Babe Siebert

Born in Plattsville, Ontario, Siebert grew up in the nearby community of Zurich, located on the eastern shores of Lake Huron. He became obsessed with hockey at an early age, playing the game nearly every day. He played intermediate hockey in Zurich and Exeter before moving to Kitchener to play junior hockey. Though his elder brothers mocked his simple playing style—he used his size and strength to push his way through opponents—Siebert was invited to join the Kitchener Greenshirts in 1922. He won the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) and eastern Canadian junior championships with Kitchener in 1922–23, but lost the Memorial Cup final to the University of Manitoba. After a year of senior hockey in Kitchener, he moved on to the Niagara Falls Cataracts, winning the OHA senior championship in 1924–25.

Siebert was signed by the Montreal Maroons in 1925 and made his professional debut that same year. He finished second on the team with 16 goals as the Maroons finished second in the NHL standings. Montreal defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates and Ottawa Senators in the playoffs to win the NHL championship. Siebert scored three points in the 1926 Stanley Cup Final as the Maroons defeated the Western Hockey League champion Victoria Cougars to win the Stanley Cup. When Hooley Smith arrived in Montreal in 1926–27, Siebert was paired with Smith and Nels Stewart. The trio were known as the "S Line" and emerged as one of the top scoring lines in the NHL. Stewart was the goal scorer on the line while Smith set him up with his passing game, but it was Siebert who used his strength and speed to move the puck out of their defensive zone and to create space for his line mates. His physical style of play occasionally resulted in Siebert being brought in front of league president Frank Calder for supplementary discipline, as in December 1927 when he was suspended for a time following a violent melee with Billy Boucher of the New York Americans. When Boucher responded to an elbow by slashing Siebert over the head, the latter player responded with repeated wild swings of his own stick at Boucher, injuring him.

Siebert never had the opportunity to take up his new post. On August 25, 1939, while vacationing with his family and swimming with his daughters at Lake Huron, he drowned attempting to retrieve an inflatable tire they were playing with. Shocked by the news, Siebert's peers lauded his character and play, indicating that his death was a considerable loss to the game of hockey. Among them, his former manager with the Maroons, Tommy Gorman, remarked that Siebert was popular with his fellow players and was a great defenceman who "lost fairly and won modestly". At the time of his death, Siebert was visiting his cottage to celebrate the 80th birthday of his father, William. He cherished the time he had with his two daughters Judy and Joan, who were 11 and 10 years old respectively, when they witnessed his drowning. His loss represented a significant financial burden for his family as he spent nearly all of his income paying for his paraplegic wife's medical costs.