Nitzy's Hockey Den

Time for a quick one. This should be fairly easy as the Kansas City Scouts existed for only two seasons 1974/75 and 75/76. The game is obviously taking place in Montreal as the Canadiens are wearing their whites. Guy Lafleur and Pete Mahovlich are easily identified and don't help narrow it down as they played just about every game over those two years. The Kansas City player at the top of the image has a "2" on his back and a "1" on the left elbow. Number 21 on the Scouts was Norm Dube and Phil Roberto. The 21 in the photo shoots Left, Roberto shot Right, Dube Left. Dube did play one game in the second year of the Scouts, but it looks like this is from the 1974/75. Number 5 on Kansas City was Brent Hughes the first season and Gery Bergman in the second season. Now, unless Bergman had a Bobby Hull-like hair transformation, that's not him in this picture. Bergman was cue-ball bald for years by the mid-1970's and in fact in his year with the Scouts he wore...

"At the moment, I would consider it very unlikely that I play four more years of junior hockey before turning pro. The NHL rules now say I can't be drafted before then, but if and when I'm ready for the pros I want to be sure I can go." This was a 16 year old Wayne Gretzky, quoted in the Jan. 3, 1978 Montreal Gazette. Gretzky stated himself that he figured he'd need only one more year of junior hockey. "to grow physically and learn a little more about hockey. He added "But after that I don't know what will be left to learn. By then I would have a reputation and I think I would be a sitting duck for other players out to make a reputation for themselves at my expense. I do't want that to happen. There's just too much chance an injury could finish me off before I ever get a chance at the pros." In 1978 the NHL draft eligible age was 20 years, so there really were few options for an 18 year old player. He could follow other underagers Mark ...

Time for another mystery hockey photo. This one shows the New York Islanders visiting Detroit. Clearly pictured is Bryan Trottier and Billy Smith of the Isles and Paul Woods and Claude Loiselle of the Wings. In front of Woods is an Islander who's name ends in "EN" and has either number 2 or 7 on his helmet. The Wings are sporting jerseys with fancy-style numbers, and thanks to http://www.nhluniforms.com/RedWings/RedWings14.html we find that they wore these only for the 1982/83 season. A look at the records shows the Isles visiting Detroit twice during the season on Nov. 3 and Dec. 8. The rosters for each game are unavailable but Billy Smith played in both matches, so that doesn't narrow it down. Claude Loiselle played in only 18 games this season, and a quick search allows us to pinpoint the game in this photo. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=G2Q_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=nVMMAAAAIBAJ&dq=claude%20loiselle%20wings&pg=2018%2C1993793 Loiselle was apparently sent b...

My pal (and fellow hockey nerd) Jeremy was asked by another friend on facebook about the above photo. He was asked to figure out where it was from. He grabbed me via chat and asked for some assistance and we went back and forth for the next half hour. The strange thing about the photo was it's poor quality and the fact that the photo itself was apparently found in Russia. The only clearly identified player is Ken Dryden and not his brother Dave. The number 29 is a dead giveaway, a quick check shows Dave only ever wore numbers 1, 28 and 30 in his career. The first instinct says the photo is from the 1979 Challenge Cup series which pitted the NHL stars against the Soviet National squad. The front of the jersey's of Dryden's team are fairly blurry but they very well could be the NHL crest from the '79 series. And that dark sweatered #24 on the left sure looks like Sergei Makarov. However, if this was the Challenge Cup, why the extremely poor quality of the pic? Also there ...

I often purchase old programs either in person from dealers or on ebay, and during the process of searching for them I come across many old gems. I like to find out what exactly happened during the actual game that these programs were issued for, and what other circumstances surrounded the match. Pictured above is the cover for when Boston visited the Montreal Maroons in early March of 1926 (No, I don't actually have this one). Coming into the match, Maroons sat in second place and Boston was 7 points in arrears. The Bruins did however hold down the third and final playoff spot by one point over Pittsburgh Pirates with two weeks remaining in the season. The Maroons were led by the legendary Nels Stewart who would end up leading the NHL with 36 goals and winning the Hart Trophy. They also had Hall of Famers Reg Noble, Babe Seibert, Punch Broadbent, and Clint Benedict in goal. Boston boasted two players who would finish second and third in goals behind Stewart in Carson Cooper and J...

Dave Tomlinson played in the NHL in the early 1990's with the Toronto, Winnipeg and Florida. Dave Thomlinson played in the NHL in the early 1990's with St.Louis, Boston and Los Angeles. No big deal really, two guys with almost identical names playing in the NHL. In the 1970's there was Jim Jones and Jimmy Jones, but Jim played a mere 2 games with the Golden Seals and Jimmy played 148 for Toronto. There was of course the Greg Adams'. Greg D. Adams played 545 NHL games scoring 227 points while Greg C. Adams played 500 more games than his namesake and scored more than 500 more points. The thing with the Dave's Tomlinson and Thomlinson is the eerie similarity of their career numbers. Dave Tomlinson played 42 NHL games. Dave Thomlinson played 42 NHL games. Dave Tomlinson scored 1 NHL goal. Dave Thomlinson scored 1 NHL goal. Dave Tomlinson tallied 3 NHL assists. Dave Thomlinson tallied 3 NHL assists. Dave Tomlinson had a +/- of -15. Dave Thomlinson had a +/- of -16. Dave...