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Johnny Sheppard

Canadian ice hockey player

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 16, 2026
Entity authorityQ6267693 ↗
Source-derived summary

Joseph John Oswald "Jake" Sheppard (July 27, 1902 – August 28, 1969) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played nine seasons in the National Hockey League with the Detroit Cougars, New York Americans, Boston Bruins, and Chicago Black Hawks from 1926 to 1934. Johnny was the brother of the former NHL player, Frank Sheppard. He was born in Montreal, Quebec but grew up in Selkirk, Manitoba.

Playing career

Sheppard began his career with the Selkirk Jr. Fisherman of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League and Edmonton Eskimos of the Western Canada Hockey League. He joined the Detroit Cougars in the team's inaugural season of 1926–27, in which he played 43 games and led the team in goals (13), assists (8), points (21), and penalty minutes (60). On November 22, 1927, Sheppard scored the first goal at the new Detroit Olympia against Ottawa Senators' goaltender Alex Connell.

Sheppard was traded to the New York Americans, where he played five seasons and posted career highs in goals (17 in 1932–33) and points (29 in 1929–30). He also played for the Bronx Tigers of the Canadian-American Hockey League in 1931–32. Before his final NHL season in 1933–34, Sheppard was traded from the Americans to the Bruins, who released him after four games.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Johnny Sheppard” as canadian ice hockey player. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1902, 1969, 1926, 1934—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1903-07-23. The account is most persuasive where Johnny, Sheppard and Canadian can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as canadian ice hockey player. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6267693. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1902, 1969, 1926 and 1934.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Johnny Sheppard”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Johnny Sheppard primary sources, Johnny Sheppard archive and Johnny research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Johnny Sheppard”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Johnny Sheppard” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.