Nitzy's Hockey Den

Here's some great pics I found on the Vancouver Archives website of the old Denman Arena in Vancouver's West End. I wrote about it last year; http://nitzyshockeyden.blogspot.com/2009/03/denman-arena-vancouver-pile.html Above is from 1929, and below is an aerial view from 1940 showing Coal Harbour. Stanley Park is on the left side, while the arena is on the right edge. The two pics below show the interior of the rink during militaryt drills in 1919. Note the incredibly steep upper deck seating. Below is a panoramic view looking out into Coal Harbour with the Vancouver Rowing Club on the left side. This still stands to this day and was used as Germany House during the 2010 Olympics.

Most good hockey fans would know that the first 100 point season in the NHL was achieved by Phil Esposito. In 1968/69, Espo notched a then unheard-of 126 points. Sixteen years before this, Gordie Howe tallied 95 points in 1952/53 to come close to the magical century plateau. Who was professional hockey's first ever 100 point scorer? Surprisingly, although not at the NHL level, the barrier was indeed broken well over a decade before Howe came close in the early 50's. The top minor pro circuit American Hockey League had two 100 point men in 1947/48. Providence's Carl Liscombe scored 118 points and Cliff Simpson of Indianapolis notched 100 exactly. The Pacific Coast League which would become the Western Hockey League produced it's first 100 point scorer two years before the AHL's first. Vancouver Canuck, Andy Clovechok scored 103 points in 54 games. As for the lower minor professional leagues, it appears that the Eastern Hockey League produced pro-hockey's firs...

In the spirit of selecting the 40th anniversary squads for the Canucks, Sabres and Leafs I thought it would be fun to look at some of the lesser franchises of all-time, and the best teams they could put together over their histories. Let's have a gander at the all-time team for the long defunct California Golden Seals/ Cleveland Barons franchise. Over eleven years of existence the team lost well over twice as many games as they won, and posted a winning percentage of only .349. Only twice did they have a season in which they had a better than .400 win Pct, topping out with 69 points in their second year of 1968/69. This was their first of only two seasons qualifying for the playoffs and they actually went seven full games before losing to the lower-ranked Los Angeles Kings. Earl Ingarfield led the team with 10 points in the 7 games and actually finished second over the duration of the 1969 post-season in Points/Game. Ingarfield scored at a 1.43 Pts/GP clip, behind only Phil Espos...

As NHL camps open this weekend, the Kontinental League in Russia is already in full regular season mode. Here are some first week numbers of some of the bigger names that are plying their trade in Mother Russia. Evgeni Nabokov , the ex-Shark has 2 wins and 2 losses for St.Petersburg SKA with a 2.95 GAA. Teammates Maxim Afinogenov and Alexei Yashin each have 1 goal and 3 helpers over five games. Mattias Weinhandl is tied for league scoring honours with 3 goals, 5 assists. Magnitogorsk Metallurg boasts the KHL's goal leader in Denis Platonov who has 8 markers and zero assists in 5 games. He equalled the KHL record with four goals in one game this past Monday. Platanov was a 3rd round choice of Nashville in 2001 but his North American career spanned all of three games with AHL's Milwaukee Admirals in 2003/04. The 28 year old is in his ninth year of the Russian top league with his career high in goals being 17 in 53 games four seasons ago. Teammates on Magnitogorsk, Sergei and...

As a point of comparison, having just chosen my Canucks and Sabres 40th anniversary squads I will now select my Leafs team from the same era, 1970 through present day. (GP-G-A-Pts) Centre Mats Sundin 981-420-567-987 Darryl Sittler 844-389-527-916 Doug Gilmour 393-131-321-452 Bill Derlago 378-158-176-334 A very tight battle for top Leaf centremen of the last 40 years with Sundin coming out ahead of my sentimental favourite Sittler. Although Sittler had five top-ten point finishes in the '70s and a Second-Team All-Star berth, Sundin had two Second Team selections. When points are adjusted for different scoring eras, Sundin pulls ahead even further. Sundin's adjusted points in a low scoring era go from 987 to 1093 while Sittler in a higher scoring era drops from 916 to 797. Gilmour's two brilliant seasons in the early '90s easily place him third on this list ahead of four-time 30 goal man Bill Derlago. Right Wing Rick Vaive 534-299-238-537 Lanny McDonald 477-219-2...

"Every team should have an Ace Bailey...He's not going to score you 50 points every year but he made up for it in different ways, being an Ace Bailey, a real character." This is a quote from Boston Bruin teammate John Bucyk form the website www.acebailey.org . Garnet Bailey (no relation to the original Leaf) had in many ways what can be described as a storybook hockey career. His life was cut short on Sept. 11, 2001 when he was onboard flight 175 that struck the World Trade Center. By this point in his life, Bailey was Head of Pro Scouting for the Los Angeles Kings and was on his way to L.A. for the start of training camp on that fateful day. Bailey was drafted by the Bruins 13th overall in 1966 and would play one more junior year scoring 93 points for the Edmonton Oil Kings. By the age of 20 he was a point per game player with the AHL's Hershey Bears and would stick in the NHL the following year. Perhaps his greatest moment in the NHL would come in game 1 of the 19...

Time to look at the Sabres all-time squad as they celebrate their 40th anniversary along with the Canucks. Interestingly each franchise has been to two Cup Finals neither winning the ultimate prize. Over their histories Buffalo has obtained 494 points more than Vancouver, or an average of six additional wins per season. In theory, The Sabres all-time team should be slightly better than the Canucks. (Games-Goals-Assists-Points) Centre 1st Gilbert Perreault 1191-512-814-1326 2nd Pat LaFontaine 268-158-227-385 3rd Dale Hawerchuk 342-110-275-385 4th Don Luce 766-216-311-527 Mr. Sabre, Gil Perreault is the easy choice for first team centre. He has 130 more goals, almost twice as many assists and over 500 more points than any other player to don the blue and gold. LaFontaine's stay in Buffalo was short but brilliant, his 1.44 points per game with Buffalo is tops by far and his 148 points in '92/'93 is 21 more than any other Sabre. Hawerchuk scored between 86 and 98 points in fou...

In honour of Vancouver and Buffalo celebrating their 40th year in the NHL, I am going to select their respective franchise All-Time squads. Today we look at the Canucks. There are many obvious choices, it's when we get deeper that some tougher decisions arise. Players listed in order followed by GP-G-A-PTS Centre 1st Henrik Sedin 728-138-434-572 2nd Thomas Gradin 613-197-353-550 3rd Patrik Sundstrom 374-133-209-342 4th Cliff Ronning 366-112-216-328 Having won the franchise's first and only Hart Trophy, "Hank" Sedin is the easy choice for top centreman. Fellow Swede, Gradin had a nice run in the early 1980's topping out twice at 86 points. The Canucks have obviously done well with Swedish centres as Sundstrom ranks as their third best ever. He tallied 38 goals and 91 points in '83/'84. The fourth slot comes down to Brendan Morrison and Cliff Ronning, with Ronning's five plus seasons including 85 points in '92/'93 topping B-Mo's seven plus ...