Johnny Harms

John Harms (April 29, 1925 – January 5, 2003) was a Canadian ice hockey player of Cree heritage who played 44 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Chicago Black Hawks during the 1943–44 and 1944–45 seasons. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1943 to 1961, was spent in various minor leagues. He died at age 78 from a burst esophagus.

Early life

Harms was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, at Saskatoon City Hospital, to Helen Laird (née Hauback) and George Laird, a farmer, both from Marquis Saskatchewan. When he was 10 days old, he was adopted by a Dutch speaking couple, John and Helen Harms. He attended elementary school, and later studied art in Saskatoon, prior to playing hockey. He lived with his adoptive family until the age of 18 when he was drafted into the NHL.

Entry into the NHL

During the 1942-43 season, at the age of 17, he played for the Saskatoon Quakers and helped the team win the Memorial Cup with 4 goals and 2 assists. In the 1943-44 season he signed with the Chicago Black Hawks where he played 4 games in the playoffs against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was sent to the Hersey Bears of the American Hockey League for the last part of the 1943-44 season and in 1944 he was back in the NHL playing 43 games in the regular season with the Black Hawks scoring 5 goals and 5 assists. Of the 26 players on the Black Hawks roster in 1944, 19 were Canadians.

Post NHL

Between 1945 and 1950 he played with the Kansas City Pla-Mors which is where he met his future wife Donna Bell Spencer with whom he had 3 children; John, Michael, and Catherine. He worked as a lineman and an electrician for the British Columbia Power and Hydro Authority for 25 years between 1959 and 1984 and during that time brought hydro to many remote regions of the Okanagan and Shuswap regions of British Columbia.

He was recruited to play for several Canadian teams after 1949 playing for the Regina Capitals (1950-51), the Nelson Maple Leafs (1950-52), the Vernon Canadians (1951-61), and one year (1959-60) with the Kelowna Packers. In 1956 his team won the Allan Cup, the trophy awarded annually to the senior ice hockey champions of Canada. The reigning Allan Cup champion was usually chosen to represent Canada in ice hockey at the Olympic Games or the Ice Hockey World Championships.