Nitzy's Hockey Den

Time to have a look at another fantastic and unique hockey photo from  Vintage Sports Images  here in North Vancouver. It shows the Leafs playing the New York Rangers in what appears to be the 1940s or 50s. The Leafs wore this jersey/sock combo every year from 1938 to 1958 (for three years in the mid-40s they had red lettering on the crest but we can't see that in the photo anyway). First, let's figure out who Toronto's #9 is in the photo. Charlie Conacher of course wore the number from 1929 to 1938, this is not him in the photo. In 1938/39, Pep Kelly took over the number in his fourth season as a Leaf after Conacher was traded to Detroit. Kelly wore #9 for two seasons before being sold to Chicago in 1940. Next to wear the number was Lex Chisholm for 26 games in 1940/41. Lorne Carr was acquired to start the 1941/42 campaign and would wear #9 for 5 seasons when Ted Kennedy took over the number. All four players were right-handed shots like the player in the pho...

Here's something I picked up at a thrift store recently that I have never seen before. It's a souvenir program from 190 of an old-timers series named Legends of Hockey between Russian and Canadian players.  The games seem to have been organized by the National Hockey Alumni Association headed by ex-player Larry Regan. The lineup page is shown below. Team USSR featured ten players who played in the 1972 Summit Series and Canada had nine guys. In addition, both squads had 32 year old Bill Derlago, 35 year old Dan Bouchard 36 year old Bob Bourne and Billy Smith and Tim Higgins who had just retired the previous year. Here are the two team photographs in the program showing the Russians in a jersey I have never seen along with mis-matched socks. The Canadians are wearing pretty much exact replicas of the '72 Summit Series.  Throughout the program there are photos from the '72 series and the 1979 Challenge Cup. There's also a nice photo of the Russian o...

Here is another unidentified hockey photo from the archives of  Vintage Sports Images  in North Vancouver, and this one is a toughie. It shows the Maple Leafs playing the Red Wings, but what makes it difficult is that most players faces are at a profile angle making it harder to identify them. Firstly, looking at the uniforms, the Leafs used this configuration from 1938 to 1958 excluding 1945 - 1948 when the lettering was red. I know the photo is black and white, but I'm pretty sure the text on the Leaf crest is not red. As for Detroit, they also had an extended period of time using this uniform. The only thing that changed was the 'Winged Wheel' crest which became sleeker and less stout in 1948. That dates the photo somewhere after 1948 up to 1958.  The main figure in the image is the Leaf enlarged below. Using only player headshot in the SIHR database and the direction of the player shooting hand, I am fairly confident that this is Howie Meeker. Howie M...

Time for another unidentified hockey photo from the good folks at  Vintage Sports Images . It comes to me with zero info other than what is in the photo itself, which is quite a lot actually.  Firstly, the Canucks wore this jersey with the "V" on the jersey sleeve for their first two years of existence 1970/71 and 1971/72. Next, all the numbers of the skaters are visible which makes for easy identification. Starting at the left is #16 Ted Taylor, a Left Winger who wore the number in both of these seasons. Taylor had been a career minor-leaguer, having played for the Western League Vancouver Canucks the two seasons prior. Taylor potted 36 goals in 69/70 in the high minors but scored only 11 and 9 goals his two NHL Canuck seasons.  The Boston Bruin battling Taylor is an easy one, #6 Ted Green. He is adorned in a helmet that he wore after nearly losing his life to the stick of Wayne Maki a few years before. The Canuck in the middle of the frame is #19. In their inaugu...

1962 Hockey Card Game I recently noticed that I have a fair amount of vintage hockey themed games in my collection, figured I'd put them all together in a post. Above is a really neat boxed card game I picked up at the Vancouver Flea Market. It's dated 1962 from Walker Press Canada and pictures generic "Blue" and "Red" teams, with very cool artwork. The next one I got from the same dealer at the flea market but have very little information about it. It is a tin ice surface with small plastic sticks. I think it was some kind of "flick" game played with a small disc. It has to be from the 1960's at the latest and could date back as far as the 50's. It's labelled "another SUPERIOR TOY by T. Cohn". This company made many different tin games and toys in the throughout the first half of the twentieth century.  Next is one of my favourite things in my collection, a Toronto Maple Leafs colouring book from 1964. It...

1971 Book This week, Red Kelly turned 90-years old. There's no better reason to have a look at some of the cool, more "odd-ball" Red Kelly items in the collection of Nitzy's Hockey Den. Above is the cover of a 1971 hardcover autobiography aimed toward kids. There's some nice illustrations inside, pictured below. Next is a 1964 Maple Leafs Colouring Book with a couple of great drawings of Red Kelly for the kids to colour in. Stay in the lines kids! In 1963, the Toronto Star newspaper issued these great "Hockey Stars in Action" postcards. The one above shows Kelly, Jonny Bower and Dave Keon. Beauty. 1963 Hockey Stars in Action  Beehive Beehive corn syrup famously issued these posed photos of players with a cardboard backing. Above is the Red Kelly Beehive from the early 1960s. Sheriff Plastic Coins Salada Tea issued plastic "Shirriff" hockey coins for the 1960/61 and 61/62 seasons (above), in 1962/63 the coins were c...