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Francis X. "Moose" Goheen

BIRTHPLACE: St. Paul, Minn.

BORN: February 9, 1894

DIED: November 13, 1979

TEAMS/ASSOCIATIONS: St. Paul Athletic Club, St. Paul Saints

 

Bio

Moose Goheen learned to play the game of hockey on the outdoor rinks of White Bear Lake and nearby St. Paul.  He was not only a great hockey but also an outstanding football and baseball performer as well.  In the late Autumn of 1914 Goheen joined the St. Paul Athletic Club, one of the strongest American amateur teams of its time.      

Goheen, along with such other greats as Tony Conroy, Nick Kahler and Ed Fitzgerald, helped capture the McNaughton Cup in 1915-16.  This trophy, now in the hands of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, was then symbolic of American amateur hockey supremacy in the West.  St. Paul won the cup again the following year as well as the Art Ross Cup from Lachine, Quebec in Montreal.                        

When the United States entered WW I in 1917 Moose served in the Army until 1919.  Returning to hockey that Fall he led the Athletic Club to another McNaughton Cup title before joining the first United States Olympic Team in April.  Playing at Antwerp, Belgium, the United States won three games by wide margins and lost only to Canada for a second place silver medal finish.  Goheen was unable to play for the 1924 Olympic Team, however, because of business commitments.  He continued with St. Paul through 1926, leading the Athletic Club to the national finals in both 1922 and 1923 as well.  When the team turned professional after the 1925-26 season, he played on through 1932.

Goheen had NHL opportunities with both the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, but preferred to remain in Minnesota, where he was a manager with the Northern States Power Company.  On the ice he was remembered for his aggressive play and rink length dashes, where few cared to get in his way. In 1952 Goheen was only the second American player selected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.  He was also named by the Minnesota Athletic Hall of Fame as the finest hockey player ever produced in the state and later elected as a charter enshrinee to the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1973.