Billy Burch

Harry Wilfred Burch was an Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the Hamilton Tigers, New York Americans, Chicago Black Hawks, and Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League. Although US born, Burch moved to Toronto, Ontario at an early age, where he grew up playing ice hockey and football. Burch was the second person to ever win the Hart Memorial Trophy and the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, after Frank Nighbor. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1974. Burch was also the last active player that had played for the Hamilton Tigers. After the 1924-25 season, Shorty Green and Billy Burch led a postseason strike against the Hamilton Tigers ownership. It was the first players strike in NHL history. He was the first player ever from the United States to play in the NHL. On December 2, 1925, Burch scored the very first NHL goal in the city of Pittsburgh, as the New York Americans played the Pittsburgh Pirates at the Duquesne Gardens.