Elmer Lach

Elmer was the youngest of two boys and four girls born to William and Mary-Ann Lach, who arrived in Canada from Eastern Europe in 1910.

Lach's father was at first a farmer, then took a job as the head of public works for Nokomis, population 550.

Lach played ice hockey for his school team, starting at age 12.

Against the wishes of his Baptist parents, Elmer would sneak away to play ice hockey on a local pond instead of attending church on Saturday mornings.

Elmer James Lach (, January 22, 1918 – April 4, 2015) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 14 seasons for the Montreal Canadiens in the National Hockey League (NHL).

A centre, he was a member of the Punch line, along with Maurice Richard and Toe Blake.

Lach began playing junior ice hockey with the Regina Abbotts in the 1935–36 season, arranged by a Nokomis doctor with contacts in Regina.

In Regina, Lach would work at the team's owner's pool hall, racking balls for 25 cents per day.

He played the two following seasons with the senior Weyburn Beavers of the Saskatchewan Senior Hockey League (SSHL).

In 1937, Lach, along with future Hockey Hall of Fame member Doug Bentley attended the Toronto Maple Leafs training camp; both were rejected as too small for the National Hockey League.

According to Lach, Conn Smythe, manager of the Leafs, saw Lach and Bentley and said "They were sending me big guys from the West, but instead they’ve sent me peanuts."

It was during his time in Moose Jaw that Lach met his future wife, Kay Fletcher.

Lach had a job reading meters for the National Light & Power Co., and one day he met Kay in her home.

He moved again in 1938 to star for two seasons for the senior Moose Jaw Millers, playing hockey in the winter for $75 a month and baseball in the summer, where he would be paid $2.50 per game behind the plate.

In his first season with the Millers, he led them in assists, with 20, and was the leading playoff scorer.

He also scored 17 regular-season goals.

The next season, he scored 15 goals and 29 assists, and led in playoff scoring again.

Lach was also noted for his defensive contributions.

Rejecting the Maple Leafs' assessment, the Montreal Canadiens signed Lach as a free agent on October 24, 1940.

With the arrangement of Moose Jaw's owner Cliff Henderson, Montreal player-scout Paul Haynes paid Lach $100 for his rights, "more money than I'd had in my pocket in my life.".

He came to the Canadiens' training camp with only an overnight bag, not expecting to be offered a contract.

Henderson had encouraged Lach to go, expecting him to return in time for the Millers' training camp, and be in better shape for it, but Lach never returned to the Millers.

In his first NHL season, Lach played 43 games, scoring seven goals and adding 14 assists.

He was limited to only one game the following season, after crashing into the boards in the first game, dislocating his shoulder, fracturing his wrist and injuring his elbow.

He returned the following season to score 58 points in 45 games.

They married in 1941.

That same year, Lach's mother died and his father moved to Vancouver, beginning a lifelong estrangement from his son.

A highlight of the 1942–43 season came when he set a still-standing Canadiens record of six assists in one game on February 6, 1943.

In the 1943–44 season, Montreal head coach Dick Irvin tried a line combination of Lach at centre, Maurice Richard on the right wing, and Toe Blake at left.

This line became known as the Punch line and dominated the NHL for four seasons.

In the first season of the Punch line, Lach played 48 games, scoring on average an assist per game; he also added 24 goals.

Lach led the NHL in scoring twice, and was awarded the Hart Trophy in 1945 as the league's most valuable player.

He won three Stanley Cups with Montreal.

In 1945, Elmer and Kay celebrated the birth of their only child, son Ron.

Ron was born while Elmer was on the road with the Canadiens.

According to Montreal Gazette columnist Dave Stubbs, Elmer wired Kay the message "Nice going, honey."

When Lach retired in 1954, he was the league's all-time leading scorer and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame twelve years later.

His number 16 was retired on December 4, 2009, during the Montreal Canadiens centennial celebrations.

In 2017 Lach was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.

Lach was born in Nokomis, Saskatchewan, a small town 133 km north of Regina.