A Great Rivalry

Over the weekend, Detroit and Toronto continued their long rivalry with back-to-back games. The first contest took place at Toronto's Air Canada Centre.

While watching on TV, I thought back to previous battles involving these two teams.

The last time they met in a Stanley Cup final was in 1964. A seventh and deciding game was necessary after Bobby Baun scored in overtime in game six. Baun scored his most famous goal while skating on one wonky leg. As Baun described in his autobiography, he had "broken a small bone on the outside of my leg, just above the ankle." The injury took place in the third period of game six.

In game seven, Andy Bathgate's first period goal on a breakaway was the game winner in Toronto's 4-0 Stanley Cup victory.

Also, while viewing the weekend encounters, I noticed that Detroit's captain and assistant captains place their letters, "C" & "A", on the right side of their sweaters.

As shown in the above photo of Red Kelly, this tradition dates back to the 1950s.

And somehow, I think Detroit's placement of their letters of honour had an influence on me when I played minor league hockey.

While Detroit chose the right side and the other clubs went the traditional route by sewing the "C" & "A" on the left, I put mine square in the middle!