Background
Hooper was born in the village of Rat Portage, later renamed Kenora, in north-western Ontario, Canada.
Hooper was born in the village of Rat Portage, later renamed Kenora, in north-western Ontario, Canada.
He played for the Kenora Thistles, Montreal Hockey Club, and Montreal Wanderers. Noted for his skating speed, checking and stick-handling ability, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1963. He first played organized hockey for a local high school.
The high school team was very talented, good enough to defeat Rat Portage"s senior ice hockey team
In 1896, at the age of thirteen, Hooper joined the Rat Portage senior hockey team where he would play until 1908. Hooper missed the March series rematch due to a fractured collarbone.
The Thistles folded after one game in January 1908 and Hooper joined the Montreal Wanderers. He had been moved to the cover-point defence position by the Wanderers from his career forward position and lost the starting job to Walter Smaill.
He signed with the Montreal Hockey Club for the rest of the season, where he played rover.
Hooper"s play in the 1907-1908 season was considered by hockey writers to not be up to the standard of his previous years due to his fitness. He retired after the season.
The team went on to defend the Stanley Cup as league champions, but lost the title in March 1907 to the same Wanderers.