Percivale St-Helier LeSueur (November 21, 1881 – January 27, 1962), known as "Peerless Percy", was a Canadian senior and professional ice hockey player and later involved in the game as referee, coach, manager and owner. A goaltender, he was a member of the Smiths Falls Seniors for three years, with whom his performance in a 1906 Stanley Cup challenge series attracted the attention of his opponents, the Ottawa Silver Seven. Although his team lost the series, LeSueur excelled in goal, keeping the games close. Nine days after the defeat, he joined the Silver Seven and played in a challenge match against the Montreal Wanderers. He remained with Ottawa through the 1913–14 season where he served as team captain for three seasons, and assumed coaching duties in his final season with the team.
LeSueur was traded to the Toronto Ontarios (who later changed their name to the Toronto Shamrocks mid-season) for the 1914–15 season. After playing the following season for the Toronto Blueshirts, he enlisted in the army and fought for Canada during the First World War. He returned to hockey following the conclusion of the war, serving in various roles including referee, coach, manager, arena manager, and hockey journalist. He coached ten games in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Hamilton Tigers. As a journalist, he was the first reporter to include shots on goal statistics in game summaries.
During his playing career, LeSueur improved upon existing ice hockey equipment: he invented the gauntlet-style goaltender glove which protected the forearms, and created and patented the LeSueur net which was designed to catch high-rising shots. LeSueur was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961, and died a few months later following a lengthy illness.
Playing career
Smiths Falls
thumb|right|upright|LeSueur with Smiths Falls
Born in Quebec City, Quebec, on November 21, 1881, Percy LeSueur played amateur hockey in his hometown with several teams on the right wing, among them the Quebec Crescents and the Quebec Seconds. He scored a regular season goal with the Quebec Hockey Club (known as the Bulldogs) in 1901. For the 1903–04 season, he moved to Smiths Falls, Ontario, to play for the Seniors in the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA). When the team's usual goaltender fell ill, LeSueur agreed to play goal.
In March 1906, the Smiths Falls Seniors, as a member of the Federal Amateur Hockey League (FAHL), issued a challenge for the Stanley Cup to the Ottawa Silver Seven (during that era, teams were allowed to challenge the present Cup holder once a year for possession, provided they were part of a senior hockey association and had won their league championship). In the two-game, total goals series, Smiths Falls lost the first game 6–5, and the second game 8–2. Both games were played at Dey's Arena in Ottawa, on March 6 and 8. Despite giving up 14 goals during the series, LeSueur's work in net was impressive: the Montreal Star remarked that his performance in the first game had kept the Seniors in contention, noting that the "most spectacular saves of the match were made by [him]". The Wanderers responded with a "furious attack", resulting in Lester Patrick scoring two late goals, leading Montreal to a 12–10 series victory and the Stanley Cup.
thumb|LeSueur circa 1909
LeSueur played for Ottawa through the 1913–14 season. He finished second in the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA) in goals against average in his first season with Ottawa, giving up 54 in 10 games played. He repeated the feat in the 1907–08 season, with 51 goals against in 10 games. That season LeSueur was Ottawa's sole representative at the Hod Stuart Benefit All-Star Game, played on January 2. Stuart, a member of the Wanderers squad who won the Stanley Cup in 1907, had drowned in the previous off-season and the ECAHA responded by organizing an All-Star game, the first of its kind in any sport, with its proceeds going to Stuart's widow and their two children. The Wanderers defeated a team of All-Stars, made up of the top players of the league's other teams, 10–7. LeSueur remarked in the Ottawa Free Press that while joining the Silver Seven was his "biggest thrill", his participation in the All-Star Game came a "close second".
In the 1909 ECHA season, LeSueur won the Stanley Cup with Ottawa, now nicknamed the Senators, after the team led the league with 10 wins. LeSueur's book was particularly popular among youngsters. The team led the regular season standings in the National Hockey Association (NHA) with 13 wins, regaining possession of the Stanley Cup. LeSueur was the league leader in goaltender wins in both the 1909 and 1910–11 seasons, having appeared in every game Ottawa played.
Toronto
LeSueur was traded to the Toronto Shamrocks for Fred Lake and $300, as the Ottawa club engaged Clint Benedict for its goaltender's job. At the time of the deal, LeSueur had been the last member of either the 1909 or 1911 Stanley Cup winning teams still in Ottawa. LeSueur helped the Shamrocks lower their goals against during the 1914–15 season, from 118 the previous season to 96 (more than one goal per game). However he still finished last among the six regular goalies that season in goals against. Coincidentally, LeSueur's last season with Ottawa also marked the end of the Stanley Cup challenge era. In Stanley Cup play, LeSueur had a 7–2 overall record and was undefeated in seven games with Ottawa. He was also recruited for the 228th Battalion, which fielded a team in the 1916–17 NHA season, and appeared in some team photos, but never played for them.
Post-war
Following the war, LeSueur returned to hockey in a variety of roles. Over time, he appeared as a referee, coach, manager, arena manager, and journalist.
LeSueur went on to manage several arenas and guided the creation of new teams. As manager of the Windsor Arena and the Detroit Olympia, he helped assemble an ownership group that acquired the Victoria Cougars from the Western Hockey League (WHL) prior to the 1926–27 season. The team joined the NHL as the Detroit Cougars, now known as the Red Wings. LeSueur served the new Syracuse Stars as head coach for the 1930–31 season, but replaced himself mid-season with Frank Foyston. LeSueur also managed the Syracuse Arena. While he was an IHL coach, he used his spare players during game intermissions to explain the rules of hockey to new spectators. In 1968, he was posthumously inducted as one of the 55 original members of the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame.