Nitzy's Hockey Den

I came across this terrific article in the newspaper archives of The Nelson Tribune dated January 30, 1901. It's a write-up about a the first game of the Stanley Cup challenge between the Winnipeg Victorias and the Montreal Shamrocks. The article itself is bordering on the hilarious as it really is merely a play-by-play account of the action on the ice. I mean, a literal play-by-play report of the entire game; from offside calls, goaltenders stopping the play, pucks getting 'lifted' into the grandstand and on and on. Check it out below and replay the action in your imagination. MONTREAL, January 29, 1901.—The hockey game between the Victorias of Winnipeg and the Shamrocks of Montreal was faced off at 8:10 p.m. The game was very even. Johnson secures puck, loses it, and Grant lifts. Brennan secures puck, going down to Victoria's goal. Brown makes a good stop. Bain shoots on goal off-side. First game for Shamrocks in six minutes.  Dan Bain Off again, Trihey...

I read in a few places how today is the anniversary of Wayne Gretzky reaching the 100 point plateau in 1983...in 34 games played. Below are the top scorers through December 18, 1983: (GP-G-A-Pts) Gretzky          34 37 63 100 Kurri               34 28 38 66 Trottier            33 22 33 55 PStastny          34 17 38 55 Nicholls           34 22 30 52 Bossy               27 24 23 47 Savard             33 22 25 47 Tanti                32 25 21 46 Federko           32 20 26 46 Dionne             34 14 32 46 Pederson          32 14 31 45 Messier             33 13 32 45 Deblois             33 16 2...

On Wednesday, March 24, 1971 the Montreal Canadiens held a Jean Beliveau Day prior to that evening's match with the Philadelphia Flyers. Their captain was winding down his illustrious career and this was fourth-to-last regular season home game. Beliveau and the Canadiens would of course extend his career and the season all the way to a Stanley Cup victory of Chicago almost two months later. This night however, was Beliveau's special one. "I must admit," Beliveau said, "For one of the few times in my career, my mind wasn't on hockey the past few days. I found the first period quite difficult but started getting back into the game in the second and third periods." Montreal beat the Flyers 5-3 and Beliveau assisted on Montreal's second goal, the 15th of the year from John Ferguson. Ferguson commented on the goal, "I had a lot of time and a lot of room. But when you get a pass like that from Jean it makes a difference." Prior to th...

Going into play on November 18, 1986 Vancouver Canuck, Petri Skriko had produced 5 goals and 8 assists in playing all of his team's 18 games. This is about as average as one could get in the mid-1980's NHL when players scoring at a point per game pace was commonplace. Then came the Eruption of Petri Skriko. What sounds like an Icelandic volcano was in fact one of the greatest goal scoring bursts in NHL history. On Nov. 19, Vancouver won at home against Calgary by a score of 5-0. Skriko had a natural hat-trick before the second period had ended, the last two were shorthanded goals. November 21 saw the Canucks lose at home to the Rangers 8-5, but Skriko one-upped himself. Instead of a natural hat-trick to open the scoring, he went one better. Before the second period was two minutes old, Petri Skriko had pumped four goals past John Vanbiesbrouck, the last of these was also shorthanded. He added his fifth goal at the halfway point of the game to give Vancouver a 5-2 lead. Alas...

Pat Quinn passed away this week and the tributes have been pouring in. Quinn was universally revered and should really be in the Hockey Hall of Fame. I believe the only reason he hadn't been so honored yet was due to the fact that he was on the selection committee. Quinn is fifth overall in career NHL coaching victories with 684, and even though he never won the Stanley Cup, he has the 6th most career playoff wins with 94. It's interesting to me how the Vancouver Canucks and their fan base have seemingly claimed Quinn as their own when in reality he coached in and won more than twice as many games with Toronto. In fact, Quinn owns the highest career winning percentage of any Maple Leaf coach ever. I understand that Quinn coached Vancouver to their magical run of 1994 and that carries a lot of weight in people's memories. In truth, he coached almost as many games with Philadelphia and was even more successful. Granted, Quinn also filled roles of player, General Manager ...

Nashville 9, Toronto 2.  Nine goals by one team in a game is rare nowadays. In fact the Leafs haven't scored nine themselves since the 2006/07 season and they had not given up at least nine goals since Dec. 26, 1991 when they lost  12-1 in Pittsburgh.  The last time Toronto had surrendered at least nine on home ice was all the way back on Jan. 14, 1991 when Buffalo beat the 11-30-4 Leafs by a score of 9-3. The Sabres got out to a 4-1 lead after the first period, chasing starter Peter Ing from the net. The Leafs actually got within a goal five minutes into the second on goals from Gary Leeman and Dave Ellett. The Sabres then poured three past Jeff Reese in a three minute stretch and two more in the third. In the end Reese allowed five goals on 14 shots while Ing allowed his four on 13 shots. Each of  Alexander Mogilny and Pierre Turgeon ended up with 2 goals, 3 assists and a plus 6 rating, while Toronto's Vinny Damphousse and Michel Petit were each a minus ...

Jan 12, 1943 A while back I high-lighted the hockey related newspaper cartoons of the great John Collins of the Montreal Gazette. Interestingly, he began with The Gazette mainly as a political cartoonist, satirizing the main figures in the conflict of the Second World War. Collins would at times take a sporting angle while looking at the world events as seen in the above cartoon. This one depicts Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt looming over an over-matched Adolf Hitler, complete with swastika marking. Oct 22, 1945 Collins would pretty much stay away from sports-themed drawings until after the War had ended. With the beginning of the 1945/46 NHL campaign, he diverted his talents to the far lighter realm of sports. Oct 23, 1945 Dec 1, 1945 John Collins held his post as Montreal Gazette resident cartoonist until retiring in 1982. He would pass away in 2007 at 89 years of age. Nov 24, 1945 Dec 3, 1945  Dec 8, 1945 Dec 22, 1945 Nov 1, 1945 ...

Hockey Hall of Fame card, 1983 Johnny Bower turns 90 years old today. He joins Wally Stanowski (95) and Howie Meeker (91) as the only living Leafs over 90 years old. In honour of the living legend, I am posting pretty much every piece of Bower memorabilia from my den.  Nov. 1964 Hockey Illustrated Feb. 1966 Hockey Illustrated 1966 Esso Schedule Jan. 16 1968 All-Star Game Program  1988 Maple Leafs Schedule signed with Dick Duff 1968/69 Post Cereal Marble & 1960/61 Shirriff Coin  1966 Coca Cola How to Play Goal Headline Hockey, 1963 Feb. 16, 1963 Game Program 2004/05 In The Game, Memorabilia 1963 Signed Maple Leafs Team Stick

Toronto Maple Leaf legend Johnny Bower turns 90 years old this Saturday, Nov. 9 (or 89 or 91). The old China Wall is still kicking strong, although there is no truth to the rumour that Randy Carlyle had him dress as emergency back-up last week.  I thought I would share a virtual scrap-book of newspaper clippings of Bower photos throughout the years. I think my favourite is the last one showing Bower and Marv Edwards in 1970 wearing cool Maple Leafs practice jerseys that I had never seen before. Enjoy.

It's amazing, the things you stumble across while scrolling through old newspapers on Google News (what, you don't scroll through old newspapers on Google News?). It was the night of February 6, 1942. A collection of National Hockey League Old-Timers played an exhibition in Boston against the Bruins of the day to raise funds for the Army Relief Fund. Check out the terrific "V for Victory" jerseys the old boys wore. The rosters are below: The defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins would finish third in the NHL that season and understandably did not go full out effort in the 30 minute affair. They boasted Vezina Trophy winner Frankie Brimsek as well as the "Kraut Line" of Schmidt, Bauer and Dumart. They also had Dit Clapper (who didn't play in this game), Flash Hollett, Roy Conacher and Bill Cowley (who would only coach the Bruins this night). 31 year-old Bruin of the day, Harvey "Busher" Jackson suited up with the the Old-Timers...

Time for another look at Ken Reid's terrific new book, Hockey Card Stories. Reid shares the strange story of the rookie card of Bryan Maxwell. His first card was issued while he was with the WHA's Cincinnati Stingers in 1976/77. The only problem is, it's not Maxwell pictured on his rookie card. Reid's book describes it; Few players, I am sure, would like to be airbrushed on their first ever hockey card. But it's not the doctoring that Maxwell talks about all these years later. "That's not even me," says Maxwell. So, of course, after all these years, there's no mystery as to who the man on the card is...right? "I don't know who is on my Cincinnati card," says Maxwell. There have been cases of the wrong player being shown on a sports card, but usually the identity of the player has been figured out somewhere down the road. It seems strange to me that nobody has yet figured out who really is on Maxwell's rookie card. L...