Cyril Joseph Denneny (December 23, 1891 – September 10, 1970) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League and the Toronto Blueshirts of the National Hockey Association.


Cy Denneny was born in Farran's Point, Ontario, near Cornwall, Ontario. He was the son of James Israel Denneny who was a top lacrosse player in the late 19th century and was descended from the Dennenys of County Monaghan, Ireland.


Denneny played senior hockey in Cornwall, starting with the Cornwall Sons of England of the Lower Ottawa Valley hockey league in 1909-10. His professional playing career began with the Toronto Ontarios/Shamrocks of the National Hockey Association (NHA) in 1914. (The name of the team changed during the season) He had tried out for the Montreal Canadiens in 1912 but failed to make the team and he returned to senior hockey. He was traded to the Ottawa Senators in 1916 and he would play with the Senators until 1928. He was member of four Senators Stanley Cup-winning teams; in 1920, 1921, 1923 and 1927. With the Senators during the 1917-18 season, Denneny set an NHL record by opening the season with four straight multi-goal games. Though the record still stands, it was tied in 2013 by San Jose Sharks' forward Patrick Marleau.[1] Denneny was sold to Boston in 1928, where he would be the playing-coach of the Bruins' 1929 Stanley Cup-winner.



Denneny was one of the top scorers in the NHL from 1917 through 1925. While leading the league in scoring during the 1923–24 NHL season, he did so by recording 22 goals and one assist for a total of 23 points, the lowest winning total in NHL history.[2] When he retired, he was the all-time top scorer in NHL history. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1959. In 1998, he was ranked number 62 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. He remains the fastest player in NHL history to score 200 goals



Denneny was married twice. His first wife Melvina died and Denneny remarried. He was the father of two daughters with his second wife Isobel. After Denneny retired from hockey, he worked for the Canadian federal government. He retired from civil service in 1959.