5. Brushes with the Police
On Jan. 22, 1916, Alfie “Alf” Skinner, while playing for the Blueshirts, was the victim of assault. That’s what the police said when they arrested Skene Ronan of the Montreal Canadiens. Following a physical game between the two clubs, Ronan was arraigned at the Agnes Street station in Toronto. He was released on $200 bail.
With the Canadiens manager, George Kennedy acting as a witness in defense of Ronan, the player was acquitted of the charge.
That wasn’t Skinner’s only brush with the law. Almost exactly two years later, on Jan. 28, 1918, it was Skinner’s turn to be arrested following a contest with Montreal.
At the time, the club was named the Toronto Arenas, and Skinner had gotten into it with defenseman “Bad Joe” Hall on the Canadiens.
Both men used their sticks as weapons that night and had hit each other with them.
The Ottawa Citizen reported that during the third period “Hall was rushing down the ice with the puck when Skinner charged out to meet him.
Skinner poked the notorious ‘bad man’ under the chin and knocked him out.” For his actions, Skinner served a minor penalty. When the game concluded, he was headed to his team bench when Hall hit him so hard he needed to be carried off the ice. It was said that Skinner’s blow was strong enough to knock out several of Hall’s teeth.
The stick fight was enough to land both athletes in handcuffs when the contest ended. They were each charged with assault and let out on $100 bail, which their respective managers put up.
Skinner and Hall went to court the next day. Each of their sentences were suspended, and both men promised to obey the law for all future games.