By: Mark Allred | Follow me on Twitter @BlackAndGold277 @AmesburyMaples
Before the 1939-40 winter season, Amesbury Maples hockey team managers Everett Picard and Albie Roy mentioned in an article published by the Amesbury Daily News that the Maples were going to roll with a veteran-heavy lineup. In previous years the organization thrived on scouting younger talent that played in the former Amesbury, Massachusetts “shop” leagues, often poaching the best the area had to offer.
Since the organization’s conception in the winter of 1924-25, the Maples have put together competitive rosters but struggled against higher-ranked talent in the annual NEAAU tournaments often held in Providence, Rhode Island, or the original Boston Garden. During the 1938-39 season, where the Maples posted a 16-2 record, captured an Essex County League Championship but came up short in the NEAAU tournament. These postseason efforts prompted Maples General Managers to change their lineup, especially in goal, when talking about a veteran roster Picard and Roy had already planned.
Picard and Roy rolled out this veteran-laden roster of left-wing Archie Cloutier, left-wing Bob Ouellet, left-wing Henry Graf, center Alphonse Picard, center Chewie Williams, center Leo Le Blanc, right-wing John Fabelo, right-wing Herman Currier, right-wing Red Senechal, left defense, Harold Thurston, left defense Joe Dallaire, left defense Maurice Grodin, right defense Eddie Nichols, right defense John Perkins, and finally right defense A. Le Blanc. The only rookie on the roster was Amesbury native Wilfred Stuart who, by today’s standards, put on a Boston Bruins Tim Thomas effort In his first campaign with the Maples organization.
Before Stuart’s arrival on the Maples organization’s adult team, the young netminder had a successful first year of organized hockey with the Maple Cubs organization. The Cubs led all junior hockey leagues in Massachusetts with a 10-1 record in the 1938-39 season, and a major reason for the Maples success that year for the Cubs was due to the brilliance in goal of Stuart. Four of the ten Maple Cubs victories that year came via a Stuart shutout in goal. Wilfred’s effort with the Cubs and previous on-ice youth development can be credited to former Cubs manager Albie Roy, so it was a no-brainer for Picard and Roy to roll the dice and advance this next-generation phenom in goal.
The Maples managers looked like geniuses with the rookie Wilfred Stuart’s addition to the team loaded with experienced athletes. His often “stand on his head” efforts in the Maples goal proved to be a pivotal asset to a season’s longevity and further looks in the postseason with national recognition. After a 19-3-2 record, the Amesbury team would move on to the NEAAU tournament held at the Boston Garden. The Maples would beat East Boston 13-3, Higham Cove 3-1, Hyde Shoe out of Cambridge, Mass 3-1, and finally, the New England Hockey Championship clinching game where Wilfred Stuart was outstanding in getting this organization to the next level of competition with a 7-0 shutout over the Sacred Hearts club from Concord, New Hampshire.
After winning all four games at the Boston Garden, the Maples would head to Lake Placid, New York, to appear in the National Athletic Amateur tournament. The Maples were the higher seed representing the North Eastern part of the United States region. The Maples was granted a first-round bye along with the University of Minnesota which; both teams would face each other in the second round.
The Minnesota team was a younger collegiate group that showed up for the final National tournament with a full roster, whereas the Maples were constantly double shifting, with a roster of ten. The Maples did a great job holding the Minnesota team for most of the game, but the Maples didn’t have enough in the gas tank to hold off the pressure of a younger and faster transitioning Gophers team. Minnesota won the second-round matchup at Lake Placid by the score of 9-4, sending the Maples team home after the organization’s most successful season known to date.
After the tremendous effort from the Maples in the 1939-40 season, two players who had outstanding seasons were being heavily scouted for higher roles in professional hockey. Longtime Amesbury hockey legend Alphonse Picard (center) and goaltender Wilfred Stuart were offered a chance to try out for the Boston Olympics. The Olympics were a minor-pro hockey team affiliated with the Boston Bruins and were to start playing as an organization in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League in the upcoming 1940-41 campaign.
The Olympics organization was founded by Hockey Hall of Fame builder Walter A. Brown a Hopkington, Massachusetts native and nearby Philips Exeter Academy student. Brown’s assistant and Haverhill, Massachusetts native Edward Powers was reported to have offered Picard and Stuart contracts for the Olympic’s inaugural season. This offer from Powers to a goaltender like Wilfred Stuart came at a time when the young player was in his junior year of high school, with Alphonse Picard being slightly older.
Stuart played for the Amesbury Maples for the better part of 14 years since joining the team after his exceptional 1939-40 rookie campaign. Wilfred graduated from Amesbury High School in 1941, where he excelled in ice hockey, baseball, and football. Per an article published on June 14th, 2002, Wilfred Stuart passed away on June 9th, 2002, at the Port Healthcare Center in Newburyport, Massachusetts. The longtime Amesbury resident was born on January 10th, 1921, and worked many years as a master finish carpenter restoring homes in the local area, like the Mary Baker Eddy house on Main Street.
Also important to mention, Wilfred Stuart is a World War II veteran serving in the United States Navy. He left the Amesbury Maples team during times of war and returned to the club safely after his honorable time away to finish his playing career. Wilfred’s last season as a member of the Maples team was after the 1952-53 season. Stuart returned to the ice for one final time during the 1971-72 season when he and other Maples legends were honored at Hockey Night held at the Exeter Academy rink. Others who were honored on this night, along with Stuart, were Albie Roy, Leo LeBlanc, Alphonse Picard, Eddie Nichols, and Harold “Fuzzy” Thurston.
