Boston Bruins, Historical Hockey, Toronto Maple Leafs

Today is the Anniversary of the First All Star Game and Jersey Retirement.

Sure, it’s Valentine’s Day. But today mark’s the anniversary of the Ace Bailey Benefit Game, and essentially, the first All Star Game. On February 14, 1934 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto in front of 14,074 spectators watched The Toronto Maple Leafs defeat a team comprised of the top players from the rest of the league. The final score was 7-3, for The Leafs.

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This game was not for league revenue, rather charity. ShoreBailey14Feb1934 Bailey’s career ended due a violent hit by Eddie Shore earlier in the 1933–34 season. Bailey suffered a near fatal skull fracture, but recovered enough to participate in the benefit game by shaking the hands and presenting gifts to all of the participating players. When nearing Shore, the crowd is said to have silenced. Bailey would extend his hand to Shore, and the crowd is said to have burst into a roar of approval.

CaptureDuring the ceremonies, The Maple Leafs stated that no player on the team would wear Bailey’s number 6 again. This marks the first time in NHL history that a team retired a player’s sweater number.

The game generated $20,909 in money for Bailey, and he would subsequently receive an additional $6,000 from the Boston Bruins.

For more information, Wikipedia has an excellent amount of information. Click here.

Here is a short little documentary, as well.

Boston Bruins, Historical Hockey

45 Years Ago, Bobby Orr scored “The Goal”

One of the most iconic images of professional hockey occurred on this day 45 years ago. Bobby Orr would fly through the air.   The Bruins would go on to win their first cup in 39 years as a result of this heroic feat. This is one of the coolest moments in the history of hockey, and we at BHF tip our helmet to it.

You can catch much of the video and audio at Orr’s site. And you should.

But if you must be lazy…

Fred Cusick’s original call of Bobby Orr’s goal 5/10/1970

It’s even NHL ’94-themed desktop wallpaper. (Source: Puck Daddy)

Edmonton Oilers, Historical Hockey

Connor McDavid Goes to Edmonton.

Connor

Connor McDavid will be an Edmonton Oiler. Unless some crazy Eric Lindros trade goes down, it’s a lock. Don’t kid yourselves people. As an Oilers’ fan, I was pretty surprised by this. I expected some kind of conspiracy as such sending said player to Toronto, or even Philadelphia, to go down. We’re looking at an approximate 10% chance to a team that has had a plethora of first round number one picks already.

The NHL has been pretty adamant about transparency lately, and we got that tonight. My social media blew up tonight as many people took to it to tag me and let me know their disgust with this turn of events.

That’s cool. I’m reveling in this outcome. No one wants to see Connor in some irrelevant market. No one will see him as a result. If this kid is as special as we’ve been told, bring him to a popular market. I don’t mean an non-Canadian market, the US has plenty of good spots for the kid. Let’s put him somewhere where people attend games. Places where buying a play-off ticket isn’t easy… you also have to enter a lottery to have the opportunity to watch him play.

I know the Oilers track record has sucked lately. It’s been brutal. I hate the management. I hate the old-boys club. I hope that changes too.

But what I really hope for, is for this kid to thrive and become what we expect him to be. Regardless of the fact that he will be landing on my team next season, if he is indeed a generational player, let’s put him on the main stage.

In all fairness, I would have been completely okay if he landed in Toronto or Buffalo. They love hockey there and would have shown up just to watch them play, even if they continued to suck. Great players are just simply one player on the roster at the end of the day.

Remember all those cups in L.A. and St. Louis with “The Great One”?

The Oilers won their last cup without Gretzky, after all.

Until then, let’s just enjoy the playoffs this year. This post-season has been excellent, and should prove to be going forward. It’s easy to take the cheap road and impulsively go on social media and outrage!!!! OUTRAGE!!!!

In all fairness, my real friends have been fun and tongue-and-cheek with myself. It’s been amusing. I’m as shocked as you. But as a deprived Oilers fan, hell yeah… we’ll take him. Unless some bizarre Lindros trade goes down, he’s an Oiler. Deal with it. And consider this… people will see him play.