News — hockey images

On April 25, 1964 the Toronto Maple Leafs won their third consecutive Stanley Cup with a 4-0 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. In winning the Cup in 1962 and 1963 the Leafs never once had a series go the full seven games, the 1964 playoffs were far different.

Finishing the regular season with 78 points in 70 games, good for third place in the NHL, they drew a match up with the first place Canadiens in the semi-finals. Toronto fell behind 3 games to 2 before heading home to a Johnny Bower shutout in game six by a score of 3-0. Back in Montreal, for game seven, the Leafs took the series with a 3-1 behind Dave Keon’s hat trick and advanced to the Cup final against Detroit.

Once again, Toronto fell behind in the series 3 games to 2, but in this case the sixth game would be on the road. Toronto would prevail in overtime on the famous Bobby Baun “broken leg goal” to send the Stanley Cup final to game seven back at Maple Leaf Gardens. Andy Bathgate gave Toronto a lead three minutes into the deciding match and it remained 1-0 through two periods. Dave Keon and Red Kelly each scored six minutes into the final period and Captain George Armstrong iced the game as Bower recorded his second shutout of the post-season.  Frank Mahovlich topped Toronto with 15 points in the 14 playoff matches while Dave Keon led the way with 7 goals. The Leafs would win one more Stanley Cup in 1967, and are still waiting to get back to this day.

I can remember the historic 1972 Summit Series like it was yesterday. I was at Sister Mary Clare Elementary School in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Our teacher wheeled in a very tall (or at least it seemed so at the time) TV stand with a tiny monitor on top – showing game one, from Montreal. What a treat – and what a testament to the fact that this series was a big deal! I have spoken to numerous people in all walks of life who said they remember watching it at school too. 

Unfortunately, we lost that first game badly 7-3. It was a big shock to us all. Especially since Phil Esposito opened the scoring 30 seconds into the game, followed quickly with another by Paul Henderson. But the Russians scored four unanswered goals that Canada never recovered from. On to Toronto next, where Esposito opened the scoring again – this time in the second period. Canada won that one 4-1. We tied the next one in Winnipeg (I always thought that tie was weird). But it was what happened in Vancouver that prompted me to write this blog post.

You see, we just added a new treat to our image gallery – signed NHL greats jerseys! And the first one I saw when I opened the box was a signed Team Canada Summit Series jersey by my hometown boy, Phil Esposito. It was his speech at the end of the game four loss in my new hometown of Vancouver that I really remember.

It was a heartfelt speech that I think helped to galvanize the team for their trip to Russia. They lost the first game but won the next three close games and – of course – the series with Paul Henderson’s epic goal in the final seconds. That is also etched into all of our memories!

I should add that Esposito scored two more goals in that game and was probably one of Canada’s most important players in that series.

Come down and check out his signed jersey and those of other NHL legends like Bobby Orr, Dave Keon, Dale Hawerchuk and Pavel Bure, among others. We also have a Connor McDavid signed jersey as well.

Vintage Sports Images isn’t just about offering legends of the game images for NHL, NFL, MLB, NBA, PGA, boxing and other professional sports. We also develop custom prints for sports teams and individual athletes.

 

Does your baseball, hockey, football or soccer team want to thank the coaching staff with stunning canvas prints of your team? Perhaps you want to develop individual sport canvas prints to send to the grandparents as gifts. Maybe you have an image of someone from years ago that is a great memory of a special moment in time that you would like to have beautifully printed to hang on the wall.

 

Creating a limited edition of custom prints or specific custom prints of individual game plays can be a great fundraiser for your team. Parents, grandparents and godparents all love to have one-of-a-kind images of their favourite athlete or team. (Think of the smile on their faces when they open the presents.)

 

And, for parents, we all know how quickly our children grow up. Taking a live-action moment of your sports-involved son or daughter and creating a memory that can hang on your wall for years is something special.

After printing an image, we stretch our canvasses so they are crisp and tight, with no slack or soft spots. This custom print will be something that will be cherished for decades to come.

 

Connect with us today at info@vintagesportsimages.com or 604.770.3747. Send us the image you would like us to develop into a custom print. Let us know the size you would like (XS – 12” x 18”; S – 16” x 24”; M – 24” x 36”; L – 30” x 45”; XL – 36” x 54”) and when you will need it. We would be happy to provide a quote and give you some ideas, if you haven’t already taken the photo.

 

For a limited time, we are offering 30% off custom canvas prints. Connect with us today for a quote.

Chris Mizzoni is a good friend of mine, works with Vintage Sports Images, and really knows his stuff. He will blog for us from time to time. As you will see, he is very meticulous and fantastic at his job!

- Blair

Here's another fantastic Vintage Sports Images NHL photo. It came to me with no date – but three of the sports legends were labelled: Red Kelly, Ted Kennedy and Harry Lumley. These are all easily identified by most hockey history buffs, as is the second Toronto Maple Leaf in the photo – Sid Smith. A couple of other things are quickly noticed: the referee in the background is clearly "King" Clancy, and the game is taking place at Detroit Red Wings’ Olympia Stadium.

A few other details allow us to narrow this down to the exact game this was from. Firstly, Harry Lumley was Detroit's goalie through 1949/50 (when he helped the Red Wings win the Cup) until the arrival of Terry Sawchuk the following year. Red Kelly began with the Red Wings in 47/48 and "Teeder" Kennedy was certainly active over these seasons. However, Sid Smith, wearing a number ending in "4," definitely helps to narrow down the time frame here.

Smith had been with the Leafs for parts of the 1946/47 and 1947/48 campaigns, but wore numbers 22 and 16 respectively in those stints. He started wearing number 24 in 1948/49, when he suited up for only one regular season game with Toronto. He did however play six of Toronto's nine playoff games as the Leafs won the Cup over Detroit. So this photo is from either the 1949 Stanley Cup Final or the 1949/50 season – Lumley's last with the Red Wings.

This is when "King" Clancy comes into the picture. Clancy retired from playing early into the 1936/37 season and coached the Montreal Maroons for part of 1937/38. Clancy then became an NHL referee until the end of the 1948/49 season. Clancy's last stint as referee was working the 1949 Stanley Cup Final. This eliminates 1949/50 as the year of the photo and nails it down as the '49 Finals, with Smith wearing #24. The four games of the final round took place between April 8 and April 16, 1949. Perhaps the exact date of this game can be determined. A little bit of Google newspaper archive digging turned up the box scores of each of the four Final games, including the referees listed.

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

Game 4

There we have it. The ref for each game was: Bill Chadwick in Game 1, “King” Clancy in Game 2, George Gravel in Game 3, and Chadwick again in Game 4.

The photo has to be from April 10, 1949, Game 2, won by Toronto 3-1, at the Detroit Olympia. All three Leaf goals were scored by the aforementioned Sid Smith, with the third goal assisted by Ted Kennedy. Having Kennedy pictured in all alone on Lumley in this photo could very well make this a photo of Smith's hat-trick goal at 17:53 of the second period.

And that’s how it’s done at Vintage Sports Images. We’re all about adding the stories behind the images, helping to make them the perfect gifts for diehard sport fans.

We were recently featured in the Community Connections section of the North Shore News. Take a look at the article below; we think it turned out great.

North Van’s Vintage Sports Images a game-changer when it comes to sports artwork.

Sports photos are no longer just for man caves.

North Van’s Vintage Sports Images is a game-changer when it comes to turning iconic sports images into artwork that can be hung anywhere in the home.

“Our process is really unique,” explained owner Blair Peters. “We reproduce the photos on canvas and it really has a different look and feel. These vintage images are truly stunning when displayed on small or large canvasses.”

Vintage Sports Images owns 200,000-plus negatives and slides from a variety of sports and eras that were purchased from photographers and newspapers over the years by the company’s original owner, Eric Olsen, a longtime pal of Peters.

From legendary baseball players and goalies to classic hockey, basketball and football moments, and much more – there’s an iconic image for every sports fan.

Vintage Sports Images has scanned approximately 50,000 sporting photos and curated the best 5,000 of the bunch based on the quality of the shot, the players, the lighting or anything else that makes the image stand out.

Every image tells the story of an incredible sporting moment captured in time.

Take, for example, a large canvas image titled, “Knoop turns two over Petrocelli.” The image captures this scene: As an umpire signals the out, Bobby Knoop turns a double play over a sliding Rico Petrocelli of the Boston Red Sox.

“The composition, the second baseman is jumping, it’s like a moment in time has stopped,” explained Peters. “He’s releasing the ball and he’s literally three feet in the air and the umpire is signaling an out. It’s poetry in motion – just stunning.”

The artworks are so compelling that Peters says his wife allowed him to hang his large-canvas Bobby Orr image upstairs in their home because it felt like a piece of art – not just another sports picture.

Peters noted that along with homes and man caves, the canvass artworks are also ideal for businesses – his Marine Drive retail neighbours Hearthstone Brewery and MAN UP Grooming have some of the sports artwork on display – offices and recreation properties. He’s also had his images used for staging homes for open houses.

Recently, Peters outfitted the offices of IFP (International Forrest Products) Canada, a company owned by the Kraft family, who also own the NFL’s New England Patriots. “Danny Kraft was in the other day I am told by the purchaser that he loved the sports prints. This is another service we offer. In this case I went to the offices and measured and custom ordered the prints then hung them on site,” said Peters.

Peters just returned from a trip to spring training in Scottsdale, Arizona, to catch some baseball games and check out some of the sports memorabilia shops in the area because it’s known as a hotbed for sports junkies and collectors.

He saw some quality sports collectibles but nothing like what they are doing.

“There’s lots of sports photography, but what makes our process so special is that we are taking these artistic shots and giving them the canvas treatment. It’s really time consuming to get this done right – they are carefully hand-stretched. They are crisp and tight, with no slack or soft spots.”

Vintage Sports Images has printed 100- plus sports images on canvases in a variety of sizes, from 12” x 18” to 36” x 45” with prices ranging from $110 to $595.

At the store you can search images from their catalogue by sports, athlete or team or browse online. The gallery also displays sports paintings from local artists and features some interactive displays, including a floor ball net and sticks (donated by Floorball Academy Plus owner Greg Beaudin) and a batting station courtesy of Inside Performance (a top-notch baseball training facility on the North Shore where you can see a beautiful Hank Aaron and Sandy Koufax displayed).

“It’s a really funky, unique space,” said Peters, who noted that there’s also a selection of one-of-a-kind vintage baseball caps and small team logo prints on wood that are handmade locally – plus much more. “Vintage Sports Images is your one-stop shop for sports history happiness.”

Vintage Sports Images is located at 1089 Marine Drive in North Vancouver. Visit online at vintagesportsimages.com, call 604-770-3747 or email info@vintagesportsimages.com.