SSHoF logoRobert (Bobby) Dawes

Athlete (2014)

Hockey

Robert (Bobby) DawesMaple Leaf Gardens played a very important role in the life of Bobby Dawes. Dawes won the 1944 Memorial Cup and the 1949 Stanley Cup in the Toronto arena.

Playing defence, Dawes scored three goals and added two assists for the Oshawa Generals in Game 3 of the Memorial Cup junior final. Oshawa, coached by Charlie Conacher, won the series in four games against the Trail Smoke Eaters.

In 1949 Dawes was a 24-year-old centre on the Toronto Maple Leafs team that swept the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup final. Clarence (Hap) Day was the Leafs' coach. Dawes played only five games in the 1948-49 regular season, but in all nine Leafs' playoff games.

Noted for his puckhandling and faceoffs, Dawes was in the NHL for four years with Toronto and Montreal.

Growing up in Saskatoon, Dawes played in second-hand skates that he wore without laces. He was on the Embassy Americans who won the provincial midget championship, then played juniors with the Quakers and Falcons. After the NHL, he was in the minor pros in the Eastern League and American League. He played his final three seasons of organized hockey with the Saskatoon Quakers, returning 10 years later to play in the Old Timers tournament at age 52.

**Deceased**