Smythe provided Maple Leafs with inspiration in 1942 Final despite ban

Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insight with readers every Wednesday.

This week, Fischler recalls a rare behind- the-scenes story of Toronto Maple Leafs patriarch Conn Smythe and a bizarre situation in the 1942 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Toronto Maple Leafs founder Conn Smythe was a decorated World War I hero and was 44 years old when Canada entered World War II in 1941. Although he was considered too old to fight again in Europe, the patriotic sportsman chose to enlist once more.

"If I wouldn't fight for my country, who would?" Smythe asked.

True to his word, in 1941 Smythe formed a "Sportsmen's Battery." His son Stafford joined the Canadian Navy, on convoy escort duty on the Atlantic Coast.

Once the 1941-42 NHL season started, the Maple Leafs emerged as a prime Stanley Cup contender. Wheeling and dealing -- something Smythe did so well --they boasted a roster full of star players.

Captain Syl Apps was one of the best centers in the League. Lorne Carr and Sweeney Schriner -- both acquired from the New York Americans -- were among the top forwards. Billy Taylor was a talented young center.

The defensemen, anchored by Bucko McDonald and Bingo Kampman. were formidable in front of legendary goalie Turk Broda. Hap Day, a Stanley Cup champion with the Maple Leafs in 1932, was the coach and doing a good job of it.

So, Smythe felt confident when he turned to his military duties.

"I was leaving Hap with a pretty good hockey team," Smythe later recalled. "And in the previous summer, I'd signed some promising rookies, defenseman Bob Goldham and Ernie Dickens and Johnny McCreedy up front."

While he finished his military training at the Canadian Army camp in Petawawa, Ontario, Smythe turned the Maple Leafs front office operation over to Frank Selke, Bill MacBrien and Ed Bickle. Each was not particularly fond of Smythe, and the feeling was mutual.

In his autobiography, "If You Can't Beat 'Em In The Alley," Smythe said he believed they were undermining him. When Smythe heard about deals they were planning behind his back, he was furious.

"I asked them, 'My God, don't you wait until the corpse stops breathing?' I never saw anybody so anxious to get rid of a man as those three were to get rid of me," Smythe shared. "I felt that I was finished with the Leafs, not only for now, but forever."

But there wasn't much Smythe could do. He had been commissioned a Major and could only view his club's adventures from afar. The Maple Leafs finished a solid second in the 1941-42 regular season, only three points behind the League-leading New York Rangers.

In the playoff semi-finals, Toronto eliminated New York and the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Boston Bruins. The Maple Leafs were the favorites in the best-of-7 Final.

Orchestrated by Smythe's long-time rival Jack Adams, the Red Wings stunned the Maple Leafs by winning the first three games -- 3-2, 4-2, and 5-2. It was then that coach Day phoned Smythe and revealed a severe shakeup.

"Hap told me he was going to bench our leading scorer Gordie Drillon and our best defenseman Bucko McDonald," Smythe remembered. "Meanwhile, I was suffering plenty from a distance."

Day's strategy worked and the Maple Leafs won three straight to even the series -- 4-3, 9-3, and 3-0. The decisive Game 7 at Maple Leaf Gardens on April, 18, 1942 drew 16,218, the largest crowd to attend a hockey game in Canada up until that time.

One of the spectators was Major Smythe, who was on leave from his Battalion at Petawawa. If Smythe had expected a royal welcome from those now running the team, he was sadly mistaken.

"They welcomed me," Smythe told his biographer Scott Young, "the way a skunk is welcomed at a garden party. As for Bickle, we'd never got along. His welcome that night was to bar me from the Leafs' dressing room!"

Furious over being banned from the clubhouse that he'd previously ruled, Smythe was determined to bypass Bickle's order and deliver a speech to his players. When he told Day that he was forbidden to enter the room, the coach exploded.

"I'll punch Bickle in the face," Day said. "When you talk to them (the players), they go out only touching the floor every third step."

Detroit led 1-0 at the end of the second period and were 20 minutes from winning the Stanley Cup. Dismissing Bickle's edict, Smythe entered the Maple Leafs dressing room. He had studied the ebb and flow of the game and decided that the pace had slowed down.

Here's how Smythe described his inspirational talk:

"I walked over to the corner where old Sweeney Schriner and old Lorne Carr and young Billy Taylor were. I gave it to them hard, one at time, and then all three. Sweeney looked up at me with a grin. 'What ya' worrying about, boss? We'll get you a couple of goals.'

"Sweeney then went out and scored the tying goal. Pete Langelle got the winner and Sweeney put in another as insurance. The final score was 3-1. I went out and got back on the train and returned to Petawawa."

The Maple Leafs completed the comeback from 3-0 down and had won the Stanley Cup.

Toronto Telegram columnist Ted Reeve was in Smythe's battalion when he returned to the Army camp. In a later column, recalling Smythe's return to the base, Reeve wrote: "Conn came back feeling so good we got away with only two hours gun drill and the route march was cut down to 10 miles!"