Time Archives Online

To understand history you must be able to understand context. What better way to understand context than to experience a historical event or historical figure in its own time.

Thanks to the Time Magazine archives from 1923 to present, you now can.

While a hockey historian may far prefer to see The Hockey News archives online, Time does offer some interesting hockey articles.

Dec. 29, 1947 - Hockey's New Look - Acknowledges the soon to be three time Stanley Cup Champion Toronto Maple Leafs as the class of the National Hockey League.

Toronto's rough, tough Maple Leafs, known as hockey's bad men, had no corner on rowdiness. The Detroit Red Wings, no sissies themselves, met them whack for whack two weeks ago. Last week, with the two teams neck & neck (or throat to throat) for the National Hockey League lead, 13,284 Torontonians turned out to see another battle of bashed heads.

Jan. 26, 1976 - Soviet Super Series - Time sums up Super Series 76, the first tour of Soviet teams vs. NHL club teams. Time definitely took the NHL viewpoint on this one.

"Who the hell did they beat?" asked a testy Clarence Campbell, president of the National Hockey League, last week after the eight-game series between two Soviet hockey teams and eight clubs in the N.H.L. Nobody important, if Campbell is to be believed. The Soviets, Campbell pointed out, failed against the Philadelphia Flyers and Buffalo Sabres, the two teams that played for the Stanley Cup last spring. The Montreal Canadiens, says Campbell, gave the Russians "a hell of a beating."

April 27, 1981 - Hockey's Great Gretzky - As you'd might expect, the majority of hockey stories somehow include the search term "Gretzky." This is the first Time magazine article on The Great One.

Blond-mopped and boyish-looking, Gretzky exploits a trick from novice days: too small to anchor himself in front of the goal like a normal center, he hides behind the net and passes from there. It is still his favorite ploy. Says Gretzky: "Some guys are defensive, some score goals, and some are tough. For me it's just as nice to pass the puck and watch someone else shoot as to score myself." Gretzky's game relies on deceptive speed and accurate but not hard shooting. His stick handling is the best in the N.H.L. He often plays keep-away against muscle teams like Boston or St. Louis. He is too fast to be slashed and high-sticked by hockey's ever present goon squads. "Some guys hit me, but guys miss a lot too," he laughs. Gretzky also plays hockey the way a grand master envisions chess. He anticipates passes and patterns that develop seconds later. Gretzky's only weakness is defense: he sometimes forgets it exists. Says Sather: "I have to remind him now and then."

October 9, 1972 - Ah, Canada! - About a week after "The Goal," Time has a nice piece on Paul Henderson and the 1972 Summit Series.

It took 479 minutes 26 seconds of playing time to do it, but Team Canada finally overcame the Soviet Union's national team in Moscow last week to win the first "world series" of hockey. With 34 seconds left in the eighth and final game, Paul Henderson of Toronto flicked the puck past Soviet Goalie Vladislav Tretiak to give the Canadian all-star pros a 6-5 lead. The Russians tried desperately to come back, but the Canadians hung on to take their fourth victory against three wins for the Soviets and one tie.

You can see all the Time magazine covers dedicated to hockey here.

Have fun scouring the archives. There are some potential golden nuggets.