Ice hockey center Nels Crutchfield got his start in the sport with the Shawinigan Cataracts of the Eastern Canada Hockey Association and spent three seasons with the team, from 1928 through 1931. He entered McGill University for a Bachelor’s of Commerce and skated on the school’s hockey squad from 1930 through 1934. During that time the team won three Queen’s Cups, given annually to the Canadian intercollegiate champions (1931, 1933, and 1934), two Quebec Senior Hockey League Championships (1931, and 1934), and one amateur provincial championship (1931). In addition to serving much of this time as captain, he was also part of the squad that played two exhibition games at the 1932 Winter Olympics, defeating both the Canadian and American Olympic teams. He was eventually acquired by the National Hockey League’s Montreal Canadiens in 1934 and participated in 41 matches for them during the 1934-1935 season. The following summer he was involved in a car accident that ended his professional playing career and left him with a fractured skull; a benefit exhibition game in Montreal raised $7,000 for his medical expenses. He spent the rest of his life working for Alcan and the British American company before dying in a second car accident in 1985, at the age of 74. He was inducted into the McGill University Sports Hall of Fame in January 2002.
Canada