Hi, this is Fred Wallace with ” Off the Wire “,….. proudly sponsored by Pete’s Auto Body.
Pete’s Auto Body; because we care about our community….
How about some ” Today in History ” as it pertains to Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada, which certainly is reviving the hockey memories and stories in these parts.
Owen Sound will be the host center for Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada which is set for January 26th-29th and will feature four days of hockey-oriented festivities along with the city being the national broadcast headquarters for 13 hours of NHL games broadcast January 29th on Sportsnet & CBC.
To that end I got a call one morning last week spinning a tale about an Owen Sound hockey player named Norm Armstrong, or Norm ” Red ” Armstrong.
Armstrong has been dead for almost 50 years but I’ve known his sister, Sandy Simpson, almost from Day 1 in Owen Sound, and while I knew Norm was a prominent hockey player, I never heard the tale of his first NHL goal.
Called up from the Toronto Maple Leafs’ farm team at Rochester for a game against the Boston Bruins on this date, December 15th, 1962, Red Armstrong sat, and sat, on the Toronto bench.
The story goes that Toronto coach Punch Imlach called for him to take a shift, yelling ” Red “, only to see Red Kelly jump on the ice and not the Owen Sound product
Later Imlach yelled again, calling ” Armstrong “, but George Armstrong, not Norm, responded and took the ice for Toronto.
Finally, Owen Sound’s Norm ” Red ” Armstrong got out for Toronto and at 15:18 of the 3rd period in what was an 8-2 romp for the Leafs, he scored for Toronto.
The remarkable aspect is that the Owen Sounder had been on the ice for 13 seconds and scored in his NHL debut.
What’s interesting is that if you Google ” Fastest Goal in an NHL debut ” the Internet will tell you it’s Alexander Mogilny, scoring 20 seconds into his debut with the Buffalo Sabres on October 5th, 1989.
According to people in these parts, the Internet is incorrect, and the fastest goal ever scored by a player in his NHL debut is Norm ” Red ” Armstrong of Owen Sound.
I think we’re going to love Scotiabank Hockey Day in Owen Sound.
For Pete’s Auto Body, I’m Fred Wallace.