Nitzy's Hockey Den

I picked up this little beauty on the weekend, it's a small booklet issued by Coca-Cola in 1966. The instructional book is chock-full of tips on playing goal from Toronto Maple Leaf, Johnny Bower. More importantly, it's also filled with fantastic comic-book style images of the goaltending legend in action. Check them out below. Bower, straining to touch his toes. Nice Bicycle though. Bower's crouch position depends on his level of back pain. Obviously Mike Palmateer learned the kick-save from this book as a young boy. How to bobble a puck in the air AND on the ice. This one's titled, "Too many Habs!" Perfect execution of the upper-sternum save. The fruit of all that labour.

I recently picked up this original LP album of Stompin' Tom And The Hockey Song. I don't even own a turntable record player, I just had to have this piece of Canadiana. The album was issued in 1972 on Boot Records and was Connors' ninth album issue. It has a great picture on the front of a hockey scene involving the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs. For licensing reasons all official team logos and numbers had to be painted out of the image. As a hockey history buff, I just had to determine who the players are in the photo. The game is a home game for Montreal and the goaltender is obviously Ken Dryden, this alone helps to narrow it down to which season the photo is from. Dryden famously came up to the Habs at the end of the 1970/71 campaign and would lead Montreal to the the Stanley Cup. In those six regular season games and through the playoffs of 1971, Montreal and Toronto did not play each other. Since the Stompin' Tom album came out in 1972, the phot...

1980/81 Petersen's Preview  The NHL new season kicks off tomorrow, I figured I'd post some old preview magazines from the Den collection. As to be expected, Gretzky was the predominant cover boy throughout the 1980's. Most of these magazines are long out of print and a few are fairly rare. 1980/81 Hockey News Preview 1981/82 Hockey Scene Preview 1981/82 Preview 1982/83 Inside Hockey Preview 1984/85 Hockey Scene Preview 1984/85 Hockey Illustrated Preview 1988/89 Inside Sports Hockey Preview 1991/92 Inside Sports Hockey Preview

Mann's Rookie card I have started reading the terrific new book from Ken Reid titled "Hockey Card Stories". One of his first tales is about ex-goon Jimmy Mann and the fact that he had cards issued for two of his NHL seasons. Reid exlplains; This (rookie card pictured above) is one of the few (hockey cards) out there of Jimmy Mann. He played in the NHL until the 1987/88 season. He wasn't always up in the Big Leagues for the final few years of his career, but he says that's not why he stopped showing up on cards. He has his own theory as to why he only had three cards. "My second year is when I hit Paul Gardner." "Eagleson (NHLPA Head and Gardner's lawyer) blackballed me for the rest of my career with cards. After that hit, I never had a card. He blackballed me because I broke Gardner's jaw and finished his career, and Eagleson never put my name in for another card again." Rookie season PIM Leader card I wrote about this v...

Training camp methods have certainly changed over the years, I did some google.news digging and found some good descriptions of Toronto Maple Leafs training camps from years gone by. 1930 The Leafs have encountered wintery conditions in the Parry Sound district. On Sunday some of them attempted to motor to that town, but had to turn back after reaching the Muskoka district because of the snow drifts on the highways. Most of the players took their golf sticks to the camp, but reports from there tonight are that unless mild weather comes soon, the outlook for golf is poor indeed. Come to Parry Sound for camp, bring your golf sticks, enjoy the snow drifts!  1938 "Yesterday was the last rehearsal for fancy-skating. Sonja Henie has her partner." This read the not posted in the Leafs hotel lobby by Maple Leafs coach Dick Irvin after a lacklustre practice by his men. Apparently this "burned up" his 15 Maple Leafs, 16 Syracuse Stars and the six amateurs invited...

Here we go again.  Another year, another training camp, another season filled with hope for my Toronto Maple Leafs. It's been the same way every year for the last 50 seasons just about. The hope that this will be the season in which the Leafs finally climb the summit once again. Each and every season for the past 46 years, they have failed. As a realist I ask myself, is this season really going to be any different from the past? I doubt it. I've been a die-hard Leafs fan since my childhood in the late 1970's and early '80's. I've seen a LOT of hope and potential come and go. From the potential arriving in the form of draft picks like Gary Nylund and Dan Hodgson, to the acquisition of my favourite Stastny brother, Marian. The drafting of Wendel Clark first overall brought excitement, as did the trade for Doug Gilmour six years later. The 1990's brought repeated deep playoff runs aided by electrifying goaltending from the likes of Felix Potvin and C...

Legendary coach Pat Quinn had a tough time transitioning from his career as an active player to that of a coach. This is evidenced by the fact that a mere few days into his career as head coach of the American Hockey League's Maine Mariners he engaged in an on-ice brawl with an opposing coach. His opponent, coach of the New Brunswick Hawks and fellow ex-NHLer Ed Johnston. In 1978, Quinn was 35 years old and just over one year removed from his last season playing with the Atlanta Flames. Ed Johnston, just shy of his 43rd birthday, had played 16 games the previous year in net for St.Louis and Chicago. The mid-October match between Maine and New Brunswick unfolded as follows; Oct 18, 78 AP An AHL game between the New Brunswick Hawks and the Maine Mariners was delayed for more than an hour after both teams became involved in a brawl that eventually involved both coaches. The fight began when Rocky Saganiuk of the Hawks got into a scuffle near his team's bench with John Pa...