This Day in NHL History 1995

April 30

St. Louis veteran Jay Wells played in his 1,000th career NHL game, as the Blues beat the Sharks 4-3 to improve their all-time record in San Jose to 6-0-0.

Obtained black sharpie auto IP.  He was at the grand opening of a new arena in Brant County.

This Day in NHL History 1992/It happened in Brantford 1964

April 29

Buffalo Sabres set a team record with nine goals in a 9-3 win over Boston in Game 6 of the Adams Division Semi-Finals. Pat LaFontaine led the scoring with two goals and two assists.

 Former referee Don Koharski ran a sports type complex. It had batting cages and as mini rink. As a perk to me, it also sold sports cards. He occasionally had NHL players appear to sign autographs. This blue sharpie sig was obtained IP.
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Here is another article from the archives of the local newspaper. Wonder if any programs or autographs are still out there.

Imagine sitting down to dinner with Jesse Owens, Roy Campanella and Rocky Marciano.


http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2014/04/28/great-men-of-sport-1964-fundraiser-dinner-attracted-big-name-athletes

This Day in NHL History 1992

April 28

Goaltender Bill Ranford recorded his second career playoff shutout to lead the Oilers to a 3-0 win over the visiting Los Angeles Kings, in Game 6 of the Smythe Division Semi-Finals. Edmonton advanced to the Division Finals vs Vancouver.

Received this black sharpie TTM.

This Day in NHL History 1980

April 27

Al MacAdam scored a goal and added an assist to lead the Minnesota North Stars to a 3-2 win over the Canadiens in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Quarter-Finals at Montreal. The loss ended Montreal's hopes for five straight Stanley Cups.

Received this blue ink sig TTM.

This Day in NHL History 1993

April 26

Al Iafrate became the first defenseman in Washington history to score a playoff hat trick, when he led the Caps to a 6-4 playoff win over the visiting NY Islanders, in Game 5 of the Patrick Division Semi-Finals.

Obtained blue sharpie autos IP at alumni game.

This Day in NHL History 1964/Hockey Night in Brantford 2014

April 25

Johnny Bower became the first goaltender in NHL history to record a shutout in Game 7 of the Finals, as Toronto beat Detroit 4-0 to give the Maple Leafs their third straight Stanley Cup Championship.

Received this blue ink sig TTM

The first announcement was made today for the 2014 Hockey Night in Brantford game coming up August 13. I attended last year and you can read about my experience here. Along with Adam Henrique and Zac Dalpe, celebrity guests will include Alan Thicke and Steve Paikin. More players and celebrities to be added. Sounds like another good time happening.

This Day in NHL History 1992

April 24

Ray Sheppard scored a hat trick and added an assist, but they weren't enough in a 5-4 Red Wings' loss to the North Stars, at Minnesota in Game 4 of the Norris Division Semi-Finals.

Obtained this blue ink sig TTM.

Today in NHL History 1964

April 23

Toronto Maple Leafs' Bobby Baun scored the overtime winning goal at 1:43 while playing on a broken leg to defeat the Red Wings 4-3 in Game 6 of the Finals. (Leafs won two nights later to win the Stanley Cup).

This is another Leafian moment that true fans of a vintage era will never forget. Not that it was an end to end rush with a Savardian spinarama thrown in, it was the unique circumstance. So enjoy the legend of Boomer.

Here's a good read on Baun's thoughts on this and his opinions on a variety of topics here,

Obtained this black sharpie sig IP at a leafs Alumni event

Today in NHL History 1945

April 22

Toronto beat Detroit 2-1 in Game Seven of the Finals, to become the 1945 Stanley Cup Champions. Walter "Babe" Pratt became the first defenseman to score a Stanley Cup winning goal.

Received blue ink auto TTM

Today in NHL History 1978

April 21

Goaltender Mike Palmateer recorded the second and final shutout of his playoff career to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 2-0 win over the visiting Islanders, in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Quarter-Finals. 

Obtained this black marker sig IP. This was in Toronto during the opening of a John Anderson hamburger place.

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50 years ago 1964

In the local newspaper, they have a "Flashback" column to show events that happened on this day in different years. I found this one interesting for today

Mrs. A.J. Coles, of Rawdon Street, says enthusiasm is mounting for the Celebrities' Items Tea to be held April 29 at the home of Mr. and Mrs. A.J. Watkins of Dufferin Avenue.

Mrs. Coles is convenor for many items which have been donated by well-known personalities to the project sponsored by the Alexander Graham Bell chapter of the IODE. The proceeds will be used to give scholarships to prospective nurses.

The Expositor was given a preview of the gifts during the weekend.

Some of the donors are: The Duchess of Windsor, a glass basket from Paris, believed to be a collector's item; Leo Reise, former NHL great, a money clip he won on a three-star selection; Mrs. Diefenbaker, her hat; Mrs. Pearson, a necklace she bought in India; Lady Bird Johnson, an engraving of the White House; Tommy Ivan, Bobby Hull's hockey stick autographed by his fellow players.

No idea on where these items ended up. The ones that caught my eye were from Leo Reise and Tommy Ivan. This is how some of these items end up floating around in peoples belongings. I guess there's always a chance it could end up in some garage sale.

This Day in NHL History 1984

April 20

It was thirty years ago that the worst hockey brawl (worst=best) in playoff history. The Good Friday Massacre, The Battle of Quebec or Le Bataille du Vendredi Saint. Call it what you will but this was one for the ages. Montreal vs Quebec, English vs French. And brother vs brother. And it didn't take long in game six to start. 23 seconds and Mike McPhee and Wild Paiement had the first fight. Quebec scored and had a 1-0 lead nearing the end of the second period. As time expired, Dale Hunter took Guy Carbonneau to the ice, which led to Chris Nilan going after Hunter. Time having expired meant both teams were on the ice and a forty man melee ensued.

"Here she goes again" announced play by play man Bob Cole. The fighting started again as the third period was set to commence. For some reason, the ejected players were let back on the ice.
Even though the Nordiques scored again, it was all Montreal as they took the game 5-3 and the series.

 The rest of t he final tally.
252 PIM and 10 ejections.

If you've never seen it, it's something to see. And if you've seen it before, it's memory time.

Watch the action here.

3 Canadians and 3 Nordiques who played prominent roles in this.

Happy Easter to all who celebrate.

Today in Hockey History 1972

A slight modification today. I’ve changed the post title so I can add some WHA content.

April 19

Larry Pleau became the first player to sign with WHA New England Whalers

Received  blue ink sig TTM .

This Day in NHL History 1950

April 18

Don Raleigh scored at 8:34 of overtime as the Rangers won 4-3 over the Red Wings at Detroit, in Game Four of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Received this blue ink sig TTM. And this isn't even the oldest card I have signed.

Today in NHL History

April 16, 1980

Buffalos' Don Edwards recorded the the only shutout of his playoff career as the Sabres beat Chicago 5-0 in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Quarter-Finals at the Aud.

Obtained blue sharpie IP at Leaf alumni event.

It happened today in NHL History

 

April 17, 1983

 

 

Buffalo's Mike Ramsey became the second defenseman in NHL history to score goals in four straight playoff games, when the Sabres defeated the Boston Bruins 4-3 at the Aud, in Game 3 of the Adams Division Finals.

 

Obtained blue ink signature IP at NHL Slo-Pitch tourney

It happened this day in NHL History

 

 

April 15, 1973

 

Along with picking up an assist, Chicago defenseman Pat Stapleton tied a team playoff record for most goals by a defenseman, when he scored two in a 5-4 Black Hawks' win over the Rangers, in Game Two of their Semi-Final playoff series.

 

Received blue ink signature TTM

Today in NHL History

 

April 14, 1992

 

Steve Larmer played in his 800th consecutive game, when the Blackhawks played their season finale at St. Louis (losing 5-3). The milestone left Larmer third on the NHL's all time list behind Doug Jarvis (964) and Garry Unger (914).

 

Blue ink signed cards. The Larmer and Unger were IP at the NHL Slo-Pitch tournament in Niagara Falls in the 80’s. The Jarvis was obtained by my brother at a wedding he was a guest at. He told me before he went so I gave him some cards to get signed. Thus the personalization on this one.

This Day in NHL History

 

April 13, 2002

L.A. Kings goaltender Felix Potvin appeared in his 71st game of the season to break Rogie Vachon's 24-year-old club record for games played by a goaltender; the record came in a 3-1 loss to the Sharks at San Jose.

 

 

Faded blue sharpie IP. Again, at Leafs training camp in Hamilton.

 

Even though Felix played for a few other teams, I’ll always remember him for this incident.

 

Today in NHL History

 

 

April 12, 2000

Goaltender Curtis Joseph recorded his 9th career playoff shutout when the Maple Leafs won 2-1 over the visiting Ottawa Senators in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals.

Black sharpie marker IP. Obtained at Copps Coliseum when Leafs held training camp there. Got as he was leaving the car  rental office in the mall there. He was going out for some golf. Something like my Maple Leafs are getting ready to do after ending the season with another loss, 1-0 to Ottawa.

FORE.

This Day in NHL history

 

April 11, 1980

 

Islanders trailed the Kings 3-1 after two periods but came back to win on Ken Morrow's overtime goal at 6:55, in Game 3 of the Preliminary Round. Morrow became just the third rookie defenseman in NHL history to score an overtime playoff goal.

 

 

 

Black sharpie TTM

 

Did you know

In the 1981 TV movie about the 1980 gold medal-winning U.S. Hockey team called Miracle on Ice, he is played by Scott Feraco.

Morrow was portrayed by actor Casey Burnette in the 2004 Disney movie Miracle.

This Day in NHL History

 

I’m  going to try another posting theme on this blog. A few years ago, I tried to post an autograph from my collection for a player celebrating a birthday on said date. This wasn’t a planned collection so I thought I did pretty good. I had 289 out of 366 days. Now in a similar vein, I am going to do a This Day in NHL History. I started it last night with Wayne Connelly.  All the autographs are from my collection and obtained IP and through TTM (majority during the 80”s).  So we’ll see if I can keep up posting and somehow have something to post.

ENJOY

 

April 10, 1979

Toronto's Walt McKechnie scored twice in the second period as the Maple Leafs won 2-1 against the Flames at Atlanta, in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Preliminary Round.

 

It ain’t over till it’s over

so said a wise yogi

No, not this guy.

Not this one either.

Yeah,yeah, that’s the ticket.

For my Maple Leafs, it is over for another year.

From the newspapers

Toronto Maple Leafs out of playoff contention with shutout loss to Tampa Bay Lightning: ‘It’s not good enough’

Maple Leafs officially eliminated from the playoffs

Maple Leafs's playoff hopes dead after 3-0 loss to Lightning

For the eighth time in nine seasons, an early visit to the golf course. What started out as a promising journey ended in a similar past fashion . Now the what ifs and what will bes will dominate the papers in the coming days.

For myself, there still is local hockey available. The Allan Cup championships will be taking place in nearby Dundas. My adopted hometown of Brantford have the Blast in the tournament. The Blast have former NHL’er Joel Prpic in their lineup. Dundas boasts former NHL’ers, Jay McKee, Ryan Christie, Matthew Barnaby, Jason Ward, Greg Stewart and Nick Smith. On some of the other teams, there is a smattering of former NHL’ers too. Ryan Bonni, Terry Yake and Terry Ryan. It’s pretty good hockey. I also happened to win a ticket to one of the games through the Allan Cup FB page. There is also gong to be draws for restaurant gift cards, more hockey tickets, signed stick and other goodies.

 

April 09, 1968

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Minnesota's Wayne Connelly became the first player in NHL history to score a penalty shot goal in the playoffs (after two others missed), when he beat Terry Sawchuk during a 7-5 North Stars' win over Los Angeles.

From my collection.

Blue ink signed cards received TTM in the 80’s.