This Day In Hockey History-June 17, 2011-Heroics put an end to a long, unpredictable journey for Tim Thomas

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Tim Thomas was never the Golden Boy. You kidding? He didn’t start a game in the NHL until he was 28 and he didn’t become anyone’s regular goalie until he was 31. Until very recently, he would have been recognized on the street in Finland more readily than in downtown Boston. …

This Day In Hockey History-June 16, 1977-WHA clubs perform annual draft ritual

TORONTO (CP) – The World Hockey Association may or may not operate as an independent league next season, but if it does it will be ready to do battle with the National Hockey League for some of the best graduates of amateur ranks. The nine WHA teams still in existence after the demise of Phoenix …

This Day In Hockey History-June 15, 2011-Boston Bruins Win the Stanley Cup

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The Boston Bruins had waited 39 years for another drink from the Stanley Cup, and Tim Thomas was awfully thirsty. When the Bruins and their brilliant goalie barged into a hostile Canadian rink surrounded by another 100,000 screaming fans outside for Game 7, they emerged with the championship they wanted. Thomas …

This Day In Hockey History-June 14, 1994-Rangers Win the Stanley Cup, Kiss the Curse Goodbye

NEW YORK — Mark Messier kissed th^ Stanley Cup as more than 18,000 long-suffering Rangers fans danced in the aisles of Madison Square Garden. They broke into a gleeful chorus of what only teasing opposition fans had chanted in the past.“1940, 1940, 1940, 1940.” Then, in the dressing room, New York’s 54-year-old championship curse was …

This Day In Hockey History-June 13, 2000-Claude Lemieux, Rick Tocchet, Mark Messier Left Unprotected, Don’t Expect Wild, Blue Jackets to Bite

Doug MacLean chose a doughnut shop in Edmunston, N.B., in the middle of the night to pour over lists of players to be made available in the NHL expansion draft next week to his new Columbus, Ohio, team. “I was driving my family back to the cottage in Prince Edward Island and we’d stopped but …

This Day In Hockey History-June 10, 1971-Lafleur, Dionne taken first in 1971 NHL Draft

MONTREAL (CP) — Guy Lafleur, the explosive right-winger from Quebec Rem parts of the Quebec Junior A Hockey League, today had the honor to be the first player picked in the National Hockey League’s 1971 amateur draft Lafleur, who scored 130 goals in 62 regular season games last year, was grabbed by the Stanley Cup …

This Day In Hockey History-June 8, 2011-Cam Neely Still Black and Gold, a quarter-century later

Neely has gone from power forward to president BOSTON — You’re 21, and life is good. You get to play in front of friends and family for the team you rooted for as a kid. And then one day — 25 years ago Monday, in fact — they call you in and say, “Pack up, …

This Day In Hockey History-June 6, 2007-Memory of past MVP victory leaves Ducks’ Giguere Conn Smythe-shy

It has been four years since Jean-Sebastien Giguere won the Conn Smythe Trophy, and the Anaheim Ducks goaltender’s outstanding memory of it was that it felt lousy. So when the media horde descended on the Honda Center after the charter flight from hell on Tuesday afternoon, and began bandying candidates’ names about for the Stanley …

This Day In Hockey History-June 3, 1970-Oakland Seals Steal the Spotlight

Those Oakland Seals, the unloved waifs of the National Hockey League, have suddenly been thrust into the forefront of the league’s annual meetings June 8-11. Highlight of the meetings will be the expansion draft to stock Vancouver Canucks and Buffalo Sabres. Both clubs enter the NHL next season for a $6 million entry fee each. …

This Day In Hockey History-May 29, 2018- Great One Wayne Gretzky Recalls Greatest Game

For Gretzky, his greatest game is frozen in time Third Period Hat Trick by Gretzky Put Kings in Stanley Cup Final. The details come back to Wayne Gretzky as if he just finished a shift at old Maple Leaf Gardens. The passion is in his voice, the memories still glowing. To listen to him talk …