IMAGE INFORMATION
EditVictor Merrick Ripley - Born May 30, 1906 in Elgin, Ontario – Died March 26, 1962 in Las Vegas, Nevada was a Canadian ice Hockey centre and left winger.
Ripley played his junior Hockey for the Calgary Canadians of the Calgary City Junior Hockey League / CCJHL from 1922 to 1925, helping the Canadians win the 1924 Abbott Cup championship and reaching the finals of the 1924 Memorial Cup.
Ropley then joined the Minneapolis Millers of the Central Amateur Hockey Association-Central Hockey Association / CAHA-CHA for the 1925-26 season, helping the Millers win the CHA championship in 1926 - the only season of the CAHA-CHA.
Ripley stayed with the Millers when they joined the professional ranks in the American Hockey Association / AHA as founding members. The AHA started play in December, 1926. Ripley scored 7 goals, 1 assist as a first year professional.
Ripley was then traded to the Calgary Tigers of the Prairie Hockey League by Minneapolis for cash, June, 1927. He was then traded to the Kitchener Millionaires in the Canadian Professional Hockey League / Can-Pro by Calgary for cash, October 16, 1927. Ripley played 1 season in Kitchener, having his most offensive output of his career, and a league scoring championship with 26 goals, 14 assists in 39 regular season games, and 1 goal, 1 assist in 5 playoff games.
Ripley was then claimed by the NHL Chicago Black Hawks from Kitchener in a Inter-League Draft, May 14, 1928, and he would play with the Black Hawks for the next 4 plus seasons, helping them reach the Stanley Cup final in 1931. Ripley also scored the 1st Ever Goal at Chicago Stadium on Joe Miller of the Pittsburgh Pirates on December 15, 1929.
Ripley was then traded to the Boston Bruins for Billy Burch, January 17, 1933. Ripley scored the 1,000th regular-season goal in Boston Bruins' history. It was Boston's lone goal in a 4-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Boston Garden on December 12, 1933. Ripley played 42 games for the Bruins in parts of 2 seasons before they traded him to the New York Rangers by with Roy Burmeister for Babe Siebert, December 18, 1933, where he finished the season with the Rangers, scoring 5 goals, 12 assists.
Ripley started the next season with the Rangers, playing in 4 games before they traded him to the St. Louis Eagles for cash, November 29, 1934., and he played his final 31 NHL games for the Eagles during the 1934-35 season.
Ripley then signed with the International Hockey League / IHL Cleveland Falcons for the 1935-36 season, having a outstanding season, scoring 14 goals, 32 assists. The IHL became the International-American Hockey League / IAHL for the 1936-37, and the Falcons became the Cleveland Barons, with Ripley staring the season in a slump with 2 assists in 13 games. He was then signed as a free agent by the IAHL New Haven Eagles after his release by Cleveland, January 19, 1937, playing the final 13 games of the season in New Haven.
Ripley then jumped to the Pacific Coast Hockey League / PCHL for the next 4 years, playing 2 seasons with the Spokane Clippers, 1 with the Seattle Seahawks and 1 final season with the Portland Buckaroos in 1940-41. Ripley was considered a offensive star while in the PCHL. The league disbanded after the 1941 season, primarily as a result of World War II.
Ripley played 1 final season of competitive Hockey in the Northwest International Hockey League with the Portland Oilers before retiring.