When you see a building being built that takes maybe a year to finish, think about this; Maple Leaf Gardens was built during the depression in just five months. It takes me that long to build a fence gate. Conn Smythe recruited several rich buddies to invest in the Gardens, and when the money fell [...]

From my collection, this original accounts payable sheet is from Frank J. Selke, signed at the bottom, to various writers who had contributed stories to the Maple Leafs Gardens program in 1938. Frank Selke, before he became the iconic GM of the Montreal Canadiens from 1946 to 1964, was an assistant and right-hand man to Conn Smythe in Toronto, from 1929 [...]

In looking at the CBC poll that shows Montreal leading as best sports city in Canada, followed by Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto etc, I’m wondering why Orillia isn’t mentioned as a serious player in this regard. Rick Ley comes from Orillia. So does John French and the legendary Jake Gaudaur, and broadcaster and ex-Leaf executive Bill Watters. The Orillia Terriors [...]

Carey Price is under the weather and may not play in the season opener Thursday night in Toronto. C’mon Carey, shape up. Up and at ‘em. Eat six raw eggs and drink a half pint of cod liver oil. Or if all else fails, smoke a doobie. But not too close to game time. Finally, after all [...]

Bill Hunter deserves to to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame. In fact, Hunter, who passed away on December 16, 2002 at the age of 82, should have been enshrined years ago. To say that Wild Bill shouldn’t be in the hallowed hall is a little like saying Lord Stanley, Conn Smythe, or Frank [...]

Yes, I know there are wars and strife and you have your own many problems, but I just want to say that I dealt with really uncomfortable air-conditioning today and you just might start thinking that your own lives aren’t so bad after all. The ferry was freezing, the doctor’s office was freezing, the Telus [...]

  The new 2010-2011 NHL Schedule has been released today and in honour of my brother Paul’s birthday on October 7th,, the Habs will open the season in Toronto on this big day. Paul is about 15 years younger than me and is a big Habs fan like older brother and I’m sure he’ll be thrilled [...]

  Previously I wrote about Ted Lindsay and how the Detroit Red Wings traded him to the lowly Chicago Black Hawks because he was of the movers and shakers involved in creating the first players’ association. Here’s another of the ringleaders, Jim Thomson, who absolutely infuriated Toronto Maple Leafs’ owner Conn Smythe by his union actions [...]

With the Chicago Blackhawks on the big stage now, I thought it was appropriate to post this picture I have of Ted Lindsay that I had clipped, along with many others, from Star Weekly’s in the late 1950′s. This is the guy every NHL player should thank, because he was one of the ones who organized the first player’s [...]

There is someone very interesting living across the water from me, just over on Vancouver Island, and I wanted to find out what he thought about a couple of things, including the Habs. So I phoned him. Howie Meeker played eight years in the NHL, between 1946 and 1953, and all eight were with the Toronto [...]