Edmonton Oilers Heritage Website

By the time Eddie Shore reached Edmonton in the autumn of 1925, the native of southern Saskatchewan was already a legend across the prairies. Body checking was still an awkward art in the game, so Shore’s ability to lay out opponents with brute force, without raising his stick or drawing penalties, made him one of the most-feared hockey players to date.

Although Shore was a fine, puck-moving defenceman, the reason Edmonton Eskimos owner Kenny MacKenzie offered Shore a contract was because of his ability to drill opposition skaters, which would hopefully attract more fans to Eskimos games. The Western Canadian Hockey League was facing tough times—the Regina Capitals had folded and the Eskimos were rumoured to have lost over $10,000 the season before, a kingly sum in the Flapper era.

Shore immediately earned the nickname "Edmonton Express" and his refusal to let cuts and injuries prevent him from playing set the standard to which all Canadian players adhere. When a modern fan hears Don Cherry talk about "grit" and the "warrior" mentality needed to succeed in the NHL, that’s the mantra that has been passed down to the modern game by Eddie Shore.

In Edmonton, Shore fell in love with Kate Macrae, the famous member of the Edmonton Grads basketball team that won 502 out of 522 games between 1915 and 1940. Shore and Macrae would later marry.

Shore’s take-no-prisoners style of hockey lit fires in the hearts of his Eskimos’ teammates. In 1926, they reached the WCHL final. A badly injured Shore played in the final against Victoria, despite the fact his leg bled so badly during the game that blood pooled in his skate. Shore and the Eskimos fell short in their quest to beat the defending Cup champs from Victoria, the last non-NHL team to raise Lord Stanley’s mug. The Cougars won the WCHL, but lost the Stanley Cup to the NHL champion Montreal Maroons.

Shore’s performance brought the Boston Bruins to the bargaining table. The Bruins’ owner Charles Adams, knowing about the Eskimos’ and the WCHL’s financial troubles, offered $50,000 for Shore and six other players. Shore left Edmonton for the NHL.

Shore immediately became Boston’s largest sporting celebrity. He quickly earned another nickname, "Old Blood and Guts," for his physical style. He was the blueprint for rough-and-tumble style of hockey the Bruins have always espoused. Shore wasn’t a big-time scorer; he had just 284 points in his 14-season NHL career. But the way he played defence earned him four Hart Trophies (1993, 1935, 1936, 1938), six First-Team All-Star selections and two Stanley Cups (1929 and 1939). Shore finished his career with the financially-troubled New York Americans, but ir is as a Bruin that he is remembered. The Bruins retired his famous sweater number 2 in his honour.

But, in 1933 came the darkest time of Shore’s hockey life. In a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Shore checked "Ace" Bailey from behind. Iit was a ferocious hit, and Bailey’s skull was fractured. The injury ended Bailey’s career—Shore went and visited Bailey to apologize for the hit. In 1934, the National Hockey League decided to put together a fundraiser for Bailey—all the best players in the League would be gathered for the charity match, and so the All-Star Game was born.

During his last NHL season, Shore purchased the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League. He would remain involved in the club as an owner, manager or coach until 1976.

But, for one magic season, the man that would go on to make hockey a hot ticket in Boston was the Edmonton Express.