Roy Gordon Conacher (October 5, 1916 – December 29, 1984) was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger who played 11 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Black Hawks.
He won the Art Ross Trophy in 1948–49 season as the NHL's leading point scorer and was named a first team All-Star.
[4] All ten children were encouraged to participate in sports by the principal of Jesse Ketchum School, who felt that such pursuits would keep his students from getting into trouble.
[1] Conacher played his minor hockey with the Toronto Marlboro organization and was a member of Ontario provincial championship winning teams at the bantam and midget age groups.
[5] The Nationals, led by Roy and Bert Conacher, won the OHA title and reached the 1936 Memorial Cup final against the Saskatoon Wesleys.
[8] West Toronto won the best-of-three final in two consecutive games, 5–1 and 4–2, to capture the Dominion junior championship.
[6] The Boston Bruins invited Conacher to their amateur camp in 1935 where the then 17-year-old made a good impression on manager Art Ross.
[6] By 1941, he had joined with Eddie Wiseman and Bill Cowley to form the "Three Gun Line", so named because all three players were considered top scoring threats.
[5] In 1942, Conacher left the Bruins to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force for the duration of the Second World War where he served as a physical training instructor.
[9] Art Ross feared that Conacher would not be able to return to his previous form due to losing four seasons to military service when he was in his physical prime and opted to trade him.
[5] Art Ross, once asked what his biggest mistake as a general manager was, replied "trading Roy Conacher".
[17] Refusing to bow to his demands, Adams traded Conacher to the New York Rangers on October 22, 1947, in exchange for Edward Slowinski and a player to be named later.
[5] Bill Tobin of the Chicago Black Hawks received permission from Detroit to speak with Conacher and successfully negotiated a deal with the player.
[8] His best statistical season came in 1948–49 when he won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading point scorer playing on a line with Bill Mosienko and Doug Bentley on a team that was coached by his brother Charlie.
[27] Roy was relatively anonymous compared to his more famous brothers Lionel and Charlie, and was often referred to as the "forgotten Conacher".