Eric Dayton "Doc, Splendid Splinter" Prentice (August 22, 1926 in Schumacher, Ontario – December 8, 2002 in Coleman, Alberta

Coleman, Alberta

Coleman is an urban community in the Rocky Mountains within the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass in southwest Alberta, Canada. It was formerly incorporated as a town prior to 1979 when it amalgamated with four other municipalities to form Crowsnest Pass....

) was a professional ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 left winger

Winger (ice hockey)

Winger, in the game of hockey, is a forward position of a player whose primary zone of play on the ice is along the outer playing area. They typically work by flanking the centre forward. Originally the name was given to forward players who went up and down the sides of the rink...

 who played a total of 5 games in the National Hockey League

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

 (NHL) for the Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...

. Prentice still holds the record for the youngest player ever signed by the Toronto Maple Leafs - he was 17.

Career

Prentice played the 1942-43 season with the Timmins Buffalo Ankerites in the Thunder Bay Junior A Hockey League

Thunder Bay Junior A Hockey League

The Thunder Bay Junior A Hockey League was a Canadian Junior ice hockey league that existed from circa 1920 to 1980. The TBJHL operated in Northwestern Ontario, primarily in the Thunder Bay region....

. He then spent the 1943-44 season playing with Providence-Hershey in the American Hockey League

American Hockey League

The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League...

. He made his only appearance in the NHL when he played five games for the Toronto Maple Leafs. During those five games, he failed to record a point and spent 4 minutes in the penalty box. In 1944-45, he played with the Pittsburgh Hornets in the American Hockey League

American Hockey League

The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League...

. He then split the 1945-46 season between the Omaha Knights

Omaha Knights

The Omaha Knights were a minor league professional ice hockey team from 1959 to 1975, based in Omaha, Nebraska at the Ak-Sar-Ben arena. The Knights were founded in 1959 as members of the International Hockey League...

 in the United States Hockey League

United States Hockey League

The United States Hockey League is the top junior ice hockey league in the United States. The USHL has 16 member teams located in the Midwestern United States, consisting of players who are 20 years of age and younger...

 and the Hollywood Wolves in the Pacific Coast Hockey League

Pacific Coast Hockey League

The Pacific Coast Hockey League was an ice hockey minor league with teams in the western United States and western Canada that existed in several incarnations: from 1928 to 1931, from 1936 to 1941, and from 1944 to 1952.-PCHL 1928-1931:...

. He went back to the Wolves in 1946-47.
Next he then played for the Fresno Falcons

Fresno Falcons

The Fresno Falcons are a defunct minor league hockey team. They were once members of the ECHL . They were located in Fresno, California.-Early history:...

 in 1947-48. He then spent 1948-49 with the Philadelphia Rockets

Philadelphia Rockets

The Philadelphia Rockets were a minor professional ice hockey team based in the Philadelphia Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Rockets played for three seasons in American Hockey League from 1946 to 1949...

 before ending his professional career in 1949-50 in Oakland-LA-Fresno in the PCHL.

Post-hockey

Prentice was the father of Canadian lawyer and Tory

Conservative Party of Canada

The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...

 cabinet minister Jim Prentice

Jim Prentice

James "Jim" Prentice, PC, QC is a Canadian lawyer, and politician. In the 2004 federal election he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a candidate of the Conservative Party of Canada...

.
Prentice died in 2002 in Coleman, Alberta from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a form of motor neuron disease caused by the degeneration of upper and lower neurons, located in the ventral horn of the spinal cord and the cortical neurons that provide their efferent input...

.