Slowly rebuilding my jersey hoarding, this one particular piece barely cost me anything - except time for that matter. Today's jersey entry is
Frank Mahovlich of the
Toronto Maple Leafs. One of the greatest left wingers of all time, it seemed like a natural selection to own this jersey. This was the style they wore en route to their
1967 Stanley Cup Championship.
This jersey was picked up in a trade and the numbers were a birthday gift from my coworker. I chose to go with
The Big M because you never see too many of them around. Other players in mind were
Dave Keon,
Johnny Bower,
Tim Horton, and
Terry Sawchuk.
This style was first introduced for the 1967 playoffs and remained on the front until 1970. It was revived onto the uniforms as the third jersey for the
Toronto Maple Leafs in 2011.
Shortly after acquiring the jersey, I picked up this custom
New Era fitted that goes perfectly well with the colours.
Born in
Timmins, ON,
Francis William Mahovlich officially joined the
Toronto Maple Leafs for the 1957-1958 season scoring
20 goals and
16 assists for a
36 point rookie campaign and earning him the
Calder Trophy as the
NHL's best rookie. Next season in 1959, he made his
first All-Star Game appearance.
In 1961, he led the league in scoring and set a
Maple Leafs franchise record with
48 goals - an accomplishment which stood for 21 years. He finished the regular season with
84 points.
In the 1961-62 season, already an offensive threat, he helped take the
Toronto Maple Leafs to the
Stanley Cup Finals. Pitted against the
Chicago Blackhawks,
Toronto took the series 4-2.
Frank Mahovlich would score
12 points in that postseason with
6 goals and
6 assists.
The
Toronto Maple Leafs would capture the
1963 and
1964 Stanley Cup Championships, proving themselves to be a powerful team that decade.
For the 1966-67 season, the
Toronto Maple Leafs made another appearance in the
Stanley Cup Finals against the
Montreal Canadiens. It was the final championship game played in the
"Original Six" era and the youthful French-Canadian squad were the heavy favourites to beat their aging Canadian rivals. However, with a
10 point performance by
Frank Mahovlich, the
Leafs captured hockey's holy grail winning the series 4-2.
Midway through the 1967-68 season, he was traded to the
Detroit Red Wings. In the 1970-71 season, he was shipped off to the
Montreal Canadiens and win the
Stanley Cup twice more. He then detracted to the
World Hockey Association for four more years before retiring in 1978.
Frank Mahovlich represented
Canada twice in his career. The first time was in the
1972 Summit Series against
USSR registering 1 goal and 1 assist. He played in the second
Summit Series in 1974 in a losing effort against the
Soviet Union.
NHL Highlights and Awards:
1181 games, 533 goals, 570 assists, Calder Trophy [1958], 6x Stanley Cup Champion [1962-64, 1967, 1971, 1973], 15x NHL All-Star [1959-74], 3x NHL First All-Star Team [1961, 1963, 1973], Hockey Hall of Fame inductee [1981], The Hockey News' 100 Greatest Players [#27].
On 3 October 2001, opening night of the regular season, the
Toronto Maple Leafs organization honoured his
#27.
Legends of Hockey: Frank Mahovlich
"If someone gave the Russians a football, they'd win the Super Bowl in two years." -
Frank Mahovlich [on the
USSR hockey team during the
1972 Summit Series]
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