Unidentified Maple Leafs Photo, Leafs vs. Red Wings


It's been a while since I've done an unidentified vintage hockey photo, heck it's been a while since I've done ANY post. Let's change that. I recently came across a few more great old hockey pics that need identification. The one above picturing the Maple Leafs and Red Wings is a fun one.

Firstly, It's easy to identify the Leaf on the left as Bob Pulford. He was a staple of the Leafs in the late 1950's through the 1960's. The other Leaf appears to be Bert Olmstead based on his face alone. He was a Leaf from 1958 through 1962, so that narrows the date down a bit. When we look at NHL Uniform Database we see that Toronto wore this specific sweater only in those same seasons ('58 - '62). The team added numbers to the sleeves in 1962/63, so this photo definitely pre-dates that season.

Now, to the Red Wings goalie. of course, Terry Sawchuk wore number one and tended goal for the majority of Detroit's games over this timeframe. This guy is NOT Sawchuk. Back in those days it was common for multiple goalies to share the number one sweater, so let's see who else wore it for the Wings back then.

In 58/59, Bob Perreault wore #1 and played the only three games that Sawchuk didn't. Pictured below, he is not the goalie in the photo.

In 59/60, Dennis Riggin wore the #1 sweater for nine games and Gilles Boisvert did for three games.
Gilles Boisvert
Dennis Riggin
Unidentified Goalie
Our goalie is safely not Riggin, but it's looking like a match with Boisvert. Let's check the next two seasons just to be sure.
1960/61 saw Sawchuk split net duties (and the #1 sweater) with Hank Bassen. Again, not a match.
Hank Bassen
In 1961/62, the last possible year of this photo, Detroit had Bassen and Sawchuk share the net once again. This means the guy in the photo has to be Gilles Boisvert, and the cool thing about that is he only played three NHL games in his career and this is one of them. We'll get back to that in a minute.

So, we know the game pictured is from 1959/60 which allows us to I.D. a couple of other Red Wings. 
#8 for Detroit that season was ex-Leaf, Barry Cullen. The side view in the photo sure does look like him.

Barry Cullen
The Wing behind Cullen has his number obscured, but has his right hand on the end of his stick which makes him a Left shooter. Looking at the Society for International Hockey Research photo database, there are not many possible matches. The only left shooters it could possibly be are the following, it may be too tough to pinpoint this one.
Warren Godfrey
Jack McIntyre
Brian Smith
Unidentified Wing
As for Gilles Boisvert, when we look at his game log for 59/60 we see he did indeed play the Maple Leafs one of those games. On November 29, 1959 (his last NHL game), Boisvert lost to Toronto by a score of 4-1. Looking at the rosters, Brian Smith did not play this game, so the unknown Red Wing is likely Godfrey or McIntyre who both played.
26 year-old Boisvert would spend the remainder of his pro career in the Western and American Hockey Leagues. He retired from the AHL Baltimore Clippers after the 1969/70 season. His pro career totalled over 500 games and included a Western Hockey League championship with the Edmonton Flyers in 61/62.



 


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Anonymous said…
It’s Norm Ullman
September 30, 2024 at 3:40 PM
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