Alexander George "Killer" Kaleta - Born November 29, 1919 in Canmore, Alberta – Died July 9, 1987 in Alberta was a Canadian Ice Hockey left winger and coach.

- Alberta Senior Hockey League Champion 1941 with Lethbridge Maple Leafs.

- Lester Patrick Cup (Phil Henderson Cup) Champion 1952 with Saskatoon Quakers.

Kaleta learned to skate on the rink in his backyard in Canmore, Alberta.

Kaleta played with his hometown Canmore Briquettes in 1937.

Kaleta played his senior Hockey in the Alberta Senior Hockey league, first with the Calgary Stampeders in 1938, then the Regina Vic-Aces in 1939 and Lethbridge Maple Leafs in 1940.

Kaleta was so fast; his nickname was ‘Seabiscuit,’ after the horse.”

Kaleta made his NHL debut with Chicago Black Hawks on November 6, 1941 vs Brooklyn Americans at Chicago Stadium in a 1-0 Black Hawks win.

Kaleta scored his 1st NHL goal vs Frank Brimsek of Boston Bruins at 15:44 of 2nd period on November 20, 1941 at Chicago Stadium in a 3-2 Black Hawks win.

Kaleta is best known for his part in originating Hockey's Hat Trick tradition - Kaleta, a fleet winger, joined the Black Hawks for the 1941-42 season, then missed three full years during World War II, but spent the three seasons playing with the Calgary A-16 Currie Army during the War.

When he rejoined the NHL, Kaleta wandered into Sammy Taft’s establishment in Toronto and took a liking to a fancy fedora. There was only one problem: He didn’t have sufficient funds to purchase it. Taft, an entrepreneur with obvious promotional skills, made a proposal. If Kaleta happened to score three goals against the Maple Leafs that evening - January 26, 1946, he should return to the store and the hat would be his for free. Kaleta not only scored three goals. He scored four in a 6-5 loss to the Maple Leafs.

As Taft fondly recalls, the Toronto press ran with the story. On the radio that night, when he listened for Hockey results, the big news was “Black Hawk Alex Kaleta’s hat trick.” The next day’s newspapers were all over it too. Although there are other versions about how one of the most famous terms in Hockey and the lexicon of all sports evolved, the tale of Taft and Kaleta is officially recognized by the Hockey Hall of Fame. Kaleta went on to complete the season that year with an NHL career-high 46 points (19 goals).

After 4 seasons with the Black Hawks, Kaleta joined the New York Rangers in 1948–49. He recorded consecutive 31-point seasons in 2 seasons with the Rangers before ending his NHL career by joining the Saskatoon Quakers of the minor pro Pacific Coast Hockey League / PCHL in 1951–52. The next season, the PCHL was absorbed by the Western Hockey League (WHL), where Kaleta played with the Quakers for 3 more seasons before retiring in 1954–55.

Kaleta played in 387 regular season NHL games, scoring 92 goals (9 GWG / 1 OTG), 121 assists with 202 penalty minutes and 17 NHL playoffs games, scoring 1 goal, 6 assist with 2 penalty minutes.

Alex Kaleta was inducted into the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame in 2008.

The Canmore Recreation Centre Alex Kaleta is named in his honor.