Saturday 6 December 2008
A. E. “Cap” McDonald, Former Hockey Great Dies at Age 78
One of the Ottawa Valley’s old-time hockey great, Alfred Ernest (Cap) McDonald, died Tuesday in the Civic Hospital. He was 78.
“Cap”, as he was known to many friends, had been an ardent sportsman all his life, but hockey was his greatest pleasure. He began his hockey career in Smiths Falls in 1901 as an amateur.
When he turned professional, he played with such teams as Pittsburgh, Calumet, and Michigan, and finally became captain of the old Sidney Millionaires. He played his last professional game at the top, in competition for the Stanley Cup against the old Quebec Bull Dogs.
Although finished with professional hockey, his sporting interested never waned. He took to field and stream sports and was still active in fishing circles in the Iroquois area at the time of his death.
He spent all his summers at Iroquois, while maintaining a permanent home in Ottawa at 1228 St. Paul Avenue. He was a member of St. John’s Anglican Church, Iroquois, and attended Trinity Anglican Church here.
For many years after leaving professional sport, he worked with the Department of Transport, retiring 15 years ago.
Surviving are his widow, the former Esther Lancaster; a son, Ernest, by his first wife, the former Julias Gilligan, of Brantford; seven sons and three daughters by this second marriage, Donald, George, James, Robert, Lionel, William and Bert, and Mrs. Thomas Roos (Mary), Mrs. Howard Clark (Elinor), and Mrs. Edward Kay (Marian), all of Ottawa.
Funeral will be held Friday at 1 p.m. in the Hulse and Playfair Funeral Home chapel. Burial is to be in Springhill cemetery.
(this is a link to a copy of the original obituary announcement, probably from either the Ottawa Citizen, or Ottawa Journal).