Unidentified Leafs Photo #8

Here's another great old image from the archives of Vintage Sports Images here in North Van. This one is a great action shot of the Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins. In net for the Leafs is obviously Johnny Bower, but who are the rest of the guys?
At first glance, the #19 Leaf appears to be Kent Douglas and checking the photo records it sure seems so. Also, Toronto wore this specific uniform with the bordered Leaf logo from 1963/64 through 1966/67. Douglas was the only player to wear #19 in that period.
As for the Bruins #19, the only ones to wear it over this time frame were Doug Mohns, Reggie Fleming and John McKenzie. Pie McKenzie was a right-shooter and the guy in the photo is not Doug Mohns. It has to be Reggie Fleming in 1965/66 as he was traded to the Rangers on January 10, 1966 for...McKenzie.
Doug Mohns
Reg Fleming
So, if it's 65/66 we can now easily visually identify the Bruin in the back as Tommy Williams using various photo databases. Williams was a member of the USA Olympic squad that took the Gold Medal in 1960.
Tommy Williams
The Bruins hosted the Leafs in 65/66 three times prior to Fleming being traded and Bower played only two of them (Nov 14 and Dec 19). The one other difference between these two games was the referee. Art Skov worked the November game, Bill Friday the December one. In the background of this photo, along the boards we see referee...Bill Friday. 
This means that the photo is from Sunday, December 19, 1965; a game won by Toronto by a score of 3-1 with Bower making 28 of 29 saves. Boxscore is here.


Comments

dsd said…
How are you accessing game summaries on NHL.com? I've been using http://hsp.flyershistory.com but it is incomplete.
November 24, 2017 at 7:00 AM
Nitzy said…
You have to go into the Scores tab on NHL.com, then click the date and the option to switch years/decades comes up. It is so user UNfriendly, it's sad...but the game sheets are in there.
November 26, 2017 at 10:32 AM
Ian said…
Just by looking at the photo, I can also confirm the identities are all correct.
June 30, 2023 at 8:59 AM
Live Laugh Love Sing said…
Loved reading this, thanks
October 26, 2023 at 2:21 AM
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