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Hockey HistoryLouis Pelissier
Pelissier coached several Hamilton teams in 1940s. Was bench boss for Junior Tigers and Senior A Pats, also scouted for NHL clubs Louis Pelissier was a well-known Hamilton hockey figure who coached several local teams in the 1940s. Born in Manitoba in 1909, Pelissier coached a team at Saint Paul’s College in Winnipeg, and also played for Saint Boniface College, a school he attended. He also eventually coached the College’s team, and then was coach of the Saint Boniface Seals starting in the late 1920s until the 1935-36 season in Manitoba’s junior hockey league. Pelissier came from a brewing family, his father the founder of a Winnipeg brewery that beared the family name. Louis not only learned the family business, he eventually became a salesman for O’Keefe, and came east to Toronto with the company. But soon after his arrival, he moved to Hamilton in 1936, and five years later was behind the bench of the Hamilton Junior OHA club, known officially as Wilkinson and Grisenthwaite, local builders. When Pelissier took over coaching in the new team for the 1942-43 season, the team was also known as the “W and Gs”, the “Builders,” and the “Whizzers.” In most newspaper reports of the day, the team was called “Pelissier Kids.” Several of the young hockey players on the team would eventually skate in the NHL, including Jack Stoddard and Walt Atanas, who both went to the New York Rangers, and Enio Sclisizzi, who played with the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Black Hawks. Although Hamilton led the seven-team league at one time early in the 1942-43 season, the Whizzers tied for second at season’s end with the Brantford Lions. Winning the division that year was the Oshawa Generals. Just before Christmas of 1942, the club announced that Pelissier was stepping down from his coaching duties, assuming the vice-presidency of the team while Buck Bellingham took over behind the bench. But Pelissier’s career in Hamilton hockey was not over. He was the coach of the Senior A Hamilton Patricias after World War II, when Hamilton boasted two Senior clubs, the Pats and the Hamilton Tigers. During this time, the Pats, which started out as an OHA Intermediate club in the early 1930s, made the playoffs during the 1945-46, 1946-47, and 1948-49 seasons. Pelissier was also involved with the Hamilton Police Minor Hockey Association in a coaching capacity. While continuing to work for the brewery, Pelissier scouted for several hockey organizations, including Cleveland Barons and the Washington Lions of the AHL, and the Montreal Canadiens of the NHL. Pelissier retired in the late 1960s, and died in 1993.
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