'67: The Maple Leafs, Their Sensational Victory, and the End of an Empire [Paperback]

The Toronto Maple Leafs are a long, storied member of the NHL as one of the "original six" franchises, but their history in recent decades shows a futility that is starting to close in on the one known by Ranger fans like me for many years until 1994 (only Chicago has gone longer without a Cup). The last Toronto Cup came in 1967, which not completely coincidentally was the last year of the "Original Six" era of the NHL before the onslaught of expansion, and it is about this team that this book is chiefly concerned with.

The approach by Cox and Stellick is quite interesting. Chapters on the individual games of the playoffs are interspersed with a deeper look at the players of this team and their careers before and after 67, as well as the general history of the Leafs itself during this time and how things were not well in the ranks of management with poor decision making by GM-Coach Punch Imlach that in effect gutted the team's future, as well as the misdeeds of co-owners Stafford Smythe and Harold Ballard that also helped run the team into the ground in the years that followed. Cox and Stellick also recount the details of sordid tales of sexual abuse by Maple Leaf Gardens employees that weren't known for decades, that was also sadly part of the fabric of this last era of winning hockey in Toronto.

About the only quibble I have with the book is their whitewash of disgraced Players Union head Alan Eagleson, whom they interviewed in regards to his role in trying to form the union at the time. It almost seemed like that in order to talk to Eagleson for this book, they had to promise to go easy on him regarding his later disgrace and frankly that doesn't speak too well of them. Aside from that, this book is the best I have ever seen that offers some well-written insight into what the NHL was like in the last years of the Original Six era, and even the casual hockey fan should be able to enjoy it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and had particular appreciation for the attention that was paid to the Maple Leaf goaltenders from that time, all of whom had remarkable journeys. The only thing that made me hesitate from granting the fifth star was what has been opined before in these reviews...a glossing over of the crimes of Alan Eagleson.

Still, this is a great read, and a must-have for anyone who loved the Original Six.

Damien Cox and Gord Stellick are both well-known within the hockey world, and both are intimately associated with the Leafs (Cox as one of the country's top 3 newspaper columnists based in Toronto, Stellick a former GM and current broadcaster). However, neither of these men are blatent "fans" of the team (unlike, for example, Don Cherry), so this book reads as impartial and balanced. In fact, while praising most of the players, the authors are downright critical of the management of the team. The overall thesis of the book is that the Leafs win in '67 caused the team's administration to remain buried in outdated managerial styles, when the game was fundamentally changing.

Basically, this book is more about the seismic shift in hockey that took place in the late '60s. Bobby Orr was revolutionising the position of defense, Alan Eagleson took up the union torch that Ted Lindsay failed to light, and the league doubled in size (which also caused teams to start looking to Europe for players). Against this backdrop, the Leafs were the last of the old-time teams. Management (and some players) was bitterly opposed to the union. In addition, corruption and nepotism surrounded the team, especially with regards to the junior system (the Rochester Americans farm team was more profitable than the Leafs, so that team was sometimes stacked at the expense of the Leafs). It is the conclusion that the Leafs management - especially Ballard, Stafford Smythe, and coach/GM Punch Imlach - destroyed the Leafs proud heritage through hubris and occasionally criminal activity, from which the team has yet to fully recover.

The book does, of course, cover the Stanley Cup playoffs for the '66-67 season on a game-by-game bases (the Leafs played 12 games in total), which act as chapter intermissions. The book jumps around in time and location, but generally each chapter focusses on some aspect of the Leafs or the hockey world in general. For example, there is a chapter on the family connections (the Conacher, Smythes, Imlachs, etc), one on the union, one on the defense corps. Certainly all the players on that team are given some space. The standard Leaf tidbits are also included - the story of Tim Horton's coffee/doughnut shop and his car-accident death, the story of Baun's overtime goal on a broken leg, etc. But most interesting are the lesser-known facts, e.g. how Bobby Orr was passed over by Imlach as an insignificant teenager.

However, all told, the book really just uses the Leafs team of '66-67 to describe the way the hockey world changed when expansion arrived. The book is better for it, and that is what makes it a valuable addition for any hockey fan, not just Leafs fans.