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D'arcy Coulson was born in Sudbury, Ontario on February 17, 1908. Sometime during his early childhood years,
the family moved to Ottawa near the corner of Metcalfe and Somerset streets, and Ottawa would become home to D'arcy.
It is here that he began playing hockey. A former neighbour remembers two things about hanging around with D'arcy:
Great pick-up hockey and his beautiful sisters.
In 1927, D'arcy joined the Ottawa Shamrocks of the OCHL where he would remain for three seasons, in addition to
briefly joining the Chicago Shamrocks of the USAHA in 1929. This season, the first for which his penalty
statistics are available, bring to light an interesting characteristic of D'arcy. Despite not being a "big" man,
he was obviously not afraid to throw his weight around. He managed to rack up a league leading 89 penalty minutes
in 20 regular season games, another 26 minutes in the 6 post-season games, and yet another 23 in his 7 games in Chicago.
This trend continued in his only NHL season with the Philadelphia Quakers, where in only 28 games, roughly
a half season, he was third in penalty minutes in the league with 103. His granddaughter claims that on the night
his second child was born, D'arcy was away playing hockey, and took his frustration about missing the event out on
his opponents. This determination and fearlessness obviously defined his character and influenced his life after hockey.
After the demise of the Philadelphia franchise, D'arcy was claimed by the Montreal Canadiens in the dispersal draft,
and was later loaned to the Montreal Maroons on November 26, 1931, although he never played for either team.
Following his brief professional career, D'arcy spent no time
dreaming of the past, and retired from Hockey from 1931 to 1934
and set about becoming a very successful and wealthy businessman.
D'arcy owned and operated
hotels in Ottawa, Hull, Sudbury, Hawksbury and other cities,
in addition to being involved with a Golf Club in Aylmer, Quebec,
and the family hotel business started by his father in Sudbury.
Outside of his successful career, he was also a devoted family
man, having six children and scores of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
None of D'arcy's boys followed in his hockey footsteps, as his
wife was said to be strongly opposed to the teams treatment
of players, presumably reflecting on D'arcy's career. Referred
to as "Pops", he was always interested in what everyone was
up to, and the kids regularly made trips "Up the Pontiac" to
visit him in Luskville, Quebec, where he retired.
Despite having played recreational hockey for the Ottawa RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) hockey team from 1934 to 1936,
D'arcy did not serve in the Second World War, as he was exempt due to the number of children he had. However, he was proud
to point out that his war effort, donating an enormous amount of blood, was an individual donation record.
D'arcy died on April 13th, 1996 at the age of 88. He is buried at St-Dominique's Church in Luskville, under a beautiful
Celtic stone alongside his wife Denise Phelan Coulson.
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Player Facts
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NHL Seasons
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1
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Goals
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0
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Assists
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0
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Born
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Feb. 17 1908
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Died
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April 13, 1996
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Nickname
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None
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Team
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Quakers
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Stats
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