Billy Burch

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.\n', '

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. In football, Burch played quarterback for the Toronto Central YMCA team that won the provincial junior championship in 1920. That same year was teammate of Lionel Conacher and Roy Worte…