Pit Lepine

Alfred Pierre "Pit" Lépine (July 30, 1901 – August 2, 1955) was a Canadian forward and coach. He was born in Ste Anne de Bellevue, Quebec.

Lepine played in the National Hockey League from 1925 to 1939, spending his entire career with the Montreal Canadiens, winning two Stanley Cups, in 1930 and 1931. Lepine, a center, played over 500 games with Montreal and was an excellent goal scorer who could also check and battle for the puck in the corners. In his rookie NHL season (1925–26), he scored nine goals and played on the same line as a his older brother, Hec. He had played senior hockey in Montreal with the Montreal Royals, Hochelaga and Montreal Nationale squads.

Overall, Lepine reached double figures in goals six times. In 1929–30 he scored a personal best 24 goals in 44 games while forming a dangerous line with Wildor Larochelle and Georges Mantha. In 1937 he was on hand for the Howie Morenz Memorial Game in the aftermath of the former Habs star's death. After 13 years in the NHL, Lepine finally played a year in the minors with the New Haven Eagles of the AHL in 1938–39.

When Babe Siebert drowned in 1939 after being named the coach of the Canadiens, Lepine was named coach for the 1939–40 season. The erosion of talent from older players and failure to bring in adequate youngsters doomed the team to a last place finish that season and he was fired and replaced by Dick Irvin who would rebuild the team.

Pit suffered a paralytic stroke in 1951, and had two more strokes in 1954. He died August 2, 1955 in a convalescent home in Ste-Rose, Quebec from effects of these strokes, only three days after he turned 54.

External links

Pit Lepine's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database

Preceded by Albert "Babe" Siebert

Head Coach of the Montreal Canadiens 1939–1940

Succeeded by Dick Irvin