Nitzy's Hockey Den

Monday morning after Canada's Gold Medal hockey victory I caught Liam Maguire on Vancouver's Team 1040 radio on my drive to work. He was entertaining and informative as always and I was quite interested in one point he made. Maguire called this 2014 version of Team Canada the best he had ever seen, specifically comparing them to the 1976 Canada Cup squad. To paraphrase from memory he said, "I've been watching international hockey for over forty years and this team did things the others couldn't on the defensive end." I figured I'd have a look at the 2014 and 1976 teams as well as the 1987 Canada Cup and 2002 Olympic championship versions of Team Canada. Which one was the greatest? First let's look at the raw numbers; (W-L-T GF-GA) 1976  6-1-0  33-10 1987 6-1-2 41-32 2002 4-1-1 22-14 2014 6-0-0 17-3 Each of the first three teams had at least one minor setback in the way of a loss, the most recent edition's closest thing to a...

I stumbled across these great photos in a Maple Leaf Gardens program I recently picked up. The book is from opening night of the 1965/66 campaign and has this fantastic look at the annual Maple Leaf Gardens open house which took place on Saturday, September 25, 1965. From 10am to 10pm that day some 25,000 folks filed through the home of the Maple Leafs for a look behind the scenes. Above is a great shot of the Gardens lobby area as people wait to get into the arena itself. For a small donation, the fans got into the building as well as a free Shopsy hot dog, Coke and ice-cream bar. All funds raised went toward the Hospital for Sick Children Building Fund. Below Leaf president Stafford Smythe is shown depositing a cheque of $50,000 for the fund on behalf of the Maple Leaf Gardens directors. Above, youngsters check out the dressing room that was used by The Beatles for their Gardens visit as well as the Gardens hospital room. Below, Leaf rookie Ron Ellis is shown signing...

"There are 20 guys who are extremely distraught over this," coach Dave King was quoted after Team Canada's final game of the 1984 Olympics. They had just lost by a score of 2-0 to Sweden to be denied a Bronze Medal. King continued,"It was a very difficult game for our young players to play and I didn't think we coped with the pressure as well as we could have." Goaltender Mario Gosselin said after the game that the team wanted the Bronze Medal too badly,"We tried hard, but we tried in the wrong way. We wanted to win the game in the first minute, we wanted to win as quickly as possible, we wanted too much to win." In truth, they didn't even need a win, a tie would have given the Canadians the Bronze on goal differential. Canada ended up scoring zero goals in the three final round matches and obviously could have used some more offense. King addressed that, "Certainly when you lose the last three by shutout, you think a player like Ma...

"Basically, it was a two-three system with one guy skating backwards in the middle to deflect the attack to either side," commented Canadian coach Dave King after the game against the Soviet Union. "I had heard the Calgary Flames used it when they beat the Russians on their tour, and that the Swedes and Czechs sometimes used a forward like a defenceman." Whatever it was, it didn't work as the mighty Soviets, after being held scoreless for half the game, beat Canada 4-0 to advance to the Gold Medal game. Outshot by 26-10, Canada was never really in the game. Vladimir Kovin and Alexander Kozhevnikov broke through in the second to make it 2-0. This score stood until there were just over five minutes left in the third when Alexander Skvortsov iced the game with a shorthanded marker. Nikolai Drozdetsky was given the final goal when Canadian defender Warren Anderson put one into his own net. Canada would now play Sweden for the Bronze Medal after they los...

"Miracles happen every 20 years. They happened twice, both in the States (1960, 1980). There will be no miracles here in Sarajevo." This was Canadian assistant coach Jean Perron after his team lost 4-0 to the powerful Czechs to assure a match up with the even more powerful Soviets. Canada's next game would be against the undefeated Soviet Union to decide which team would play for the Gold medal of the 1984 Olympics. Perron continued,"We're realistic enough to know we can't beat the Russians, so we have to make sure we're ready to play for the bronze medal." Against the Czechs, Mario Gosselin was his usual solid self, but this time he was actually outplayed by the opposing goaltender. "It's safe to say goaltending was the difference," continued a still dour Perron. "Mario played okay, but we needed an absolutely great performance. I think their goalie was better." "Their goalie" being Jaromir Sindel who t...

"When we first came here, I thought we might do well to be fifth or sixth," coach Dave King said. "And now..." And now, Canada had four wins in four games after trouncing Norway by a score of 8-1. Coupled with a 7-2 victory by Czechoslovakia over Finland, Canada's next game against the Czechs was essentially a medal-round match. The 4-0 record qualified Canada for the four-team medal round, but the final game of the preliminary round will count toward final medals as head-to-head games between final round teams are carried over into the medals. Behind three goals and two assist by Dave Gagner and a goal and two assists from line mate Russ Courntall, Canada surprised the hockey world by marching to the medal round. Gagner said after, "Simply, that Czech game is the most important of our lives." Just two months prior Canada had led the Czechs 2-1 after two periods in the Izvestia tournament before losing 4-2. Coach Dave King said of that game, ...

The cartoon that appeared in the Toronto Telegram upon conclusion of the 1964 Olympic hockey tournament said it all. Canada was robbed of a medal. For the first time in Olympic hockey history, Canada failed to win a medal. This was the first time Canada had utilized a true "national team" system by way of Father David Bauer. I wrote about their preparations here; http://nitzyshockeyden.blogspot.ca/2014/01/team-canada-1964-olympic-preparation.html Going into the final game of the 1964 Games, Canada needed a victory over the undefeated Soviets in order to secure a Gold. Jumping out to a 1-0 lead not six minutes into the game on a goal by George Swarbrick, Canada got the start they desired. However, after exchanging  the first four goals, they entered the final period tied 2-2. In his autobiography " Hockey In Canada, The Way It Is", Canadian star Brian Conacher wrote of that final period.  "So six months work came down to twenty minutes' effor...