Rat Westwick Harry " Rat " Westwick ( April 22 , 1876 in Ottawa , Ontario - April 3 , 1957 ) was a Canadian ice hockey player . Westwick , nicknamed the " Rat " by a journalist , is most noted for his play with the Ottawa Hockey Club , nicknamed the " Silver Seven " during his day which won and defended the Stanley Cup from 1903 until 1906 . He was a member of the Ottawa Capitals lacrosse team from 1896 until 1904 , winning three championships . Personal life . Westwick , who played during a period when hockey players received little or no money , also worked as a book binder for various companies , and later , the Canadian government printing bureau . He enlisted in the Army in 1914 during World War I . He fathered five children , two sons and three daughters . When he married his wife Ruby Duval in February 1903 , he combined his honeymoon with a team trip to Montreal . During the game , he suffered a broken ankle and watched the rest of the game from an arena seat with his bride . Playing career . Born in Ottawa , Ontario , Westwick played hockey for Ottawa teams , joining the intermediate Ottawa Aberdeens of the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada ( AHAC ) in 1893 . He moved up to the senior - level Ottawa Hockey Club the next season . At the time , Ottawa has lost its goaltender Albert Morel and Westwick played several games as goaltender before moving up to rover on the advice of a coach who saw his fast skating ability . During the summer , Westwick would play for the Ottawa Capitals in lacrosse . The Capitals , ostensibly an amateur team , were discovered to be paying players in 1896 and Westwick was suspended from ice hockey play . Westwick would deny receiving any money and he was reinstated by Ottawa . In 1898 , only to be suspended again in 1898 by the Canadian Amateur Athletic Union . In 1909 , Westwick moved out of town to find work in Waterloo , Ontario but returned to Ottawa in time to play some games for the Capitals ice hockey team , by then playing in the Ontario Hockey Association ( OHA ) . In 1900 – 01 , Westwick returned to the Ottawa Hockey Club , and he played for the club until 1908 , and was a member of the four - time Stanley Cup winning squad later dubbed the " Silver Seven " for receiving silver nuggets for their 1903 Stanley Cup win . Westwick ' s best season was in 1905 , when he scored 15 goals in eight regular season games , and 5 goals in the Dawson City challenge series . In 1906 – 07 , his brother Tom joined the Ottawa squad , starting one game . By 1909 , Westwick ' s skating ability had been reduced by a series of ankle injuries and he did not make the 1909 Ottawa squad . He played the season for the Ottawa Senators of the Federal League , a professional team which had several former Silver Seven players . It was his last season . On one occasion , after ice hockey had become professional in 1906 , Westwick played for a team other than Ottawa . He joined the Stanley Cup champion Kenora Thistles in 1907 after the Ottawa ' s 1907 season was complete . He played the final games of the Thistles ' season and played in the Thistles defense of its Stanley Cup win against the Montreal Wanderers , at the time , the arch - rival of Ottawa . While the Thistles defended their Cup win in Manitoba play with Westwick , his appearance with the Thistles caused the challenge series with the Wanderers to be protested by the Wanderers and a cancellation was threatened by the Stanley Cup trustees . The series , held in Winnipeg , was beyond the reach of the trustees , and went ahead . The Wanderers won the series , making the protest moot . The following year , the trustees implemented the January 1 rule , where only players on a team as of January 1 of the season were eligible for Stanley Cup play . Westwick remained involved in hockey , becoming a referee after retiring from active play . In 1915 – 16 , at a time when many players were off fighting in World War I , Westwick helped out Ottawa in a comeback role , playing three games , although he did not score any goals . His nickname ' Rat ' was from a Quebec City journalist , who in 1896 called Westwick a " miserable , insignificant rat . ' Westwick ' s scrappiness led opponents to resort to aggressive ( and somewhat violent ) tactics in order to derail his tenacious playing style . His ankle injuries necessitated the amputation of a leg later in life . He died in an Ottawa hospital on April 3 , 1957 and was posthumously inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962 .