Blog - Page 2 of 2 - Kevin Shea Hockey

Oct

04

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

22

The Cornerstone

CORNERSTONE

While workers furiously rushed to complete Maple Leaf Gardens in time for the home opener on November 12, 1931, several hundred gathered on Carlton Street near Church as the building’s cornerstone was placed at 2:30 on the afternoon of September 21, 1931.

Sep

17

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

14

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.

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