Camille Henry (born Quebec City, Quebec on January 31, 1933) was a professional ice hockey player. Nicknamed 'the eel', Henry had his greatest success wearing number 21 for the New York Rangers where he won the Calder Memorial Trophy as National Hockey League rookie of the year in 1954 (beating out Jean Beliveau). Although he usually played Centre, Camille was the second team NHL all star left winger in 1958, the year he also won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for sportsmanship combined with production. In 1964/65 he was team Captain. At 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) and 150 lb (68 kg), he was generally regarded as the smallest man in the NHL at the time and suffered numerous injuries throughout his career. He was known for his ability to swat the puck out of mid air to score goals. He did a few stints in the minor leagues including the Providence Reds in 1955/56 when they won the American Hockey League Championship - the Calder Cup. (Like Gump Worsley the year before (1953), he was named rookie of the year then was sent by the New York Rangers to the minor leagues for a year - probably to lessen his value and keep his compensation low). He played for the Chicago Blackhawks later in his career and he coached the Kansas City Blues of the Central Hockey League in 1969/70 and then coached the New York Raiders of the World Hockey Association but he never duplicated his early success.
After his retirement he lived in Quebec City and held down security jobs eventually becoming essentially destitute. He was widely considered to have an alcohol consumption problem and died shortly after receiving his first reimbursement for the players pension fund which was awarded by the courts.
An interesting trivia note: on November 1, 1959, that fateful night when Jacques Plante first donned a mask, Camille was the first and the only one in that game to score on him.
