On This Day January 28th.

Paul Henderson celebrates in Yvan Cournoyer's arms after scoring the wining goal in 1972 game 8 to win the series against the Soviet Unuion

January 28: On this day in 1943, Canadian hockey hero Paul Henderson was born in Kincardine, Ontario. Henderson became a Leaf in March, 1968 after a huge trade between the Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings. He played a total of 408 of his 707 career games in a Leaf uniform. Henderson was a Leaf when he represented Canada in the 8-game Summit Series of 1972 between Canada and the U.S.S.R. His finest moment and perhaps the greatest moment in Canadian sports history was when he scored the game and Series winning goal in Game 8. In fact, Henderson scored the game winning goal in each of Games 6, 7 and 8. In his Toronto Maple Leaf career, Henderson had 162 goals and 318 points. You can see the goal at the 3:20 mark of the video below.

Peter Ing

January 28: On this day in 1991, Leaf goaltender Peter Ing recorded his first and only NHL shutout in a 4-0 Toronto victory over the visiting Minnesota North Stars. The Toronto native was a third round draft choice by the Leafs in 1988 and played in 59 games for the Maple Leafs over two seasons between 1989 and 1991. He compiled a record of 16-31-9 with a 3.91 GAA before being traded to Edmonton prior to the 1991-92 season. His NHL career ended with Detroit a couple of years later. Peter Ing never played in a single playoff game.

Dave R Gagner

January 28: On this day in 1996, the Leafs traded Benoit Hogue and Randy Wood to Dallas for Dave Gagner and a 6th round draft choice. Dave Gagner lasted 28 games in Toronto and was traded later the following summer to Calgary. Gagner finished his NHL career with 318 goals, but only 7 of them were with the Leafs.

On This Day January 8th.

Walter "Babe" Pratt

January 8:  On this day in 1944, Leaf defenseman Babe Pratt set an NHL record that has since been tied but never beaten. Pratt became the first NHL defenseman to record six assists in one game as the Leafs hammered the Boston Bruins 12-3. Pratt shares the record with five other Hall-of-Fame defensemen, including Bobby Orr. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966, the year before his son, Tracy, entered the National Hockey League for his first of 10 seasons in the league.

Irvine "Ace" Bailey insisted that Ellis wear his retired number 6 because he admired his high-caliber yet clean style of play.

January 8   On this day in 1945, Ron Ellis was born in Lindsay, Ontario. Ellis spent his entire career as a Leaf between 1964 and 1981. In 1980, he became just the fourth Leaf in team history to play over 1,000 games in a Leaf uniform. Ellis was on the Leaf's Cup winning team of 1967. He started his Leaf career wearing #11. Then after a few seasons wearing jersey number 8, Ellis was bestowed a great honour when Hall-of-Fame Leaf Ace Bailey suggested the Leafs unretire his jersey number 6 and let Ellis wear it. In all, Ellis played 1,034 NHL games as a Leaf and scored 332 goals. He added 308 assists for a career total of 640 points. Along with Paul Henderson, Ron Ellis represented the Leafs on Team Canada for the Canada-Russia Summit series of 1972 and he was one of only 7 players to play in all 8 games.   

Howie Meeker

January 8:  On this day in 1947, Howie Meeker of Toronto became the first rookie in NHL history to score 5 goals in one game as the Leafs trounced the Chicago Black Hawks 10-4. Former Leafs goaltender Paul Bibeault was his victim. As of 2008, the feat has been equalled only once, by rookie Don Murdoch of the New York Rangers in 1976.

Miroslav "Opava" Frycer

January 8:  On this day in 1986, the Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers combined to come within 1 goal of an all-time NHL record for most goals by both teams in one game. The final score was 11-9 in favour of the Leafs. Miroslav Frycer netted four goals for the Blue and White. Gretzky had 3 goals and 3 assists. Chronic injuries affected his game in Detroit and his days in the NHL were clearly numbered. But one last trade to Edmonton postponed the inevitable for a while. He retired from the NHL in 1989. 

 

On This Day January 2nd.

Jim Harrison 4 assists in a 13-0 romp over Detroit. Photo by Mike Moore private collection.

January 2: On this day in 1971, the Leafs inflicted the worst defeat that the Detroit Red Wings ever suffered in their history. The Leafs scored 13 unanswered goals and came within one of tying a team record for the most goals in one game (14) set in 1957. They did set a team record with 7 goals in the third period. most assists (11) in one period. most points (18). Final score - Leafs 13, Wings 0. Jacques Plante and Bruce Gamble shared the shutout in nets. Former Wings, Norm Ullman and Paul Henderson each had two goals and two assists. Jim Harrison had four assists, two of them on goals scored by a rookie named Darryl Sittler.

January 2: On this day in 1980, the Leafs began a new decade with a 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders. The 1979-80 season was the first of ten consecutive seasons that the Leafs would finish with a losing record in the 21-team NHL. In the calendar 10 year period between January 1, 1980 and December 31, 1989, the Leafs compiled a dismal regular season record of W-228, L-410, T-87 for a winning percentage of just .374 and better than only the Colorado Rockies/New Jersey Devils. In the 1980's, the Leafs allowed 593 more goals than they scored.

Doug Gilmour (aka) "Killer"

January 2: On this day in 1992, the Leafs and the Calgary Flames conducted the largest regular season trade in NHL history. The Leafs sent Gary Leeman, Michel Petit, Jeff Reese, Craig Berube and Alexander Godynyuk to Calgary in exchange for Doug Gilmour, Jamie Macoun and Rick Wamsley. The key prize in the deal turned out to be Doug Gilmour who led the Leafs in scoring for the next three straight seasons including an all-time Leaf record high of 127 points in 1992-93. Gilmour also had an all-time high of 77 career playoff points as a Leaf.

Jeff Brown

January 2: On this day in 1998, the Leafs acquired defenseman Jeff Brown from Carolina for a 4th round draft choice. Brown played in just 19 games as a Leaf before being traded a couple of months later to Washington where he ended his NHL career of 747 regular season games and a very respectable total of 584 points, 9 of which were with the Leafs.

Brian McCabe

January 2: On this day in 2006, Chad Kilger scored the first two Leaf goals of the new calendar year and Bryan McCabe scored the overtime winner as the Leafs defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2. As at the end of the 2006-07 season, the Leafs have an all-time winning record against the Penguins of W-64, L-62, T-17, O/L-0. The Leafs have a perfect series record of 3-0 in the three times the two teams have met in the playoffs.