Hockey Day in Canada brings back colorful memories

Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada is Saturday, with all seven Canada-based NHL teams playing, with plenty of events and activations taking place in Moncton, New Brunswick. Sportsnet will have full coverage of the day starting at 1 p.m. ET and going all the way until 2 a.m. ET.

To celebrate the day, NHL.com columnist Dave Stubbs takes a look back at some memorable moments that took place on Jan. 17 through the years.

Edouard “Newsy” Lalonde, the Montreal Canadiens playing coach, scored the opening goal Jan. 17, 1920, in his team’s 3-2 home-ice victory against the visiting Ottawa Senators -- the original incarnation of the franchise.

The flashy forward also was tagged with a minor and a major penalty by referee Lou Marsh, the latter for cross-checking Ottawa’s Punch Broadbent.

But that was only part of the story. A railing in Mount Royal Arena’s east-end bleachers collapsed during the second period, spilling dozens of leaning spectators into the boxes below.

Montreal’s Mount Royal Arena in a 2009 Upper Deck card, issued for the Canadiens’ Centennial season, and Edouard “Newsy” Lalonde, in a 1910-11 National Hockey Association Canadiens postcard produced by Sweet Caporal cigarettes.

“Although human beings were scattered all over the arena beneath the break, no one was seriously injured. The game was stopped for 10 minutes while police and attendants cleared away the wreckage,” read a wire-service report of the incident.

“One man had his glasses broken and another had his coat torn from his shoulders,” another report said.

Fast forward 76 years to Jan. 17, 1996, the Canadiens visiting Ottawa-suburban Kanata for the gala opening of the second-edition Senators’ new Palladium (today the Canadian Tire Centre), defeating the home team 3-0.

Happily, the arena remained intact throughout.

Part of the Ottawa Citizen’s Jan. 18, 1996, coverage of the Senators’ first game at the Palladium, a 3-0 loss to the Montreal Canadiens the night before.

The two rivals will lock up again in Ottawa three decades to the night of that curtain-raiser, the Canadiens and Senators among the seven Canada-based teams in action on Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada (7 p.m. ET, TVAS, CITY, SNE).

The Calgary Flames will be home to a U.S.-based opponent, playing the New York Islanders at Scotiabank Saddledome (3 p.m. ET, CBC, TVAS, SN, MSGSN).

Two other all-Canada matchups will see the Toronto Maple Leafs in Winnipeg to face the Jets at Canada Life Centre (7 p.m. ET, CBC, SNO, SNW, SNP) and the Edmonton Oilers on the road in Vancouver to play the Canucks at Rogers Arena (10 p.m. ET, CBC, TVAS, SN, CITY).

In Winnipeg, at least the Maple Leafs won’t have to worry about Roy “Shrimp” Worters. The 5-foot-3, 135-pound Toronto-native New York Americans goalie played much larger than his size Jan. 17, 1932, blanking Toronto 4-0 at Madison Square Garden.

New York Americans goalie Roy “Shrimp” Worters in an early 1930s portrait outside Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens, and the Toronto Globe and Mail’s report of Worters’ Jan. 17, 1932 shutout win against the Maple Leafs.

No matter who the Maple Leafs face, the Jets goalie will be no shrimp, at least 10 inches taller and 55 pounds heavier than the late Worters; Connor Hellebuyck is 6-4, 207, Eric Comrie measuring 6-1, 190.

The Canadiens and Maple Leafs logically have played more Jan. 17 games than Canada’s other five NHL teams, Montreal and Toronto charter members of the League that was born in 1917.

In 50 games, the Canadiens have won 29, lost 14 and tied seven, the Maple Leafs having played 46 with 17 wins, 22 losses, six ties and one overtime loss.

Harvey “Busher” Jackson at home in Toronto during the 1936-37 season, and in a Maple Leafs portrait during his 1931-32 Stanley Cup and Art Ross Trophy-winning season.

Rounding out the country on Jan. 17:

Calgary (22 games played): Nine wins, seven losses, four ties, two overtime losses; Vancouver (19): 8-7-1-3; Edmonton (14): 8-4-1-1; Winnipeg (11): 4-5-1-1; Ottawa (10): 5-4-0-1.

The Canadiens were the historic first opponent for the Senators in their new arena in 1996, Ottawa moving from the shoebox-sized downtown Civic Centre to the 18,500-seat Palladium.

Montreal goalie Jocelyn Thibault turned aside all 26 shots for the shutout. Andrei Kovalenko and Martin Rucinsky scored second-period goals, and Vincent Damphousse hit Ottawa’s empty net with 1:04 left to play.

Jacques Plante suiting up and with his historic mask in the Montreal Canadiens dressing room in 1959-60, the season he wore his mask in a game for the first time. Plante was born Jan. 17, 1929.

The game began with a half-hour ceremony, the Senators raising banners to celebrate Stanley Cup championships won by the Ottawa Silver Seven between 1903-06, then the inaugural Senators in 1909, 1911, 1920, 1921, 1923 and 1927.

The Palladium had growing pains, to be sure. The Canadiens complained about slow and uneven ice and dead boards, long since repaired, and winches jammed before the ceremonial banners reached the ceiling.

But there were some entertaining touches. A dozen drummers appeared as Roman centurions, and when a stretch limousine pulled out on to the ice, the emerging surprise guest was Spartacat, the Senators mascot.

The Canadiens spoiled the evening for the home side with the shutout win, avenging their loss to Ottawa of three years earlier at the Civic Centre when the Senators scored a 5-3 victory in the first game of the reborn franchise.

Detroit Red Wings captain Gordie Howe, with (from left) Warren Godfrey, Bert Olmstead, Terry Sawchuk and Red Kelly on Feb. 28, 1959 at Maple Leaf Gardens. Howe played his one and only game on defense Jan. 17, 1959.

For the Senators (8-34-1), the Jan. 17, 1996, loss was their eighth in a row and 29th in their previous 32 games.

This year’s Hockey Day in Canada marks the 97th anniversary of the birth of a legendary “Original Six”-era star -- goaltending pioneer Jacques Plante, a six-time Stanley Cup champion with Montreal and a seven-time Vezina Trophy winner, was born Jan. 17, 1929, in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec.

During his 837-game career that spanned 1952-73 with the Canadiens, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues, Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins, Plante played five times on his birthday, winning four times with a tie.

Forward Harvey “Busher” Jackson, who played with the Maple Leafs, then the Bruins, was born in Toronto on Jan. 17, 1911. The 1931-32 Art Ross Trophy winner for most regular season points, Jackson was posthumously elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1971, seven years before Plante was enshrined.

Chicago Black Hawks goalie Glenn Hall in a team portrait. At right, “Mr. Goalie” receives a gold stick from Black Hawks president Gene Metz in honor of his 500th consecutive game (including Stanley Cup Playoffs) on Nov. 17, 1962 at Chicago Stadium.

Jackson was one-third of the famous “Kid Line” with Charlie Conacher and Joe Primeau that sparked the Maple Leafs to the 1932 Stanley Cup, Toronto’s first championship since 1921-22, when the franchise was known as the St. Patricks.

Legendary Gordie Howe made personal history Jan. 17, 1959, when he played his one and only game on defense for Detroit, the injury-riddled Red Wings in desperate need on the blue line. Not surprisingly, Mr. Hockey played an excellent game at an unlikely position in a 2-1 loss to the Maple Leafs in Toronto.

“This was purely an emergency move on the part of Detroit coach Sid Abel,” wrote Toronto Star columnist Jim Proudfoot. “With Red Kelly on the hospital list, Gus Mortson gone to New York Rangers for the $15,000 waiver price and young Gord Strate very shaky as a fill-in, the drooping Wings were very, very weak back on the blue line.”

Abel dropped Howe to defense on the penalty kill, then full time in the third period, Mr. Hockey also taking regular shifts at right wing with center Alex Delvecchio and left wing Norm Ullman.

From left: Marian, Peter and Anton Stastny prior to a 1982 game at Le Colisee in Quebec City.

“We’ve always known Gordie will be a great defenseman when he slows up too much to continue at right wing,” said Abel, though that never happened. “He hasn’t slowed up that much yet but we happened to need him there tonight.

“This is the first time we’ve used him on a regular defense shift and he was the best defenseman on the ice. He was the only one who hit anybody, too. He shook up (Frank) Mahovlich and (Bert) Olmstead.”

Three years later at Chicago Stadium, the Black Hawks honored ironman goalie Glenn Hall of Humboldt, Saskatchewan for his 500th consecutive game in goal (regular season and playoffs), but it didn’t end well for Mr. Goalie against the visiting Canadiens. Montreal thumped the Black Hawks 7-3 on Jan. 17, 1962, Hall admitting that the ceremony was a distraction.

The date was happier for three forwards:

In 1982, Quebec Nordiques rookie Marian Stastny scored a goal with four assists, his brother Peter Stastny adding a goal and three assists in a 7-5 win against the Jets in Winnipeg. Paul MacLean scored twice for the Jets in a 12-second span in the first period.

Steve Yzerman of the Detroit Red Wings and Jari Kurri of the Edmonton Oilers with the Stanley Cup in 1998 and 1987.

In 1987, Edmonton’s Jari Kurri scored two goals and added five assists to give him 700 career points in the Oilers’ 7-4 road win against Toronto.

And in 1996, Steve Yzerman of the Red Wings became the 22nd player in NHL history to score 500 career goals, his milestone coming in Detroit’s 3-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Joe Louis Arena. Yzerman, a native of Cranbrook, British Columbia, joined Howe as the second Red Wings player to reach No. 500.

“Simply happiness,” Yzerman would say of his feat. “I was really happy to have the whole thing over with. I didn’t feel relieved at all. I’ve enjoyed the excitement towards it and attention that came with it. It’s something I really enjoyed.”

Yzerman scored his historic goal with a backhand over the shoulder of fellow future Hall of Famer Patrick Roy, in goal for the Avalanche.

Roy will be in Calgary on 2026 Hockey Day in Canada, behind the bench Saturday coaching the Islanders. Yzerman will have a rare Saturday night off, Detroit home to the visiting Senators on Sunday (5 p.m. ET, FDSNDET, TSN5, RDS2).

Top photo: In a picture-perfect Canadiana scene, a player practices on an outdoor shinny rink before the start of the next tournament game during the seventh annual 2016 Lake Louise Pond Hockey Classic on Lake Louise, Alberta.