Maple Leafs overcame much adversity to win Stanley Cup in 1967

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.
As the NHL regular season reaches the homestretch, Fischler turns back the calendar a half-century and recalls the Toronto Maple Leafs' wild Stanley Cup run in 1967.

Entering the 1966-67 season, the Toronto Maple Leafs were a far cry from the team that had won the Stanley Cup three consecitive seasons in the early 1960s. Manager-coach George "Punch" Imlach had his hands full taming a near mutinous crew. Meanwhile, players still fiercely loyal to the boss comprised a handful of veterans whose best days appeared to be long gone.
"Most hockey experts dismissed the Maple Leafs as too old to win in 1966-67," wrote historian Eric Zweig in his oral history "The Toronto Maple Leafs."
Toronto's last line of defense, the goalies, were ancient by NHL standards. Johnny Bower was 43 and backup Terry Sawchuk was a "youthful" 36.
The four-man defense corps included Allan Stanley, 43; Tim Horton, 37; Marcel Pronovost, 36; and Bob Baun, 30. Each was grateful to Imlach for allowing them to remain NHL regulars. But ever since winning the Cup in 1964, many other Maple Leafs players turned against the GM.
Midway through the 1966-67 season, Toronto (17-11-8) remained competitive but hardly dominating.
"No one really thought we had a chance to win the Stanley Cup," Imlach remembered. "For us, the season was down and up, but by late January it was mostly down."
The Maple Leafs lost 10 in a row from Jan. 15-Feb.8 and dropped into fifth place, out of a playoff spot. Then, on Feb. 18, Imlach suffered chest pains and wound up being hospitalized.
"There were rumors that Imlach had suffered a heart attack," Zweig wrote. "Later there was a diagnosis of a hiatus hernia. Mainly though, Imach was suffering from exhaustion."
Since no one knew when -- or even if -- Imlach would return, he was replaced by his sidekick King Clancy. A Hall of Fame defenseman, the loveable Clancy had morphed into the good cop to Imlach's bad cop.
In his autobiography, "The Big M," Frank Mahovlich blamed Imlach's harsh methods for Toronto's struggles.
"A team is like a musical instrument. You tune it up and it's as good as it gets," Mahovlich said. "If you tighten it, it will break. And that's what happened to us -- we broke. So in comes Clancy and he was the opposite to Imlach. He just let the reins go. Everybody did what came naturally."
With Clancy running the bench, the Maple Leafs won his first game, 5-3 against the Boston Bruins. It was the first of five straight wins and a 7-1-2 record after 10 games.
"I told the players that everyone would get a chance to play and that I was asking for 100 percent effort," Clancy explained.
By the time Imlach returned, the Maple Leafs were re-energized and finished third with a 32-27-11 record. That was the good news. The bad news was that Toronto's first-round opponent would be one of the best Chicago Black Hawks teams of all-time.
League leaders (41-17-12), the Black Hawks finished 19 points ahead of the Maple Leafs. Chicago was led by Bobby Hull who led the NHL with 52 goals. Center Stan Mikita also led the League with 97 points.
Imlach was unimpressed and boasted, "A good fighting club will beat a club that has superstars on it every time."
Sure enough, Toronto won two of the first four games with Sawchuk in goal. Game 5 of the best-of-7 series took place in Chicago on April 15. Imlach was in a quandary over his starting goalie.
"The fifth game is the big one," Imlach said. "If we lose it, Chicago has two chances left to beat us. Sawchuk took a lot of shots and bumps so I started Bower, who hadn't played much."
Bower was nervous and gave up a quick goal. Called to the bench, Bower told Imlach, "I don't feel too good; my stomach's jumping, but lemme at least finish the period."
Imlach agreed and the first period ended 2-2. Now it was Sawchuk's turn and within two minutes of the second period, Hull felled him with a slap shot that hit under his unprotected neck.
"It looked like he had been killed," Imlach recalled.
Trainer Bob Haggert revived the goalie and asked Sawchuk if he was all right.
"I stopped the damn shot, didn't I?" Sawchuk snapped.
Revived, Sawchuk foiled every Chicago chance, including 22 shots in the third period. Goals by Pete Stemkowski and Jim Pappin in the third cemented Toronto's 4-2 win.
"That was the turning point in the series," said Imlach.
The Maple Leafs won the series in six games and advanced to play the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Final. The Canadiens won 10 consecutive games at that point and were heavy favorites.
It looked bleak for Toronto when Montreal blitzed Sawchuk in the opener 6-2.
Bower, who had relieved Sawchuk in the third period, started Game 2 and shut out the Canadiens 3-0.
In Game 3, Bower performed an excellent encore, making 60 saves in a double overtime 3-2 Toronto victory. Bower was set to start Game 4, but the goalie pulled a groin muscle during warmup and Sawchuk was pressed into service. The Canadiens won 6-2 to even the best-of-7 series again.
Sawchuk turned it around after Game 4 and the Maple Leafs went on to shockingly win the Cup after a 4-1 win in Game 5 and a 3-1 victory in the sixth game.
The jubilant Imlach, who captured his fourth Stanley Cup championship, called it "The most satisfying I ever won."
Still, it was Pronovost who said it best for Sawchuk, Bower and the other weary veterans who had overcome that 10-game losing streak and various regular-season struggles: "Us old warhorses are better in a longer race!"