Nitzy's Hockey Den

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...