era's top defencemen. His ability to rush the puck forward also made him a scoring threat; Cleghorn was one of hockey's first offensive defencemen. He once scored five goals in an NHA game in 1913, and had a career best 21 goals in 19 games in 1914–15. He retired in 1928 with 169 career goals, at the time the second most by a defenceman in professional hockey history, behind only Harry Cameron. The Hockey News ranked Cleghorn as the 88th greatest player of all-time in its 1998 book, The Top 100 NHL players of All-Time. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958. Personal life On May 8, 1911 in New York, Cleghorn married Evelyn Irene Mabie, whom he had met while playing with the Wanderers. He was arrested in 1918 for beating his wife with a crutch while he was recovering from his ankle injuries. The couple divorced in 1921, after Cleghorn was found by his wife with another woman after she had reported him as missing. He was ordered by a judge to pay alimony of $1,000 per month to his ex-wife. Cleghorn later remarried twice, with his second marriage also ending in divorce. His third wife, Vivian Goudreau, predeceased him on December 18, 1943. Cleghorn was hit by a car on his way to work on June 29, 1956 on Commissioners Street in Montreal. He sustained head injuries and a fractured cervical vertebrae. Two weeks later, on July 12, 1956, he died of his injuries at St. Luc Hospital. He was 66, and was survived by his brother Odie and three sisters. His funeral was held at First Presbyterian Church in Montreal on July 14 and he was buried at Mount Royal Cemetery. Upon his death, his brother, Odie remarked, "He was my brother, and I don't like to boast, but I never saw a tougher or better defenceman than Sprague." Two days later, Odie died in his sleep of heart failure and was found by his sister just hours before Sprague's funeral. Career statistics Regular season and playoffs * Stanley Cup Champion. Coaching career Awards and honours See also Violence in ice hockey List of members of the Hockey Hall of Fame References Career statistics: Bibliography External links 1890 births 1956 deaths Anglophone Quebec people Boston Bruins players Canadian ice hockey defencemen Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Ice hockey people from Montreal Montreal