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Sixty Moments That Changed The Game
The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.
Toronto Maple Leafs
BEST PLAYER EVER During his 10-year career with the Maple Leafs, Apps won three Stanley Cups as captain and was the league’s top rookie in 1937. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1961. FRANCHISE FORMATION Launched as the Toronto Arenas, the club changed its name to St. Pat’s and finally renamed Maple Leafs by Conn Smythe when he took over in 1927. TOP BUILDER Conn Smythe purchased the team in 1927 and was the driving force behind the construction of Maple Leaf Gardens, which opened in November of 1931. He managed the team to seven Stanley Cup titles. BEST DRAFTED PLAYER > DARRYL SITTLER (8th overall, 1970) Sittler is the team’s all-time leading scorer – until Mats Sundin passes him this year – and the marketing face of the franchise. He was inducted into…
FATAL FALL OPENS EYES
BILL MASTERTON WORE A HELMET AT every level of play – except the NHL. Growing up and as a collegiate star at the University of Denver, he was required to wear one. According to his good friend Lou Nanne, Masterton even wore a helmet at the minor pro level, simply because he was used to it. But when Masterton received the opportunity to chase his NHL dream with the Minnesota North Stars in 1968, he decided to go without a helmet. Few players wore them then and the ones who did were chastised. Better to fit in than to stand out as a coward. And, hey, it’s not like anybody had ever died or anything. That’s why Masterton’s death in 1968 stands out as a league-changing moment. He did die, and he possibly…
MEASURING A ‘MOMENT’
FOR THE NEXT 180 PAGES, GIVE OR TAKE, we’re going to ask you expand your definition of a “moment” and not necessarily view it as a finite snapshot, but a span with inconsistent boundaries. That’s because when it comes to the events that have shaped the hockey world over the years, time frames can be elusive. For our purposes, a moment could be several seasons of the career of Doug Harvey, hockey’s first true offensive defenseman. Or it could be a series of moments, dotted throughout the life of the late Roger Neilson, an innovator whose ideas have had a profound impact. Or it could be the split-second goalie Jacques Plante got dinged in the face, prompting him to don a facemask and setting a new trend in safety. For me, one of…
FANS FIND AN OASIS IN TSN
TODAY, TSN IS THE TV DESTINATION for Canadians who can’t get enough hockey. ESPN may have pioneered the 24-hour all-sports television network in the U.S. five years prior, telecasting NHL games as early as 1981, but the launch of a similar network in the land where hockey rules proved to be a bonanza for fans. TSN developed in the cauldron of the most complicated period of NHL Canadian TV rights, involving three breweries, five networks and conflicting interests among NHL teams. After it was sorted out, TSN was poised to cover hockey like no other TV network ever had. To succeed with its young, relatively small cable channel, Labatt and TSN recognized they would need NHL hockey. Wisely, Gordon Craig and Jim Thompson, who ran TSN for Labatt, negotiated a deal with…
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