page_title: Lionel Hitchman
section_title: Ottawa Senators
hierarchical_section_title: Lionel Hitchman / Ottawa Senators
caption_attribution_description: English: The 1923 Ottawa Senators, Stanley Cup Champions
context_page_description: Frederick Lionel Hitchman was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played twelve seasons in the National Hockey League for the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins.
  Forming one of the greatest defensive pairings of all time with superstar Eddie Shore, Hitchman's #3 jersey was retired by the Boston Bruins on February 22, 1934, the second time in North American professional sports history that a player's number was officially retired, with the Toronto Maple Leafs retiring #6 for Ace Bailey on February 14, 1934.
context_section_description: After the end of the New Edinburghs' playoffs that season, Hitchman was signed by the Senators in 1923, first appearing in a victory against the Hamilton Tigers on February 28.  His first playoff game for the Senators was tumultuous, a match against the Montreal Canadiens on March 7 in which future teammate Sprague Cleghorn - with whom he had been sparring all evening - crosschecked Hitchman in the face, knocking him out. Cleghorn received a match penalty for the act, which provoked a near-riot from the home crowd and an assault on the referee. While too injured to play in the first Stanley Cup semifinal match against the Vancouver Maroons of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, he played in the three remaining matches.  In the best-of-three finals against the Edmonton Eskimos of the Western Canada Hockey League, Hitchman starred in a decimated Senators' defence, scoring the tying goal which sent the first game into overtime, won by the Senators en route to their tenth Cup victory.
  With the retirement of star defenceman Eddie Gerard, Hitchman became a regular for the Senators thereafter, a starter on the 1924 regular season champion team.
  The following season, with the Senators in a losing streak  - and Hitchman thought to be expendable due to the play of long-time amateur and newcomer Ed Gorman - he requested a trade to the expansion Boston Bruins in January 1925.  He was subsequently loaned to the Bruins for the remainder of the season, subject to him coming to contract terms with the club.
caption: 1923 Stanley Cup Champion Ottawa Senators; Hitchman is at the far right
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