Alphonse Lacroix Explained

Birth Date:21 October 1897
Birth Place:Newton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Death Place:Lewiston, Maine, U.S.
Height Ft:5
Height In:7
Weight Lb:136
Position:Goaltender
Catches:Left
Played For:Montreal Canadiens
Ntl Team:USA
Career Start:1917
Career End:1931

Alphonse Albert Lacroix (October 21, 1897 – April 12, 1973), known as "Al" or "Frenchy", was an American ice hockey goaltender who is best known as a member of the silver medal-winning American ice hockey team at the 1924 Winter Olympics, and as the emergency goaltender who replaced Georges Vezina when he collapsed in a game in 1925.

Career

Lacroix was born in Newton, Massachusetts, and began his hockey career playing for the high school team in 1914. By 1917 he began playing in the Boston city senior amateur league. He joined the Boston Athletic Association in 1919 and played for their hockey team in the city senior league and later the United States Amateur Hockey Association. He was selected to the United States Olympic team at the 1924 Winter Olympics, winning a silver medal.

In 1925 he was retained by the National Hockey League as an emergency goaltender, on hand to replace any of the clubs' goalies should they suffer serious injury.[1] His only experience at the top professional level came in 1925 when he replaced the Montreal Canadiens' Georges Vezina.

Vézina was unknowingly suffering from tuberculosis. Running a fever of 102 °F and coughing up blood on the ice, Lacroix relieved Vézina at the start of the second period of the opening game of the 1925–26 Montreal Canadiens season against the Pittsburgh Pirates on November 28. By December 15 the Canadiens had signed Herb Rheaume as Vézina's permanent replacement. Lacroix would stay on with the Canadiens as a spare goaltender until 1927, but never played another game in the NHL.

Lacroix continued his career in the Can-Am League and the semi-pro North East Hockey League. He retired from hockey in 1931.

He died in Lewiston, Maine.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular seasonPlayoffs
SeasonTeamLeagueGP W L T Min GA GAAGP W L Min GA SO GAA
1914–15Newton High SchoolHS-MA7 5 1 1 294 15 0 2.041 1 0 40 1 0 1.00
1915–16Newton High SchoolHS-MA7 5 2 0 280 9 2 1.29
1916–17Newton High SchoolHS-MA8 7 0 1 320 10 4 1.25
1917–18Boston Navy YardUSNHL11 7 4 0 455 22 3 1.93
1919–20Boston A.A. UnicornsExhib3 2 1 0 135 8 0 2.67
1920–21Boston A.A. UnicornsUSAHA
1921–22Boston A.A. UnicornsUSAHA1 1 0 0 45 2 0 2.00
1922–23Boston A.A. UnicornsUSAHA9 9 0 0 405 10 4 1.114 3 1 180 4 1 1.00
1923–24Boston A.A. UnicornsUSAHA6 3 3 0 270 10 1 1.673 1 2 180 8 0 2.67
1924–25Boston A.A. UnicornsUSAHA21 15 6 0 955 40 4 1.884 1 3 150 10 1 3.00
1925–26Montreal CanadiensNHL5 1 4 0 280 16 0 3.43
1927–28Providence RedsCan-Am4 1 3 0 250 12 0 2.88
1927–28Lewiston St. DomsNEHL22 8 12 2 1350 42 5 1.875 305 16 0 3.15
1928–29Lewiston St. DomsNEHL4 3 1 0 240 9 0 2.253 2 1 240 8 1 2.67
1929–30Providence RedsCam-Am1 1 0 0 60 2 0 2.00
1930–31Boston TigersCam-Am4 1 3 0 240 13 0 3.25
NHL totals5 1 4 0 280 16 0 3.43

International

Notes and References

  1. News: Canadiens seeking Rheaume as goalie. The Montreal Gazette. December 14, 1925. 19. Lacroix, the former U.S. Olympic goalkeeper, has been carrying the net duty for Canadiens since Vezina's retirement, but this former Boston amateur is the league relief goalkeeper, held by the circuit for emergency purposes in case of severe accident to any of the goaltenders of the league teams,....