Nitzy's Hockey Den

No fewer than 11 Hall of Famers have laced up their skates for both the Maple Leaf and Red Wings franchises. Below is the all-time squad of the best to have played for both of these storied teams. Darryl Sittler C Red Kelly C Norm Ullman C Dale McCourt C Pete Stemkowski C Reg Noble C Frank Mahovlich LW Paul Henderson LW Mark Osborne LW Errol Thompson LW Steve Thomas LW Dan Maloney LW Andy Bathgate RW Miroslav Frycer RW Mike Foligno RW Claude Loiselle RW Borje Salming D Larry Murphy D Mathieu Schneider D Flash Hollett D Bob Baun D Carl Brewer D Marcel Pronovost D Jim Korn D Jamie Macoun D Bob Manno D Todd Gill D Larry Hillman D Ian White D Darren Veitch D Bob McGill D Kent Douglas D Bob Rouse D Marc Rheaume D Terry Sawchuk G Curtis Joseph G Harry Lumley G John Ross Roach G Hap Holmes G Allan Bester G Ken Wreggett G Jim Rutherford G Ron Low G Jonas Gustavsson G Mark LaForest G

Here's a cool article I found in a Maple Leafs program from 1959. It talks about how they used to track each player's time on the ice back in the 1950's. It seems that Punch Imlach was somewhat interested in who was on the ice and in what situations. Sounds like the beginning of advanced statistical analysis if you ask me. All in italics below is the original article.    These clocks, installed in 1951 are a Gardens "first" in the NHL. Wilf Snowden and Billy Calvert trigger the timepieces with two panels of switches which they operate in the booth west of the band. From their vantage point they keep track of the players on the ice for both teams. The panels - one for the Leafs, one for the visitors - have 18 "on-off" switches each. Beneath each switch a player's name is inked on a strip of white adhesive tape before the game begins. The names are arranged so that the switches for players playing together are side by side. Wilf  and Billy can...

Not much need be said about this gem from the past. A Maple Leafs Christmas card sent out to season-ticket holders for Christmas 1979. Holes punched out in the front of the card allow the players heads to be whimsically displayed as Christmas tree ornaments or crudely drawn elves. Pure joy.

The lowly Kansas City Scouts hosted the slightly less lowly Maple Leafs on this Friday night in 1975. The Scouts were one year removed from their awful expansion season when they posted 41 points over 80 games. Toronto would have an 83 point season in 75/76, beat Pittsburgh in the best-of-three preliminary round before falling to the Flyers in seven. The Leafs had not won a seven game series since capturing the Stanley Cup ten seasons before. Kansas City could only dream of that kind of "success". By earning a tie with the visiting Leafs in this game the Scouts held a 4-7-2 record. That was pretty much the high point of their season. Their second year of existence would prove worse than their first as they won only 12 games and collected 36 points. When the next season began they were located in Denver, Colorado and renamed the Rockies. By the time Toronto would make their final visit ever to K.C. on January 15, 1976 the Scouts were a rudder...

"Corsi Italy's Hero in Tie With Canada"  This was the headline by Canadian Press on April 22, 1982 after Italy earned a surprising 3-3 draw with Team Canada at the 1982 World Hockey Championships. On the strength of 55 saves by Montreal native Jim Corsi and a goal and two assists by ex-Washington Capital Rick Bragnolo, Italy shocked a stacked team of Canadian professionals. That year, Canada was represented by stars Wayne Gretzky, Dale Hawerchuk, Mike Gartner, Darryl Sittler, Bobby Clarke, Bob Gainey, Bobby Smith and Kevin Lowe. "Obviously we weren't ready for the game," said a dejected Smith. "Even as much as we said we did, we didn't take this team seriously enough, and it showed. It cost us a big point and it will hurt us dearly when the tournament is over." Bob Gainey added,"Corsi played a strong game in goal. He was getting the clean shots. Then when he had to make the save, he did and kept us off the boards." Ji...

"The Soviet team seemed nervous to me...it was their first taste of international competition," said Whalers coach Harry Neale. "But they started to show some good things in the third period." Soviet coach Boris Majorov agreed with Neale's assessment of his team's performance. "We were very nervous," he said through an interpreter."It seemed to me that it took a while for our players to realize that the Whalers were just another team." These two programs are from the World Hockey Association International Series of 1977. Separate teams of Soviet and Czechoslovakian All-Stars played one game each against every WHA team. These games counted in the standings for the season. December 14 was the first game for the Soviets on the tour, and it showed as they were trounced by the New England Whalers 7-2. December 14, 1977 New England 7, Soviet Union 2 First Period  1. NE Rogers 11 (Pleau, J.Carlson) 3:50 2. SOV Biljaletdinov ...

Here's another cool program in The Den's collection, from an exhibition game between the national teams of Russia and Canada at the brand new Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. The Canadians proved no match for the Soviets getting pounded by a score of 9-3. Canada's coach Jackie McLeod insisted that his team "can skate with the Russians, do everything they do just as well, and when they do it can beat the Russians". This was the third of an eight game tour by the Soviets across Canada having beaten the Canadian National squad in Winnipeg 5-3 in the first game. Petrov and Maltsev each potted a pair before 8,500 at Winnipeg Arena. Chuck Lefley also had a pair with Billy MacMillan adding the third for Canada. This game was the debut in Canada of Russia's young goaltender Vladislav Tretjyak. In game two at Winnipeg the Canadians got revenge with a 4-3 win ending a winless drought against the Russians of almost three years. Bob Murdoch scored the winner at 3:09 o...