1966/67 Victoria Maple Leafs Program

I recently picked up a 1966/67 Victoria Maple Leafs program from the Western Hockey League. This one completed the trifecta as I now have a program from each of the three season's the team was in existence. Being a Toronto Maple Leafs fan in Vancouver and learning that one of our top farm teams was just across the water has always been interesting to me.
Closeup of the logos other Western League squads
The program is from opening night 1966 against the Portland Buckaroos, a game Victoria would win 5-0. The Leafs were Western League defending champions having finished 40-28-4 and defeating San Francisco and Portland in a pair of seven game series. Despite their terrific game one victory, the 1966/67 campaign would not be as fruitful for Victoria as they finished out of the playoffs, six points behind the fourth place Seals. 
The season did however finish on an up note for two Victoria skaters. Leading scorer Milan Marcetta and top scoring defenceman, Aut Erickson were called up to the big club for the NHL playoffs. Erickson got into one game, Marcetta three and both have their name on the last Stanley Cup won by Toronto.
Another name on the lineup page, playing D for Portland is Doug Messier, father of Mark. Doug was a solid defenceman throughout the 60's and would collect 32 points in 66/67 while finishing fourth in the league in PIMs. Below is an interesting set of stats from the program showing the previous years numbers. It seems Victoria was an early user of advanced stats as they have Shot Attempts, Shot Attempts Blocked and Goals Scored in different scenarios. 1967 seems early for these kind of numbers to be in vogue.
Interesting to see the WHL referees listed in the program, many familiar names that either had been or soon would be prominent names in the NHL.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ron Hextall and the stolen Conn Smythe Trophy

Image
Ron Hextall did not deserve the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1987....there, I said it. I recently caught game seven of the '87 finals on ESPN Classic, where the Oilers beat the Flyers 3-1. Hextall was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy to the disdain and boos of the Northlands Coliseum. Hextall was (and remains) the fourth player to win the trophy in a losing cause. Even as a teenager following these playoffs as they happened, I thought this was an injustice. Upon further inspection, I believe he only won because he was a rookie, and was the "sexy" pick as opposed to the proper pick. When looking at his numbers, it's hard to figure why he won. Hextall finished with 15 wins, 11 losses and a GAA of 2.77. Oilers, Grant Fuhr went 14 and 5 with an average of 2.46. I realize that stats cannot tell the whole story, but even if we dig further the award doesn't seem justified. His .908 Save Pct was the same as Fuhr's and tied for third behind Ken Wregget and Kelly Hrudey. Also,...
Read more

WHA Ottawa Civics, The Two Week Franchise

Image
Tom Earl, Daryl Maggs, Mark Lomenda, Gary MacGregor, Garry Swain "Please let the fans make up their own minds," Henry Feller told a press gathering. "Let them decide if they want pro hockey here. We have to average 7,000 or 8,000 in the remaining 19 home games for a break-even point." Feller was a director of the Founders Club who had interest in buying the WHA's Denver Spurs club. Ivan Mullinex, owner of the Spurs had brought his team to Ottawa in an attempt to drum up interest and save his investment. The date was January 2, 1976 and Mullinex was in debt to a Denver bank to the tune of $1 million dollars. This same day, the newly christened Civics lost their first game under the new moniker by a score of 2-1 at Cincinnati. Star of the team, Ralph Backstrom said after the game, "Our first official notice of the move hit us when we entered the Cincinnati rink and the names on the big scoreboard read: Stingers and Civics. Until that moment we were un...
Read more

Team Canada 1972, What Might have Been

Image
Guy Lafleur, if he had played in the 72 Summit Series "No way. Can you imagine what our fans would say if we allowed Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito to play for Canada in that series and either...suffered an injury that might prevent them from playing with us for a year or more?" This was the concern of Weston Adams Jr, president of the Boston Bruins as quoted on April 20, 1972. After being speculated and discussed since February 1972 at the Olympics in Sapporo Japan, the series was set to go. Early on however, controversy stirred as to who exactly would be representing Canada. Bruins GM, Milt Schmidt agreed with his boss saying, "My only interest would be to see the Russians play the Bruins for the world championship...or whatever team wins the Stanley Cup." In the Vancouver Sun a few days later, the legendary Jim Coleman responds to the American naysayers suggesting that Team Canada should be made up strictly of players from Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal ...
Read more