Nitzy's Hockey Den

Whatever happened to NHL Old-timer games? As a kid in the 1980's I attended quite a few great Old-timer matches, from second-tier affairs in my hometown Newmarket, Ontario rink in front of 1,000 spectators to full houses at Maple Leaf Gardens. I saw two great ones at the Gardens back in the day. One was the famous Flying Fathers hockey squad against a team of Toronto Maple Leaf oldsters.  The Flying Fathers were a team of actual Roman Catholic priests led by ex-Leaf Father Les Costello. Costello was a member of the 1948 Leaf Cup winners as a rookie. He retired to the priesthood in 1950 and helped form the Fathers in 1963. The game I saw took place March 18, 1984 against a Leaf team that included Johnny Bower, Red Kelly, Andy Bathgate, George Armstrong, Norm Ullman, Ron Ellis, Sid Smith and Frank Mahovlich. They were coached by King Clancy and Bob Baun, Bobby Orr was a linesman. A true spectacle for a young young fan like myself.  My next Old-timer game, and one of t...

Steve Cuddie, Norm Beaudin, Carl Brewer, Gilles Gratton Time for a few more rare photos from the collection of photo journalist Doug Petepiece. These ones show another exhibition match at the Ottawa Civic Centre prior to the 1973/74 WHA campaign. The first shot is a great one of legendary goaltender Gilles Gratton. Yes, the guy who believed he was a re-incarnated Spanish Conquistador.  Norm Beaudin had a few cups of coffee in the NHL, 13 games with St. Louis in 67/68 and 12 with Minnesota in 70/71 all toll collecting 3 points in the 25 games. He jumped to the WHA in 72/73 and exploded for 103 points, then was even better in the playoffs. Beaudin had one of the greatest playoffs in professional hockey history as the Jets lost the inaugural WHA championship in five games to the New England Whalers. Beaudin collected an amazing 13 goals and 28 points in teh 14 playoff games. This upcoming season of 73/74 however, he plummeted to 55 points.  Brit Selby, Ab McDonald, Carl...

Wayne Hillman, Gerry Cheevers, Bob LeDuc Here is some more terrific, never-seen photos from Doug Petepiece. The game is a pre-season match between the WHA's Toronto Toros and Cleveland Crusaders. It took place prior to the 1973/74 season at the Ottawa Civic Centre.  Gerry Cheevers of course, was beginning his second season with Cleveland after jumping to the WHA in the summer of 1972. He had helped the Boston Bruins to Stanley Cup wins in 1970 and 1972, then was first team All-Star and goalie of the year his first in the WHA. Cheever would leave the Crusaders in January of 1976 and return to Boston for five more years. Bob LeDuc (pictured above) was a long time AHL veteran with the Providence Reds before going the  Ottawa Nationals for the inaugural WHA season. He was high scoring junior with the Sudbury Wolves, winning the Northern Ontario Junior scoring title in 63/64, 21 points ahead of the same-aged, future NHLer Wayne Maki. LeDuc had back-to-back 22 goal season...

L to R. Gavin Kirk, Steve King, Steve Cuddie, Alton White, Carl Brewer, Steve Sutherland, Les Binkley, JP LeBlanc My pal Doug Petepiece has come through once again with some fantastic, never-before-seen old hockey photos. Doug, a photo-journalist since the 1970's sent me a bunch of great pics showing World Hockey Association game action. This batch is from a pre-season game in Ottawa just prior to the 1973/74 season. The Toronto Toros who had just transferred from existing as the Ottawa Nationals are battling the Los Angeles Sharks at the Civic Centre. I have identified most of the players, some great names from the past. The first one shows ex-Maple Leaf Carl Brewer in one of his first games back after being retired for the 1972/73 campaign. Also pictured is Alton White of the Sharks who was the second ever professional black hockey player after Willie O'Ree. White had tallied 20 goals for Los Angeles the previous year. Jim Niekamp, Pat Hickey, Gavin Kirk, Paul Hoga...

In game two of the Stanley Cup finals, Andrei Vasilevskiy became the first goaltender to gain his first playoff win in relief since 1928. Due to the unexplained injury of Tampa Bay's regular goalie Ben Bishop, the 20 year-old rookie was thrust into action. In getting his first win in relief he is the first since Lester Patrick to accomplish this feat. Of course, Patrick was more than twice the age of Vasilevskiy when he did it. With quotes from the Montreal Gazette the story went as follows. Hall of Famer, Lester Patrick was 44 years old and the coach of the New York Rangers during the 1928 playoffs. He had played only one full season (as a skater) since he was 36. Game two of the 1928 finals against the Montreal Maroons was when the Silver Fox, Patrick was needed to save the day. It was early in the second period when Rangers goalie Lorne Chabot " jumped in the air to stop a backhanded shot from the stick of Nels Stewart. " Unfortunately for Chabot he misjudged the...

I was recently sifting through the online archives of the Toronto Star newspaper and came a cross the account of the Maple Leafs' first Stanley Cup victory. The April 10, 1932 account of the game by the legendary Lou Marsh reads like poetry at times. The writing of the day certainly was more flowery and descriptive than today, but Marsh took it to the highest level. I've posted the entire write-up but have highlighted some of the best prose below. "There is the unmistakable answer to the slimy insinuations of the Slippery Sam’s who insidiously sent it out over the “grapevine route” that the Maple Leafs would toss off Saturday night’s third Stanley Cup game for the sake of two more big gates for the Gardens and their club." Apparently there was talk that the Leafs, after winning the first two games of the best-of-five on the road, they would rather extend the series to enjoy at least one additional home gate. Marsh took great exception to this notion. ...