There are many great hockey towns across Canada, but only one can brag about having five players that scored Stanley Cup winning goals.

Bragging rights belong to us, right here in Kingston, Ontario.

Before the NHL was formed in 1917, it was known as the National Hockey Association (NHA). The Toronto Blueshirts were part of the NHA and were led by a high scoring winger from Kingston’s Portsmouth Village, Allan (Scotty) Davidson. Davidson turned pro after helping the Kingston Junior Frontenacs win back-to-back Ontario championships in 1910 & 1911.

In the Stanley Cup final in 1914, Davidson scored the Stanley Cup winner for the Toronto Blueshirts against legendary goaltender Georges Vezina of the Montreal Canadiens. It was Toronto’s first Stanley Cup win.

That summer, WW1 broke out and Davidson fresh from his Stanley Cup win was the first pro hockey player to enlist. He joined the Canadian 2nd Battalion, died in battle in 1915 at age 24; his sacrifice led to the birth of the Memorial Cup.

Kingston’s Cook Brothers, Bill and Fred ‘Bun’ Cook, were stars in the early days of the NHL with the New York Rangers. They played pro in the Western Hockey League in Saskatchewan before coming to Broadway. The Cook’s helped the Rangers win two Cups in 1928 and 1933.

The Cook’s formed the famed ‘Bread Line’ with Frank Boucher and all three are members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. The 1933 final was the first to be decided in overtime. Bill Cook got the winner to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It took another 51-years, but three more Kingston players scored Cup winning goals inside of a decade.

The 1980’s Edmonton Oilers dynasty was led by Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, Coffey & Fuhr.

However, it was a former Kingston Canadians star, Ken Linseman, who scored Edmonton’s first Stanley Cup winning goal in 1984. They beat the NY Islanders, a team that had won the four previous Stanley Cups.

In 1989 in a rematch of the all-Canadian final three years earlier, Calgary played Montreal. Doug Gilmour, a big time playoff performer throughout his career, iced the Stanley Cup win over Montreal by scoring the winning goal for the Flames at the Montreal Forum.

Calgary was the first team to beat the Canadiens on home ice at the storied Montreal Forum in a Cup clinching game. Gilmour also scored a Memorial Cup winning goal in junior for the Cornwall Royals.

In 1993 at the Montreal Forum the Habs became the most recent Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup. Kingston’s ‘Captain’ Kirk Muller got the winner at the Forum against the Gretzky-led LA Kings to finish the Cup Final in five games.

It is the dream of every young Canadian kid playing street hockey to score a Stanley Cup winning goal.

Five Kingston lads, Davidson, Bill Cook, Linseman, Gilmour and Muller got to realize that dream. No other Canadian city can match it.

Mark Potter is a longtime Kingston broadcaster & honoured member of the Kingston & District Sports Hall of Fame. He co-athored ‘Hockey’s Hub – Three Centuries of Hockey in Kingston’ with J.W. (Bill) Fitsell.