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Hawse Marsh
Hawse Marsh- Hamilton-born goalie an important part of 1930s Tigers Era Harold “Hawsh” Marsh played goal for the Hamilton Tigers during an exciting time in the city’s hockey history. And Marsh was front and center for the Tigers as the team’s goalkeeper in the early 1930s. Born on Ferguson Avenue in Hamilton, Marsh soon moved to Grimsby, and in the 1920s played with the Peach Buds, the Grimsby Junior club. In the late 1920s, Marsh went to play with the Hamilton Jolleys as part of the OHA Senior squad, along with Muir McGowan and Blondy Hayhoe. With the franchise renamed the Tigers by the 1931 season, the Tigers were a formidable team, heading to the Allan Cup championships that year, losing to Winnipeg. Marsh was a mainstay of the team during this era, which captured five Senior OHA titles and three eastern Canada playoffs. “Things were a bit tough back in the Twenties,” Marsh recalled in a December 1966 Spectator interview. “When Bill Landeg offered us jobs in Hamilton if we’d play hockey for him we jumped at the chance. I came here with Goney McGowan and Blondy Hayhoe.” For several seasons, Marsh was the Tigers' sole netminder, and he could not afford to get hurt as the team had no backup goalie. But there was a game in 1931 that he almost missed an entire game. Playing against the Moncton Hawks in the eastern finals, Marsh was decked in the head by the shot of an opposing player, and fell to the ice with a thud, staining the surface with blood. Carried into the dressing room, he was attended to by the Tigers doctor, and returned to his duties on the ice 20 minutes later. Marsh, who was employed by Canada Coach starting in the early 1930s, played with Hamilton for seven seasons in the amateur loop, and then went to play with the Consuls and Marlboros, both Toronto teams. He then played for the Bronx Tigers and Baltimore Clippers, coming back to Ontario to play for the Port Colborne Sailors in 1938, and finished his career in London a year later. The 1931 season was the best for Marsh and the Tigers, who never
allowed more than four goals in a game all season and only 12 in
the seven-game playoff session. That year the team lost only eight
of 25 games all season, and six of them by only one goal.
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