Hockey History Around The Internet

I took a little journey through some internet back pages today, just looking for a bunch of cool hockey history stuff. I just clicked on those search words in Google and procceded to get lost for a good four hours. I found way more than I could even read, listen to and look at in that given time. So I went nuts saving links, pictures, making some memo's, all in the hopes of making it into one huge post on just how fun this kind of trip can be.

I came up with some real beauties! Site and pages that will interest both the male and female hockey fan. Some of the stories contained within are very interesting the spectre of hockey history.

I stared out at a site called ANSports, that bought and sold hockey memorabila. I saved a few pics there than you see right below.


The commemorative book from the 1972 Summit Series is valued at $124.00, and I own one!























1961-62 Montreal Canadiens team picture. No Stanley this time, just a useless Prince of Wales!


















The site is run by the son of a former New York Americans fan and features much of the memorabilia that was collected during his day. The jersey that is shown belonged to an unidentified former player, and is the only NYA jersey known to exist. The HHOF passed on it in 1977, incredibly.

Check out ANSports site map to see more rare treasures like this 1967-68 Topps Bobby Orr card. Worth a small mint!



















Frank Finnigan's Leafs jersey from the mid 1930's. The pic gives an idea of how hockey has played at the time. Finnigan played from 1923 to 1937 for Ottawa, Toronto, and the St. Louis Eagles, scoring 115 goals in 553 games. The Senators retired his # 8, when the franchise was renewed in 1992. Finnigan was the last living Senator from that era.























After looking around some, I followed their links section to pages of old Bee Hive hockey shots.

The picture of Maurice Richard ia available for sale at the site.























I ended up on Canada's West coast for a bit, checking out some sites of the PCHL and WHL from the early 1900's Vancouver Millionaires era. While I didn't find any new info on Jim Seaborn - I helped out a relative a while back locate some of his ancestry - I did get into some league histories with more great captures from the era.


















The 1917 Seattle Metroplolitans - first U.S. team to win Stanley. The did it with a team stacked with players from the 1914 Toronto Blueshirts Cup win.



















Lester Patrick with the Renfrew Millionaires, circa 1911. Renfrew were the smallest city to ever win the Cup. Patrick and his family soon moved the team they owned to Vancouver and thrived, winning another Cup soon thereafter. Not only did the Patrick's build a team, the also built the arena and ran the PCHL. Patrick made over 30 rules changes to the game as league president, over 20 of which are still part of the game. A true hockey genuis and a man of vision. And yes, they were millionaires from the family lumber business.












The jersey of the Nelson B.C. team in the WHL, nickname unknown.










Another link took me to Hockey's Greatest Legends, one of my favorite sites. It is run by Joe Pelletier of Terrace, B.C., an incredibly knowledgable fellow when it comes to the games history. Since I just made a bet with Zandstorm at Waiting For Stanley on Tuesday's Canucks - Habs matchup, I thought I'd grab some Canuck info while I was there. Surprising I happened upon a page with bios on 18 differents

















Harold Ballard, the Leafs cantankerous owner, from the late 1960's. Here he is with a Team Canada 1972 jacket.









I hooked up a wicked piece on the former owner. As another site said, "It would take a dictionary of adjectives to describe Ballard, a flamboyant and controvercial figure who unquestionably carved himself a place in hockey history. One of the game's most philanthropic individuals to be sure. He was also one hell of a chauvenist pig and had a hate on for female hockey broadcasters.

If you follow the links, you can listen to his infamous rant with Barbara Frum and see why the man was so despised.

Also on the Ballard page were links to Tim Horton, both the player and then the proprietor. Another side to the Leafs curmudgeon was a piece on hockey's worst miscreants. Two pages contain the lowdown on hockey's evil villans.

Former Bruin defenseman Eddie Shore was a legendary crank - nuttier than squirrel shit! As the owner, manager, and coach of the Springfield Indians, Shore treated players in such a slave-like manner, the team became known as hockey's Siberia.












From that bit of old codginess, I got tipped onto some cool writeups on womens hockey and it's history. Interesting stuff for all the chicks with sticks, as my daughters call themselves.













They've come a long way from the KTHL - Kitchen Table Hockey League!














Finally, I caught up with something I'd been curious to find for years - information on the birthplace of hockey. While loads of cities and towns have laid claim to being the sight of origin, the city of Dartmouth N.S. has many things the others don't, including a tie in with the game's name.






















The painting above was found years ago in a church in Dartmouth. It was said that it was painted to represent games children played outdoors in the middle 1800's. Looks like a little shinny ready to break out.








Happy reading all!