Joseph Arthur Lesieur (September 13, 1907 – December 31, 1967) was an American professional ice hockey defenseman who played 100 games in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Black Hawks between 1928 and 1936.

Art Lesieur
Born (1907-09-13)September 13, 1907
Fall River, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died December 31, 1967(1967-12-31) (aged 60)
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position Defense
Shot Right
Played for Montreal Canadiens
Chicago Black Hawks
Playing career 1927–1946

Born in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1931 Lesieur became the first American-born player to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup as a member of the Montreal Canadiens. Lesieur played most of his professional hockey career with the Providence Reds of the Canadian–American Hockey League (Can-Am) and the International American Hockey League (IAHL/AHL), where he led the Reds to 3 Fontaine Cup titles and 2 Calder Cup championships as a player, team captain and/or player coach.

In 1941, just days after the attack on Pearl Harbor and midway through the hockey season, Art became a national celebrity as the first U.S.-born professional hockey player to be drafted into the armed forces, turning in his team colors for Army drab. He served nearly five years, of which 32 months were in combat overseas commanding artillery batteries in both the European and North African theaters.

Lesieur was inducted into the Rhode Island Hockey Hall of fame in 2021.

Career statistics edit

Regular season and playoffs edit

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1927–28 Providence Reds Can-Am 1 0 0 0 2
1927–28 Nashua Nationals NEHL 23 3 2 5 20 4 1 2 3 6
1928–29 Montreal Canadiens NHL 14 0 0 0 0
1928–29 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 3 0 0 0 0
1928–29 Providence Reds Can-Am 16 1 0 1 16 4 0 0 0 2
1929–30 Providence Reds Can-Am 40 3 0 3 57 3 0 0 0 4
1930–31 Montreal Canadiens NHL 21 2 0 2 16 10 0 0 0 4
1930–31 Providence Reds Can-Am 19 3 3 6 26
1931–32 Montreal Canadiens NHL 24 1 2 3 12 4 0 0 0 0
1931–32 Providence Reds Can-Am 18 4 3 7 35
1932–33 Providence Reds Can-Am 25 1 3 4 34
1933–34 Providence Reds Can-Am 40 2 1 3 68 3 0 1 1 8
1934–35 Providence Reds Can-Am 47 5 9 14 80 6 1 0 1 10
1935–36 Montreal Canadiens NHL 38 1 0 1 24
1936–37 Providence Reds IAHL 51 3 7 10 54 3 0 0 0 2
1937–38 Providence Reds IAHL 47 6 10 16 36 7 0 1 1 8
1938–39 Providence Reds IAHL 54 5 7 12 53 5 0 0 0 4
1939–40 Providence Reds IAHL 54 6 7 13 26 8 0 0 0 4
1940–41 Pittsburgh Hornets AHL 32 2 0 2 22
1945–46 Minneapolis Millers USHL 8 0 2 2 4
Can-Am totals 206 19 19 38 318 16 1 1 2 24
IAHL/AHL totals 238 22 31 53 340 23 0 1 1 18
NHL totals 100 4 2 6 52 14 0 0 0 14

External links edit