Nitzy's Hockey Den

Above is another great photo found in the City of Toronto Archives showing four Maple Leafs at what appears to be Varsity Arena in Toronto. No names or dates were attached to the photo, that's where the Society for International Hockey Research database comes in handy.  The easiest to identify is second from right, Leaf defenseman Wally Stanowski, and at the far right centre, Pete Langelle. (both pictured below) Wally Stanowski Pete Langelle Both of them were from Winnipeg and after beginning their NHL careers with Toronto, both would join the Canadian Military in 1942. They skated together in their hometown in the Winnipeg National Defense League with the Winnipeg RCAF Bombers hockey club. They each remained there for three seasons until the end of World War II. Stanowski returned to claim his spot on the Maple Leaf blue line during the 44/45 season while Langelle played out his career in the minor leagues. To identify the other two players I reached out to ho...

Mabel giving skating tips to Steve Kraftcheck, Bob Baun, Carl Brewer and unidentified player UPDATE :  I reached out via twitter to re-knowned hockey history expert and author, Liam Maguire to help identify the player on the right. He sent the photo to his friend and ex-Maple Leaf great Ron Ellis who in turn asked hockey writer/researcher Paul Patskou. The concensus was reached that the guy on the right is Marc Reaume. Patskou added, " The Leafs in the training camp in 1958 took this photo of the defencemen.  You will notice that the Leaf sweaters were the same ones used in the 1957-58 season and used in training camp and the Leafs switched to new sweaters with the laces for the first game in 1958-59 season.  That’s why Brewer has the ‘A’." Very cool. Thanks for the help gentlemen. Here's some terrific photos of the Toronto Maple Leafs having a visit from the Ice Capades ladies (insert Leaf joke here) in likely the late 1950's. These beauties are from t...

Here's a fantastic photo from the Vancouver Public Library archives. The only information attached to it is Canucks vs. Saskatoon and a date of 1960. No players were identified in the image, but most hockey fans, especially ones of the Toronto Maple Leafs should easily identify the goaltender as the one and only Johnny Bower. Bower played for the Vancouver Canucks of the Western Hockey League during the 1954/55 season, his 10th professional campaign. The previous season he had played every minute of all 70 games for the New York Rangers in the NHL before losing his job to Gump Worsley. In the six team NHL era, there were simply not enough top-end positions for all the talent available. Bower had already been named MVP three years in a row with Cleveland Barons of the AHL. It would be three more years until Bower was back in the big leagues for good when Punch Imlach acquired him to play for his Maple Leafs in 1958. This season pictured with Vancouver was like most others fo...

A few months ago I crossed paths with former Edmonton Oiler goalie Mike Zanier on social media. He agreed to answer a few questions I had about his career, and after some email exchanges I found he had quite an interesting past as well as present.  Perhaps Zanier's biggest claim to fame is the fact that he was pressed into back-up duty for the Edmonton Oilers while they were en route to their first Stanley Cup championship. It all began in game three  of the 1984 final when Grant Fuhr injured his shoulder. Oiler Pat Hughes checked Pat Lafontaine and carried him into Fuhr against the boards. Andy Moog took over and started the final two games as the Oilers won their first Cup. With Fuhr incapacitated, the 21-year old Mike Zanier dressed as backup.  Zanier had just completed his first professional season in the American Hockey League. In 31 games with the Moncton Alpines he posted a solid 3.30 GAA. Zanier would not get into any game action but...

Ok, this is getting ridiculous. The Toronto Maple Leafs downward spiral of 2015 has gone from embarrassing and laughable to bordering on the downright abhorrent. Before playing in Edmonton tonight, the Leafs have a record of  8-28-3 since beating Anaheim on December 16, 2015. In 39 games played (almost half of a season) they have collected 19 points. A percentage of 0.244. Toronto is currently in the midst of one of the worst stretches in franchise history. Here's a look at other 39 game segments as bad as the current one, and yes most are from the 1980's: 1957/58 Final 39 Games 10-25-4 .308 Pct 109 Goals For 145 Goals Against 1981/82 Final 39 Games 8-26-5 .269 Pct 122 Goals For 192 Goals Against 1984/85 First 39 Games 6-28-5 .218 Pct 115 Goals For 181 Goals Against 1987/88 Final 39 Games 7-28-4 .231 Pct 119 Goals For 177 Goals Against 2014/15 Since Dec 16 8-28-3 .244 Pct 78 Goals For 135 Goals Against That is a lot of bad hockey. Truth be tol...

"I went out with an old friend (John Anderson of the Nordiques), we had a bull session and I just never got out of bed. They (management) did what they had to do." In light of current Leaf Nazem Kadri being a healthy scratch as punishment for being 20 minutes late for a team meeting, recall the time Leaf captian Rick Vaive did the exact same thing and suffered a far worse punishment. The date was February 21, 1986 as the Maple Leafs waited to play the Minnesota North Stars on the 23rd. The Nordiques were visiting Minneota that night and lost 5-2 to the Stars, afterwards Vaive hooked up with his ex-linemate Anderson for a "bull session" that caused the over-sleeping. Coach Dan Maloney had called an important 7:15am Saturday practice at the Met Center in Bloomington. Leafs owner Ballard characteristically chimed in with his normal lack of diplomacy, "He was not acting as a captain should. You can't loll in bed in the morning. The captain shou...

The current NHL scoring race is in truth more of a casual walk in the park than an actual race. Teammates Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom are tied for first with 67 points through 65 games. That pace would result in 85 points leading the NHL in scoring. There are 7 guys within 3 points of the lead. However, only one back of the two Capitals is Sidney Crosby who has 64 in 58 games. If he plays the remaining 20 games and continues at that pace he'll end up with 86 points. Anyway you cut it, the Art Ross winner may have the fewest points in a full season in perhaps 50 years. In 1967/68 and 1964/65 Stan Mikita was the leader with 87 points, in 1962/63 Gordie Howe led with 86 points. To look even further at the relative lack of point accumulating this year, let's look at the top five point scorers from this year compared to other seasons. The combination of  Ovechkin, Backstrom, Tavares, Voracek and Patrick Kane (who's technically ahead of Crosby and Malkin for fif...

I recently tweeted a great photo (above) of the old Western Hockey League Vancouver Canucks playing at the brand new PNE Coliseum. The photo is from the Vancouver Archives and is dated simply 1968-70. Low and behold, I received a reply from the twitter account @VanArchives asking if I knew the exact season for their records. Well, of course this is the kind of challenge I relish. Let's see if we can nail down when the pic was taken. Firstly, it's easy to see that the visiting team was the Providence Reds of the American Hockey League, the two leagues played an inter-locking schedule in the late 1960's. Luckily, in the Vancouver Archives along with this photo are a few more taken at this same game. Using the photo database at www.sihrhockey.org  , jersey numbers, as well as whether or not a player shoots right or left-handed, we can definitely name a few of the players and narrow down the time frame. The Reds centre who is shown bursting out of the face off is e...