Nitzy's Hockey Den

Toronto's rookies in 2016/17 are really doing some special things. Individually, Matthews, Marner and Nylander are setting team records seemingly every day now. Collectively, they're doing things rarely seen in NHL history. All three of the Leafs super rookies have at least 57 points. This has happened on one team only three other times in NHL history, all in an era when goal scoring was at least 30% higher than today.  Three Rookies, One Team 57 Points (Age in Brackets) Toronto 16/17 A.Matthews (19) 61 M.Marner (19) 57 W.Nylander (20) 57 Quebec 80/81 P.Stastny(24) 77-39-70-109 A.Stastny(21) 80-39-46-85 D.Hunter (20) 80-19-44-63 Edmonton 79/80 W.Gretzky (19) 79-51-86-137 B.MacDonald (26) 80-46-48-94 B.Callighen (26) 59-23-35-58 D.Lumley (25) 80-20-38-58 Hartford 79/80 M.Rogers (25) 80-44-61-105 M.Howe (24) 74-24-56-80 J.Douglas (22) 77-33-24-57 The last two teams on this list were transferred from the WHA and these "rookies" had played mult...

Charlie Conacher in Action Well, this is pretty cool. Recently I have been helping out a friend go through old hockey photos for his store  vintagesportsimages.com  . I am assisting in categorizing, curating and identifying literally 1000's of images that predominantly come from the collection of the Boston Globe. He owns the original negatives, and most of them have not ever been published. I think I found a doozy here. Above is a game-play shot of Maple Leaf great Charlie Conacher that I'm fairly sure has not ever been put online.  Below are the main two iconic images of Conacher, both staged in a photo shoot. The one in Vintage Sports Images collection is cropped from a far larger image, attached at the bottom, that gives more info about it. The photo is definitely from an actual game, against the Detroit Falcons. The Falcons were known as such for only two seasons, 1930/31 and 1931/32 before being re-branded the Red Wings. Coancher's teammate to the righ...

Here is the first of many awesome photos that adorns my den from my friend's vintage sport photo shop,  vintagesportsimages.com  . It's a fantastic shot of the 1964 Stanley Cup being handed over to George Armstrong by NHL President Clarence Campbell. What I love about the photo is the fact it's from ice-level, showing the expanse of Maple Leaf Gardens and the crowd within. Below is a photo from the Montreal Gazette the following day taken just after the initial photo was, with the players gathered around the Cup. In addition to Armstrong (who had 13 points in 14 playoff games) and Campbell, identifying the rest of the players in the shot is fairly easy. Dave Keon (7 goals, 9 points) is in the near distance in between The Cup and Campbell and Carl Brewer (played 12 of 14 games) is behind Armstrong. The legendary King Clancy is seen stepping on the centre redline, he was assistant general manager of the Leafs. In the helmet is Billy Harris with Larry Hillman and Jim Pa...

Leafs vs. Red Wings: Bower, Baun, Howe and... Here's another fine photo from the collection of my friends at  vintagesportsimages.com  in North Vancouver. I'm helping them out identifying old hockey pics, most of which have not been seen online. This photo clearly shows Johnny Bower in net and Leaf defender Bobby Baun and Gordie Howe. To narrow down the year, the database at  nhluniforms.com  is invaluable. The Leafs added a blue shoulder yoke to their white jersey in 1958 and they then added numbers on sleeves in 1962/63. This photo then has to fall between that '58 and '62. The Detroit #8 player has a few possibilities among guys who shot left-handed during this era. Johnny Wilson wore the number in 1958/59 but the facial features don't match here. Gary Aldcorn wore number 8 in 1960/61 but his hair was a bit more receding; Murray Oliver also wore it the same year, his hair looks a bit different but there does appear to be a matching scar on the left side o...

With Sidney Crosby collecting his 1000th point recently, there was lots of chatter about how few games he needed and his career points per game. Many pointed out that his 1.32 points/game over his career is the 5th best all-time behind only Gretzky, Lemieux, Bossy and Orr. This is a rather impressive feat considering the era in which Crosby has played is one of the lowest scoring ever.  On social media, folks were wondering about how the leaders would look if Adjusted Points was used to even out the different eras. Adjusted Points is calculated at  hockey-reference.com  and equalizes for Goals/game, roster size and length of league schedule. For example, it calculates Gordie Howe's 49 goals in 1952/53 as an Adjusted Goal total of 65 when compared to all eras.  Using Adjusted Points, Crosby does indeed get a bump due to the era he plays in, his Points/game climbs to 1.52 while Lemieux drops to 1.68 and Gretzky drops a bit further to 1...

Above is one of the only photos of Rod Bloomfield as Reg Dunlop's skating double for the movie Slap Shot, from a 1977 American magazine named "Hockey". In the 2010 book, "The Making of Slap Shot" the details of how Bloomfield got the role are explained;  "Bloomfield and another player were considered for the job of doubling Newman. Bloomfield was more Newman's size and build but the other guy was chosen and Bloomfield returned home, content to wait until he was called back to play an extra. About two weeks later, he received a phone call asking if he was still interested in being Newman's double. They said 'they made a bit of a mistake. They shot for two weeks and figured out he was shooting right-handed. You and Paul both shoot left. We've had to scrap all the film' Bloomfield agreed to the demand that his blond hair be cut short and painted - not dyed- grey every day to match Newman's hair. 'That was one of the best ex...

This week marks the 30th anniversary of Rendezvous '87. In lieu of the All-Star game that season, the NHL played the Soviet National team in a two game series at the Colisee in Quebec City. The NHL won the first game 4-3, the Soviets the second 5-3, in what was generally regarded as a successful event showcasing the two greatest hockey powers. However, not everyone was pleased with the fact the event even went down in the first place. On the day of the first match, in the February 11 Ottawa Gazette, the great Bobby Orr himself is quoted showing his displeasure at Rendezvous. He actually had a good point, Rendezvous '87 removed over twenty All-Star spots. After looking at the NHL stats up to that point in the 86/87 season, it's clear at least a few players were robbed of their one and only chance at playing in an All-Star game.  More than a few guys missed the festivities due to injuries. Mark Howe, Paul Coffey and Mike Bossy were all voted onto the squad by fans but...