Meeker-Stanowski goal-scoring mystery remains unsolved after 77 years

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 each Wednesday.

This week, Stan focuses on a bizarre game at Maple Leaf Gardens 77 years ago this week. World War II hero Howie Meeker scored a personal hat trick in the 1946-47 season. He played for a Stanley Cup winner, won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year, and set a record for first-year players by scoring five goals in a single game against the Chicago Black Hawks on Jan. 8, 1947.

Meeker's quintet of red lights made headlines, except one teammate called his feat a fraud. This remark led to a seven-decade unsolved mystery.

Howie Meeker nearly lost his legs from an accidental grenade blast during World War II, yet somehow, he survived. Serving in the Canadian Army's engineering corps, he helped repair bridges spanning the Rhine River and returned to Toronto a hero looking for a job.

Another war hero, Maj. Conn Smythe, also returned to Toronto, where he regained his post as principal owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"One of my first challenges," Smythe said, "was to rebuild our hockey club. I had to get rid of the older guys and bring in youngsters."

One of them was Meeker, whose prewar hockey credentials were less than eye-catching. Somehow, he impressed Maple Leafs coach Hap Day and gained a place on the starting roster.

In his autobiography, "Golly Gee It's Me," Meeker explained how he lived his fantasy.

"For a 22-year-old guy just back from overseas," he wrote, "it was a hell of a thrill to gain a spot with the Leafs. Fellows like Syl Apps, Turk Broda and Bob Goldham were people I listened to and watched play all my life."

Excited for other reasons, 28-year-old defenseman Wally Stanowski knew he'd have to battle for one of the four openings at the position. Having played on Stanley Cup winners in 1942 and 1945, Stanowski still had to worry about Smythe's accent on youth.

"The old man (Smythe) was discouraged when we missed the (Stanley Cup Playoffs) in 1946," Stanowski remembered, "and I was part of that losing team. I knew that I could get cut the same as our past heroes like Sweeny Schriner and Lorne Carr. I was concerned about how things would go."

What neither could imagine was a record-breaking game involving both would lead to a lifelong feud. It also would ignite a never-to-be-resolved dispute about two of the five goals "scored" by Meeker on that memorable night.

On Jan. 8, 1947, 77 years ago this week, the Maple Leafs general staff headed by Smythe and Day was all smiles. Neither anticipated that a team top-heavy with young, inexperienced players would be challenging the Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens for first place.

Toronto's opponent that frigid January night would be the bottom-feeding Chicago Black Hawks. By that time, Meeker had become a fixture at right wing on the second line. His sidekicks included center and future Hockey Hall of Famer Ted Kennedy and left wing Vic Lynn, but Lynn did not play that night after he sustained severe lacerations in a fight with Chicago's Red Hamill in a previous game. His replacement was left wing Joe Klukay, Meeker's longtime pal from their junior hockey days together.

For the 12,000-plus fans at Maple Leaf Gardens, the game was a laugher, a 10-4 romp for the home team. Meeker's five goals tied an NHL rookie record shared by Harry Hyland (1917-18), Joe Malone (three times in 1917-18) and Mickey Roach (1919-20) -- and equaled by Don Murdoch in 1976-77 -- and turned him into a veritable rock star for that era.

But for Stanowski, that game was more grief than an easy two-pointer. Wally was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that two of Meeker's five red lamps were lit by him. Here's how what became a bitter lifetime dispute unfolded:

The first controversial goal was credited to Meeker at 3:41 of the first period after Max Bentley put Chicago ahead 1-0. Stanowski's shot beat goalie Paul Bibeault but appeared to carom off Meeker before crossing the goal line.

"If it hit me and it did go in, then it's my goal," Meeker said.

Since there was no video replay in those days, referee George Gravel ruled it was Stanowski's goal and there was no beef from Meeker at the time.

Said Meeker: "Stanowski shot the puck from their blue line, and I was in a crowd at the front of the net. The puck went in between my legs and when it did, I gave it a tap into the goal."

Not according to Stanowski. In January 2015, he told Joe O'Connor of the National Post his version.

"The puck went in, and I came back to the bench," he said. "Hap Day, our coach, tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'We are going to give that one to Meeker.'

"They were lying. They were building Meeker up for the rookie award. Eventually he won it, with the five goals there, he made it."

Official scorer Bill Graham agreed that there was no definitive way of knowing who had the goal. Asked about the indecision a few days after the game, he explained, "The carom shots made it hard to see who actually did the scoring."

It remained a close game into the second when Meeker's line again was in action. Stanowski unleashed a shot that beat Bibeault at 15:28. It seemed to be Meeker's 13th goal of the season.

Or was it? Stanowski didn't think so.

"That second goal that I scored took a funny hop," Stanowski said. "It hit the ice a couple of times ... and then it went in. And they also gave that one to Meeker."

What further heated the controversy was that at the end of the second period, Day entered the scorer's room. He told Graham that the goals originally given to Stanowski be switched to Meeker, so they were.

Although the seesaw spat had the potential to cause dissension among the Maple Leafs, nothing of the kind took place. Meeker was adamant about that in an interview with CTV News in 2015.

"All we were worried about in those days was getting enough goals to win the hockey game," he said.

To the astonishment of most critics, the Maple Leafs finished second to the Canadiens and won their first of three straight Stanley Cup championships and four in five years. Meeker helped set up Bill Barilko's Cup-winning goal 2:53 into overtime of Game 5 of the 1951 Final and became a four-time champion.

By contrast, Stanowski, who played for Toronto's Cup winners in 1942, '45, '47 and '48, was traded to the New York Rangers with defenseman Moe Morris for forwards Cal Gardner and Rene Trudel, and defensemen Bill Juzda and Frank Mathers on April 26, 1948.

As for those two missing goals, Stanowski never stopped claiming that they belonged to him. He told me that and even at age 95, he was hoping that the NHL would reverse the box score in his favor.

"I'd like to see those goals back," he told CTV's Scott Laurie. "I think they should have corrected it a long time ago."

Interviewed at the age of 91, Meeker was conciliatory and offered to have the disputed goals given to Stanowski. In Jack Batten's book, "The Leafs of Autumn," he claimed that the furor never would have gained traction had it not been for Coach Day.

"On the bench, I told Hap that I had put Stanowski's two goals in and Hap -- a real heck of a man -- got the scoring changed to me," Meeker said. "That second goal hit my leg and bounced past the goalie."

Then, after a pause: "Three good ones and two others, and they all look the same on paper!"

Sorry, pal, but not to Wally Stanowski, who died in Toronto at 96 on June 28, 2015. Howie Meeker was 97 when he died in Nanaimo, British Columbia, on Nov. 8, 2020.

And so, the 77-year-old mystery lives on, unlikely ever to be solved!