It’s simplistic sometimes, I recognize, to draw comparisons
to earlier times—in life and in sports.
Many of us do it, and I certainly do here at Vintage Leaf Memories.
But you know what?
For me it’s fun. So I like to do
it. And today, on an off-day (but reading
into Game 6 in Toronto Sunday night), I thought I’d share a quick story and
Maple Leaf memory from when I was just a kid—back in the spring of 1959 I was
born in 1953, as some of regular visitors know, the youngest son of a deeply
devoted Montreal fan.
The 1958-’59 season was a funny one for the Leafs. Punch Imlach had been hired in the summer of
1958, and while I was too young at the time to understand the nuances of the “signing”,
it turned out to be a pivotal moment in Leaf history. (Imlach had been a minor league player and a
reasonably successful minor-league coach and executive; having coached, for
example, a young Jean Beliveau before the future legend ultimately joined the
Montreal Canadiens.) While hardly
thought of as a coup by the Toronto media or the hockey establishment of that
era, it was nonetheless a major move by then owner Conn Smythe and his son (and
future Leaf owner) Stafford. At first
Punch was “only” working under the title of assistant
General Manager. (I could be wrong,
but I don’t believe there was an actual GM in place at the time; maybe one of
the Smythe’s had that role…) But he
asserted his authority in the organization fairly early on, by firing then head
coach Billy Reay—the former Hab playing great.
That Imlach did it during during Grey Cup weekend upset many media
members who were out of town when Imlach pulled the plug.
The team had started the ’58-’59 season somewhat slowly
(thus Imlach taking over himself behind the Leaf bench), and with about three
weeks to go in the year, they were still well our of a playoff spot. But the young Leafs caught fire as the season
drew to a close. They needed a combination
of a New York Ranger collapse, their own big-time winning streak, and a huge
on-the-road win in Detroit the last night of the season to sneak into the
playoffs.
They drew Boston in the first sound (the Leafs snuck into
fourth place, and in those days, the second-place team played the fourth-place
team in the first round, which was the semi-finals). Toronto had some veterans like Allan Stanley
(acquired just as the season had started back in October) and ex-Hab winger
Bert Olmstead, along with Johnny Bower, finishing his first year with the
Leafs. But they also had a youngish
core, with winger George Armsgrong as captain and a host of emerging youngsters
like Dickie Duff, Frank Mahovlich and Billy Harris. Throw in versatile grinder/contributors like
Larry Regan and Gerry Ehman and a young defense pairing of Carl Brewer and
Bobby Baun (Stanley began his long blueline association with Tim Horton during
that season), and the Leafs were a nice mix of young, old and, tough and
skilled.
The Bruins, for their part, had a really nice team. Ex-Leaf Harry Lumley was in goal, as I
recall. They had some other former Leafs
in the lineup, like Jimmy Morrison (the father of current Leaf Director of
Scouting Dave Morrison), Fleming Mackell and super-tough defenseman Fern
Flaman. They also had future Hall-of-Famer
Leo Boivin, and a great forward line
(then called “The Uke Line”) of Bronco Horvath, Vic Stasiuk and Johnny
Bucyk. (I think, but I'd have to look it up, that they had a talented winger by the name of Real Chevrefils, who later played for the old Senior "A" Windsor Bulldogs teams that I used to follow as a youngster in the Essex County area where I was born and raised.)
Through the back and forth series, the Leafs managed to take
things to a 7th and deciding game in Boston—the old Garden that was much
smaller, dimensions-wise, compared with “regulation” rinks like Montreal,
Toronto and Detroit. It was a pretty hostile
place to play for visitors—fans were right on top of the play— but the Leafs
came from behind in the third period of Game 7 (I was young at the time, but I
think Ehman scored a big goal, and so did Bobby Pulford, who was one of the
most under-rated Leafs of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. Pulford, I should add, was a tough, grinding
center who could score and was a huge part of the four Cup teams in the ‘60s.)
Why do I mention this series now, more than 50 years
later? Am I suggesting there are
legitimate comparisons between what the up and coming Leaf team accomplished
that spring by making the playoffs when they weren’t expected to, and
overcoming their heavy underdog status to down the more experienced Bruins?
(Boston had bee to the finals a couple of times in the previous three seasons,
I think it was…)
Not really. Except to
maybe, kind of, say that while hockey is a very different game nowadays, some
things never change. That young Leaf
team lost in 5 games to the powerful Habs that spring, and made the finals but
lost again against the vaunted Habs in the spring of 1960. (Montreal actually
won, amazingly, five Cups in a row.) They
even took a step back when they lost, unexpectedly, to the Detroit Red Wings in
the playoffs in 1961. But by building
with young players (adding pieces like Bob Nevin and Dave Keon in the early
‘60s), Imlach built a team around goaltending (primarily Bower and later Terry
Sqwchuk, but with useful back-ups like Eddie Chadwick, Don Simmons, Bruce
Gamble, etc.) real toughness (Pulford, Armstrong, Shack, Baun, Horton) and
speed and skill in players like Mahovlich, Keon and Duff and later Mike Walton
and Ronnie Ellis, who were instrumental in the ’67 Cup victory
So no, today’s team is not “like” the Leafs I fell in love
with in those wonderful late ‘50s days.
But while the game is much faster now, much more detail oriented, has much
more emphasis on coaching, special teams and face-off possession and all that, there
are some core principles that that always matter in hockey: leadership, experience, speed, smarts, team
toughness, goaltending and yes, coaching.
When you have all of the above, your chances for success are
pretty good. It doesn’t guarantee a
championship, but it sure gives you a shot.
I just thought I’d share a moment from my childhood. Sometimes, you never know, history does
repeat itself.
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