Flat Walsh

Who was Flat Walsh?

James "Flat" Walsh was a goaltender in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Maroons and New York Americans.

Walsh was one of the first back-up goaltenders in NHL history, as the Montreal Maroons kept him around as a spare for the great Clint Benedict in case of injury. He played one game in 1926–27 and one game in 1927–28. In 1928–29, Roy Worters was suspended by NHL president Frank Calder for not reporting to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Worters was sold to the New York Americans, but the Pirates failed to inform Calder of these arrangements and Calder, on his dignity, refused to lift Worters' suspension. As a result, the Americans borrowed Walsh for a few games and he did quite well. In 1929–30, with Clint Benedict getting his nose broken by a Howie Morenz shot, Walsh became the Maroons regular goaltender. The following year, James Strachan felt that Walsh could not handle the goaltending alone and Walsh shared the goaltending with Dave Kerr. In 1931–32, Walsh shared the goaltending chores with Normie Smith. Kerr was back to share the goaltending with Walsh in 1932–33, but Walsh came down with influenza which he suffered for a full two weeks and he decided to retire, which saddened Montreal fans, as he was popular with them.