Nitzy's Hockey Den

I recently picked up a bunch of 1970s NHL media guides at the flea market, lots of great covers. The first one is the second year of the Washington Capitals showing goaltender #30, John Adams which is a strange choice seeing as he played only eight games for the inaugural Caps. He went 0-7 and posted a 6.90 GAA. The next two are Bruins guides showing many of the team's all-time greats. The 76/77 guide shows some wacky charicatures of Don Cherry, Jean Ratelle and Brad Park. The 76/77 New York Islanders guide combines some blurry, fast-paced action as  well as a dejected looking Denis Potvin. The Sabres 74/75 guide pictures Rick Martin sporting some simply fantastic 70s sideburns. 72/73 North Stars guide looks like a version of the Odd Couple featuring Cesar Maniago and Gump Worsley. Bill Goldsworthy is the cover boy of the 74/75 media guide. Speaking of wacky charicatures, the 76/77 Los Angeles Kings guide shows Butch Goring being hoisted upon the shoulders ...

Four goals in a debut for Auston Matthews. What else can be said about a feat that was the very first of it's kind in National Hockey League history, nothing. However, one of the more interesting things about his four goal game, is the fact it was the first hat trick by a Maple Leafs rookie in well over thirty years. The last Leaf rookie to score three in a game, Dan Daoust in 1983. February 16, 1983, Toronto beat the visiting St.Louis Blues by a score of 6-3 behind the 24 saves of Rick St. Croix. The Leafs went into the game with a 14-30-10 record, the Blues not much better at 19-29-11. Daoust notched his first at 17:47  of the first beating Mike Liut to make it 2-0 Toronto. The assists went to John Anderson and Gaston Gingras. He made it 3-0 with an unassisted goal at 11:14 of the second. Two and a half minutes later he assisted on Rick Vaive's 38th goal of the year to make it 4-1 Toronto.  After the Blues made it 5-3, Daoust completed his hatty 6:35 into the third ...

As the NHL prepares to commence it's 100th anniversary season, it is interesting to look at the hockey world of 100 years ago. Not 1917, which was the first the year of the NHL but the National Hockey Association of exactly 100 years ago and the fall of 1916. The NHA signalled the beginning of its final campaign with a pre-season All-Star game of sorts that took place on December 17, 1916 in Toronto. Yes the season began a fair bit later 100 years ago. The game pitted the newly formed powerhouse 228th Battalion hockey team formed of military players in the Toronto area and an All-Star team consisting mainly of the other Toronto NHA entry, the Blueshirts, reinforced by eastern players Newsy Lalonde, Didier Pitre and Jack Marks. As described the following day in the Toronto World, the match was no contest but still entertaining; "Wonderful Speed Displayed By Soldiers' Hockey Team Saturday night's pro. hockey season opener deserved a bigger attendance than was...

As the Toronto Maple Leafs begin training camp in this their Centennial season, its interesting to look at what was happening at camp 100 years ago.  Now, in reality, 100 years ago precedes the actual history of the Maple Leafs and the National Hockey League itself. In the autumn of 1916, teams of the National Hockey Association were preparing for the upcoming season. However, they did not begin gathering for camp until December as opposed to the current day, mid-September. The NHA would of course fold and re-form as the NHL the following year in a successful effort to oust Toronto Blueshirts owner Eddie Livingstone. The plan succeeded and the new Toronto NHL squad (alternately referred to in the press as the "Arenas" or "Torontos") was made up of Livingstone's former Blue Shirts players. The Leafs Centennial season is a celebration from this point (1917) onward, but the history of the Maple Leafs franchise realistically goes back further than...

The initial concept of a Team North America for the upcoming World Cup of Hockey was looked at as too gimmicky by many hockey observers and fans. As the tournament approaches however, and exhibition games are played, the idea of a team of under-23 year-olds seems fairly intriguing. In fact, I'm personally predicting that Team North America makes the tournament final against Team Canada. Imagine if this concept was around for the very first Canada Cup, the pre-cursor of the World Cup. Below are the under-23 year-old players who would have likely been invited to camp for Team North America '76 with their 75/76 stats. In truth, the squad was barely North America and more simply Canada U-23, if not for Mark Howe, Gordie Roberts and Gary Sargent.  CENTRE Bryan Trottier, Calder Trophy, 95 pts Pierre Larouche, 53g, 111pts Tom Lysiak, 82 pts Tim Young, 51pts   Bernie Federko, WCJHL, 187 pts  Doug Jarvis, 35 pts Mel Bridgman, 50 pts Dennis Maruk, 62 pts RIGHT W...

As the World Cup of Hockey approaches, let's have a look at the souvenir program from it's pre-cursor, the very first Canada Cup in 1976. After the tremendous interest of the 1972 Summit Series and the subsequent 1974 re-match with WHA stars, the Canada Cup tournament was born in 1976. Even though it was won by Canada over Czechoslovakia, the event lacked much of the high drama of the Summit Series. Bellows a look at most of the interior of the program for the tournament. The lineup and schedule pages are shown below.  The great thing about this program is that it includes rare images of Team Canada '72 in games against Sweden and Czechoslovakia. Below is a shot of Ken Dryden being challenged by a Czech player in a 3-3 tie in Prague. The game took place a mere two days after Canada's triumph in Moscow and once again Canada pulled out late heroics with Serge Savard tying the game with only four seconds left. The broadcast of this game can ...

Dec 2, 1916 I recently found these terrific old cartoons on google news archives. They're from the Toronto World Newspaper, by a cartoonist named Lou Skuce. Born in Ottawa in 1886, Skuce began cartooning professionally in the early 1910s eventually becoming the Art Editor and Editorial Cartoonist for the World. The first three cartoons illustrate the start of the National Hockey Association season in both 1915 and 1916. The "Livvy" in the third one refers to Eddie Livingstone the owner/manager of the local Toronto Blueshirts. Dec 11, 1916 Dec 19, 1915  The next is a great depiction of one of the toughest players of the day, George McNamara who would suit up in 1916/17 with the 228th Battalion squad of Toronto. At 6'1" and 220 lbs, he was one of the biggest players of the era and would be elected to the Hall of Fame in 1958. In 1915/16 with the Blueshirts McNamara racked up 74 Pims in 23 games while playing a bruising defence. Dec 6, 1916 Lou S...