Vintage Photo of NHL Oldtimers Game in Vancouver, Part 2


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 Hutton, and in mystery pic

Clint Smith in mystery pic
Clint Smith
I found some good photos of Art Somer and Bill Carse from around the same era, I can with high certainty say these two do not appear in the mystery photo.
Art Somer, 1949
Bill Carse, late 1940s
In addition to the great newspaper photo, the Vancouver Sun had the great Babe Pratt write about the game in which he played. The first few paragraphs are below.

The article by Babe Pratt goes on to mention players from the game; Sweeney Schriner, Lorne Carr, Art Chapman, Alex Shibicky and the recognizable Eddie Shore. I'm fairly certain that none of these guys are pictured in the mystery photo.

It's pretty safe to rule out the 1954 Vancouver Old-timer game as being the one in my photo, I'm still leaning toward late 1950s or early 60s. The hunt continues.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ron Hextall and the stolen Conn Smythe Trophy

Image
Ron Hextall did not deserve the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1987....there, I said it. I recently caught game seven of the '87 finals on ESPN Classic, where the Oilers beat the Flyers 3-1. Hextall was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy to the disdain and boos of the Northlands Coliseum. Hextall was (and remains) the fourth player to win the trophy in a losing cause. Even as a teenager following these playoffs as they happened, I thought this was an injustice. Upon further inspection, I believe he only won because he was a rookie, and was the "sexy" pick as opposed to the proper pick. When looking at his numbers, it's hard to figure why he won. Hextall finished with 15 wins, 11 losses and a GAA of 2.77. Oilers, Grant Fuhr went 14 and 5 with an average of 2.46. I realize that stats cannot tell the whole story, but even if we dig further the award doesn't seem justified. His .908 Save Pct was the same as Fuhr's and tied for third behind Ken Wregget and Kelly Hrudey. Also,...
Read more

WHA Ottawa Civics, The Two Week Franchise

Image
Tom Earl, Daryl Maggs, Mark Lomenda, Gary MacGregor, Garry Swain "Please let the fans make up their own minds," Henry Feller told a press gathering. "Let them decide if they want pro hockey here. We have to average 7,000 or 8,000 in the remaining 19 home games for a break-even point." Feller was a director of the Founders Club who had interest in buying the WHA's Denver Spurs club. Ivan Mullinex, owner of the Spurs had brought his team to Ottawa in an attempt to drum up interest and save his investment. The date was January 2, 1976 and Mullinex was in debt to a Denver bank to the tune of $1 million dollars. This same day, the newly christened Civics lost their first game under the new moniker by a score of 2-1 at Cincinnati. Star of the team, Ralph Backstrom said after the game, "Our first official notice of the move hit us when we entered the Cincinnati rink and the names on the big scoreboard read: Stingers and Civics. Until that moment we were un...
Read more

Team Canada 1972, What Might have Been

Image
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 ...
Read more