Nitzy's Hockey Den

In recently reading an autobiography on Eddie Shack "Clear The Track", his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins was highlighted by playing on a colourful line. Early in the 1972/73 season he was team up with fellow veterans Ken Schinkel and Ron Schock. The Pittsburgh media blandly dubbed them the "Sh"-line. Personally, I feel a hockey line made up of the names Schinkel, Shack and Schock deserves a little more colourful description. I decided to work up a little poem about their brief time together. What follows is a first draft of a possible future illustrated story. The Penguins were young but these three were old, As a line together their time was quite brief. They played with a flow that was matched by their names, The goals they scored were beyond one's belief. The first one was Schinkel, the old veteran soul, An original Penguin playing his last pro campaign. He had slogged in the minors for year after year, When put on this line he f...

Following are excerpts from a Toronto Maple Leafs game program of Saturday November 28, 1964. The story, penned by Leaf P.R. Director Stan Obodiac, provides an interesting look inside the workings of an NHL dressing room almost 50 years ago. My thoughts and observations are added. "After three Stanley Cups," says Bob Haggert (Leaf trainer), "they are basically the same guys. Tommy (Assistant trainer Nayler) and I know them pretty well. Habits don't change." Tonight for example, Ron Stewart, Kent Douglas and Johnny Bower were the first ones to report to the dressing room. Stewart never fails to pick up a copy of  the insert pages of the programme. "I like to see if I'm still in the lineup," he jokes.  He usually was in the lineup as he totalled 1,353 games over his NHL career. "The last one in is always Horton," says Haggert. "He just seems to make it at 6:59. He has to get on that ice at 7:30, you know.  But the last out tonigh...

Guy Lafleur, if he had played in the 72 Summit Series "No way. Can you imagine what our fans would say if we allowed Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito to play for Canada in that series and either...suffered an injury that might prevent them from playing with us for a year or more?" This was the concern of Weston Adams Jr, president of the Boston Bruins as quoted on April 20, 1972. After being speculated and discussed since February 1972 at the Olympics in Sapporo Japan, the series was set to go. Early on however, controversy stirred as to who exactly would be representing Canada. Bruins GM, Milt Schmidt agreed with his boss saying, "My only interest would be to see the Russians play the Bruins for the world championship...or whatever team wins the Stanley Cup." In the Vancouver Sun a few days later, the legendary Jim Coleman responds to the American naysayers suggesting that Team Canada should be made up strictly of players from Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal ...

 Here's the latest addition to the actual Hockey Den, the team Fact Book issued for the 1967/68 campaign. Toronto of course had just won the Stanley Cup for the fourth time in the 1960's, and alas this would be the last for a while. At least our history was well documented and beautifully preserved in the books, guides and programs that I collect from the era. It may be a lifetime ago, but man it sure displays nicely in a den.  Here's a few of the interior layouts, firstly showing the last Cup winning squad and below, the great Tim Horton.  The back of the guide had a terrific ad for Becker's Milk. This, for anyone who grew up in Southern Ontario will bring back many childhood memories. Becker's along with Mac's had small convenience stores in pretty much ever village, town and hamlet and I believe still exist in some. My neighbourhood Becker's was a three block jaunt up the hill where I purchased many a pack of hockey cards or stickers as well as...

The headline in the Montreal Gazette said it all; "IRONSTONE HERO OF BRUINS-LEAFS GAME". The article begins; "Playing with their backs to the wall and with Joe Ironstone, an unknown quantity in big league hockey, guarding their citadel, the Toronto Maple Leafs battled the sturdy Boston Bruins through 70 minutes of guerilla-like hockey to a scoreless draw." The run-on sentences continued; "The hero of the night, however, from a local standpoint, was Ironstone, leading net-guardian of the Canadian Professional Hockey League, who came to the aid of the Leafs when Roach (regular goaltender, John Ross Roach) was stricken with an attack of gall-stones which necessitated his removal to a hospital. Ironstone, who has a string of shutout records to his credit secured while guarding the Toronto Falcons net, gave an impressive display against the Bruins. He was a little unsteady on his feet, but his numerous, brilliant saves won plaudits of the fans." This w...

  Here's another good little hockey history yarn as told by Toronto Maple Leaf great Joe Primeau. The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Canadiens were playing in the Montreal Forum on Christmas Eve, 1931. The regulation 60 minutes had ended in a one-all tie. Pit Lepine had scored for the Flying Frenchmen mid-way in the first period, and King Clancy had tallied for us at about the same stage in the third period. Neither team opened up at anything like full tilt in  the rather slow 10-minute overtime and, as I staged face-offs with Howie Morenz he began to beef, mildly enough, about having to play through a meaningless overtime on Christmas Eve.  There had been no scoring in the overtime when the siren sounded to end the game. Both teams were on their way to the dressing-rooms when we were called back by referee Cooper Smeaton. The timekeeper, it seems had sounded the siren a little more than 10 seconds too soon. We had to go back on the ice to finish the affair.  B...

Here's another fine tale from the long lost days of hockey history. It is regaled by Toronto Maple Leaf defenceman Hap Day; Only once in all the years I've been associated with Conn Smythe have I seen him totally at a loss for an answer, and really stumped. It occurred around the 1928/29 season, and it was Conn's first winter as active coach of the Maple Leafs. Here I should explain that Smythe made frequent use of the word "strategy" while checking up  on the players. One night we were playing in Ottawa, where the Leafs hadn't won a game from the powerful Senators for a long time. However, the Toronto squad was playing extremely well; the score was 0-0 in the third period. Suddenly, we ran into a most unusual string of four quick penalties, all of them to our defencemen. Our four rear-guards, Art Duncan, Red Horner (then in his first year with the Leafs), Art Smith and myself, were all in the penalty box at one time. This was in the days before the de...

I enjoy reading obscure hockey tales in old books and magazines and I enjoy even more doing a bit of research to either prove or disprove the accuracy of the actual events that happened whenever possible. Here's a good one from the memories of Maple Leaf boss Conn Smythe. The most baffling, most mystifying situation I've run into in hockey took place around the 1931/32 season .  The layout of Boston Garden differs from Maple Leaf Gardens; there's no aisle around the rink just behind the boards in Boston. Many corridors, like the one in front of the dressing-rooms in Maple Leaf Gardens, extend from the rear promenade to rink-side, and the team's dressing-rooms are in one end of the rink, not at the sides. On this particular night, I had been detained in our dressing-room by some Boston friends. I finally got away, to start the long walk down the rear promenade that would take me to the corridor leading out to the Leafs' bench at rinkside. As I left the dress...