Nitzy's Hockey Den

I've seen this great sequence of photos floating around the internet today, Wayne Gretzky's birthday. It's from January 24, 1979, two days prior to Gretzky's 18th birthday. WHo are the rest of the guys in the photos though? I've found online that it was Stan Weir who surprised young Wayne buy pushing the cake into his face. A pic of Weir from that era is below, I can agree that's Weir on the right of the photo. In the white helmet behind Gretz is obviously Brett Callighen, pictured below from the year after the birthday photo. The two guys in the back of the pic are tough to identify, I've seen an account where one of them is Dennis Sobchuk, not sure. That brings us to the guy on the left, using the Society for International Hockey Research photo database it's easy to determine it's backup goalie Ed Walsh. Who is Ed Walsh? I asked that myself. Walsh was twice named a First Team All-Star in the AHL. In 1974/75 with Montreal's farm...

Entering the final week of January, Maple Leaf Mitch Marner is closing in on being named Rookie of the Month for January. Through 10 games, he has 3 goals and 13 points, four points ahead of Brock McGinn and Anthony Mantha. Tied with 8 points are Connor Brown, Auston Matthews and Matthew Tkachuk. If Marner does indeed win the award it will be Toronto's third different Rookie of the Month of the season. This has never happened since the award began in 1983/84. A few times, a team has won 3 Rookie of the Month Awards in a season, but never three different guys. Below are the teams that have had three: 1984/85 Pittsburgh: Mario Lemieux (2), Warren Young  During his flash-in-the-pan rookie season, Young garnered November honours by going 11-6-17 in 12 games.  1986/87 Los Angeles: Jimmy Carson (2), Luc Robitaille Although Carson won the award twice, Robitaille took home the Calder trophy for the season, Carson finished third in voting behind Ron Hextall. 19...

Japanese program The title of this post may be a tad hyperbolic, but until I'm proven wrong I will say that I have the greatest collection of original printed memorabilia pertaining to the movie SlapShot. I have easily 50 to 60 distinct items ranging from original posters, lobby cards, promotional material, publications and other various oddball stuff. It was all collected through collectable shows or internet purchases, starting in the mid-90s. As the 40th anniversary of the movie's release approaches, I thought I'd share some of the fun. The image at the top is the cover of a Japanese program promoting the film, I'm not sure if it was given out to the press, or to movie-goers. It's loaded with colour stills and Japanese writing. More of the stills later. This one is an original lobby card that would have been in a frame in the movie theatre's, well..lobby.  Here is a lobby card from Spain where the movie w as named  El Castañazo, a clip of the dub...

  Over the holidays I picked up this fantastic 1961 hockey magazine annual put out by the Hockey Pictorial. It's basically a preview the 1961/62 season and just loaded with photos of off-ice activities of NHL players. Check out some of the great shots. A young Bobby Hull donning a hat to hide his early receding hairline. Henri Richard practicing his putting with his young daughter. Snazzy couch. Don Marshall and Dickie Moore playing some ball. Fern Flaman sporting a real sweet sweater. Jacques Plante enjoying a Canada Dry while wearing his  goal mask for some reason. Retired Gus Bodnar enjoying a not-at-all staged breakfast with his family. Andy Bathgate working on his golf game at his Vancouver home as his wife replaces his divots. "Apple Cheeks" enjoying an orange. Carl Brewer working on his shovel game. Harris and Aldcorn spinning some tunes and having a grand old time. "TheAllan Stanleys" enjoying life...