Al Suomi - Hockey Career

Hockey Career

For the 1934–35 season, Suomi was a member of the Chicago Baby Ruth team of the United States Amateur Hockey Association league, participating in two playoff games and scoring a total of two goals. The team was designed as a marketing gimmick for the Curtis Candy Company, and played before all of the Chicago Black Hawk games in order to increase their attendance. While Suomi made the team, his two friends were rejected and they returned to Minnesota. For the next season, from 1935–36, he was called to Michigan and joined the Detroit Tool Shop of the Michigan-Ontario Hockey League. He was offered an opportunity to tried out for the 1936 Olympic ice hockey team for the United States, but his past association led him to be rejected for being too professional. He played 17 regular season games for the Detroit Tool Shop, scoring eight goals and five assists for a total of 13 points. During the regular season, he had six penalty minutes. In addition, he played in four playoff games, scoring one assist.

In 1936 Suomi, along with other MOHL players, took jobs in Denver, Colorado. Unlike the others, however, he received an invitation to try out for the Chicago Black Hawks, which he accepted even amongst threats of a lawsuit from his employer. In another marketing ploy, Black Hawk owner Frederick McLaughlin had benched all the Canadian players on his team and declared his intentions to field a team that consisted entirely of individuals born in the United States. The 1936-1937 was Suomi's sole season with the National Hockey League. He played five games with the Black Hawks, but scored no points, and, after four wins and one loss, Suomi and the other Americans were disbanded and replaced with the professionals.

According to some statistics, Suomi spent the remained of the 1936–37 season with the Michigan-Ontario Hockey League's Detroit Pontiacs. Over the span of 20 games, he scored only two points, but spent 14 minutes in the penalty box. In a 2002 interview, however, he denied having ever played for the team. His last season in hockey was with the Chicago Hornets of an Arena Hockey League.