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October 30: On this day in 1924, ex-Leaf Cal Gardner was born in Transcona, Manitoba. Gardner was with the Leafs for four seasons between 1948 and 1952. He helped the Leafs win the Cup in 1949 and 1951, scoring the Cup-winning goal against Detroit in 1949. He was on the ice when Bill Barilko scored his heroic overtime goal in 1951. Gardner had two sons who played in the NHL in the 1970's and '80's, Dave and Paul. His son Paul was also a Leaf, briefly, between 1979 and 1980.
October 30: On this day in 1941, the Maple Leafs acquired right winger Lorne Carr from the Brooklyn Americans just before the New Yorkers became defunct at the end of the 1941-42 season. Carr played the last five seasons of his career in Toronto where he enjoyed his biggest success with 226 points in 236 games. As a Leaf, Carr was a two-time First team NHL All-Star in 1943 and 1944 when he led the Leafs in goals and points. He won Stanley Cups with Toronto in 1942 and 1945. Lorne Carr passed away on June 9, 2007 at the age of 96.
October 30: On this day in 1943, Maple Leaf rookie, Gus Bodnar set an NHL record that stands to this day for the fastest goal by a rookie from the start of his NHL career. Bodnar's goal came at 0:15 of the first period in the Leafs' 1943-44 season opening game. He added another goal and an assist for a three point evening in his NHL debut helping the Leafs to a 5-2 victory over the New York Rangers. He went on to score 22 goals and 40 assists to win the Calder trophy as rookie-of-the-year. Bodnar tallied 153 points in 187 games as a Leaf through 1946-47 and got his name engraved on the Stanley Cup twice, 1945 and 1947. Later in his career as a Black Hawk, he set another amazing record as he assisted on all three goals of Bill Mosienko's famous hat-trick in just 0:21. August Bodnar passed away on July 1, 2005 at the age of 82.
