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Dishing the Dirt

Some interesting articles I've found recently on Toe Blake as coach (who doesn't seem to have been all that well researched in the ATD to this point).

Here is the original text of an oft-cited piece by Red Fisher:

Winning, as the Canadiens have learned, starts with legendary general managers such as Frank Selke and Sam Pollock, but you don't win without coaches getting the best out of the best players. My choice: Toe Blake, whose teams lost only 255 of 914 games.

He was rough, intimidating, wise, compassionate, unforgiving, scheming and hard-working - all of it dedicated to winning eight Stanley Cups in 13 seasons as a coach, including a record five in a row in the last half of the 1950s. Winning wasn't merely a worthwhile target for Blake. It was everything. It was life itself.

Left-winger Frank Mahovlich, an 18-season veteran of the NHL, was one of Blake's greatest admirers, even though he never played for him. He felt Blake was responsible for 50 per cent of what was needed to win.

The suggestion was put to Blake.

"I've always felt that a good coach is the one who wins," he agreed. "But 50 per cent? If that had been the case with me, my teams would have won a lot more games."

Goalie Gump Worsley once was asked what made Blake special as a coach.

"There are 20 guys in that dressing room," Worsley replied, "and it's seldom you find even two of them alike. Toe knew each individual - the ones who worked from the needles, the ones who needed another approach. Between periods, he never blasted an individual. He'd say some guys aren't pulling their weight. The guys who weren't knew who he was talking about and you'd see the heads drop. But he'd never embarrass anyone in front of everyone. His ability to handle players - I guess that's what made him great."

Scotty Bowman, winner of five Stanley Cups in eight seasons with the Canadiens, was a Blake disciple. The biggest lesson he learned was that the best teams don't win Stanley Cupp unless they're prepared to work the hardest. Blake always felt that if you weren't prepared to work your hardest, you didn't play - and his players, to a man, respected him for it.

Dickie Moore, to this day, still recalls: "He would tell us: 'I can't coach you guys. You're too good.' "

Blake played to win off the ice as well as on it, whether it was during hours-long games of hearts on the train carrying the Canadiens on an 18-hour trip to Chicago, or during exchanges with opposing coaches. Woe to any of the three media people who travelled with the team in those days who gave him the queen of spades. And a pox on those opposing coaches who chose to challenge him in a war of words before or after games.

Bowman's strength was that he always knew more about what was going on with other teams in the league than most of the people running those teams. The telephone was an extension of his mind, arms and ears, absorbing information about other players, about other coaches. He was always one step ahead of the opposition.

That was Blake's strength as well. Always thinking about what was needed to win. Always looking for strengths and weaknesses in others - before and during games. He retired at a time when he was on top of his game - and so was his team, which finished that 1967-68 expansion season with a league-best 42-22-10 record, swept the Boston Bruins in four, the Chicago Blackhawks in five and the St. Louis Blues (coached by Bowman) in four.

Blake could read hockey people on and off the ice - such as the time Bernie Geoffrion replaced Bowman as coach for the start of the 1979-80 season. The Canadiens were to play a preseason game in Ottawa. Toe and I sat together in the rear of the team bus. Most of the players had boarded the bus at the Forum at 3 p.m. A few had received permission to join their teammates at Dorval at 4 p.m. - and all of them, except one, were there when the bus arrived.

Serge Savard climbed aboard 20 minutes late - to the sarcastic whoops and hollers of all the players. Not a word, though, from coach Geoffrion, seated at the front of the bus. You can be sure that if Blake still had been coach, he would have had a lot to say, starting with ordering the driver to leave promptly at 4 p.m.

Now, though, Blake sat tight-lipped at the rear of the bus, the colour rising in his cheeks.

Finally:

"Know something?" he said.

"What?"

"That could be the end of Geoffrion's coaching career!"

Seven games into the season (the Canadiens had won six and tied one) Geoffrion complained to me: "Those guys will put me in a coffin!"

Several days before Christmas, with the Canadiens enjoying a 15-9-6 record, Geoffrion quit as coach.

How good a coach was Blake? In my view, not only was he the best in NHL history, he also might have been the best in any sport, due in no small measure to the loyalty he had to his players - even to those very few he didn't like.

Jacques Plante, for example.

Plante frequently would drive Blake into a rage, particularly on those nights he would tell Toe he wasn't certain whether or not he was ready to play.

"It's my asthma," Plante would tell Blake before the pre-game warmup. "It's been bothering me all day. I'll tell you if I can play after the warmup."

Eventually, Blake had enough of Plante and convinced GM Frank Selke to trade him to the New York Rangers, but I can still remember asking Blake one day who he considered the best goalie he's ever seen during his playing days or during his coaching career. Blake had played with the great Bill Durnan and coached against others such as Terry Sawchuk and Glenn Hall.

"Plante," he promptly replied. "During our five consecutive Stanley Cups, Jacques Plante was the best. No question!"

"I thought you didn't like the guy," Blake was told.

"Doesn't matter," he snapped. "During those five years, he was the best!"
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Here is an article on Habs coaches in which Scotty Bowman says the following about Blake:

"I coached the junior team when he was with Montreal," Bowman said. "I went mostly every Friday.

"Toe was the first coach I knew that did match-ups. And they didn't get the statistics they get today. You had to do your own, so you spent a lot of time in the office. People didn't realize that."
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Now, I don't think Blake was really the first coach to match lines (there is documentation of Gorman and Patrick having a "line matching duel" in the 1930s), but Bowman's description of the work Blake put in preparing for other teams is still interesting.

Here is an interesting article talking about how Blake ripped into his team following a loss in game 4 of the 1958 Cup finals. The Habs would go on to win the next two games, defeating Boston in six to take the Cup.

Finally, a somewhat amusing article describing Blake and a Pittsburgh fan getting into a fight. This was just after expansion (and right before Toe's retirement as Habs coach); Toe was in his mid-fifties when this happened. Apparently the fan attacked him, Toe threw a few punches, and then grabbed a stick and opened the guy's scalp with it. The fan left the arena "bleeding profusely from the head". Blake was a hard old man.
 
Fascinating read, thanks for that.

I especially liked Blake's insight that coach Geoffrion might have made a crucial, career-ending mistake by letting Savard arrive late at the airport without saying a word.
 
Casually browsing around for some info on Russell Bowie and found this nugget. Nobody in the ATD or history of hockey forums has a height/weight listed for Bowie. Hell, hockey reference doesn't either.

https://books.google.com/books?id=r...EITjAM#v=onepage&q=russell bowie size&f=false

Born in 1880, he is listed in that book as 5'6'' 122 lbs, which apparently was more common than one might think, size wise. If you adhere to the rough estimate of adjusting size to era based on year born you'd get a 4 1/2 inch height increase + 45 lbs, which would make Bowie around 5'10'' and 171 lbs in today's world.

1950 = +1/10 lbs
1930 = +2/20
1910 = +3/30
1890 = +4/40
 
87and71 said:
Casually browsing around for some info on Russell Bowie and found this nugget. Nobody in the ATD or history of hockey forums has a height/weight listed for Bowie. Hell, hockey reference doesn't either.

https://books.google.com/books?id=r...EITjAM#v=onepage&q=russell bowie size&f=false

Born in 1880, he is listed in that book as 5'6'' 122 lbs, which apparently was more common than one might think, size wise. If you adhere to the rough estimate of adjusting size to era based on year born you'd get a 4 1/2 inch height increase + 45 lbs, which would make Bowie around 5'10'' and 171 lbs in today's world.

1950 = +1/10 lbs
1930 = +2/20
1910 = +3/30
1890 = +4/40
Click to expand...

that sounds right to me. He was shorter than most players, and lighter than all of them, which is exactly what those dimensions equate to in today's NHL, right?

(the formula isn't meant to be an exact science, there doesn't need to be 5 pound increments, it would put him at 162 actually, which is lighter than all but 4 regular players on the margins of this year's NHL class, and if you scale down to a 1900s world, percentile wise it puts him right where it should).
 
Found this gem written by Tommy Gorman regarding Frank McGee. As far as I can tell this article has never been uncovered by anyone here. Real treat to get a great hockey mind like Gorman back up the fact that McGee was a legend in his day. It is a great read, spanning multiple pages, but him singling out McGee is pretty telling. This in addition to the sterling comments made by Frank Patrick which is already in the original bio....

https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=JOMFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6229,1240416&hl=en


THE IMMORTAL MCGEE:

Fans stood four and five deep and suspense mounted as the Victorias went through their warm up.

Suddendly there was the clattering of skates on the wooden stairway, a roar went up, and out came "House" Hutton, Harvey Pulford, Art Moore, Harry Westwick, Alf Smith, and Billy Gilmour. The fans cheered as these six members of the Silver Seven went through their paces, then the maddening cry, "McGee, McGee, McGee, we ant McGee!"

McGee's apperance was dramatic. His white pants had been pressed to a knife like edge, his blond hair combed to perfection, his boots shined and his stick freshly taped. As he skated to join his team, from all parts of the arena came the famous Ottawa cry: "McGee, McGee, McGee! What's the matter with Frank McGee!"

From the face off McGee stole the show. Three times he seized the puck near his own defence and plunged at blinding speed through the Victorias to drive home a goal. The jam packed arena went wild as the Senators swept on to victory and kept shrieking, "McGee, McGee, McGee!"

Subsequently Frank scored 14 goals in a game against Dawson City Nuggets; he saved the Stanley Cup in a playoff against Wanderers and until he retired the incomparable McGee stood head and shoulders above every other player. The blonde hockey demon attained this supremecy in the days of natural ice, short schedules and 30 minute periods, during which he played without relief, except in case of injury.

They said McGee, who came from an illustrious Ottawa family which produced Jim, Charlie, D'Arcy and Dick, had the sight of only one eye when he starred for Ottawa; that he had lost the sight of one eye in an exhibition against game at Hawkesbury. This may have been correct, though we always doubted it. He was the greatest centre hockey ever produced.
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I found an article saying Taylor was given the PCHA's all-around award in 1918. Foyston's bios have his win in 1917, but I didn't see this in Taylors' bios. It also has a quote that he was exceptionally strong defensively.
Spokane Daily Chronicle said:
"Cyclone" Taylor, the star center of the Vancouver club of the Pacific Coast Hockey association, has been voted the all-around individual championship of the PCHA, for the 1917-18 season, according to an announcement by Frank Patrick, president of the organization.

The official scorers of Seattle, Vancouver and Portland voted on the most valuable player in the league and Taylor was the unanimous choice. "Cyclone" is far ahead of his nearest rival in scoring honors and will probably maintain an edge through the final series next week.

Taylor's defensive play was also exceptionally strong. Last season Frank Foyston of the Seattle club was voted the most valuable individual in the league. Another important point in Taylor's favor was the fact that not once during the season was the star sent from the ice for violation of rules.
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https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=QfQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5317,6152753&hl=en
 
Found a cool article while browsing around. Just written a few months back.


https://www.detroitathletic.com/blo...-stewart-was-quietly-lethal-on-the-blue-line/

“Black Jack” Stewart, who patrolled Detroit’s blue line with bone-crushing ferocity between 1938 and 1950, was the kind of player Red Wings fans absolutely loved and all others absolutely loved to hate.

“Naturally, he was not a favorite of out-of-town fans,” teammate Max McNab said, with considerable understatement. “When we would go play in Toronto, Montreal, New York, Boston or Chicago, Jack would be the last one on the ice for us. At the very last minute this unbelievable booing would start. I would look up into the stands and be thinking, ‘What the hell is that all about?’ Then I’d realize that the the booing was because Black Jack had just stepped on the ice.”

Stewart never scored more than 5 goals or 19 points in a season, numbers that playmaking defensemen like Bobby Orr and Paul Coffey racked up in a good week. He concentrated on defense. He was a fine skater, was rarely caught out of position, and delivered hit after hit. He said that he used his heavy club-like stick not to score, but “to break arms.” Stewart was named a First- or Second-Team All-Star five times and played in the first four NHL All-Star Games, beginning in 1947.

Stewart once explained how he got his nickname. “I body-checked some fellow one night and when he woke up the next day in the hospital, he asked who’d hit him with a blackjack.”

Stewart not only administered pain, he played through it, once playing an entire season with a broken hand. He attributed his strength to growing up on the family’s Manitoba farm, a place he returned to in the offseason.

“Jack was a guy who gave it his all, every minute of every game,” recalled Mark Beltaire of the Detroit Free Press. “At the end of every season I’d see him on the end of the bench, totally exhausted. He’d tell me, ‘Mark, this is my last game. No more.’ Next year he’d be back.”

In 1950, after he’d helped the Wings win the Stanley Cup in a thrilling seventh-game overtime victory over the New York Rangers, Stewart was part of a nine-man deal between Detroit and Chicago that at the time was the biggest trade in NHL history. The Blackhawks named him captain and assistant coach. He showed his new teammates what he was all about by coming back after having a ruptured disc removed.

Early in his second season with the Hawks, however, Black Jack suffered a minor skull fracture. The injury caused him to ask for his release so he could accept a position as player-coach with the New Westminster Royals of the Pacific Coast Hockey League. He went on to a long coaching career in the minors. After leaving hockey for good in 1963, he started a second career in harness racing. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1964 and died of cancer in Troy, Michigan, in 1983, just a few days after his 76th birthday.

Curiously, Black Jack was so quiet that he was known as “Silent Jack” by his Detroit teammates. He also had the disconcerting habit of smiling as he banged opponents around the ice. As teammate Ted Lindsay, a disciple of Black Jack’s school of charm, once said: “When he had that smile, it was time for the opposition to look out.”
 
A quote from Larry Robinson's autobiography on playing the left side vs right side.

The mentorship started back in Montreal, when Serge used to pair me with every new kid that came to the team as a defenceman. I wouldn't say that it hurt my career, but a lot of times I was playing on the right side, where I didn't feel as comfortable. I preferred the left side, and that's where I played when I was on the blueline with Serge. But all of a sudden, I'd be playing with someone like Gaston Gingras, and because he played left, I was moved over to the right side (being more able to do that). That meant that a lot of times, when the puck came around the boards, I would be on my backhand. I had to reinvent my game and learn to play from the right side.
 
jarek said:
Some interesting insights by Newsy Lalonde into the dirtier players of the early era. Interestingly, apparently Paddy Moran was something like the Billy Smith of his time.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=MOUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5290,1877673&hl=en

And a nice article on Gordon Roberts:

https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=jZ4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=3524,4328771&hl=en
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That first article of Lalonde was in my Joe Hall biography.It's fun to have a direct testimony on who were the toughest players of those eras, by one of the toughest.
 
jarek said:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=MOUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5290,1877673&hl=en

And a nice article on Gordon Roberts:

https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=jZ4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=3524,4328771&hl=en
Click to expand...
:handclap: Thank you! Fun reading. And I have both those guys on my Swamp Rabbits. :naughty:

...apparently Paddy Moran was something like the Billy Smith of his time.
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Yeah, hacking at then relatively unprotected toes and squirting tobacco into eyes. :laugh:

I was surprised at hearing about Dick Irvin's nasty retaliation on Cully Wilson. I guess it was a different time when you stuck up for yourself if you wanted to earn space to skate. Newsy said that nowadays (in 1961 when the article was written) it cost too much to be so nasty. Imagine how much more so when they later brought in the instigator penalty!
 
I think the standard for toughness back then was definitely a lot higher. Very few players played like Pitre and Nighbor. I think just about everyone mixed it up every now and then, just that guys like Cully Wilson and Joe Hall stood out among the guys that got into the rough stuff.

People were calling for Chara to serve jail time for directing Pacioretty's head into the stanchion. Back then, a play like that may have not even been a penalty, and it is unlikely anyone would have even given it a second thought.
 
jarek said:
I think the standard for toughness back then was definitely a lot higher. Very few players played like Pitre and Nighbor. I think just about everyone mixed it up every now and then, just that guys like Cully Wilson and Joe Hall stood out among the guys that got into the rough stuff.

People were calling for Chara to serve jail time for directing Pacioretty's head into the stanchion. Back then, a play like that may have not even been a penalty, and it is unlikely anyone would have even given it a second thought.
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Hysterical people yeah.
 
I just randomly stumbled across the clearest evidence I've yet found that Tommy Gorman sat on the bench of the 1923 Cup winning Senators team.

25.11.1936 - Ottawa Citizen:

On that trip during the four game series with the Vancouver team and two games with Edmonton, Clancy, then a rookie sub, played every one of the six positions in the game, including goal, for two minutes, in the final game with Edmonton.

That is all true but it is not true that Clancy was busy dodging the puck during his stay in net, as frequently reported. When Clint Benedict, the Senators' regular net guardian, was penalized by referee "Mickey" Ion for slashing the feet from under Joe Simpson, then a star with the Eskimos, manager Tommy Gorman, who was in charge of the Senators, sent Clancy in to replace Benny.

As a matter of fact, Clancy didn't have to stop the puck once. There was only one shot on the Ottawa net during the two minutes, and Eddie Gerard, captain and defence ace, stopped that with his hand.
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https://www.nhl.com/news/ted-lindsay-interview-sunday-long-read/c-280427536

Absolutely tremendous article on Ted Lindsay over at NHL.com

"I say 'dirty.' Well, I got my elbows into your head and what have you. I never would purposely try to injure anybody. But I'd purposely try to get you out of the game if I could … intimidate you. 'When Lindsay comes on the ice, where is he?' That's the way I wanted him to think. When I came on the ice, 'Where the hell is he?'

"I loved the corners," he continued, eyes sparkling. "That's where you found men. You found more chickens. You knew who the chickens were on the other team because they'd always back off a little bit. If I was coming, they knew they were going to get lumber or elbows or anything. They were going to get into the screen [before there was glass]."

Toronto newspaper writers would nickname him "Terrible Ted" and, later, "Scarface," and he never tried to play to nor disprove the labels.

"I was there to win," he said. "If it meant taking you to the boards or whatever it was, intimidation would be the best way to do it. …
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Some fantastic legwork by Theo, from a Russian-language source that I'd never be able to get anything out of myself.

Theokritos said:
Most common side and partners from what I can gather:

Yevgeny Davydov
1965-1966: LD (RD: Vladimir Danilov)
1966-1967: LD (RD: Yury Chichurin)
1967-1968: LD (RDs: Valery Vasiliev, Stanislav Shchogolev)
1968-1969: LD (RD: Vasiliev)
1969-1970: LD (RD: Vasiliev)
1970-1971: LD (RD: Vasiliev)
1971-1972: LD (RD: Vasiliev)
1972-1973: LD (RD: Vasiliev)

Aleksandr Ragulin
1965-1966: RD (LD: Ivanov)
1966-1967: RD (LD: Ivanov)
1967-1968: RD (LD: Lutchenko)
1968-1969: RD (LD: Lutchenko)
1969-1970: RD (LDs: Lutchenko, Romishevsky)
1970-1971: RD (LDs: Lutchenko, Romishevsky)
1971-1972: LD (RD: Tsygankov)
1972-1973: LD (RD: Tsygankov)

Gennady Tsygankov
1969-1970: RD (LDs: Lutchenko, Vladimir Brezhnev)
1970-1971: RD (LDs: Romishevsky, Lutchenko)
1971-1972: RD (LD: Ragulin)
1972-1973: RD (LD: Ragulin)
1973-1974: RD (LDs: Lutchenko, Gusev)
1974-1975: RD (LD: Aleksey Volchenkov)
1975-1976: RD (LD: Aleksey Volchenkov)
1976-1977: RD (LD: Vyacheslav Fetisov)
1977-1978: RD (LD: Vyacheslav Fetisov)
1978-1979: RD (LDs: Sergey Gimayev, Aleksey Kasatonov)

Eduard Ivanov
1965-1966: LD (RD: Ragulin)
1966-1967: LD (RD: Ragulin)

Viktor Kuzkin
1965-1966: RD (LD: Vladimir Brezhnev)
1966-1967: RD (LD: Vladimir Brezhnev)
1967-1968: RD (LD: Vladimir Brezhnev)
1968-1969: RD (LDs: Vladimir Brezhnev, Yury Shatalov, Gusev)
1969-1970: RD (LD: Vladimir Brezhnev)
1970-1971: RD (LD: Gusev)
1971-1972: RD (LD: Gusev)
1972-1973: RD (LD: Gusev)
1973-1974: RD (LDs: Gusev, Lutchenko)
1974-1975: RD (LDs: Yury Blokhin, Aleksey Volchenkov)
1975-1976: RD (LDs: Yury Blokhin, Vladimir Lokotko)

Aleksandr Gusev
1968-1969: RD when paired with Romishevsky, LD when paired with Kuzkin
1969-1970: RD (LD: Romishevsky)
1970-1971: LD (RD: Kuzkin)
1971-1972: LD (RD: Kuzkin)
1972-1973: LD (RD: Kuzkin)
1973-1974: LD (RDs: Kuzkin, Tsygankov)
1974-1975: LD (RD: Lutchenko)
1975-1976: LD (RD: Lutchenko)
1976-1977: LD (RD: Lutchenko)
1977-1978: LD (RD: Aleksey Volchenkov)

Yury Lyapkin
1965-1966: LD (RD: Yury Gromov)
1966-1967: mostly LD (RD: Aleksandr Sapyolkin, but frequent line shifting and side changing by Khimik coach Nikolay Epshtein)
1967-1968: LD (RD: Aleksandr Sapyolkin)
1968-1969: LD (RD: Aleksandr Sapyolkin)
1969-1970: LD (RD: Aleksandr Sapyolkin)
1970-1971: LD (RD: Aleksandr Sapyolkin)
1971-1972: LD (RD: Aleksandr Sapyolkin)
1972-1973: LD (RDs: Aleksey Nikitushkin, Yevgeny Paladiev)
1973-1974: LD (RDs: Vladimir Kucherenko, Yevgeny Paladiev)
1974-1975: LD (RD: Sergey Korotkov)
1975-1976: LD (RD: Sergey Korotkov)
1976-1977: LD (RD: Sergey Gusev)
1977-1978: LD (RD: Sergey Gusev)
1978-1979: LD (RDs: Fyodor Kanareykin, Sergey Karpov)

Valery Vasiliev
1967-1968: RD (LDs: Davydov, Stanislav Petukhov)
1968-1969: RD (LD: Davydov)
1969-1970: RD (LD: Davydov)
1970-1971: RD (LD: Davydov)
1971-1972: RD (LD: Davydov)
1972-1973: RD (LD: Davydov)
1973-1974: RD (LDs: Stanislav Shchogolev, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov)
1974-1975: RD (LD: Zinetula Bilyaletdinov)
1975-1976: RD (LD: Vitaly Filippov)
1976-1977: RD (LD: Zinetula Bilyaletdinov)
1977-1978: RD (LDs: Vasily Pervukhin, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov)
1978-1979: RD (LDs: Vasily Pervukhin, Mikhail Slipchenko)
1979-1980: RD (LD: Mikhail Slipchenko)
1980-1981: RD (LD: Mikhail Slipchenko)
1981-1982: RD (LD: Mikhail Slipchenko)

Vladimir Lutchenko
1967-1968: LD (LD: Ragulin)
1968-1969: LD (LD: Ragulin)
1969-1970: LD (RDs: Ragulin, Tsygankov)
1970-1971: LD (RDs: Ragulin, Tsygankov)
1971-1972: RD (LDs: Romishevsky, Yury Blokhin, Aleksey Volchenkov)
1972-1973: RD (LD: Yury Blokhin)
1973-1974: LD (RDs: Tsygankov, Kuzkin)
1974-1975: RD (LD: Gusev)
1975-1976: RD (LD: Gusev)
1976-1977: RD (LD: Gusev)
1977-1978: LD (RD: Sergey Babinov)
1978-1979: LD (RDs: Aleksey Volchenkov, Sergey Babinov)
1979-1980: LD (RDs: Aleksey Kasatonov, Aleksey Volchenkov)

Sourced from here.
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So does that make Lutchenko a credible LD/RD in the ATD? That would certainly increase his value by a fair bit.

Also very surprised to see how often Lyapkin played LD, given he's a RHS.
 
These are all from the MacLean's article from 1925 I took a screenshot so if you want any additional info feel free to pm me and I'll send you the text for your player.
 
W.A Hewitt - Toronto Star

G: Percy Leseur
D: Hod Stuart
D: Eddie Gerard
C: Newsy Lalonde
RW: George Richardson
LW: Tommy Phillips

Lester Patrick

G: Hugh Lehman
D: Sprague Cleghorn
D: Hod Stuart
RW: Arthur Farrell
C: Cyclone Taylor
LW: Tom Phillips

J.E. Abern - Halifax Herald

G: John Ross Roach
D: Hod Stuart
D: Alan Davidson
RW: Dubbie Kerr
C: Mickey MacKay
LW: Newsy Lalonde

Tommy Gorman

G: Georges Vezina
D: Eddie Gerard
D: Sprague Cleghorn
RW: Scott Davidson
C: Frank Nighbor
LW: George Hay

W.J. Morrison - Montreal Gazette

(Modern)
G: Clint Benedict
D: Georges Boucher
D: Sprague Cleghorn
RW: Babe Dye
C: Billy Burch
LW: Cy Dennenay

(Old)
G: Mike Merritt
D: Mike Grant
D: Harvey Pulford
RW: Jim Gardner
C: Frank McGee
LW: Tom Phillips

Sandy Hook (?)

G: Percy Leseur
D: Hod Stuart
D: Sprague Cleghorn
RW: Scotty Davidson
C: Russell Bowie
LW: Harry Watson

Also has kind words for F. Frederickson, T. Phillips, B. Dye. Vezina and E. Gerard

Bruce Boreham - Winnipeg Tribune

G: Georges Vezina
D: Joe Simpson
D: Eddie Gerrade
RW: Babe Dye
C: Cyclone Taylor
LW: George Hay

K.G.H McConnell - Edmonton Bulletin

G: Percy Leseur
D: Joe Simpson
D: George Boucher
RW: Alf Smith
C: Duke Keats
LW: Tommy Phillips

Roy Halpin - Quebec Daily Telegraph

G: Georges Vezina
D: Sprague Cleghorn
D: Art Ross
RW: Aurel Joliat
C: Cyclone Taylor
LW: Joe Malone

Ross MacKay - The Star

G: Georges Vezina
D: Hod Stuart
D: Sprague Cleghorn
RW: Scotty Davidson
C: Frank Nighbor
LW: Tommy Phillips

Harry Scott - Calgary

G: Georges Vezina
D: Ernie Johnson
D: Hod Stuart
RW: Newsy Lalonde
C: Cyclone Taylor
LW: Tommy Phillips

Mr Young -

G: Hugh Lehman
D: XXX
D: XXX
RW: Russell Bowie
C: Frank Nighbor
LW: Tommy Phillips

Art Ross

G: Paddy Moran
D: Hod Stuart
D: Si Griffis
D: Lester Patrick
F: Russell Bowie
F: Tommy Phillips
F: Cyclone Taylor
F: Frank Nighbor
F: Frank McGee
F: Tony Gingras

Frank Shaughnessey

G: Clint Benedict
D: Hod Stuart
D: Eddie Gerard
RW: Alf Smith
C: Russell Bowie
LW: Tommy Phillips

James T Sutherland's list is hard to follow I'll fix it later

I have 14 lists here accounted for removing Ross's because he refused to list just 6

Taylor - 4/13
Lalonde - 2/13
Bowie - 3/13
Nighbor - 3/13
Tommy Phillips 9/13
 
Last edited:
ResilientBeast said:
W.A Hewitt - Toronto Star

G: Percy Leseur
D: Hod Stuart
D: Eddie Gerard
C: Newsy Lalonde
RW: George Richardson
LW: Tommy Phillips

Lester Patrick

G: Hugh Lehman
D: Sprague Cleghorn
D: Hod Stuart
RW: Arthur Farrell
C: Cyclone Taylor
LW: Tom Phillips

J.E. Abern - Halifax Herald

G: John Ross Roach
D: Hod Stuart
D: Alan Davidson
RW: Dubbie Kerr
C: Mickey MacKay
LW: Newsy Lalonde

Tommy Gorman

G: Georges Vezina
D: Eddie Gerard
D: Sprague Cleghorn
RW: Scott Davidson
C: Frank Nighbor
LW: George Hay

W.J. Morrison - Montreal Gazette

(Modern)
G: Clint Benedict
D: Georges Boucher
D: Sprague Cleghorn
RW: Babe Dye
C: Billy Burch
LW: Cy Dennenay

(Old)
G: Mike Merritt
D: Mike Grant
D: Harvey Pulford
RW: Jim Gardner
C: Frank McGee
LW: Tom Phillips

Sandy Hook (?)

G: Percy Leseur
D: Hod Stuart
D: Sprague Cleghorn
RW: Scotty Davidson
C: Russell Bowie
LW: Harry Watson

Also has kind words for F. Frederickson, T. Phillips, B. Dye. Vezina and E. Gerard

Bruce Boreham - Winnipeg Tribune

G: Georges Vezina
D: Joe Simpson
D: Eddie Gerrade
RW: Babe Dye
C: Cyclone Taylor
LW: George Hay

K.G.H McConnell - Edmonton Bulletin

G: Percy Leseur
D: Joe Simpson
D: George Boucher
RW: Alf Smith
C: Duke Keats
LW: Tommy Phillips

Roy Halpin - Quebec Daily Telegraph

G: Georges Vezina
D: Sprague Cleghorn
D: Art Ross
RW: Aurel Joliat
C: Cyclone Taylor
LW: Joe Malone

Ross MacKay - The Star

G: Georges Vezina
D: Hod Stuart
D: Sprague Cleghorn
RW: Scotty Davidson
C: Frank Nighbor
LW: Tommy Phillips

Harry Scott - Calgary

G: Georges Vezina
D: Ernie Johnson
D: Hod Stuart
RW: Newsy Lalonde
C: Cyclone Taylor
LW: Tommy Phillips

Mr Young -

G: Hugh Lehman
D: XXX
D: XXX
RW: Russell Bowie
C: Frank Nighbor
LW: Tommy Phillips

Art Ross

G: Paddy Moran
D: Hod Stuart
D: Si Griffis
D: Lester Patrick
F: Russell Bowie
F: Tommy Phillips
F: Cyclone Taylor
F: Frank Nighbor
F: Frank McGee
F: Tony Gingras

Frank Shaughnessey

G: Clint Benedict
D: Hod Stuart
D: Eddie Gerard
RW: Alf Smith
C: Russell Bowie
LW: Tommy Phillips

James T Sutherland's list is hard to follow I'll fix it later

I have 14 lists here accounted for

Taylor - 5/14
Lalonde - 3/14
Bowie - 4/14
Nighbor - 4/14
Tommy Phillips 10/14
Click to expand...

Vezina 6
Benedict 2
Lesueur 3
Stuart 8
Cleghorn 6
Gerard 4
Boucher 2
 
I need to very clear on my reading but I don't exactly get how the votes were tallied, a lot of lists aren't given and it sounds like they used the initial lists to help make a list and then another group massaged it into 3 separate teams. Because otherwise Taylor being 3rd team LW doesn't make sense
 
The Morning Leader article lists 24 participants, but we only have votes listed in the MacLean's article from 15 people and only 13 are in the standard 6 position way.
 
I think we can all agree that Tommy Phillips was the runaway best left winger of the first quarter century, by their assessments.

248905e.jpg
 
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