Nitzy's Hockey Den

I recently picked up this hockey magazine from November 1978 for two reasons; a Maple Leaf (Tiger Williams) is pictured on the cover, and there's an article about a young Wayne Gretzky inside. Written by Shirley Fischler, wife of Stan and a renowned hockey writer herself.  Fischler describes the 17-year old Gretzky as having "fresh good looks" in "well-worn khaki jeans, denim t-shirt and Philadelphia Phillies baseball cap". Gretzky is quoted,"I let my agent, Gus (Badali), carry the money. I just want enough cash to pay my expenses."He also states, "In my life, girls always came third, after hockey and school." Adorable. What I really like are the fairly rare photos of Gretz in a pre-season photo-shoot wearing the Indianapolis Racers jersey. He of course played a mere 8 games for Indy, collecting 6 points. The trade to Edmonton on November 2, 1978 happened likely as this magazine was hitting the newsstands. The rest is history...

As the Vancouver Norvans and Nanaimo Clippers finished tied with 29 points in the Coast League standing, two points behind Victoria, they would play each other in the best-of-three Semi-final. Before they could do that however, league President Jack Ryan ordered that they play a two-game total game series to determine the out-right second place finisher. The winner would be granted home ice advantage for the Semifinal. Norvan playing/coach Tip O'Neill figured his squad had "an even chance" of taking second place. He admitted that former NHLer Dave MacKay had added considerable  strength to the Clippers but added, "The fact that Victoria Bapcos beat them proves they are not unbeatable, and we were never worried by Victoria." Vancouver Feb. 20- Nanaimo Clippers Defeat Norvans in Opening Match, 9-2 "Nanaimo Clippers defeated Vancouver Norvans 9-2 here tonight to go into a seven-goal lead in the two-game total-goal playoff series to decide second place i...