The first time I ever saw an NHL game live, I was 10 years old.
March Break, 1971, Toronto Maple Leafs 3 New York Rangers 1 at Maple Leaf Gardens.
You never forget.
Five years later, I saw my second game at the Gardens; New York Islanders 3 Toronto Maple Leafs 2.
I got thinking about that second junket last week when Steve Lowe, his daughter Stephanie ( the best cruiser driver we’ve ever had by the way ), Ray Mckelvie & I went to the Air Canada Center to see the Leafs host the Islanders.
It struck me as strange that back in 1976, the Leafs-Islanders game featured Darryl Sittler, Lanny MacDonald & Borje Salming for Toronto while Denis Potvin, Bryan Trottier & Clark Gillies played for the Islanders.
Six of the best hockey players of their era, all on the same sheet of ice in 1976.
Sadly, there’s likely to be no such flow of Hall of Famers out of the game we saw last week.
It was neat to see Attack alumni Joshua Bailey & Phil Oreskovich play, but otherwise, we all agreed it was a dog of a game.
The goaltending was iffy and the game winning goal, in overtime no less, was produced by a turnover you wouldn’t expect or accept from the Quik Lube Novices.
Still, almost as sadly, I loved the experience, a game in the big leagues in the biggest and best venue in the province.
Must have been the company.
I’m Fred Wallace