Nitzy's Hockey Den

In a further effort to figure out the circumstances in the above photo I found recently, I came across a few more mentions of old-timers matches played at Vancouver's Forum. Firstly is a pic from the Vancouver Sun in 1956 of ex-NHLer Clint Smith in promotion of that year's upcoming old-timers game.  Smith, it turns out,  was a f ounding member of British Columbia Hockey Benevolent Association so it only stands to reason he'd be promoting the event. I am fairly  certain that Smith is pictured in my photo wearing a dark jersey, #11. Feb 17, 1956 From the same paper a few days later I find another photo of Smith looking apparently exhausted from the game action of that evening. Feb 20, 1956 In addition, there is a great photo of two all-time greats Sweeney Schriner and Joe Primeau wearing what appears to be the same white uniforms in my photo. The problem is, I don't see anyone in the mystery pic that looks even remotely like them. This pretty much eliminates...

Jaromir Jagr finished 7th in Hart Trophy voting for the 2015/16 season...at age 43. It was his first top-ten finish in MVP voting in a decade when he finished second in 2005/06. Jagr is now the oldest player ever to finish in the top-ten of NHL MVP voting. Only two other men have done so past the age of 40: Jacques Plante, Toronto 5 th  1971, 42yo Gordie Howe, Detroit 6 th   1970, 41yo Gordie Howe, Detroit 5 th   1969, 40yo Plante was 5th in voting despite playing only 40 games but he posted a 28-11-4 record and 1.88 GAA for a 4th place team. Howe was 6th in 1969 after scoring 103 points. He followed that up with 71 points in 1970 and another 1st Team All-Star  selection. Any way you look at it, pretty heady company for Jagr. If we lower the age threshold to 38 years old, only four other players have finished in the top-ten: Al MacInnis, St.Louis 6 th   2003, 39yo Howe, Detroit 5 th  1968, 39yo Red Kelly, Toronto 9 t...

I found this fantastic cache of 1970s hockey goodness this past weekend. Picked up eight WHA Vancouver Blazers programs in Gibsons, BC for the grand total of five dollars. Pretty, pretty good score. They range from October 1973, the third game ever for the Blazers through to November 1974. Two Gordie Howe covers and two Bobby Hull covers, real beauties. Oct 1973 - Feb 1974 Nov 22, 1974 Jan 26, 1974 April 4, 1974 Jan 9, 1974 On top of the fantastic covers of these things, the greatness inside these programs is just as good. Check out some of the gold pictured below. Gordie Howe, for Capt. George's Restaurants Nightmare fuel Some of the all-time greats...well, one. The collage was big in the 1970s A police sketch of Gordie promoting his upcoming appearance Little known fact; in his spare time Bobby Hull was a hobby electronics enthusiast When you score 50 goals like Danny Lawson you get a red velvet chair in the locker room and a p...

I began last week, the task of identifying the above photo. As far as I know at this point, it is from an Old-timers game of ex-NHLers and PCHL/WHLers that took place at Vancouver's Forum in the 1950s or early 60s. The major finding is the fact that Hal Laycoe is definitely in this old-timers photo, but he was an active NHLer until 1956, so the pic must be from after that year. After finding and discounting a newspaper article on a similar game from 1953, I managed to find mention of a game the following year in the Vancouver Sun; March 1, 1954. Using "Laycoe Parameter", this is still not likely the game pictured in the above photo, but let's confirm anyway. The newspaper photo identifies the following guys; Art Somers, Bill Carse, Clint Smith, Tip O'Neil, Bill Hutton, Chuck Millman and goalie Earl Robertson. Bill Hutton and Clint Smith are perhaps the only two guys that I can identify in the mystery photo. See the comparisons below. Bill H...

Gordie Howe, the greatest ever, did just about everything one can do on the hockey rink. One of the only things he did not accomplish was scoring 50 goals in a season...or did he? On March 24, 1953, upon conclusion of the NHL season the Canadian Press had an article titled simply; "What's This?" But for an official ruling, Gordie Howe would have tied Maurice Richard's record of 50 goals in a season. Howe, who wound up the season with 49 goals, believes he scored one goal which was awarded to Defenceman Red Kelly. The goal occurred Feb. 8 in Boston. Late in the third period, Kelly fired a shot from the blueline which beat Jim Henry. Howe claimed he tipped the puck before it went into the net, and his teammates agreed. But the officials didn't see it and credited Kelly with the goal.  Howe, who at that time was looking for his 40th goal of the season and his 200th since breaking in, wasn't bitter about the decision however. "It couldn't hav...

Pittsburgh Penguin, Kris Letang potted the Stanley Cup winning goal in game six against the San Jose Sharks. By doing this he managed to have a hand in all four of his team's game-winning goals in the Cup final. He becomes only the fourth player to accomplish this feat, the other three are among the greats of the game, Milt Schmidt, Jean Beliveau and Wayne Gretzky. The circumstances of each follows. 1941, Milt Schmidt Game 1 3-2 Win 3rd Period BOS : Pat McReavey (Milt Schmidt, Jack Crawford) (EV) 9:16 Game 2 2-1 Win 3rd Period BOS : Roy Conacher (Milt Schmidt) (EV) 17:45 Game 3 4-2 Win 2nd Period BOS : Milt Schmidt (Woody Dumart, Dit Clapper) 0:59 Game 4 3-1 Win 2nd Period BOS : Bobby Bauer (Milt Schmidt) 8:43 1965, Jean Beliveau Game 1 3-2 Win 3rd Period MON : Yvan Cournoyer (Ted Harris, Jean Beliveau) (PP) 8:59 Game 2 2-0 Win 2nd Period MON : Jean Beliveau (Noel Picard, Claude Provost) (PP) 2:55 Game 5 6-0 Win 1st Period MON : Jean Beliveau (Bobby Rousseau, Dick...

It appears I may have found myself a good old-fashioned mystery at the Vancouver Flea Market last week when I picked up this old photo of two obviously old-timer hockey squads. It's probably a reproduction of an old photo (I paid a buck, so that doesn't matter) printed on thicker stock paper measuring 10" x 13". The image itself is the prize, I've never seen this online anywhere. The print definitely has some wear to it, but I'm not sure how old it is. There is no date or names on it at all, but there is however one face that is easily identifiable. The dour looking gent in the black overcoat in the second row, right of centre beside the old fellow in glasses is Hall of Famer Fred "Cyclone" Taylor. Now,  I am aware that Cyclone Taylor organized NHL old-timer games in Vancouver as fundraisers starting around 1948. Taylor lived and worked post-career in Vancouver right up until his death in 1979. The arena in which the photo is taken certainly l...

Here are some great pics found in the newspaper archives of the Ottawa Citizen from 1953. It may be a photo of one of the very last times that all-time great Cyclone Taylor appeared in public in a hockey uniform. The day was March 24, 1953 in front of 5,000 spectators at the Ottawa Auditorium, the occasion being an old-timers game between the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Maroons. However, at 68-years old, Cyclone didn't actually play in the game but took warm-ups in full equipment to the delight of the fans. Also dressing only for the pre-game were three other Senator stars of the past; Harry Broadbent, Frank Nighbour and Cy Denneny, (pictured below) all in their early 60s at the time. Among the ex-players that did play in the game was goaltender Alec Connell who was a mere 53 at the time along with Al Shields and Yip Radley both in their mid-40s (below). The Maroons beat the Senator oldsters by a score of 5-2 with the help of Bill Cowley only six years retired from NHL a...