the second in the League among scorers. The team became the most scoring in the NHL, led by Irwin and Babe Give . The second season with Blackhawks was overshadowed by a serious injury - Irwin received a skull fracture. The result of the injury was the completion of a gaming career at the end of the 1928/29 season.

In 1930, Irwin led the Blackhawks as head coach. In the first season, he led the team to the playoffs at the helm of the team, having gained 24 victories in the regular season with 17 losses and 3 draws. In 1931, Chicago reached the Stanley Cup finals, in which they lost, and in September Irwin was fired.

In November 1931, Irwin was invited to the post of head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs . In the first season, the team won the Stanley Cup. In the future, Irwin took the team to the finals six more times, but still failed to win at least one more trophy. Upon completion of 1939/40, Irwin resigned.

Almost immediately, Irwin received an offer to lead the Montreal Canadiens . He did not need a lot of time to restructure the team and in the first season he brought the team to the playoffs. In season four, at the helm of Montreal, he led the club to victory in the Stanley Cup - the first of three. As part of the Canadiens, Elmer Luck , Doug Harvey , Bill Dernan and young Maurice Richard shone.

Irwin led the dynasty team until the 1954/55 season . In the final of the playoffs, the Canadiens lost to Detroit Red Wings with a score of 3: 4 and Irwin resigned as head coach.

The next year, he again headed the Blackhawks, but was unable to reanimate the team, which over the past ten years only made it to the playoffs once. In the 1955/56 season , hawks took last place in the regular season. Irwin was supposed to lead the team the next season, but he was soon diagnosed with cancer. A few months later, Dick Irwin died at the age of 64.

A year later, Irwin was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame . During his career as a head coach, he won 692 victories in the regular season - the result was surpassed only by Al Arbor and Scotty Bowman .