Glory Days The history of the Maple Leafs dates back to the very beginning of the National Hockey League NHL In fact Toronto’s team was the reason the league was formed For many years the National Hockey Association NHA operated in a handful of Canadian cities One of the NHA’s better clubs was based in Toronto Its owner Eddie Livingstone was unpopular The other owners folded up the league in 1917 and started the NHL without Livingstone Toronto’s NHL team was owned by the Toronto Arena Company and was known as the Arenas They won the first NHL championship in 1917 18 and then went on to claim the championship of pro hockey the Stanley Cup Two years later the team renamed itself the Saint Patricks The St Pats won the Stanley Cup again in 1922 The star of that team was Babe Dye He led the NHL in goals three times 6
the In 1926 Conn Smythe bought team and renamed it the Maple Leafs Smythe and assistant coach Frank Selke built the club into a powerhouse Toronto had two great defensemen King Clancy and Clarence Hap Day The team’s top scorers Charlie Conacher Busher Jackson and Joe Primeau were nicknamed the Kid Line The Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1932 and reached the Stanley Cup Finals five more times during the 1930s Toronto had an even better club during the following decade The Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1942 1945 and each year from 1947 through 1949 They won the championship in 1951 too Those teams were full of talented players who never quit Their stars included Babe Pratt Syl Apps Gordie Drillon Turk Broda Sweeney Schriner Ted Kennedy Harry Watson Gaye Stewart Billy Taylor Tod Sloan Max Bentley and Bill Barilko Many of them were voted into the Hall of Fame The Maple Leafs had several poor seasons during the 1950s but things began to change when Punch Imlach became the team’s coach Johnny Bower was an excellent goalie Dave Keon Tim Horton LEFT Babe Dye was a team leader when Toronto was known as the St Pats ABOVE This photo shows the 1932 Stanley Cup champs 7
Frank Mahovlich Bob Baun and Carl Brewer were among the NHL’s top players George Armstrong gave the team solid leadership Imlach also added veterans Allan Stanley Eddie Shack and Red Kelly in trades Toronto reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1959 and 1960 but the team lost both times The Maple Leafs returned to the finals in 1962 They won the championship that season and then again in 1963 and 1964 Imlach never stopped finding talent to stock the roster By the 1966 67 season Toronto was an old and aching team It didn’t matter the Leafs won it all again After the success of the 1960s Toronto fans suffered through 20 years of frustration The team made unwise trades and lost several good players to the World Hockey Association WHA The players that stayed Darryl Sittler Lanny McDonald Tiger Williams and Paul Henderson were among the best in the league but the Leafs still struggled In the 1980s the team was led by Borje Salming Rick Vaive and Vincent Damphousse Salming was one of the first European stars to join the NHL and the first Swedish player to earn a spot in the Hall of Fame He helped open the door for a LEFT Borje Salming was one of the NHL’s first international stars ABOVE The Leafs celebrate a championship during the 1960s 9
