Nitzy's Hockey Den

14 cents Recently, I picked up this beauty at a collectibles show. A 63 year-old game program from the old Western Hockey League. The game was at the Victoria Memorial Arena between the visiting Vancouver Canucks and the hometown Cougars on January 11, 1954. The Cougars featured up-and-coming 24 year-old Andy Hebenton who would score 21 goals this season, his fifth of top-level minor pro hockey. After an 80 point season for Victoria in 1954/55, Hebenton finally graduated to the New York Rangers and stayed in the NHL until 1964.  On the other end of the scale, 35 year-old Billy Reay was in his first season as player/coach with Victoria after eight full years playing with the Montreal Canadiens. In 1957, Reay took over as Head Coach for Toronto Maple Leafs and in 1963 he began a 14 year stint as Head Coach in Chicago with the Black Hawks. All-time great, Lester Patrick 70 year-old Lester Patrick was the President of the Cougars after having been inducted into the Hockey Hall...

A quarter of the way through the season, the Toronto Maple Leafs have three of the top four scoring rookies in the NHL. The top five rookies in points are as follows: (G-A-Pts) Patrick Laine, Winnipeg 12-6-18 Auston Matthews, Toronto 8-8-16 Mitch Marner, Toronto 7-9-16 William Nylander, Toronto 6-9-15 Zach Werenski, Columbus 5-10-15 The Leafs have their best rookie crop in at least a generation. In looking at the top three Toronto rookies on their own, it can arguably be said that they are the best Leafs crop of first-year players in over 85 years. Sure, Toronto has had some nice rookie groups enter the league at the same time through the years; 1985/86 Wendel Clark, Steve Thomas & Dan Hodgson 1982/83 Peter Ihnacak, Walt Poddubny, Dan Daoust 1979/80 Laurie Boschman, Rocky Saginiuk, Rick Vaive, Bill Derlago 1973/74 Borje Salming, Lanny McDonald, Ian Turnbull, Inge Hammarstrom 1955/56 Dick Duff, Billy Harris, Earl Balfour 1952/53 George Armstrong, Tim Horton, Ron ...

Recently I picked up this stick at the Vancouver Flea Market for a fairly reasonable price. It's signed by members of the Maple Leafs 1988/89 squad. I wasn't necessarily in the market for a late-80's signed Leaf stick, but it was a price I couldn't pass up. It actually makes a nice foil for my signed Leafs 62/63 stick, a team that finished first place in the NHL and won the Stanley Cup. The 88/89 team, not so much. Gary Leeman Led by Eddie Olczyk's 90 points, Gary Leeman's 75 and Vinny Damphousse's 68 (who are all on this stick) the Buds finished with 62 points, only one ahead of last overall Quebec. Olczyk was in his second and best season with the Leafs. He would be traded to Winniped in 1990 for Mark Osborne, Dave Ellett and Paul Fenton. His 90 points in 88/89 ended up being his career high. This year proved to be Leeman's breakout season as the following season he would notch the second ever 50 goal campaign in franchise history with 51. Of c...

Yep, Me and "Red" Kelly So, I met "Red" Kelly last week.  Actually, I didn't JUST meet the hockey legend, I chatted with him for twenty minutes. This encounter didn't just take place on the street or in a restaurant, it happened in the museum-like basement of Ultimate Leaf Fan, Mike Wilson.  As a member of the Society for International Hockey Research, I was lucky enough to attend the Meet and Greet event for their Annual meeting in Toronto last week. This was graciously held at the home of Mike Wilson, who told me he is not the self-proclaimed "Ultimate Leaf Fan" but was bestowed this moniker by none other than ESPN. Anyway, as a lifelong Leaf fan and collector myself, I was excited enough to gain entry to the Ultimate Leaf Den. Little did I know I would also meet one of the greatest living hockey players there as well.  Mike Wilson  Bathroom door with Original Maple Leaf Gardens Signage After I picked up my nametag and met ...