Lanny McDonald
Lanny King McDonald is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Colorado Rockies and Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League. He played over 1,100 games during a 16-year career in which he scored 500 goals and over 1,000 points, his total of 66 goals in 1982–83 remains the Flames' franchise record for a single season. McDonald was selected by the Maple Leafs as the fourth overall pick in the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft and established himself as an offensive forward with three consecutive 40-goal seasons in Toronto in the mid-1970s, his trade to the Rockies in 1979 resulted in Toronto fans protesting the deal in front of Maple Leaf Gardens. He played parts of three seasons in Denver, before he was sent to Calgary in 1981 where he spent the remainder of his career, he co-captained the Flames to a Stanley Cup championship in his final season of 1988–89. McDonald is among the most popular players in Flames history and his personality and bushy red moustache made him an iconic figure within the sport.
McDonald won the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for dedication and sportsmanship in 1983 and in 1988 was named the inaugural winner of the King Clancy Memorial Trophy for his leadership and humanitarian presence, in particular through his long association with the Special Olympics. Internationally, McDonald represented Team Canada as a player on two occasions and in a management role three times, his assist created the tournament winning overtime goal of the inaugural 1976 Canada Cup, he was director of player personnel of Canada's 2004 World Championship winning team. The Flames retired McDonald's uniform number 9 in 1990. McDonald was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992, the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 1993 and Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2017. In 2015, he was named chairman of the board of the Hockey Hall of Fame, after serving nine years on the Hall's selection committee. McDonald was born February 1953, in Hanna, Alberta, he is the youngest of four children after sisters Donna and Dixie.
His father, tended the family farm near the hamlet of Craigmyle, 35 kilometres outside Hanna. The young Lanny viewed his father as his hero following Lorne around helping with whatever chores he could. McDonald credits his father for teaching him the value of honesty and hard work, his mother, was a full-time teacher, involved with community events. Learning to skate at the age of five, McDonald developed a passion for hockey, he served as a stick boy, helping manage equipment, for his father's community team and grew up listening to the famous Foster Hewitt radio broadcasts of Hockey Night in Canada. McDonald shared his father's passion for the Toronto Maple Leafs, he began playing organized hockey at the age of six and, despite both having full-time commitments, his parents drove him and Lynn to Hanna for their practices and games. McDonald recalled that half of his time in youth hockey was spent in Hanna, the other half in the car, he completed high school while playing in Lethbridge, choosing to remain with his junior A team in 1970–71 rather than join the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Canada Hockey League so that he could complete his diploma.
McDonald began his junior career in 1969 with the Lethbridge Sugar Kings of the tier II Alberta Junior Hockey League. He appeared in 34 games for the Sugar Kings as a scoring two goals; the following season, 1970–71, he emerged as a leading scorer, recording 37 goals and 82 points in 45 games. He was named to the Second All-Star team. Additionally, McDonald appeared in six WCHL games with the Calgary Centennials; the Medicine Hat Tigers acquired McDonald's playing rights in a trade during the 1970–71 WCHL season. He joined the team the following year, finishing eighth in league scoring with 114 points, including 50 goals, he improved to 62 goals and 139 points in 1972–73 to finish third overall in league scoring and was named to the WCHL All-Star Team at forward. McDonald added 37 points in the playoffs. In McDonald's draft year of 1973, the National Hockey League was in competition with the rival World Hockey Association for talent. McDonald was recruited by both leagues; the Vancouver Canucks had the third overall selection in the NHL draft and were interested in drafting him, but opted against it when McDonald made it clear he would go to the WHA rather than play with Vancouver.
Instead, he went to the Toronto Maple Leafs with the fourth overall pick. In the WHA draft, he was selected 10th overall by the Cleveland Crusaders. McDonald chose to play in the NHL, signing a contract with the Maple Leafs, considered to be among the richest in the league; the deal, worth between $175,000 and $200,000 per season, came as a result of the competition between the two leagues and McDonald found that some of the older players in Toronto resented him as a result. McDonald made his NHL debut with the Leafs on October 1973, against the Buffalo Sabres, he assisted on two goals in the game, but suffered a concussion and required several stitches after landing on his head as a result of a check by Rick Martin. Following the custom of most NHL players at the time, he played the game without wearing a helmet, it was the only time in his career he did so, as he felt that his injury contributed to his early struggles in the NHL. McDonald scored his first NHL goal on October 17 against Michel Larocque of the Montreal Canadiens, but finished the season with only 14 goals and 30 points in 1973–74.
His continued inability to score early in the 1974–75 se
Harold Ballard
Harold Edwin Ballard was a Canadian businessman and sportsman. Ballard was an owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League as well as their home arena, Maple Leaf Gardens. A member of the Leafs organization from 1940 and a senior executive from 1957, he became part-owner of the team in 1961 and was majority owner from February 1972 until his death, he was the owner of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League for 11 seasons, winning a Grey Cup championship in 1986. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. Ballard was born in Toronto, Canada as Edwin Harold Ballard, he reversed the names and referred to himself as Harold E. Ballard. For six years before World War I, Ballard and his family lived in Pennsylvania, they returned to Toronto where his father, Sidney Eustace Ballard, English born founded Ballard Machinery Supplies Co. a sewing machine manufacturer, which at one point was one of Canada's leading manufacturers of ice skates. Harold attended Upper Canada College as a boarding student until dropping out in his third year in 1919.
Ballard became a fan of speed skating and would attend skating events and hockey games, helping to promote the Ballard skates. For the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Ballard was appointed assistant manager of the Varsity Grads team that won the hockey gold medal; as a member of the National Yacht Club, Ballard became an avid racer of Sea Fleas, small outboard hydroplanes. He competed in several regattas, won the Toronto-Oakville marathon in 1929. Ballard was elected to the Yacht Club's executive committee in January 1930, he participated in the 133-mile Albany, New York-New York City marathon in April 1930, finishing second in his class. About a month Ballard and two friends from the Yacht club were hurled from a boat into a frigid Lake Ontario. Ballard was pulled from the water unconscious. None of the three was wearing a life jacket. Following the 1930 racing season, the Yacht Club sponsored a senior team in the Ontario Hockey Association called the Toronto National Sea Fleas. Ballard was made business manager.
Under coach Harry Watson, the team won the Allan Cup in 1932. Watson chose not to return the following season, Ballard took over the coaching duties. At first, the players welcomed Ballard behind the bench, but the mood soon changed after Ballard benched the team captain; that triggered a mutiny among some of the team's top players, who resigned from the squad in November. The team had a poor year with Ballard coaching, but Ballard arranged a European tour for the Nationals which included competing in the 1933 Ice Hockey World Championships in Prague. There, the Nationals lost 2–1 in overtime to a team from the U. S.—the first loss for a Canadian team at the world championships. While touring Europe, the Nationals were involved both on the ice and off. In one incident, Ballard was arrested in Paris following a fracas at a hotel; the tour marked the end of Ballard's career as a full-time hockey coach. In 1934, Ballard became manager of the West Toronto Nationals OHA junior team and hired Leaf captain Hap Day as coach.
When Day was busy with the Leafs and unavailable for games, Ballard would step behind the bench as acting coach. Under Day and Ballard, the Nationals won the Memorial Cup at the end of the 1935–36 season; the following season and Ballard worked together to run a senior team sponsored by E. P. Taylor's Dominion Brewery. At the same time, Ballard continued to work for Ballard Machinery, took over the business after his father's retirement in 1935. After Day became coach of the Leafs in 1940, he recommended Ballard to the Leaf organization to run the Toronto Marlboros, the senior and junior teams owned by the Leafs. Ballard was made general manager, he would coach one more game, for the senior Marlies, during the 1950 Allan Cup final, after head coach Joe Primeau's father died. The Marlboros won the series and the championship. In the early 1950s, Ballard hired his long-time friend Stafford Smythe, son of Leafs owner Conn Smythe, as managing director of the Marlboros; the Marlies won the Memorial Cup in 1955—their first championship in 26 years—and repeated the feat the following season.
In 1944, Ballard formed Harold E. Ballard Ltd. the personal holding company he would use to purchase shares in Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. In 1957, Ballard moved up to the Maple Leafs as a member of a committee chaired by Stafford Smythe which oversaw hockey operations after Conn Smythe stepped down as general manager and Hap Day was pushed out of the Leafs organization. Ballard wasn't named to the committee when it was unveiled in March 1957, but took the place of Ian Johnston nine months later. At age 54, Ballard was the oldest member of the group, which were otherwise all in their 30s and 40s; the committee came to be known as the "Silver Seven". During the hockey off-season in 1961, Ballard became founding president of the four-team Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League, which operated in Toronto and Montreal. Steve Stavro, who would succeed Ballard as Leafs owner 30 years was co-owner of the Toronto City team. For the 1962 season, Ballard tried to introduce a hockey-style penalty box to soccer, but the rule change was not allowed by FIFA.
In November 1961, Conn Smythe sold most of his shares in Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. to a consortium of his son Stafford, Toronto Telegram owner John Bassett, Ballard. Ballard fronted Stafford Smythe most of the $2.3 million purchase price. Conn Smythe later
Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League; the team was established in 1970, along with the Vancouver Canucks, when the league expanded to 14 teams. They have played at KeyBank Center since 1996. Prior to that, the Buffalo Sabres played at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium from the start of the franchise in 1970; the Sabres are owned by Terry Pegula, who purchased the club in 2011. The team has twice advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, losing to the Philadelphia Flyers in 1975 and to the Dallas Stars in 1999; the best known line in team history is The French Connection, which consisted of Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin and Rene Robert. All three players have had their sweater numbers retired and a statue erected in their honor at KeyBank Center in 2012; the Sabres, along with the Vancouver Canucks, joined the NHL in the 1970–71 season. Their first owners were Seymour H. Knox III and Northrup Knox, scions of a family long prominent in Western New York and grandsons of the co-founders of the Woolworth's variety store chain.
On the team's inaugural board of directors were Robert E. Rich, Jr. the owner of the Buffalo Bisons minor league baseball team. Buffalo had a history of professional hockey. Wanting a name other than "bison", the Knoxes commissioned a name-the-team contest. With names like "Mugwumps", "Buzzing Bees" and "Flying Zeppelins" being entered, the winning choice, "Sabres", was chosen because Seymour Knox felt a sabre, a weapon carried by a leader, could be effective on offense and defense; the Knoxes tried twice before to get an NHL team, first when the NHL expanded in 1967, again when they attempted to purchase the Oakland Seals with the intent of moving them to Buffalo. Their first attempt was thwarted when Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney persuaded his horse racing friends James and Bruce Norris to select Pittsburgh over Buffalo, while the second attempt was due to the NHL not wanting an expansion market to give up on a team so soon. At the time of their creation, the Sabres exercised their option to create their own AHL farm team, the Cincinnati Swords.
Former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager and head coach Punch Imlach was hired in the same capacity with the Sabres. The year the Sabres debuted was an important year for major league sports in Buffalo. In addition to the Sabres' debut, the Buffalo Bills joined the National Football League, the National Basketball Association's Buffalo Braves began to play, sharing Memorial Auditorium with the Sabres; the city of Buffalo went from having no teams in the established major professional sports leagues to three in one off-season, a situation that proved to be unsustainable. Between the Braves and the Sabres, the Sabres would prove to be by far the more successful of the two. Subsequent owners of the Braves, in a series of convoluted transactions tied to the ABA–NBA merger, moved the team out of Buffalo; when the Sabres debuted as an expansion team, they took the ice to Aram Khachaturian's Armenian war dance, "Sabre Dance". The song has been associated with the team as an unofficial anthem since.
It is played between periods and after goals. The consensus was that first pick in the 1970 NHL Amateur Draft would be junior phenomenon Gilbert Perreault. Either the Sabres or the Canucks would get the first pick, to be determined with the spin of a roulette wheel. Perreault was available to the Sabres and Canucks as this was the first year the Montreal Canadiens did not have a priority right to draft Quebec-born junior players; the Canucks were allocated numbers 1–10 on the wheel, while the Sabres had 11–20. When league president Clarence Campbell spun the wheel, he thought the pointer landed on one. While Campbell was congratulating the Vancouver delegation, Imlach asked Campbell to check again; as it turned out, the pointer was on 11 handing Perreault to the Sabres. Perreault scored 38 goals in his rookie season of 1970–71, at the time a record for most goals scored by a NHL rookie, he received the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's rookie of the year. Despite Perreault's play, the Sabres finished well out of playoff contention.
In the team's second season, 1971–72, rookie Rick Martin, drafted fifth overall by Buffalo in 1971, Rene Robert, acquired in a late-season trade from the Pittsburgh Penguins, joined Perreault and would become one of the league's top forward lines in the 1970s. Martin broke Perreault's record at once with 44 rookie goals, they were nicknamed "The French Connection" after the movie of the same name and in homage to their French-Canadian roots. The Sabres made the playoffs for the first time in 1972–73, just the team's third year in the league, but lost in the quarterfinals in six games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens. After a subpar year in 1974 that saw them miss the playoffs, the Sabres tied for the best record in the NHL in the 1974–75 regular season. Buffalo advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in
Canada Cup
The Canada Cup was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The tournament was created to meet demand for a true world championship that allowed the best players from participating nations to compete regardless of their status as professional or amateur, it was sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation, Hockey Canada and the National Hockey League. Canada won the tournament four times, it was succeeded by the World Cup of Hockey in 1996. Due to National Hockey League players' ineligibility in the Winter Olympics and the annual World Championships, both amateur competitions, Canada was not able to send its best players to top international tournaments. While the top players in Europe qualified as amateurs, all the best Canadian players competed in the professional NHL or World Hockey Association. Following the 1972 and 1974 Summit Series, in which Canadian players from the NHL and WHA competed against the top players from the Soviet Union, there was interest in a world hockey championship where each country could send its best players.
In a combined effort from Doug Fisher of Hockey Canada and Alan Eagleson of the NHL Players' Association, plans for such a tournament soon began. After successful negotiations with hockey officials from the Soviet Union in September 1974, Eagleson began arranging the Canada Cup tournament, which debuted in 1976. Eagleson would plead guilty to embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars of Canada Cup proceeds. Taking place in the NHL off-season, it was the first international hockey tournament in which the best players and amateur alike, from the best ice hockey nations in the world could compete against one another. Six teams competed in each edition. In addition to Canada and the Soviet Union, Finland and the United States were regular competitors; the tournaments, held every three or four years, took place in North American venues. Of the five Canada Cup tournaments, four were won by Canada, while the Soviet Union won once, in 1981. Canada won the inaugural Canada Cup in 1976, defeating recent 1976 World Championship gold medalists Czechoslovakia in the best-of-three final.
The clinching game was won by a 5–4 score with Darryl Sittler scoring the game-winner in overtime. Five years the Soviets won their first and only Canada Cup with an 8-1 win over Canada in the one-game final; the Canadians re-captured the championship in the third edition of the tournament in 1984. After Canadian Mike Bossy scored an overtime game-winner to defeat the Soviets in the semi-finals, Canada won their second Canada Cup in a victory over Sweden in the final; the 1987 Canada Cup was noteworthy as Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux considered two of the greatest hockey players of all-time, joined together as linemates on Team Canada to capture the country's third championship. All three games in the final between Canada and the Soviets ended in 6-5 scores, with two games going to overtime. Lemieux scored the championship-winning goal on a 2-on-1 pass from Gretzky in the final minutes of the deciding game at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario. Gretzky won the Most valuable Player Award in the tournament.
The final Canada Cup was held in 1991 with Canada defeating the United States in the tournament's first all-North American final, for their third straight championship and fourth overall. Five years the Canada Cup was replaced by the World Cup of Hockey in 1996; the Canada Cup trophy is made of solid nickel. It was refined at the Inco nickel smelter in Sudbury, Ontario in 1976, commissioned by D. Scott McCann, President of Teledyne Canada. Donna Scott designed the cup, her inspiration was Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of the Moon album cover, it is on display at the residence of the Governor General in Ottawa. The 1981 win by the Soviet Union caused controversy when Canadian officials found the trophy in the Soviets' luggage and announced that the trophy would not go home with the winning team. Feeling this was unsportsmanlike, Canadian fans led by George Smith of Winnipeg, Manitoba raised money to produce a duplicate trophy to give to the Soviet team. $32,000 was raised. Three weeks the trophy was presented to the Soviet Union's ambassador Vladimir Mechulayev in Winnipeg.
Most of the companies that made the trophy did the work for free and all of the money raised went to minor hockey in Winnipeg and Winkler, Manitoba. National Hockey League International Ice Hockey Federation Ice Hockey World Championships World Professional Hockey Championships 1972 Summit Series 1974 Summit Series World Cup of Hockey Ice hockey at the Olympic Games Super Series'76-77 Super Series Subway Super Series 2007 Super Series NHL Challenge Rendez-vous'87 Victoria Cup List of KHL vs NHL games List of international ice hockey competitions featuring NHL players List of international games played by NHL teams Anderson, H. J, The Canada Cup of Hockey Fact and Stat Book, Trafford, ISBN 1-4120-5512-1 Willes, Ed, Gretzky to Lemieux: The Story of the 1987 Canada Cup, Emblem ed, ISBN 9780771088490 Canada Versus the Soviet Union: The Heyday of the Battle for World Hockey Supremacy
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League. Part of the 1967 NHL Expansion, the Flyers were the first expansion team in the post–Original Six era to win the Stanley Cup, victorious in 1973–74 and again in 1974–75; the Flyers' all-time points percentage of 57.5% is the third-best in the NHL, behind only the Vegas Golden Knights and Montreal Canadiens. Additionally, the Flyers have the most appearances in the conference finals of all 24 expansion teams, they are second behind the St. Louis Blues for the most playoff appearances out of all expansion teams; the Flyers have played their home games on Broad Street since their inception, first at the Spectrum from 1967 until 1996, at the Wells Fargo Center since 1996. The Flyers have had rivalries with several teams over the years, their biggest adversaries have been the New York Rangers, with an intense rivalry stretching back to the 1970s.
They have waged lengthy campaigns against the New York Islanders in the 70s and 80s, the Boston Bruins, a bruising battle in the 1970s, the Washington Capitals, which has always been intense since their days in the Patrick Division, as well as the New Jersey Devils, with whom they traded the Atlantic Division title every season between 1994–95 and 2006–07, they enjoy a spirited rivalry with their cross-state and expansion brethren, the Pittsburgh Penguins, considered by some to be the best rivalry in the league. Prior to 1967, Philadelphia had only iced a team in the NHL in the 1930–31 season, when the financially struggling Pittsburgh Pirates relocated in 1930 as the Philadelphia Quakers, playing at The Arena at 46th and Market Streets; the club, garbed in orange and black like today's Flyers, was coached by J. Cooper Smeaton, to be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame 30 years for his far more notable role as an NHL referee. Among the young Quakers' skaters in 1930–31 was another future Hall of Famer in 19-year-old rookie center Syd Howe.
The Quakers' only "claim to fame" was to establish a single season NHL record for futility which has stood since, by compiling a dismal record of 4–36–4, still the fewest games won in a season by an NHL club. The Quakers suspended operations after that single dreadful campaign to again leave the Can-Am League's Philadelphia Arrows as Philadelphia's lone hockey team; the Quakers' dormant NHL franchise was canceled by the league in 1936.)In 1946, a group led by Montreal and Philadelphia sportsman Len Peto announced plans to put another NHL team in Philadelphia, to build a $2.5 million rink to seat 20,000 where stood the old Baker Bowl and to acquire the franchise of the old Montreal Maroons. The latter was held by owner of the Montreal Canadiens. However, Peto's group was unable to raise funding for the new arena project by the league-imposed deadline, the NHL cancelled the Maroons franchise. While attending a basketball game on November 29, 1964, at the Boston Garden, Ed Snider, the then-vice-president of the Philadelphia Eagles, observed a crowd of Boston Bruins fans lining up to purchase tickets to see a last-place ice hockey team.
He began making plans for a new arena upon hearing the NHL was looking to expand due to fears of a competing league taking hold on the West Coast and the desire for a new television contract in the United States. Snider made his proposal to the league, which chose the Philadelphia group—including Snider, Bill Putnam, Jerome Schiff and Philadelphia Eagles owner Jerry Wolman—over the Baltimore group. On April 4, 1966, Putnam announced a name-the-team contest. Details of the contest were released on July 12; the team name was announced on August 3. The new teams were hampered by restrictive rules that kept all major talent with the "Original Six" teams. In the NHL Expansion Draft, most of the players available were either aging veterans or career minor-leaguers before expansion occurred. Among the Flyers' 20 selections were Bernie Parent, Doug Favell, Bill Sutherland, Ed Van Impe, Joe Watson, Lou Angotti, Leon Rochefort and Gary Dornhoefer. Having purchased the minor-league Quebec Aces, the team had a distinctly francophone flavor in its early years, with Parent, Andre Lacroix, Serge Bernier, Jean-Guy Gendron, Simon Nolet and Rosaire Paiement among others.
Beginning play in 1967–68, the Philadelphia Flyers made their debut on October 11, 1967, losing 5–1 on the road to the California Seals. They won their first game a week defeating the St. Louis Blues on the road, 2–1; the Flyers made their home debut in front of a crowd of 7,812, shutting-out their intrastate rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, 1–0 on October 19. Lou Angotti was named the first captain in Flyers history, while Rochefort was the Flyers' top goal scorer after netting a total of 21 goals. With all six expansion teams grouped into the same division, the Flyers were able to win the division with a sub-.500 record despite being forced to play their last seven home games on the road due to a storm blowing parts of the Spectrum's roof off. However, playoff success did not come so as the Flyers were upset by St. Louis in a first round, seven-game series. Angotti was replaced by Van Impe as team captain. Led by Van Impe and the team-leading 24 goals of Andre Lacroix, the Flyers struggled during their sophomore season by finishing 15 games under.500.
Despite their poor regular season showing in 1968–69, they made the playoffs. They again lost to this time being dispatched in a four-game sweep. Not wanting his team to be physically outmatched again
Doug Gilmour
Douglas Robert Gilmour is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and current President of Hockey Operations for the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League for the St. Louis Blues, Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs, New Jersey Devils, Chicago Blackhawks, Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens. Gilmour was a seventh round selection, 134th overall, of the Blues at the 1982 NHL Entry Draft and recorded 1,414 points in 1,474 games in the NHL between 1983 and 2003. A two-time All-Star, he was a member of Calgary's 1989 Stanley Cup championship team and won the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the NHL's best defensive forward in 1992–93. Internationally, he represented Canada three times during his career and was a member of the nation's 1987 Canada Cup championship team. Gilmour was nicknamed "Killer" by a Blues teammate due to his likeness in appearance to serial killer Charles Manson, he played three seasons of junior hockey for the Cornwall Royals where he was a member of their Memorial Cup championship team in 1981.
In 1982–83, Gilmour was named the most outstanding player in the OHL after he scored 177 points, one of the highest totals in league history. Gilmour returned to the OHL following his playing career as he joined the Frontenacs as head coach in 2008 and was promoted to general manager in 2011. Gilmour was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2011 and his uniform number 93 is retired by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Doug Gilmour was born June 1963, in Kingston, Ontario, he is the younger son of Don and Dolly Gilmour, has an elder brother, David. Don was a correctional officer, he coached youth baseball and hockey teams in the city. As a youth, Doug looked up to David, a professional hockey player drafted by the Vancouver Canucks but never played in the National Hockey League; the younger Gilmour played in the 1976 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Kingston. Gilmour's small size – he stood five feet, nine inches tall and weighed 140 pounds in junior hockey – resulted in his being cut from several teams throughout his minor hockey career.
A defenceman, Gilmour began his 16-year-old season in Junior B with his hometown Kingston Voyageurs. Given only three minutes of ice time per game, he asked the team for his release so that he could return to Major Midget hockey where he would get more ice time. Instead, he was offered a spot with the Junior A Belleville Bulls, with whom he began as a defenceman but shifted to left wing during the playoffs due to injuries; the Cornwall Royals of the major junior Quebec Major Junior Hockey League drafted Gilmour from Belleville, he joined the team for the 1980–81 season. The Royals were the defending Memorial Cup champions, Gilmour was not expected to play a significant role with the team; the Royals moved him to forward permanently. As national champions, the Royals represented Canada at the 1981 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. Gilmour appeared in all five tournament games, though he scored no points, as the team struggled to a seventh-place finish in the eight team tournament. In the QMJHL, Gilmour's season was interrupted by a broken collarbone.
He finished the year with 35 points in 51 games. The Royals earned a berth in the 1981 Memorial Cup. Gilmour recorded seven points in five games at the tournament. Cornwall faced the Ontario Hockey League's Kitchener Rangers in the championship game. Cornwall won 5 -- 2. Though eligible for the 1981 NHL Entry Draft, Gilmour went unselected and returned to Cornwall, who had shifted to the OHL for the 1981–82 season, he led the team offensively. NHL teams continued to dismiss Gilmour due to his size, but the St. Louis Blues gambled on him in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft by selecting him with their seventh round pick, 134th overall; the Blues returned him to Cornwall for the 1982–83 season where he led the OHL in goals and points. Gilmour won the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy as the leading scorer, was named a league all-star, was named recipient of the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHL's most outstanding player, his season total of 177 points is the third highest in OHL history, behind Bobby Smith and Wayne Gretzky.
Gilmour had a 55-game point streak that lasted from October 19, 1982, until February 27, 1983, which remains an OHL record. Despite his performance in Cornwall, the Blues did not make signing Gilmour a priority. Unsure if a contract offer would materialize, Gilmour made plans to play in Düsseldorf, West Germany, had traveled to Europe when the Blues offered him a deal in mid-August 1983. St. Louis coach Jacques Demers believed Gilmour had the potential to be a defensive specialist at forward, he began the 1983–84 season in St. Louis and made his NHL debut on October 4, 1983, against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Gilmour scored his first goal on November 1, in his 12th game, against Eddie Mio of the Detroit Red Wings, he finished the season with 53 points. Teammate Brian Sutter began calling Gilmour "Charlie", after Charles Manson, in reference to both his "mean" style of play and an apparent resemblance to the serial killer. Gilmour's offensive performances were consist
Maple Leaf Gardens
Maple Leaf Gardens is a historic building located at the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto, Canada. The building was constructed as an arena to host ice hockey games, but has since been reconstructed for other uses. Today, Maple Leaf Gardens is a multi-purpose facility, with Loblaws occupying retail space on the lower floors and an arena for Toronto's Ryerson University, known as Mattamy Athletic Centre at the Gardens, occupying the top level. Considered one of the "cathedrals" of ice hockey, it was home to the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League from 1931 to 1999; the Leafs won the Stanley Cup 11 times from 1932 to 1967 while playing at the Gardens. The first NHL All-Star Game, albeit an unofficial one, was held at the Gardens in 1934 as a benefit for Leafs forward Ace Bailey, who had suffered a career-ending head injury; the first official annual National Hockey League All-Star Game was held at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1947. It was home to the Toronto Huskies in their single season in the Basketball Association of America, the Toronto Marlboros of the Ontario Hockey League, the Toronto Toros of the World Hockey Association, the Toronto Blizzard of the North American Soccer League, the Toronto Shooting Stars of the National Professional Soccer League, the Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League.
The NBA's Buffalo Braves played a total of 16 regular season games at Maple Leaf Gardens from 1971 to 1975. The NBA's Toronto Raptors played six games at the Gardens from 1997 to 1999 when SkyDome was unavailable, it was one of the few venues outside the United States where Elvis Presley performed in concert. In 1972, Maple Leaf Gardens hosted game 2 of the famous Summit Series between Team Canada and the USSR. Team Canada won the game 4–1; the Toronto Maple Leafs had been playing in the Arena Gardens on Mutual Street. It was held 7,500 spectators for ice hockey. By 1930, Leafs managing director Conn Smythe decided the Arena was too small and he wanted to build a new arena and more impressive. After considering various sites, the site at the corner of Carlton and Church was purchased from The T. Eaton Co. Ltd. for $350,000, a price said to be $150,000 below market value. The new 12,473 seat arena was designed by the architectural firm of Macdonald. To finance the construction, Smythe launched Maple Leaf Gardens Limited, a management company that would own the arena and the Maple Leafs.
A public offering of shares in MLGL was made at C$10 each, with a free common share for each five preferred shares purchased. Ownership of the hockey team was transferred to MLGL in return for shares. Intending right from the start that the Gardens would host other events, W. A. Hewitt, sports editor of the Toronto Star, was hired as general manager of Maple Leaf Gardens to oversee all events other than professional hockey, his son, Foster Hewitt, was hired to run the radio broadcasts, oversaw the construction of the radio broadcast facilities. The contract to construct the building was awarded to Thomson Brothers Construction of Port Credit in Toronto Township. Thomson Bros bid just under $990,000 for the project, the lowest of ten tenders received due to the fact that amongst the Thomson Brothers' various enterprises they had much of the sub contract work covered, others could not compete in this manner; that price did not include steel work, estimated at an additional $100,000. Additional savings were made through deals with labour unions, in exchange for shares in MLGL.
Construction began at midnight on June 1, 1931. In what is to this day considered to be a remarkable accomplishment, the Gardens was constructed in five months and two weeks at a cost of C$1.5 million. Team owner Harold Ballard lived in the owner's suite built into the arena's top northeast corner; the Gardens opened on November 1931, with the Maple Leafs losing 2 -- 1 to the Chicago Blackhawks. Reported attendance on opening night was 13,542; the Leafs would go on to win their first Stanley Cup as the Maple Leafs that season. The first professional wrestling show at the Gardens was held on November 19, 1931 and attracted 15,800 people to see world champion Jim Londos in the main event; the show was promoted by Jack Corcoran, who passed the reins to Frank Tunney and his Maple Leaf Wrestling promotion in 1939. Under Tunney and the Gardens was for decades a thriving centre for professional wrestling. Local hero Whipper Billy Watson became the city's top wrestling attraction in the 1950s; the last WWE-promoted event to be held at Maple Leaf Gardens was on September 17, 1995.
Boxing was a regular offering at the Gardens for many years. The first world title bout in the building was on September 19, 1932, with bantamweight champion Panama Al Brown knocking out challenger Émile Pladner in the first round. Winston Churchill addressed a large audience at the Gardens in March 1932. Victory Loan rallies were held at the Gardens during World War II. On November 1, 1946, Maple Leaf Gardens was the site of the first game in the history of the Basketball Association of America, with the Toronto Huskies playing the New York Knickerbockers
Canada
