Frank McGee Francis " Frank " Clarence McGee , ( November 4 , 1882 – September 16 , 1916 ) was a legendary ice hockey player during the early days of hockey for the Ottawa Hockey Club , nicknamed the " Silver Seven " . He himself had the nickname " One - Eyed Frank " . The Ottawa Hockey Club was given the nickname after the players ( seven on the roster ) were each given silver nuggets to the players after the 1903 Stanley Cup win . The players were not allowed to be paid money , under the rules of the time . Although McGee was blind in one eye , he scored 14 goals in one Stanley Cup game , and five or more goals in a game eight times . Despite a brief senior career — only 45 games over four seasons — he led the Silver Seven in its reign as Stanley Cup champions for four seasons ( 1903 – 06 ) , playing both centre and rover . In 1906 , The Silver Seven were the existing title holders and won two challenges . After the end of the regular season , the Montreal Wanderers tied for the league championship . A playoff was organized and the Wanderers won the Cup . It is considered by the Hockey Hall of Fame , among others , that there were two champions for 1906 . There are other years with multiple winners in the age when the Stanley Cup could be won by challenge outside of league play . During World War I , he enlisted in the Canadian Army and died in battle in France . He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1945 . Personal life . Frank McGee came from a prominent Canadian family . His late uncle , Thomas D ' Arcy McGee , had been a Father of Confederation . His father , John Joseph McGee , was clerk of the Privy Council ( considered the top civil servant position in the country ) . He had five brothers and two sisters . His brother Jim was also a noted athlete in football and ice hockey before dying in a horse - riding accident in May 1904 . After his education in Ottawa , McGee worked for the Canadian government ' s Department of Indian Affairs , but he had a passion for sports and played lacrosse and rugby football and excelled at ice hockey . While playing half - back for his rugby team , Ottawa City , he was a member of the team that won the Dominion championship in 1898 . He played for the Ottawa Hockey Club from 1902 until 1906 . He enlisted in the military and fought in World War I for the 43rd Regiment ( Duke of Cornwall ’ s Own Rifles ) as a lieutenant in the 21st Infantry Battalion , starting in May 1915 . That December he suffered a knee injury , and was sent to England to recover . He was given the choice of a posting in Le Havre away from the action , but chose to return to his battalion at the front . He returned to the 21st Battalion in August 1916 for the Battle of the Somme and was killed in action on 1916 - 09 - 16 near Courcelette , France . His brother Charles also died in action , in May 1915 . It is not known how McGee was allowed into the army with sight in only one eye . In his certificate of examination , the medical officer wrote that McGee could " see the required distance with either eye . " According to McGee ' s nephew , Frank Charles McGee , his uncle tricked the doctor . When he was asked to cover one eye and read the chart he covered his blind eye , and when required to cover the other eye he switched hands instead of eyes . His medical history only lists " good " for his vision . Hockey career . On March 21 , 1900 , the young and promising McGee lost use of an eye during an amateur game for a local Canadian Pacific Railway team . Also attributed to a game between Ottawa Aberdeens against Hawkesbury . In those days , it was common play , before icing rules for the defence to shoot the puck up into the air ( ' lifting it ' with the blade of the stick ) into the other team ' s end of the rink and all players would then skate to the other end to recover it . Nowadays , the term is " dump and chase " , though it must be shot from no further than the half - way ' centre ' red line . He retired from playing , becoming a referee . By 1903 , he missed playing the sport so much that he joined the Ottawas despite the risk of permanent blindness . McGee was the youngest member of the team and stood only five feet six inches tall in a brutal sport ; regardless , he excelled . He was considered an outstanding playmaker and deadly scorer . He scored two goals in his first game with Ottawa . On a number of occasions , he scored several goals in a single game , the most famous being his 14 goal effort in a 23 - 2 victory over the team from Dawson City , on February 7 , 1905 . It was the most lopsided playoff game in Stanley Cup history . It remains to this day the most goals scored by a single player in a Stanley Cup hockey game , and has not been surpassed in any professional match . He scored five or more goals in eight other senior matches ; his highest single - game total in regular season play was eight on March 3 , 1906 against the Montreal Hockey Club . His linemates included future Hall of Famers Alf Smith , Harry Westwick , Billy Gilmour and Tommy Smith . Frank Patrick , a contemporary of McGee ' s and like him a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame , described McGee : " He was even better than they say he was . He had everything - speed , stickhandling , scoring ability and was a punishing checker . He was strongly built but beautifully proportioned and he had an almost animal rhythm . " After Ottawa lost the Stanley Cup to the Montreal Wanderers in 1906 , McGee retired at just 23 years old . His retirement is attributed to his government position not allowing him to travel . He retired after scoring 135 goals in 45 games ( both league and challenge ) . Only Russell Bowie rivals his average of 3 goals per game . McGee was one of the original players inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame at its founding in 1945 . Five years later , a poll of sports editors of Canadian newspapers selected the Silver Seven as the country ’ s outstanding team in the first half of the 20th century . In 1966 , he was inducted into the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame . Records . Source : Diamond ( 2000 ) , p . 91