{{Short description|Canadian ice hockey player (1900–1950)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox ice hockey player | position = Centre | shoots = Left | height_ft = 6 | height_in = 0 | weight_lb = 200 | played_for = Hamilton Tigers<br>New York Americans<br>Boston Bruins<br>Chicago Black Hawks | league = NHL | birth_date = {{birth date|1900|11|20|mf=y}} | birth_place = Yonkers, New York, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1950|11|30|1900|11|20}} | death_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada | career_start = 1922 | career_end = 1933 | image = BillyBirch.png | image_size = 230px | halloffame = 1974 }} '''Harry Wilfred Burch''' (November 20, 1900 – November 30, 1950) was an American-born Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Hamilton Tigers, New York Americans, Chicago Black Hawks, and Boston Bruins. Born in Yonkers, New York, Burch grew up in Toronto and scored 42 goals in 12 Memorial Cup playoff games to lead the Toronto Canoe Club Paddlers to the 1920 Canadian junior championship.
Burch won the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player in 1924–25. In that same season, he joined his teammates in precipitating the first player's strike in NHL history and which led to the dissolution of the Hamilton franchise. Transferring to the newly formed New York franchise, Burch served as the team's captain, scored the first goal in Americans' history in 1925 and won the Lady Byng Trophy in 1926–27 as the NHL's most gentlemanly player. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1974.
==Early life== thumb|Burch in early photo Burch was born on November 20, 1900, in Yonkers, New York, but moved to Toronto at a young age and grew up in the Ontario capital as a multi-sport athlete playing lacrosse, football and hockey.<ref name="PodnieksPlayers">{{cite book |last=Podnieks |first=Andrew |title=Players: The ultimate A–Z guide of everyone who has ever played in the NHL |publisher=Doubleday Canada |year=2003 |location=Toronto |pages=108–109 |isbn=0-385-25999-9}}</ref> In football, Burch played quarterback for the Toronto Central YMCA team that won the provincial junior championship in 1920.<ref name="OGHHOF">{{cite book |last=Duplacey |first=James |last2=Zweig |first2=Eric |title=Official Guide to the Players of the Hockey Hall of Fame |publisher=Firefly Books |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-55407-662-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/officialguidetop00/page/77 77] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/officialguidetop00/page/77 }}</ref> That same year he was a teammate of Lionel Conacher and Roy Worters with the Toronto Canoe Club Paddlers hockey team which won the 1920 Memorial Cup as the Dominion champions of Canada.<ref name="PodnieksPlayers" /> Burch led all players in the Memorial Cup playoffs with 42 goals, 12 assists and 54 points in 12 games.<ref name="OGHHOF" /> He spent the following two seasons with the Toronto Aura Lee team in the Ontario Hockey Association.<ref name=LOH/>
==NHL career== After beginning the 1922–23 season with the Westminster Hockey Club in the United States Amateur Hockey Association, Burch was signed to a contract by the Hamilton Tigers on January 30, 1923.<ref name=LOH/> He joined a Tigers team that was last in the four-team NHL,<ref name="1314NHLMG152">{{cite book |editor=Diamond, Dan |title=2013–14 National Hockey League Guide and Record Book |publisher=Diamond Sports Data, Inc. |year=2013 |page=152|display-editors=etal}}</ref> but which improved as he did. After scoring six goals in ten games to finish that season, Burch finished in a tie for third in NHL scoring in 1923–24 with 22 points.<ref name="1314NHLMG152" /> The Tigers finished 1924–25 as the regular season champions with a {{win-loss record|w=19|l=10|d=1}} record,<ref name="1314NHLMG152" /> and Burch was voted the winner of the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player following a 20-goal regular season.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SilverwareTrophyWinner.jsp?tro=HMT&year=1924-25 |title=Hart Memorial Trophy Winner – Billy Burch |publisher=Hockey Hall of Fame |access-date=2014-01-11}}</ref>
The NHL had expanded by two teams that season and the schedule increased from 24 to 30 games, however Burch and his teammates were not paid any extra compensation by the Tigers.<ref name="100Years20">{{cite book |last=McFarlane |first=Brian |year=1990|title=100 Years of Hockey |isbn=0-929091-26-4|publisher=Summerhill Press|pages=20–21}}</ref> In protest, the players demanded that the team and league pay each individual $200 for the additional regular season and playoff games, or they would refuse to play the NHL championship series.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Du0tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yosFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6507%2C1504860 |title=Ottawa may take Hamilton's place in the N.H.L. finals |work=Montreal Gazette |date=1925-03-13 |access-date=2014-01-11 |page=16 |via=Google News Archive}}</ref> After defying an order by league president Frank Calder to play, the team was disqualified and the Montreal Canadiens, who won the semi-final series, were declared league champions.<ref name="100Years20" /> The Tigers' actions constituted the first player's strike in NHL history.<ref>{{cite book |last=Duplacey |first=James |title=Hockey's Book of Firsts |publisher=JG Press |isbn=978-1-57215-037-9 |page=40|date=February 2008 }}</ref> The Tigers franchise was sold and relocated for the 1925–26 season.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zFkuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=m9kFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6526%2C1250364 |title=Tex Rickard gets Hamilton N.H.L. team |work=Ottawa Citizen |date=1925-09-23 |access-date=2014-01-11 |page=1 |via=Google News Archive}}</ref>
The franchise became the New York Americans, and Burch was named the team's captain, a position he would hold until 1932.<ref name="OGHHOF" /> The team played up his New York birth; he was dubbed both "Yonkers Billy Burch" and "the Babe Ruth of hockey".<ref name=LOH/> Burch scored the first goal in Americans' franchise history on December 2, 1925, in a 2–1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates,<ref name="OGHHOF" /> and finished the season eighth in league scoring with 25 points. He again finished eighth in scoring, with 27 points, in 1926–27,<ref name="1314NHLMG152" /> and was voted the winner of the Lady Byng Trophy, awarded for his "effectiveness and a true sporting spirit".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19270327&id=RVUbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=K0oEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4990,3393505 |title=Gardiner is most useful hockey star |agency=United Press Associations |work=The Pittsburgh Press |date=1927-03-27 |access-date=2014-01-11 |page=S1 |via=Google News Archive}}</ref>
Following a last-place finish in the Canadian Division,<ref name="1314NHLMG152" /> the Americans revamped their roster for the 1928–29 season. Of the team's regulars the past season, only Burch and Lionel Conacher were retained.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19280908&id=UG8tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KIwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6786,1281454 |title=Conacher-Burch nucleus of team |agency=The Canadian Press |work=Montreal Gazette |date=1928-09-08 |access-date=2014-01-11 |page=46 |via=Google News Archive}}</ref> Burch scored 11 goals and 16 points for New York and played the only two playoff games of his NHL career after the team improved to a second-place finish.<ref name="1314NHLMG152" /> He scored only 10 points in 1929–30 before improving to 22 points in each of the following two campaigns.<ref name=LOH/> Approaching the end of his career, Burch was sold by New York to the Boston Bruins prior to the 1932–33 season.<ref name=LOH/> However, he did not see much playing time in Boston in the first part of the season and on January 17, 1933, was traded to the Chicago Black Hawks in exchange for Vic Ripley.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=Fr8DH2VBP9sC&dat=19330118&printsec=frontpage&hl=en |title=Burch for Ripley |work=Montreal Gazette |date=1933-01-18 |access-date=2014-01-11 |page=12 |via=Google News Archive}}</ref> Burch suffered a broken leg at the end of the season which spelled the end of his playing career. Burch was the last active NHL player who had played with the Hamilton Tigers.<ref>{{cite news |last=Shields |first=Tommy |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19501201&id=CRAvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RNwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=7180,353900 |title='Round and about |work=Ottawa Citizen |date=1950-12-01 |access-date=2014-01-11 |page=26 |via=Google News Archive}}</ref>
Burch retired to Toronto, where he died in 1950.<ref name="PodnieksPlayers" /> ''Montreal Gazette'' sportswriter Tommy Shields praised Burch as a quality NHL player: "He broke in and played in the days when the going was rough and a player had to be good to stick. If you didn't make it, there was no going back to the amateur ranks. Billy turned pro and never looked back. He was a major leaguer all the way."<ref name="OGHHOF" /> He was posthumously inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1974.<ref name="OGHHOF" />
==Career statistics== ===Regular season and playoffs=== {| border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; width:60em" |- bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff"| ! rowspan="100" bgcolor="#ffffff"| ! colspan="5"|Regular season ! rowspan="100" bgcolor="#ffffff"| ! colspan="5"|Playoffs |- bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! Season ! Team ! League ! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM ! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM |- | 1919–20 | Toronto Canoe Club Paddlers | OHA Jr. | — || — || — || — || — | 12 || 42 || 12 || 54 || — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 1920–21 | Toronto Aura Lee | OHA Sr. | 10 || 12 || 2 || 14 || — | — || — || — || — || — |- | 1921–22 | Toronto Aura Lee | OHA Jr. | 9 || 13 || 10 || 23 || — | 2 || 2 || 1 || 3 || — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 1922–23 | Westminster Hockey Club | USAHA | — || 4 || 0 || 4 || — | — || — || — || — || — |- | 1922–23 | Hamilton Tigers | NHL | 10 || 6 || 3 || 9 || 4 | — || — || — || — || — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 1923–24 | Hamilton Tigers | NHL | 24 || 16 || 6 || 22 || 6 | — || — || — || — || — |- | 1924–25 | Hamilton Tigers | NHL | 27 || 20 || 7 || 27 || 10 | — || — || — || — || — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 1925–26 | New York Americans | NHL | 36 || 22 || 3 || 25 || 33 | — || — || — || — || — |- | 1926–27 | New York Americans | NHL | 43 || 19 || 8 || 27 || 40 | — || — || — || — || — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 1927–28 | New York Americans | NHL | 32 || 10 || 2 || 12 || 34 | — || — || — || — || — |- | 1928–29 | New York Americans | NHL | 44 || 11 || 5 || 16 || 45 | 2 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 1929–30 | New York Americans | NHL | 35 || 7 || 3 || 10 || 22 | — || — || — || — || — |- | 1930–31 | New York Americans | NHL | 44 || 14 || 8 || 22 || 35 | — || — || — || — || — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 1931–32 | New York Americans | NHL | 48 || 7 || 15 || 22 || 20 | — || — || — || — || — |- | 1932–33 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 23 || 3 || 1 || 4 || 4 | — || — || — || — || — |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | 1932–33 | Chicago Black Hawks | NHL | 24 || 2 || 0 || 2 || 2 | — || — || — || — || — |- bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! colspan="3" | NHL totals ! 390 !! 137 !! 61 !! 198 !! 255 ! 2 !! 0 !! 0 !! 0 !! 0 |}
==Awards and honours== {| class="wikitable" |+ style="text-align:center; background:#e0e0e0" |National Hockey League |- ! scope="col" style="width:20em" | Award ! scope="col" | Year ! scope="col" | Ref. |- | Hart Trophy | 1924–25 | <ref name=LOH>{{cite web |url=http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/LegendsMember.jsp?mem=p197401&type=Player&page=statsawards&list= |title=Player Inductees {{!}} Billy Burch |publisher=Hockey Hall of Fame |access-date=2014-01-11}}</ref> |- | Lady Byng Trophy | 1926–27 | <ref name=LOH/> |}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{icehockeystats|legendsm=P197401}}
{{s-start}} {{succession box | before = ''Position created'' | title = New York Americans captain | years = 1925–32 | after = Red Dutton}} {{succession box | before = Frank Nighbor | title = Winner of the Hart Trophy | years = 1925 | after = Nels Stewart}} {{succession box | before = Frank Nighbor | title = Winner of the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy | years = 1927 | after = Frank Boucher}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burch, Billy}} Category:1900 births Category:1950 deaths Category:American emigrants to Canada Category:Boston Bruins players Category:Chicago Blackhawks players Category:Hamilton Tigers (ice hockey) players Category:Hart Memorial Trophy winners Category:Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Category:Ice hockey players from New York (state) Category:Ice hockey people from Toronto Category:Lady Byng Memorial Trophy winners Category:New York Americans players Category:Sportspeople from Yonkers, New York Category:Westminster Hockey Club ice hockey players