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Ralph "Cooney" Weiland

Ralph "Cooney" Weiland skated from a Memorial Cup championship in Owen Sound, to a Stanley Cup in Boston and later, to fame as a U.S. college hockey coach.

1924 Owen Sound Greys Memorial Cup Champions
Dutch Cain, George Elliott, Wright,
Silverthorne, Smith, Cooney Weiland,
Teddy Graham, Flarity,Butch Keeling

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“Cooney” Weiland was born on November 5, 1904 in Egmondville (near Seaforth), Ontario. He played minor hockey in the Seaforth area until he was 19 years old when he made his way to Owen Sound to play junior hockey with the Owen Sound Greys.

A 1979 article in the Huron Expositor described Ralph “Cooney” Weiland as “a born athlete, agile as a cat and skilled in all sports: running, swimming, soccer, baseball and especially skating and hockey... Sports were his life”.

A friend described his memories of “Cooney” during their childhood in Egmondville, saying that Weiland dreamed of a professional hockey career. His friend recalled,

"As a boy I remember him skating and playing hockey, sometimes by himself, on a sheet of ice below the old Egmondville bridge. At other times, he would have a group of village boys playing hockey after school hours, during weekends or Christmas holidays on the ice below the bridge....”Cooney” was the star player."

"He could skate rings around everyone else. At that young age he concentrated on skating, stickhandling and scoring. Our puck was at first a rubber heel from an old shoe, later a real rubber puck, although used, which we managed to buy or trade for."

In the summer months “Cooney” Weiland would practice playing hockey with some of his friends in the sprouting room of the old Colbert Brewery located on the banks of the Bayfield River. This large room had a tin floor and walls lined with tin. The noise was deafening. However, this was “Cooney’s” method of constant practice and improving his hockey skills. More than once he said that someday he would become a famous hockey player. He had hitched his wagon to a star. Weiland entered high school in 1918 and he became not only an outstanding athlete but also a good student. When he wasn’t studying, “Cooney” was active in high school sports. He set records in the high jump, the standing high jump, and pole vaulting. In baseball he was considered one of the best shortstops in the collegiate league. Despite his successes in so many areas, a career in hockey was his dream. In the fall of 1922, he left school and headed to Owen Sound to tryout for the junior hockey team, the Greys.

The 1923-24 hockey season may have been the turning point in Weiland’s career and the catalyst necessary for the fulfillment of his dreams of a hockey career. The Greys that season were an awesome force in junior hockey circles. They averaged 8.9 goals a game, en route to a 22-2-2 season. At the forefront of this scoring machine was the line of "Cooney" Weiland, future New York Ranger “Butch” Keeling, and George Elliott who accounted for an amazing 170 of the team’s 204 goals that season. Weiland centred the line and while he led the team with 68 goals, an astounding one-third of his team’s total goals, his playmaking ability without a doubt enhanced the scoring totals of his linemates.

Owen Sound's First Memorial Cup

“Cooney” and his mates capped this tremendous season by winning Owen Sound’s first Memorial Cup championship. Perhaps the attention gained from winning Canada’s junior hockey title helped "Cooney" Weiland and Keeling come to the attention of the professional hockey teams.

Butch Keeling New York Rangers- Beehive Photo - Paul White Sports Memorabilia Collection

After graduating from junior ranks, Joe Sills, a professional hockey player from Seaforth urged “Cooney” to try out for the Minneapolis Rockets. He played with the Rockets in the 1924-25 season. The next year he joined the Minneapolis Millers in the minor professional ranks. On December 23, 1927, "Cooney" Weiland was sold to the Boston Bruins. However, he continued to play for the Millers until the end of the 1927-28 hockey season.

"Cooney" is Dynamite in Boston

“Cooney” joined the Boston Bruins for the 1928-29 NHL season. In his inaugural campaign his team captured the Stanley Cup, a feat that he would repeat in his last season as a player. In The Trail of the Stanley Cup, Charles Coleman, described the impact that Weiland made upon his arrival in Boston.

Cooney Weiland - Boston Bruins - Paul White Sports Memorabilia Collection

Art Ross picked up two great prizes when he signed Cecil Thompson and Ralph Weiland of the Minneapolis Millers...He dropped the little centre Weiland between two big six-footers, Dit Clapper and Dutch Gainor, and the “Dynamite Line” was formed which was a big factor in Boston winning the championship and the Stanley Cup for the first time.

Weiland was almost an immediate success in the NHL. In the 1929-30 season, Weiland won the league scoring title, setting a league record with 43 goals and 30 assists in 44 games. His point total was the most points amassed in the NHL (the previous season record of 51 had been held by Howie Morenz). That record stood for thirteen years until Doug Bentley surpassed him. Coleman described “Cooney’s” scoring abilities as follows:

“'Cooney' was a slick stickhandler and could manipulate the puck through the sticks and legs of his opponents’ like a magician, to the delight of fans who marveled at his skill. At 5'10" and 150 pounds through most of his 11-year playing career, “Cooney” was a pipsqueak by today’s standards and by informed accounts also a bit of a “cherry picker”..."

After four years with the Bruins, he was traded to the Ottawa Senators for Joe Lamb and $7,000. On November 26, 1933, Cooney was dealt to the Detroit Red Wings for Carl Voss and cash. Two years later, he was traded back to the Bruins along with Walt Buswell for Marty Barry and Art Giroux.

Weiland concluded his playing career in Boston in 1939, when once again he led the Bruins to a Stanley Cup victory. Cooney played in an era of hockey when scoring numbers were low, yet he tallied 173 goals and 160 assists in 509 regular season games. He was named to the NHL 2nd All-Star team in 1934-35, won the scoring title in 1929-30 and played on two Stanley Cup Champions and coached another Stanley Cup winner.

In 1940 he became the coach of the Bruins and under his tutelage Boston captured the Stanley Cup in 1941. Weiland was named coach of the year in the NHL, but despite this success, he had some disagreements with Art Ross and was dismissed from his coaching duties with the Bruins. He then coached AHL teams in Hershey and New Haven.

"Cooney" Weiland Goes to College

In 1950 Ralph “Cooney” Weiland began a new career which would bring him almost as much recognition as his glorious days in the NHL. That year he was hired as the hockey coach at perhaps the most prestigious academic institution in North America, Harvard University! He held this position until his retirement in 1971, the same year that he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Cooney Weiland - Hockey Hall of Fame (Card) - Paul White Sports Memorabilia Collection

When he retired from Harvard he was one of only four U.S. college coaches to win 300 games. He left coaching ranks a winner. Although Harvard had not been the top-ranked college hockey team that season, he led his troops to the ECAC title. His 21 years of effort to improve collegiate hockey in the United States did not go unnoticed. In 1972 Ralph “Cooney” Weiland was honoured with the Lester Patrick Trophy which is awarded for outstanding service to the sport of hockey in the United States.

Ralph “Cooney” Weiland died on July 3, 1985 in Boston.

A version of this story originally appeared in my Local History column in the Owen Sound Sun Times.

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