Cook, "Bill" (William O.)
Hockey
b. Oct. 9, 1896, Brantford, ONT
d. May 5, 1986
Cook was given land in Saskatchewan for serving in World War I and he worked the land for several years before entering professional hockey in 1922 with the Saskatoon Sheiks. He had been a good amateur player before the war and he quickly became a good pro player, leading the Western Canada League in scoring three times before joining the New York Rangers of the NHL in 1926.
He was known as "Bad Bill" because of his frequent fights, but he was also a premier scorer. Cook led the NHL in scoring in 1926-27 with 37 points and in 1932-33 with 50 points. He scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Toronto that won the 1933 Stanley Cup for the Rangers.
Cook retired after the 1936-37 season. He scored 229 goals and had 138 assists in 475 regular season games. In 45 playoff games, he had 13 goals and 11 assists.
He returned to the Rangers as their coach in 1951, but lasted less than two seasons.