( Photo Credit: LondonSportsHallOfFame.com )
By: Mark Allred | Follow Me On Twitter @BlackAndGold277
Ray Getliffe was born on April 3rd, 1914, in Galt, Ontario which is located just outside of the Greater Toronto area (Now Cambridge, Ont). Getliffe played his junior hockey for nearby London and Strafford communities before turning pro in the 1935-36 season only playing in one game that season. During the first year with the Bruins organization, he like so many young players back then would play at the minor-pro level getting accustomed to the higher skill around them. With the Bruins minor-pro affiliate Boston Cubs, Getliffe would appear in 29 games in his first year of professional hockey posting 16-14-30 numbers.
Getliffe would get into full National Hockey League action when he appeared in 48 games in 1936-37 as a rookie and contributed 16-15-31 numbers. As a member of the Bruins, Ray would be with the organization for four seasons spending three of them with full-time work at the NHL level. In that timeframe, the 5′-11″ 175-pound forward posted 37-40-77 numbers in 128 games with Boston. After a 36-10-2 record, the Bruins captured the regular-season title in the 1938-39 campaign and would go onto win the team’s second Stanley Cup with a 4-1 series victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. During the 1938-39 regular-season, Getliffe posted 10-12-22 numbers during the regular and in 11 games in the postseason that year had a goal and an assist for his first career Stanley Cup.
( Photo Credit: LondonSportsHallOfFame)
After celebrating his first league championship, the following season the Bruins traded Getliffe to the Montreal Canadiens along with Charlie Sands to the Habs for Herb Cain in October of 1939. Ray would only need four seasons before capturing his second career Stanley Cup when the Habs won it all after the 1943-44 hockey season. Getliffe ended his 10-year NHL career at the close of the 1944-45 season. In six years with the Canadiens organization after the trade from Boston, he posted 99-97-196 numbers in 269 games with the Habs. Getliffe would live another 64 years after retiring from the game of hockey passing away at 94 on June 15th, 2008. Ray would post 136-137-273 career numbers in 397 NHL games in his ten years at the highest level of hockey in the world.
Check out the new Black N’ Gold Hockey Podcast episode 172 that we recorded below on 3-26-20! You can find our show on many worldwide platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Spotify, SoundCloud, and Stitcher!
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