Nitzy's Hockey Den

Jack Forsey had a terrific rookie season for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942/43. He played in 19 of the team's 50 games and notched 16 points. This 0.84 points per game in his first season are equaled or bettered by only 116 other men in National Hockey League history. Of these 116 players, an amazing 40 are or will be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Among these players, Jack Forsey is the only one to never play another game in the NHL after his fine rookie campaign. What happened to Jack Forsey? Born in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Forsey starred for the the junior Calgary Jimmies before joining the senior Kimberly Dynamiters. At age 23, he went to England to play professionally for the Earls Court Rangers. It was after his first season here that he represented Canada at the World Hockey Championships in spring of 1937. His 8 goals in 7 games helped Canada secure the Gold medal. Forsey returned to Canada in 1939 and excelled for the Sherbrooke Red Raiders of the Queb...

Young Players Star as Leafs Shutout Hawks - That was a headline in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper on November 16, 1928. The article was referring to Toronto Maple Leaf youngsters Andy Blair and George 'Shorty' Horne. It went on to state; "Blair and Shorty Horne, a star with Stratford in the Can-pro circuit last season, bounded squarely into the limelight with two quick goals in the second period. It was 'Youngsters Night', for the kids of the Leaf team ran wild for practically the entire time they were on the ice..." The article then went on to describe Horne's play that game;  "Short Horne jumped into the limelight with two brilliant rushes and then combined with Andy Blair on a pass in front of the goalmouth that made Gardiner step lively...Irwin and Gottselig gave Chabot close ones and then Shorty Horne broke down right wing, stickhandled around the defense and swept in to beat Gardiner for the Leafs' second tally." Less tha...

Time to look at another of the men who scored but one goal for the Toronto Maple Leafs in their brief appearance with the team, this week it's Norman "Red" Armstrong. Born in Owen Sound, Ontario Armstrong made his debut as a Maple Leaf in December of 1962. He was called up from Sudbury Wolves of the Eastern League to replace an injured Bob Nevin. Armstrong turned pro two years prior, joining the Charlotte Checkers at age 22. He would play a mere 7 games with Toronto collecting a goal and an assist. His goal came in the first shift he played in the big leagues and the strange thing is, this first shift was late in the third period of a blow-out game against Boston. His goal assisted by Bob Pulford at 15:18 of the final frame made the score 7-1 in favour of Toronto, a game the Leafs won 8-2. Below is a photo from the game on December 15, 1962 as well as the box score.                               ...

I'm going to be looking at little-known Maple Leafs players of yesteryear, specifically those who had but one taste of the big time in the National Hockey League. All of these guys have a story to tell, the first is Ray Ceresino who played 12 games with the Leafs in December 1948, scoring but one career NHL goal.  "A rookie and a veteran last night clicked for the Leafs. Ray Ceresino, former Port Arthur and Oshawa junior star, got his first NHL goal with less than three minutes left to beat the Bruins. He got it on a rink-wide pass from Max Bentley." This description from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is of the first and only NHL goal for Ray Ceresino. The marker came on December 12, 1948 after having been elevated from the AHL Pittsburgh Hornets two weeks prior.  On December 1, The same newspaper reported; "Ray Ceresino, brilliant little left wing of the Pittsburgh Hornets, has been recalled by the parent Toronto Maple Leafs for a tryout tonight when the ...

So, Mike Modano has been elected to hockey's Hall of Fame. I guessss he's a Hall of Famer. It's just that when I think Hockey Hall of Famer, Modano doesn't really jump out at me. Then again, neither do Clark Gillies, Bernie Federko, Dick Duff and many more. The hockey Hall is relatively easy to gain election (tell that to Eric Lindros), and because of that I don't really have a problem with Modano. I just would have put Mark Recchi in before him.   Recchi and Modano were both rookies in 1989/90 even though Recchi had played 15 games the previous season and they finished 5th and 2nd respectively in Calder Trophy voting (behind old-man Makarov). They both retired 21 years later. Modano was integral in the winning of his one Stanley Cup in 1999 and Recchi was a large part of winning three Cups. In Recchi's first Cup he finished second in scoring with 34 points behind only Mario Lemieux. Modano also was second in scoring during his Cup year as well as the...

Les Binkley was a fine goaltender of the first expansion era of the NHL. After having played 12 quality seasons in the high minor leagues with teams from Baltimore and Charlotte to Cleveland and San Diego, he finally got his shot at the NHL thanks to the 1967 expansion to twelve teams. Drafted by Pittsburgh at the age of 31, Binkley played almost 200 games over five seasons with the Penguins before jumping to the WHA in 1972. He wound down his career at the age of 39 after four years with the Ottawa/Toronto franchise. Amazingly, Binkley got his start in high-level hockey way back in 1951 at the age of 14. As a member of his hometown Junior B Owen Sound Mintos, he was asked to join the senior Owen Sound Mercurys on their quest for the Alan Cup. He travelled and practiced with the team that included two ex-NHLers (Jack Ingoldsby and Pat McReavy) as well as former AHL scoring leader Tom Burlington. In Stan and Shirley Fischler's 1971 book "Up From The Minor League of Hocke...

In front of 10,000 spectators at Montreal's Forum, the NHL Oldtimers' Associations of Ontario and Quebec put an an entertaining display of hockey expertise. The date was Wednesday, January 6, 1954 and when all was said and done the Quebec masters beat the Ontario elders 11-9. This was the first meeting of the ex-NHL stars and was organized by Ontario's Lorne Duguid and Albert 'Battleship' Leduc of the Quebec Association. The proceeds of the match went to helping handicapped children. The array of former stars was truly mind-boggling, pictured above is the elderly version of Toronto's famed Kid Line (left to right, Charlie Conacher, Joe Primeau and Busher Jackson. Other Ontario stars included Dit Clapper, Nels Stewart, Billy Taylor, Cy Wentworth and goaltender Roy Worters. Charlie Conacher, who was joined in the match by brothers Bert, Roy and 52-year old member of parliament Lionel. Charlie and Roy notched two goals each while ex-Bruin Bill Cowley count...