toronto maple leafs Archives - Kevin Shea Hockey

Feb

A DONUT AND A DREAM–THE TIM HORTON STORY

Amongst hockey fans — and those pulling into the drive-thru for a double-double and a Boston Cream donut – it seems everyone is acquainted with the name “Tim Horton” but many have no idea who Tim Horton was.

While awaiting his birth, his mother always referred to him by ‘Tim,’ but too ill to attend the christening, she was astonished to discover that her husband had named the baby ‘Miles Gilbert Horton.’ “He was always ‘Tim’ to relatives and friends, and later to his many fans,” his wife, Lori, wrote in In Loving Memory: A Tribute to Tim Horton. “Except for certain documents and the odd piece of official business, Tim’s given names were never used.”

Dec

MOURNING THE LOSS OF RECORDING STAR JOHNNY BOWER

We mourn the loss of one of the great goaltenders in NHL history. But many forget that Johnny Bower was a best-selling recording artist, too.

Chip Young, a CBC producer, had written a short Christmas story about a wild goose that ate so much that he couldn’t swim or fly, but in the end, saves Santa Claus. Encouraged by ‘Hockey Night in Canada’ broadcaster Ed Fitkin, who was also a prolific hockey author, Young turned the story into a song with the help of composer Orville Hoover, then approached Toronto’s coach Punch Imlach to get permission for one of the Maple Leafs to record the song he had written.

Dec

CHRISTMAS IN BLUE AND WHITE

Christmas Day contests in the National Hockey League were, at one time, a grand tradition for fans. I remember well sitting with my family after Christmas dinner watching the Toronto Maple Leafs play.

While it was a grand tradition for fans, for the players? Not so much! Maple Leafs alumni relate stories with a tinge of sadness, explaining how Santa’s magical arrival took place a few days before Christmas so Dad could have Christmas with his kids before having to head off on a Christmas Day road trip.

Oct

THE FIRST MAPLE LEAFS’ SEASON-OPENER

After beginning the 1926-27 season as the Toronto St. Patrick’s and then finishing the campaign as the Toronto Maple Leafs, the team was looking for a fresh start in 1927-28. As we enjoy this season’s opening game against the Winnipeg Jets, we look back at the first season opener for the Toronto Maple Leafs: November 15, 1927.

Sep

Toronto Maple Leafs, Triple Chins at Training Camp

TRIPLE CHINS

In September of 1944, the hockey world briefly focused its attention on Lucknow, Ontario, as three brothers from the remarkable Chin family amazed and delighted fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Charles and Rose Chin, who had settled in Lucknow and ran Chin’s Restaurant on the main street of the small town, had fourteen children. While eleven of them played hockey at a competitive level, three stood head and shoulders in ability above not only their other siblings but all other hockey players in the region: Albert, George and William Chin.

Mar

A Fan For All Seasons: March 14, 2004

Hockey was in the news around the world this week, but I discovered a story written by a British journalist that was off the beaten path from most of the stories I read. Alisdair Reid, a columnist in the London Sunday Times, wrote, ‘Is it a coincidence that the country which produced the inexplicably popular Celine Dion should also come up with a sport that is almost unwatchable? If you actually see the puck, you might see the point, but it zips across the ice invisible to the naked eye, the whirling antics of men wrapped in bedspreads stop to have a fight, and all are sent off.’

Two different cultures; two different experiences. The biggest fan I know (other than you, the readers of ‘A Fan For All Seasons,’ of course), is my British-born and -raised friend Tim Burgess, who moved here to Canada seven years ago and adopted hockey as his sport of choice. In fact, while writing this, Tim e-mailed me on a flight from London to Toronto, asking me for results of last night’s contest against the Canadiens. But Tim also loves cricket, and not only do I not understand it, but I have no desire to understand it.