Hockey History

If you want to learn more about the obstacles the Winnipeg Falcons overcame, check out my self-published book “A Confluence of Destines” on Amazon here. On April 16th, 1920, the Winnipeg Falcons - now Team Canada - arrived in Antwerp in advance of the first ever Ice Hockey Olympic tournament...

I have been fascinated by the story of the Kenora Thistles -- the team from the smallest town ever to win the Stanley Cup -- since I was 10 years old. At the holidays in 1973, my parents got my brothers and me a set of miniature replica NHL trophies. The Stanley Cup was engraved with the names...

Most sports team owners make their money elsewhere and purchase a team as an extravagant hobby—but that is not the story of Ed Snider. One of the few owners in history to get control of a franchise by mortgaging nearly everything to his name, the longtime Philadelphia Flyers chairman would go on...

Total Bruins – A game by game illustrated account of the Boston Bruins 1929-39 Available on eBay Overview The definitive history of the Boston Bruins in the 1930's. Self-published, 8.5"x11" soft cover, 526 pages (4 colour), 1000+ images. Basic format is paragraph of text with an embedded image...

It was September of 1972. I was only eight years old — wouldn’t turn nine until late October — and in grade four at Snowcrest Public School. (That’s fourth grade, for those of you who speak American.) I started playing hockey that year too, although I wasn’t very good yet. There’s actually...

Montreal 1972. Faced with the decision how to line up against the Soviet Union in Game 1 of the upcoming Summit Series, Team Canada head coach Harry Sinden decides to go with four forward lines and two defensive pairings (plus one spare). His reasoning: Constant Canadian attacks with four lines...

(Haven’t posted anything for a bit, but I never like to let too long go by. So, here a few childhood sports memories. Some a little bitter; some sweet. It's not very hockey, so sue me if you want your money back!) Joe Theismann hobbled towards me on crutches, his right ankle encased in a cast...

Women’s ice hockey had already been around for some time, in one form or another, during the earlier years of the sport’s organized infancy. But during the World War I window in the late 1910s, women’s hockey came to experience an increased boost in popularity. This popularity boost was partly...

This story is just some flat out, plain old, personal promotion for my two newest books, which are available now. If you’re a regular follower of my posts, I hope that I’ve convinced you by now that there’s something fun and fascinating in the old-time history of hockey. I know it’s probably...

When the NHL announced in early 1976 that its two worst teams, the Washington Capitals and Kansas City Scouts, would travel to Japan for a four-game exhibition series dubbed the Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Cup, fans and media were baffled. The Capitals and the Scouts were both expansion teams, with a...

Congratulations to the Colorado Avalanche who, on Sunday night, became Stanley Cup champions for the 2021-22 NHL season. It’s Colorado’s first Cup victory in 21 years, since 2001, and the team’s third since relocating from Quebec City for the 1995-96 season. The Nordiques, of course, never won...

Well, let’s face it. It ain’t the Stanley Cup. Then again, the Leafs have won the Stanley Cup twice in my lifetime. (I don’t remember them. I was six months old in 1964 and 3 1/2 years old in 1967.) But I wasn’t even born the last time a Toronto player was named the NHL’s Most Valuable Player...

The New York Hockey Club first launched its operations for the 1895–96 season (as the Hockey Club of New York) when Arthur Davies Knowlson, a player from Lindsay, Ontario, organized the club with a group of fellow Canadian expats, playing in exhibition games. The players were predominantly from...

You may have heard the news, which broke Monday of last week, about Mitch Marner being carjacked at gunpoint. Coming as it did, just two days after Tampa Bay eliminated Toronto in game seven of the opening round of the NHL playoffs, it sort of sounded like the start of a bad joke. But it wasn’t...

Well, the second round of the NHL playoffs get under way tonight. Without the Leafs. Again. (But with the first Battle of Alberta in 31 years!) It’s still a long way until we get to the Stanley Cup Final, and there will be the announcement of the NHL Award winners this year before we know...

The NHL playoffs are under way. A pretty great start for the Maple Leafs … but we’ll see. Can’t get to the game? Don’t worry. There’s an app for that! But before there were apps for your smartphone, streaming services on your laptop or tablet, and even before there was television and radio...

Future Hockey Hall of Famer Billy Gilmour spun some interesting tales from his bygone days for the Montreal Star on June 20, 1938. An uncredited writer had caught up with the former member of the Ottawa Silver Seven on the deck of the Cunard liner Alaunia before he departed from Montreal to meet...

Excerpt: What really happened when the lights went out in Piestany? They call it “the Punch-Up in Piestany,” a brawl in Czechoslovakia between bitter historical rivals that got so out of control that officials turned the lights out in hopes that the fighting would eventually end. And these...

A few days ago, I got an email from my friend Tosh suggesting that perhaps a story about the Uke Line might be of interest these days. I haven’t taken a lot of requests on this web site. As I indicated in my most recent post, I don’t usually give a lot of thought to what story comes next...

Hello there. This is Tim Wharnsby, a former sports reporter with the Toronto Sun, Globe and Mail, as well as Hockey Night in Canada. I've written my first book called Gold, an inside story on how executive director Wayne Gretzky, captain Mario Lemieux, Joe Sakic and Co. ended a 50-year Olympic...