Bad Hockey Card of the Day

I like Espo's plaid pants.

This Day In Hockey History: Nov. 30th

 
1918 - The NHL modified its penalty rules: From this time forward, teams would play shorthanded for only the first three minutes of a five minute major, and for only the first five minutes of a 20 minute match penalty.

1954 - Montreal and Chicago had a 3-3 tie in a Black Hawks "home" game in Omaha, Nebraska. 4,506 fans showed up to see the game. Chicago played six "home games" on the road that year, in Omaha, St. Louis, and St. Paul.

1973 - Los Angeles Kings traded Gilles Marotte and Real Lemieux to the NY Rangers in exchange for Sheldon Kannegiesser, Tommy Williams, and Mike Murphy.

1979 - Duane Sutter (the second Sutter brother to join the NHL) scored twice in his first NHL game, a 5-3 Islanders loss at Edmonton. Sutter replaced Billy Harris, who was scratched after playing all 576 games in Islanders' history.

2002 - Former NHL stars Peter Stastny, Stan Mikita and Vaclav Nedomansky were inducted into the newly created Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame in Bratislava, capital of Slovakia.

Happy Birthday to Tod Sloan, Sweeney Schriner, Jason Pominville, Dave Barr, Curt Giles, Sean Pronger, Philippe Bozon and Earl Heiskala.

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

By now we can just accept that O Pee Chee somehow justified the need to airbrush hockey cards back in the day. Above we see one of the best airbrush jobs of the 1970s in this Ted Irvine card. Only one problem - that's actually Ted Harris they airbrushed over!

This Day in Hockey History: Nov 29th

1924 - The Montreal Forum had its official opening, and the Canadiens beat the Toronto St. Patricks 7-1, before a crowd of 9,000 fans. Billy Boucher had three goals to lead the scoring.

1967 - In one of hockey's biggest trades, St. Louis traded Ron Stewart and Ron Atwell to the NY Rangers in exchange for Barclay Plager and Red Berenson, who went on to become stars of the expansion Blues.

1977 - Pittsburgh Penguins traded Pierre Larouche to Montreal, in exchange for Pete Mahovlich and Peter Lee.

1978 - Bjorne Skaare became the first Norwegian born player to appear in an NHL game, when he suited up for the Red Wings in a 2-2 tie against the Rockies in Colorado. It was the only game of Skaare's NHL career.

1987 - Rangers' goalie Bob Froese was credited with a goal during a delayed penalty against the Islanders. The scoring was changed a few days later when a replay revealed that Froese was not the last Ranger to touch the puck. Rangers won 3-1.

Happy Birthday to Neal Broten, Pavol Demitra, Bob Berry, Brad May, Alex Kaleta, Georges Mantha, Yvon Labre, Tanner Glass, Bill Baker and Jody Gage.

Bonus: Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Why was it necessary to airbrush Rick Vaive's hair?

Georges Laraque: The Story of the NHL's Unlikeliest Tough Guy

Georges Laraque, noted hockey tough guy but also noted for his variety of interests outside of the hockey rink, has made the biggest splash in terms of making headlines with his new autobiography. In Georges Laraque: The Story of the NHL's Unlikeliest Tough Guy, Big Georges rocked the hockey world withallegations of rampant drug use. He also took a few jabs at some coaches,most notably Wayne Gretzky. 

He also goes on to talk about all sorts of subjects - from racism to politics, from humanitarian efforts to vegan diets.

"The goal of the book is not even to talk about hockey, it's to talk about other stuff," Laraque has been on record saying. “I didn’t even want to talk about hockey in the book, but the publisher said I should because that’s what I did for a living. I wanted to do more than that. I wanted to help people to become more open-minded. That’s why I talk about politics, about religion, about gay rights, about animal rights, all that stuff.”

Buy The Book: Amazon.ca- Chapters - Amazon.com

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

On November 3rd, 1970 the Buffalo Sabres claimed veteran defenseman Bobby Baun from the Detroit Red Wings on waivers. The following day the Sabres traded him to St. Louis. Baun refused to report to the Blues, so he was traded again, to Toronto.

Unfortunately for Baun's hockey card, O Pee Chee apparently needed to decide on that day of limbo what to do for his card. So they removed the Red Wings logo, guessed at the team and went with it.

This Day in Hockey History: Nov 28th

1957 - Gordie Howe picked up an assist during Detroit's 3-3 tie against Toronto to become the NHL's all time assist leader, with #409 of his career. He broke the record set by Montreal's Elmer Lach.

1963 - Montreal rookie Yvan Cournoyer scored the first goal of his NHL career. It came in the Canadiens' 7-3 win at Detroit.

1970 - Toronto rookie Darryl Sittler scored the first goal of his NHL career, and added an assist in the Maple Leafs' 9-4 win over the visiting Detroit Red Wings.

1979 - Billy Smith became the first goalie in NHL history to get credit for a goal. He was the last Islander to touch the puck before Rob Ramage of Colorado put it into his own net. But the Islanders lost 7-4 to the Rockies at Denver.

Happy Birthday to Marc Andre Fleury, Jim Nielson, Mud Bruneteau and HHOFer Jack Walker.

This Day In Hockey History: Nov 27th

1931 - Toronto Maple Leafs fired coach Art Duncan, and named Dick Irvin as his replacement. Irvin went on to coach the Leafs for the next eight years.

1941 - Boston Bruins tied an NHL record by scoring four goals in the 10-minute overtime period, to beat the New York Americans 6-2. Overtime was a mandatory 10 minute period before it was discontinued in November 1942.

1946 - Boston's assistant coach Dit Clapper came out of retirement to help the Bruins' on defense, replacing the injured Jack Crawford. He got a standing ovation from 14,000 fans and inspired the Bruins to a 5-2 win against the NY Rangers.

1960 - Detroit's Gordie Howe became the first player in NHL history to score 1,000 career points as the Red Wings won 2-0 over Toronto. Howe's 1,000th point came in his 938th NHL game.

1991 - Penguins defeated the Devils 8-4 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, following a 10 minute candlelight ceremony paying tribute to Bob Johnson, who had passed away one day earlier.

1996 - St. Louis Blues obtained Pavol Demitra from the Ottawa Senators, in exchange for Christer Olsson.

Happy Birthday to Pierre Mondou, Ken Schinkel, Garry Valk, Chad Kilger, Chris Kotsopoulos, Al Jensen, Ernie Wakely, Darcy Regier, and Henrik Karlsson.

20 Questions With Paul Henderson

Paul Henderson sat down with Sean Fitz-Gerald of the National Post for a sit down session of 20 Questions. Henderson has some great stories, such as this one:

Q: When was the last time you scored a goal?

A: The last NHL goal I scored, I was playing for Atlanta, and we came in and played the Leafs. We beat the Leafs 5-3. I got two goals and an assist and I was first star of the game. And after the game, I skated out, and Ballard and [King] Clancy were down in their box, and I went and waved to Ballard. That was not the classiest thing I’ve ever done.

Here's the full story, well worth the read.

Henderson and author Jim Prime have also teamed up to present the new book How Hockey Explains Canada. I have my full review at HockeyBookReviews.com.

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Bobby Orr airbrushed. The nose on the Indian logo is WAY too big.

This Day In Hockey History: Nov 26th

1917 - The National Hockey League was founded. The original teams were the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Arenas, and Quebec Bulldogs (which announced that they would not operate during the inaugural season).

1925 - NHL announced it's new "anti-defense" rule, which would prohibit teams from having more than two players in their own zone when the puck was not present.

1925 - Pittsburgh Pirates and NY Americans franchises were officially acccepted into the NHL. The Americans purchased the Hamilton Tigers roster to fill its lineup, while the Pirates purchased the USHL's Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets.

1933 - Detroit acquired Cooney Weiland from Ottawa, in exchange for Carl Voss.

1961 - Detroit's Gordie Howe became the first player in NHL history to play in 1,000 career regular season games, when the Red Wings lost 4-1 at Chicago.

1986 - Petri Skriko scored his 3rd hat trick in 8 days (4th of his career) as Vancouver won 5-3, at Los Angeles. Skriko had the hottest scoring period of any player in Canucks history, scoring 12 goals and 2 assists for 14 points in a span of five games.

2003 - Scott Stevens set an NHL record for defenseman by playing in his 1,616th career NHL game (breaking the record held by Larry Murphy)

Happy birthday to Bob Murray, Chris Osgood, Keith Ballard, Mathieu Darche, Steve Bozek and Dave Hannan.

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Ron Duguay looks like he has entered a Jon Bon Jovi look-a-like competition. Other than the badly airbrushed jersey.

Vladislav Tretiak: No Stretch

It is no stretch to say Vladislav Tretiak is one of the greatest goaltenders in hockey history:

Bonus: Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Apparently O Pee Chee only had one photo of Glen Hanlon to work with. Too bad he's . . . ummm . . . adjusting his equipment.

This Day In Hockey History - November 25th

1930 - Philadelphia Quakers picked up their first NHL victory, 2-1 over Toronto. The Quakers finished their only NHL season (1930-31) with a record of 4-36-4.

1954 - Bill Mosienko became the first player in Chicago Black Hawks history (and the 6th player in NHL history) to get 250 goals, when he scored in a 3-2 loss to the visiting Montreal Canadiens.

1981 - Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky became the first player in NHL history to get eight career hat tricks before age 21, when he scored four times (and added an assist) in an 11-4 win over the visiting L.A. Kings.

1993 - Edmonton coach Ted Green was fired after coaching the Oilers to a 3-18-3 record, the worst start in team history. Glen Sather, the President and GM of the Oilers, replaced Green as coach; the team went 22-27-11 the remainder of the season.

1996 - Hockey Hall of Fame inducted its newest members: Borje Salming, Al Arbour, Bobby Bauer, and announcer Bob Cole.

1998 - Pittsburgh Penguins traded Petr Nedved, Chris Tamer and Sean Pronger to the New York Rangers for Alexei Kovalev, Harry York and future considerations.

Happy Birthday to Eddie Shore, Mike O'Connell, Jeff Norton, Bob Kelly, John-Michael Liles, Magnus Arvedson, Gilbert Delorme, Petteri Nummelin, Nick Tarnasky and Robb Stauber.

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

There has been no more photographed hockey player in history. Even by 1982 he was the focus of camera lenses more than any other man on the ice. So why did OPC find the need to airbrush this Wayne Gretzky card?

Even Hockey Players Like Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving!

This Day In Hockey History: Nov 24th

1938 - Future Hall of Famer Sid Abel scored his first career NHL goal in a 4-2 Red Wings' win over Chicago in Detroit.

1990 - Fred Shero passed away from cancer at age 65. Shero coached the Flyers from 1972-1978 and the Rangers 1978-1980. At the time of his death, his .612 winning percentage was fourth best in NHL history.

1997 - Florida Panthers fired head coach Doug MacLean and named G.M. Bryan Murray as their new interim head coach.

2001 - In a pre-game ceremony, Colorado retired Ray Bourque's #77 jersey.

2003 - Florida Panthers defenseman Mathieu Biron became the first NHL player since Phil Esposito in 1980 to score a goal against his brother (goaltender Martin) in a 2-1 win over the visiting Buffalo Sabres.

Happy Birthday to Keith Primeau, David Booth, Gino Cavallini, Kurtis Foster, Branko Radivojevic, Murray Hall, Eddie Johnston and Fred Braithwaite.

Win A Trip To The All Star Game!

There's just a few weeks left in Scotiabank's High Five Your Way To The All Star Game contest. First prize is a trip for 4 Canadian residents to attend the 2012 NHL All-Star Game in Ottawa including flight, hotel and $500 spending money. There are also 12 Secondary Prizes each consisting of 4 tickets to see an NHL team of your choice.

How do you enter? Simply go to their Facebook page and pick your favorite hockey team. Every time your team scores, simply "High Five" within 10 minutes of the goal. Each "High Five" is an entry into the this amazing contest.

To help promote the event, Scotiabank has given me three prize packs to give away. These prize packs (consisting of a hockey jersey, bag, toque, water bottle and a hockey puck) have always been popular prizes when I have given them away before. (Please note: the prizes may not be exactly as shown in the picture to the right)

So how do you win the prize packs? Tell me your favorite All Star Game memory. Simply leave your memory along with your name and email address in the comments section to his post. I will randomly select three lucky winners!

My favorite All Star game memory? Gotta be the night Gretzky scored four goals in the third period of the 1983 All Star Game. Or how about Owen Nolan calling his shot? Maybe Alex Ovechkin donning the funny hat and glasses? Maybe you've actually attended an All Star Game in person?

So be sure to enter Scotiabank's High Five Your Way To The All Star Game contest as well as this Scotiabank Prize Pack give away.

Stan Mikita's Bowling Injury

Okay, so the title is a little bit misleading. But still, I could not help but chuckle when I read this quote from Stan Mikita about his most painful injury.

Somehow the tongue of the skate didn't stop a darn thing. It cracked a bone in there. I remember coming home from the hospital on crutches. I sat down on a chair and fell asleep. My son Scott – for Christmas he got those plastic bowling pins and the ball. All of the sudden I felt the most painful, excruciating pain in my life. He swung the pin and hit my foot. I'll never forget seeing him standing there with a smile on his face."

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

The airbrushing in this 1970s hockey card is almost a masterpiece by 1970s standards. But my question is why? Jacques Lemaire never was traded to the Sabres, never played for the Sabres, and, as best as I can tell, was never rumored to be joining the Sabres at all!

This Day In Hockey History: Nov 23rd

1926 - Rookie goaltender George Hainsworth recorded the first of his 94 career NHL shutouts, as Montreal beat the New York Americans, 2-0.

1929 - Boston defenseman Eddie Shore set an NHL record by picking up five fighting majors in one game, a 4-3 Bruins' win over the Maroons, in Montreal.

1961 - Stafford Smythe, Harold Ballard and John Bassett acquired control of Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens.

1988 - Wayne Gretzky scored a goal and five assists to become the fifth player in NHL history to score 600 goals, as the Kings won 8-3 at Detroit. Gretzky followed Howe, Esposito, Dionne and Hull in the 600 club, but scored his in just 718 games.

Happy Birthday to Saku Koivu, Nicklas Backstrom (the skater), Simon Nolet, Colby Armstrong, Randy Pierce, Brian Glynn and Matt Johnson.

Gordie Howe's Heroes

"Hockey is a man's game," Gordie Howe used to be fond of saying. Which is appropriate, because when it comes to hockey, Gordie Howe is the man.

Gordie's son Mark was recently inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He did not have to look far to find his hockey hero when he was growing up.

Which begs the question - who did Gordie hero worship as a kid?

Mark "Scoop" Malinowski found out in a Getting To Know feature for The Hockey News:

"My brother Bernie was a tough defenseman. I remember grabbing his bag and dragging it through the snow when he was going overseas during the war.

"The late Alf Pike who played for New York. What he did with me...I was with the New York Rangers camp and then I was sitting there looking at everybody. Then he just grabbed my arm and said, ‘Let the kid here eat or he'll starve to death!’ So he took me in line and let me eat. Then he was really nice because he, from there, drove me over to camp. And the way he dressed is the way I dress today. I was watching him - I found a hero who helped me.

"Ab Welsh was another one. I asked for an autograph at the old City of Saskatoon rink. I walked in there - I must've said the right thing - he took me in the room and all the players signed my program. He said, ‘Do you play?’ I said, ‘Yes sir.’ That's when he went to the back room. He gave me his stick - an old three-piece stick - I'd never seen one before. I slept with the stick. So what bothered me more - was the autograph. What it meant. I said, ‘If I'm going to be a total hockey player then I better learn how to write.’ So the signature I'm using now is the one my mother picked out. So it's like a legacy every time I write. It's like a legacy toward my mom."

Malinowski's full feature can be viewed here. Find out every thing you ever wanted to know about Mr Hockey, from his favorite hockey moment to the best he ever did for himself, even though it gave him hives.

Interview With Kirstie McLellan Day

Photo by Chris Bolin for Macleans Magazine

MacLean's magazine has an excellent interview with hockey's best selling author Kirstie McLellan Day.


Kirstie Day has written Bob Proert's autobiography Tough Guy. Theo Fleury's autobiography Playing With Fire and, new in 2011, Ron MacLean's autobiography, Cornered - all bestsellers in Canada. She also wrote the foreword for Joe Pelletier's new ebook Pucks On The 'Net.

In the MacLean's interview Kirstie talks about her relationship with Fleury and Probert, surviving an angry Bret Hart, and future plans including a Fleury movie and possible Wayne  Gretzky book. 

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Airbrushed yes, but why screw up the logo that much?

This Day In Hockey History: Nov 22nd

1927 - The Olympia in Detroit hosted its first NHL game. Ottawa defeated the Detroit Cougars 2-1, before 14,000 fans.

1980 - Edmonton Oilers fired coach Bryan Watson. General Manager Glen Sather took behind the bench.

1986 - Buffalo's Gilbert Perreault played in the 1,191st (and final) game of his 17-year NHL career as the Sabres lost to the Quebec Nordiques 3-1.

1999 - Seven months after retiring as a player, Wayne Gretzky was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, along with referee Andy Van Hellemond and builder Scotty Morrison.

2003 - Montreal Canadiens beat the Oilers 4-3 at the first outdoor game in NHL history, played before a record crowd of 57,167 fans in Edmonton.

Happy Birthday to Yvan Cournoyer, Jacques Laperriere, Battleship Leduc, Bert Marshall, Davis Drewiske and everyone's favorite 12 game NHL veteran - Harry Dick.

This Day In Hockey History: Nov 21st

1942 - The NHL Board of Governors announced that overtime would be discontinued in regular season games because of conflicts with train schedules. Overtime was finally reinstated in the 1983-84 season after a 41-year absence.

1958 - Toronto Maple Leafs hired George "Punch" Imlach as their new General Manager, replacing Clarence "Hap" Day. Eight days later Imlach replaced Billy Reay, as Leafs' head coach.

1984 - Vancouver fired coach Bill LaForge after only 20 games, the shortest tenure of any coach in team history. LaForge was 4-14-2 before GM Harry Neale took his place. The Canucks lost 6-4 in Calgary later that day.

1985 - Hartford Whalers traded Ray Neufeld to the Winnipeg Jets, in exchange for defenseman Dave Babych.

1986 - NY Rangers GM Phil Esposito made his NHL coaching debut with an 8-5 win over the Canucks. Esposito took over the bench duties from Ted Sator.

1997 - San Jose acquired Mike Ricci and a future second round draft pick from the Colorado Avalanche, in exchange for Shean Donovan and San Jose's first round pick (Alex Tanguay) in 1998 Entry Draft.

2011 - Sidney Crosby returned to the ice after missing 11 months with a serious concussion. He scored 2 goals and 2 assists as Pittsburgh downed the New York Islanders 5-0.

Happy Birthday to Foster Hewitt,Alex Tanguay, Lindsay Carson, Butch McDonald, Joltin' Jose Charbonneau and Golden Guyle Fielder.

Michel Plasse Learned The Ropes

Here's a great story of a practical joke Quebec Nordiques played on back up goaltender Michel Plasse in the early 1980s. The story, as told to The Hockey News, is told by starting goalie Dan Bouchard:

"The trick that we played on the ice on Michel Plasse, who unfortunately passed away not long ago. The old rink in Washington, the Cap Center, was the first with the Jumbotron over the center ice. Behind the benches they had the lace to drape the towels behind the player bench. One of our players unlaced the lace and put it through the loop in the back of the uniform of our backup goalie, Michel Plasse.

The cameraman was watching what was going on - our player was trying to lace the back of the pants, to tie the lace in there. He (the cameraman) showed it and everybody could see it on the Jumbotron. At one point I was talking to Plasse when I went to the bench on a delayed penalty, I was talking to keep him occupied and he was telling me about his playoff bonus. We were winning 8-1. Everybody saw what was happening except for Michel. Everybody stayed to watch what would happen.

At the final buzzer I went to the penalty box and all the players followed. Michel Plasse jumped on the ice. When he got to the end of the rope, he got pulled back. Both feet flung forward. Everybody got a good laugh. They got their money's worth that night. I was wondering if it was on YouTube or if anyone has that video of it. You don't see things funny like that now."

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Hall of Fame Implications

Steve Simmons raises an interesting point about recent news that Brian Burke has joined the Hockey Hall of Fame Selection Committee:

With Pat Quinn co-chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame committee and Burke now among the voters and the board-room voices, you have to know that if Pavel Bure remains out of the Hall, it will be because Quinn and Burke don’t want him there. If Cam Neely’s short career was considered Hall of Fame worthy, you can’t keep Bure out.

Here's more from Simmons

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

This Day In Hockey History: Nov 20th

1934 - Toronto's Harvey "Busher" Jackson became the first NHL player to score a hat trick in one period of a regular season game.

1979 - Playing in his first NHL game, Quebec Nordiques' rookie Paul Stewart fought Boston's Terry O'Reilly, Stan Jonathan, and Al Secord all in the first period. Stewart later became an NHL referee.

1982 - Calgary rookie Al MacInnis scored the first goal of his NHL career. It came in the Flames' 4-4 tie against the Whalers, at Hartford.

1983 - Tony Tanti scored his 20th goal of the season in Vancouver's 8-3 win over Los Angeles. Tanti became the fastest Canuck to reach 20 goals, and attained the mark in 21 games.

1999 - Washington Capitals set an NHL record by going 12 consecutive games without allowing a power-play goal, in a 3-0 win at Boston.

2001 - Dallas Stars traded Donald Audette and Shaun Van Allen to Montreal, in exchange for Martin Rucinsky and Benoit Brunet.

2003 - Columbus rookie Dan Fritsche became the first Ohio native to score a goal for the Blue Jackets.

Happy Birthday to John MacLean, John Van Boxmeer, Bob Murdoch, Billy Burch, Tom Roulston, Max Pacioretty and Yanick Dupre.

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

This Day In Hockey History: Nov 19th

1929 - Pittsburgh's Johnny McKinnon and Toronto's Hap Day each set a new NHL record for goals in a game by a defenseman. They had four each as Pittsburgh beat Toronto 10-5. The current record of 5 goals is held by Ian Turnbull.

1966 - Rookie Bobby Orr received his first NHL major penalty after a fight with Vic Hadfield of the Rangers as the Bruins tied 3-3 with New York in Boston.

1983 - Bruce Hood became the first referee to officiate 1,000 NHL games, when Toronto beat Detroit 5-4, at Maple Leaf Gardens.

1997 - Pittsburgh Penguins retired jersey #66 in honor of Mario Lemieux, in a pre-game ceremony before a 3-3 tie against the Boston Bruins.

Happy Birthday to Dennis Hull, Patrick Kane, Petr Sykora, Grant Ledyard, Dmitri Yuskevich, Charlie Bourgeois, Miroslav Ihnacak and Reggie Lemelin.

Andy Bathgate's Side of the Story

It is one of the most famous moments in all of hockey history.

November 1st, 1959. Goaltender Jacques Plante takes a puck to the face and is injured badly. He leaves the ice, and returns with a protective mask, literally changing the face of hockey forever.

Most people know those integral details. But did you know the puck that hit Plante in the face came off of an Andy Bathgate shot? And did you know Bathgate's intentions in that moment were not so innocent?

Here's what Bathgate had to say about what led up to shot:

Jacques Plante tripped me one night in New York. Jacques Plante used to come out of the net, he was the first one to stop the puck behind the net and circle the net. We had sort of a verbal talk on the ice. One time playing the puck, he sort of showboated, 'Like picking cherries, Bathgate.’ Then later I said, ‘Oh, you played great tonight, you had five shots.’ I had to remind him he didn't have much to worry about. Later he came back behind the net and he tripped me. I hit the end boards pretty hard, luckily I didn't hurt myself or break my neck, I hit it hard. Just cut my ear, got it stitched up and came back out. He tried to hurt me. There's other ways I can get you back. You want to play that way, I can play that way, too. Later he had his stick out and I gave him a shot right on his cheek, it wasn't a slapshot. He went off and came back on with the mask on. We thought it was a joke. But he revolutionized the game. I'm not taking credit, but it changed the game for sure."

Bathgate of course was a Hockey Hall of Famer in his own right, best known with the New York Rangers but also with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Pittsburgh Penguins. In 2009 Pittsburgh drafted another Andy Bathgate - his grandson.

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

This Day In Hockey History: Nov 18th

1926 - Detroit Cougars (later renamed Red Wings) played their first NHL game, losing to Boston 2-0 at the Border Cities Arena in Windsor before 6,000 fans. All Detroit "home" games were played in Windsor in the Cougars' first season.

1953 - Rangers' rookie Andy Bathgate scored the first goal of his NHL career.

1977 - Hours after signing as a free agent, Detroit's Vaclav Nedomansky picked up three assists in his first NHL game.

1992 - Washington's Reggie Savage became the 4th player in NHL history to score his first NHL goal on a penalty shot, but the Capitals lost 5-4 to the visiting Minnesota North Stars. Savage followed Ralph Bowman, Phil Hoene and Ilkka Sinisalo.

Happy Birthday to Bill Hajt, Peerless Percy_LeSueur, Cal Clutterbuck, Jocelyn Lemieux, Rudy Migay, Tom Edur, Eddie Slowinski, Lane Lambert, Lubomir Sekeras and Kamil Kreps.

Billy Burch's Lucky Strike

This Day In Hockey History: Nov 17th

1922 - The Swedish Ice Hockey Federation was founded.

1973 - Bobby Orr had four assists in an 8-0 Boston win against Detroit to give him 456 career assists, the most by any defenseman in NHL history. It was Orr's 458th game.

1979 - Rookie Wayne Gretzky played against Gordie Howe for the first of four times in their NHL careers. Gretzky went scoreless while Howe picked up one assist in the Hartford Whalers' 4-0 win over Edmonton.

1988 - Vancouver rookie Trevor Linden scored his first NHL hat trick, and added an assist, in a 7-6 Canucks loss to the North Stars at Minnesota.

1996 - Pittsburgh Penguins acquired Darius Kasparaitis and Andreas Johansson from the New York Islanders in exchange for Bryan Smolinski.

1997 - Mario Lemieux, Bryan Trottier, Glen Sather, Flyers' announcer Gene Hart, and Hockey News founder Ken McKenzie were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, in Toronto.

Happy Birthday to Denis Maruk, Chris Tamer, Blair MacDonald and Billy Warwick.

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Enter Now

A Game For The Dog

She did not like it when the Canucks played the Blackhawks.

That's my fault. During the epic seven game showdown between Vancouver and Chicago in the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs I got too emotionally involved. With every scoring chance, with every big hit and with every big goal I invested myself into the Canucks to the point where I exhausted myself and down right scared my girlfriend, her kids, and her dog.

It forced me to look at how seriously I take the game of hockey. I went into a long period of self reflection. How could I take this silly game that seriously? Is it really worth it?

Despite making what most people would consider to be a complete fool of myself, she always stood by me. No matter how scared or concerned she was, no matter how hard it was for her to understand, she always hung around to make sure I was okay. And when Alex Burrows scored the dramatic winning goal in overtime of game seven, she was right there with me, happy that it was over.

I'm talking about the dog.

Don't get me wrong. My girlfriend and the kids are still beside me though they still have trouble understanding it all as well. Usually they leave me to my own devices to watch the big hockey matches. The dog, no mattered how spooked by my behavior she got, loyally stood by.

"Tip" loved hockey. Well at least she loved hockey pucks. Wintery sojourns to the family cabin on Lakelse Lake were always days to look forward to. Shinny on the frozen pond was my highlight, and the dog's too. But she made it difficult for the rest of us to play. She hounded us for that puck as though she were Brad Marchand. And if you lost the puck to her, she quickly grabbed it in her mouth and take it back to the cabin. We learned to bring spare pucks, but she learned to collect them all from us. Soon enough we were skating in circles and with no pucks.

The dog never took much interest in the Canucks or hockey on TV in general. But she had this weird sixth sense when Vancouver played Chicago.

Earlier this season the Canucks thumped the Blackhawks by a score of 6-2. All day long she was acting kind of weird. She was really anxious, pacing around, always eyeing me with a drooped head. We could not figure out what was up with her.

But when Jannik Hansen scored to secure the game at 4-2, I loudly voiced my approval. The dog jumped just like she did last playoffs. My girlfriend and I both looked at each other and almost in unison said "she knows it's the Blackhawks!"

Tip didn't make it to Wednesday night's game against the Blackhawks. She died of old age the day before. So as the Canucks played the Blackhawks my heart was not quite in the game the same way.

I'm fairly certain Tip was up in doggy heaven watching down on us watching the game. Once Jonathan Toews scored to make it 3-1 I'm sure she buried her head in her paws thinking of me.

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

Catching Up With The Past: Edgar Laprade

Allan Maki of the Globe And Mail recently caught up with Hockey Hall of Famer Edgar Laprade in this fascinating piece:

In his home, in green-and-blue plaid pajamas, he sits in an easy chair across from his wall of memories. There’s a framed photograph of him with Wayne Gretzky. There’s one of the Hockey Hall of Fame building autographed by the greats. There’s a photo of the Calder Trophy he won as the NHL’s top rookie in 1946. There’s a photo of an early Madison Square Garden and another of him on the ice during a full-scale brawl with the Montreal Canadiens.

Playing for the New York Rangers, he is on the fringe of the fighting where, true to his nature, he is playing peacemaker, holding back a charging foe. Then as now, Edgar Laprade has always been a gentleman. Because of that, he’s not sure he likes the NHL any more.

Here's the full story.

Remembering Roger Christian

Last week I was out hiking in the Vancouver area. I did not get a chance to celebrate the life of Roger Christian. Christian, a true American hockey legend, passed away last week at the age of 75.

Richard Goldstein of the New York Times has a great piece on Christian:

Roger Christian, whose four-goal game propelled the United States to its first gold medal in Olympic ice hockey, an improbable championship at the 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Games, died Wednesday in Grand Forks, N.D. He was 75. 

Here's the full story.

Roger and brother Billy Christian were linemates on the U.S. team in the Squaw Valley Games. The key decision was a 3-2 victory against the Soviet Union, when Roger assisted on two of Billy’s goals. Roger also scored four goals in a 9-4 victory over Czechoslovakia for the gold medal.

Roger Christian played on five U.S. national teams and is enshrined in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. For 20 years Roger starred with his hometown Warroad Lakers. The brothers later partnered to form Christian Brothers, a hockey stick maker in Warroad, Minn.

The Christian family of Warroad are American hockey royalty. Roger's nephew (Billy's son) Dave went on to play a big role in the United States "Miracle On Ice" gold medal win at the 1980 Olympics as well as a lengthy NHL career.

This Day In Hockey History: Nov 16th

1926 - Rookie Eddie Shore made his NHL debut as the Boston Bruins opened their third NHL season with a 4-1 win over the Canadiens.

1929 - Nels Stewart scored twice for his 100th NHL goal in the Montreal Maroons' 5-2 win at Pittsburgh.

1986 - New York Islanders' Mike Bossy scored the 545th goal of his career and surpassed Hall-of-Famer Maurice "Rocket" Richard to move into 6th place on the NHL's all-time scoring list.

1993 - Billy Smith, Steve Shutt, Guy Lapointe and Edgar Laprade were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

1998 - Montreal Canadiens traded defensemen Dave Manson, Brad Brown and goaltender Jocelyn Thibault to Chicago for goalie Jeff Hackett, defensemen Eric Weinrich and Alain Nasreddine.

1998 - Hockey Hall of Fame inducted it's newest members: Peter Stastny, Michel Goulet, and veteran Roy Conacher.

2003 - Calgary Flames acquired goalie Miikka Kiprusoff from the San Jose Sharks, in exchange for a 2nd round draft pick in 2005.

Happy Birthday to Pierre Larouche, Kari Lehtonen, Dave Forbes, Stephane Veilleux and Josh Green.

Players Police Themselves? NHL Can't Go Back, So They Better Step Up

 
The NHL's failure to suspend Milan Lucic for deliberately running down Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller has led to no shortage of cries for letting the players police themselves.

Here's what Hall of Famer Mark Howe had to say about it on the weekend:

"I like the game a little better in our era, mostly because the players policed the game. I think there's so much onus put on the officials right now ... I don't mind the fighting in the game, I know they're trying to take a lot of it out.

"The game in the old days got rid of the pretenders and the guys who do the whacking and the hacking, guys that are chirping back. That stuff got eliminated years ago. If somebody was taking a shot at your best player, somebody got rid of that right away.

"The reason I think there's a lot more injuries now? Guys are bigger, stronger, better fit overall. But you can just take runs at people left and right and they're coming at full speed. And in the old days, you eliminated that from the game."

This is what many opponents of the instigator rule have been saying for years. It's all about accountability. All players would be held accountable for their own actions on the ice by their peers.

But as the NHL has taken that out of the game more and more, we are seeing more pests, more injuries to star players and more frustrating discrepancies in justice from incident to incident. The NHL fails to set a standard. At least in the old days the standard was simple: Do something wrong, and you can expect to answer the bell.

In the same link as above CBC's eloquent Elliotte Friedman theorizes:

"What if the reason we're seeing so many dangerous on-ice plays is that we've forgotten how to deal with the bully in the schoolyard? You can run to the principal all you want. Eventually, you've got to stand up for yourself."

Of course, old school, vigilante justice can not always the answer either. Here's what that looks like when it goes to far:



Line brawls, jumping superstars and denting goalie masks with bare fists. As entertaining as that video clip might have been for us older fans, do we really want to see that come back on a regular basis?

Not doing anything is no good either. Montreal never challenged Zdeno Chara after the Pacioretty/stanchion incident. The Canucks may have lost the Stanley Cup in part because they did not get as dirty as the Bruins, and the referees did not properly reward them. And now Lucic gets away with running one of the top goalies in the league. Those teams left it up to the NHL to police it. They did not. And Jeremy Jacob's Boston Bruins keep taking advantage.

Somewhere there has to be a balance. The answer is the NHL has to eliminate pests. I've been on this tangent for a long while now. The league has gone after goons, which is fine, but they have continued to allow the pests to ruin the game. Eliminate the pests, and you eliminate a lot of the reasons for fighting in hockey to begin with. Then the stars can shine.

But the NHL instead has set the standard now where you can run and concuss other teams goaltenders and only get a two minute penalty. But if you dare do anything about it, like everyone is saying the Sabres should have done, it will be you who gets into real trouble.

Bad Hockey Card of the Day

This Day In Hockey History: Nov 15th

1915 - The NHA (forerunner of the National Hockey League) agreed to pay no more than $800 to each player for the upcoming season.

1927 - Detroit's Jack Adams' first game as an NHL coach was a victory, 6-0 at Pittsburgh in the season opener.

1928 - Boston rookie Tiny Thompson became the third goaltender in NHL history to record a shutout in his first career game, when the Bruins won 1-0 at Pittsburgh.

1938 - Boston extended their overtime undefeated streak to 37 straight games (10-0-27) with a 1-1 tie against Toronto. The 37 game streak, which began in December 1934, is the longest in NHL history.

1972 - Ranger rookie Steve Vickers became the first player in NHL history to get hat tricks in back-to-back games, when he got three goals just three days after scoring his first career hat trick as New York beat the Flyers 7-3 at MSG.

1973 - Boston's Bobby Orr had three power play goals and added four assists to become the first NHL defenseman to score seven points in one game, as the Bruins beat the New York Rangers 10-2.

1994 - Lionel Conacher, Harry Watson, Brian O'Neill, and former Buffalo Sabres' announcer Ted Darling were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

1984 - Philadelphia retired uniform #16, worn by center Bobby Clarke, who ended his 15-year career as Philadelphia's all-time leading scorer (1,210 points)

2002 - Dave Andreychuk set an NHL record by scoring his 250th career power-play goal (breaking the record held by Phil Esposito) as the Lightning won 4-2 over the visiting San Jose Sharks.

2002 - Patrick Roy became the NHL career leader in minutes played, passing Terry Sawchuk as the Avalanche lost 4-2 to the Stars at Dallas.

Happy Birthday to Chris Terreri, John Paul Kelly and Yannick Tremblay.

Hockey Hall of Fame 2012

The  first year eligible class for 2012 includes two shoo-ins in Joe Sakic and Brendan Shanahan, while Jeremy Roenick, Mats Sundin, Curtis Joseph, Olaf Kolzig, Teppo Numminen, Markus Naslund, Gary Roberts, Claude Lemieux and Bobby Holik will all get good consideration. 


Although it may not be immediate, ultimately the Hall of Fame's Toronto Maple Leaf bias will get Sundin over the hump, but probably not Joseph.  Jeremy Roenick will likely also make the grade one day, though he may be aided by his immense likeability and his stature as a top American player.


As we all know, there is still quite a logjam from previous years, including Eric Lindros, Adam Oates, and Pavel Bure (and maybe Tom Barrasso) should make it. I would also argue vehemently that Sergei Makarov should also make the Hall of Fame, though that would almost certainly fall on deaf ears again.

The Write Stuff: HHOF Inductions

One of the best things about Hockey Hall of Fame weekend is the countless high quality writing put out on each inductee. Here's some of the best:

Mark Howe

Mark Howe: His Own Man - Lance Hornby/Toronto Sun
Tears of joy for Gordie Howe as son joins him in HHOF - Globe and Mail
Remembering Howe Hockey Was Played - TORO Magazine
Mark Howe At Last In HHOF - Jeff Klein/New York Times
Howe likely WHA star in HHOF - Bruce McCurdy

Ed Belfour

Unmatched Competitive Fire Key to Belfour's Success - Toronto Star
Ed Belfour's Manic Dedication - ESPN
Desire For Perfection Led To Unique Habits - Montreal Gazette
He Was Demanding, But Belfour Always Delivered - National Post
Belfour's Road to HHOF Inspired by Tretiak - Globe and Mail

Joe Nieuwendyk

The Winning Touch - Toronto Sun
Nieuwendyk Ensured Everyone Knew His Name - NHL
Lacrosse Skills Helped Nieuwendyk - NHL
Nieuwendyk Truly Deserving of HHOF Induction: Dallas Stars

Doug Gilmour

Gilmour Led With Killer Intensity - CBC
Gilmour's Path To HHOF Paved With Grit - Calgary Herald
Gilmour's Rise To The Top Wasn't Easy - National Post
Gilmour Always Played Big - Standard Freeholder
Gilmour: In His Own Words: London Free Press