Toe Blake

Toe Blake
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1966
Born	(1912-08-21)August 21, 1912 Victoria Mines, ON, CAN
Died	Montreal, QC, CAN
Height	5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight	162 lb (73 kg; 11 st 8 lb)
Position	Left Wing
Shot	Left
Played for	Montreal Canadiens Montreal Maroons
Playing career	1934–1948

Joseph Hector "Toe" Blake, CM (August 21, 1912 – May 17, 1995) was a Canadian ice hockey player and coach in the National Hockey League (NHL). He is best known for his three-decade association with the Montreal Canadiens, with whom he won 10 Stanley Cups as a player or coach.

Hockey career

The Punch line: Maurice Richard (bottom left), Elmer Lach (centre), and Toe Blake (bottom right)

Born in what is now the ghost town of Victoria Mines, he was raised playing outdoor hockey in the town of Coniston near the city of Sudbury in Northern Ontario. Blake played junior and senior hockey in the Sudbury area and was part of the 1932 Memorial Cup champions, the Sudbury Cub Wolves. He played for the Hamilton Tigers of the Ontario Hockey Association during the 1934–35 season before he signed with the Montreal Maroons of the National Hockey League on February 22, 1935; he made his NHL debut two days later on February 24, against the Chicago Black Hawks. Blake played 8 games with the Maroons in the 1934–35 season, but failed to record a point; he was not played in any of the team's playoff games, but when the Maroons won the Stanley Cup, Blake's name was added to the trophy. Blake then played for the Canadiens until his retirement in 1948. For the last eight seasons, he was team captain, and led the Canadiens to Stanley Cups in 1944 and 1946.

While playing with the Canadiens, he was part of a trio called the "Punch Line," along with Elmer Lach and Maurice Richard. He won the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player and the Art Ross Trophy as scoring champion in 1938–39. He also scored the Stanley Cup-clinching goal in the 1944 Stanley Cup Finals at 9:12 of the first overtime of Game Four, helping the Canadiens complete a four-game sweep of the Chicago Blackhawks.

During a loss to the New York Rangers on January 11, 1948, Blake collided with Rangers' skater Bill Juzda, awkwardly hit the boards and suffered a double fracture of his ankle, ending his NHL career. In 1998, he was ranked number 66 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.

After eight years coaching several of the Canadiens' minor-league affiliates, he was named head coach of the Canadiens in 1955, replacing Dick Irvin. Blake was fluent in French (his mother was a Franco-Ontarian), and Canadiens management also felt that Blake was best-suited to control Richard's explosive temper (which had led to a riot the past spring).

Blake coached the Canadiens for 13 years, winning eight Stanley Cups — the most titles for any coach in the team's history and second-most league-wide, after Scotty Bowman. As of 2015, he is still the winningest coach in Canadiens' history. He was known for his tough, but fair coaching style; his players always knew he was on their side. He retired at the end of the 1967-68 season, ending 33 consecutive years at ice level with the Habs organization.

Blake turned down Jacques Plante's request to wear a mask during games for fear that it would impair his vision. However, after a shot broke Plante's nose on November 1, 1959; Blake finally relented.

Personal life

His nickname came from a childhood experience: his younger sister had difficulty pronouncing his name, rendering it as something like "Hec-toe". Thus, the nickname "Toe" arose, and ultimately replaced the nickname he had been given as a scorer, the Old Lamplighter, because he often activated the light behind the goal.

After retiring from the Canadiens, Blake and his family resided permanently in Montreal. In 1952, he opened Toe Blake's Tavern, at the corner of Guy Street and Saint Catherine Street in Montreal, just a few blocks from the Montreal Forum. The tavern closed in 1983.

Blake suffered from Alzheimer's Disease for the final years of his life. When respected writer Red Fisher visited him in the nursing home in 1989, Toe could not recognize his old friend. Toe Blake died of pneumonia, typical of Alzheimer's patients, on May 17, 1995, at the age of 82.

Legacy

Blake was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966 in the player category, and was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1982. A park located next to his Montreal West home is named in his honor.

In 2011, the community centre in Blake's hometown of Coniston, Ontario was renamed the "Toe Blake Memorial Arena" in his honour.

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1929–30	Cochrane Dunlops	NOJHA		7	3	0	3	4		—	—	—	—	—
1930–31	Sudbury Cub Wolves	NOJHA		6	3	1	4	12		2	0	0	0	6
1930–31	Sudbury Industries	NOHA		8	7	1	8	10		3	1	1	2	4
1930–31	Sudbury Cub Wolves	M-Cup		—	—	—	—	—		5	4	1	5	6
1930–31	Sudbury Wolves	Al-Cup		—	—	—	—	—		3	3	1	4	0
1931–32	Sudbury Cub Wolves	NOJHA		3	5	0	5	4		—	—	—	—	—
1931–32	Falconbridge Falcons	NOHA		10	8	1	9	18		2	1	0	1	2
1932–33	Hamilton Tigers	OHA-Sr.		22	9	4	13	26		2	0	0	0	2
1933–34	Hamilton Tigers	OHA-Sr.		23	19	14	33	28		3	4	3	7	4
1933–34	Hamilton Tigers	Al-Cup		—	—	—	—	—		8	5	2	7	4
1934–35	Hamilton Tigers	OHA-Sr.		18	15	11	26	48		—	—	—	—	—
1934–35	Montreal Maroons	NHL		8	0	0	0	0		1	0	0	0	0
1935–36	Providence Reds	CAHL		33	12	11	23	65		7	2	3	5	2
1935–36	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		11	1	2	3	28		—	—	—	—	—
1936–37	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		43	10	12	22	12		5	1	0	1	0
1937–38	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		43	17	16	33	33		3	3	1	4	2
1938–39	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		48	24	23	47	10		3	1	1	2	2
1939–40	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		48	17	19	36	48		—	—	—	—	—
1940–41	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		48	12	20	32	49		3	0	3	3	5
1941–42	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		48	17	28	45	19		3	0	3	3	2
1942–43	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		48	23	36	59	26		5	4	3	7	0
1943–44	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		41	26	33	59	10		9	7	11	18	2
1944–45	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		49	29	38	67	25		6	0	2	2	5
1945–46	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		50	29	21	50	2		9	7	6	13	5
1946–47	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		60	21	29	50	6		11	2	7	9	0
1947–48	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		32	9	15	24	4		—	—	—	—	—
1948–49	Buffalo Bisons	AHL		18	1	3	4	0		—	—	—	—	—
1949–50	Valleyfield Braves	QSHL		43	12	15	27	15		3	0	1	1	0
1950–51	Valleyfield Braves	ALX-Cup		1	0	0	0	0		—	—	—	—	—
NHL totals				577	235	292	527	282		57	25	37	62	23

Coaching record

Team	Year	Regular season						Post season
		G	W	L	T	Pts	Finish	Result
Montreal Canadiens	1955–56	70	45	15	10	100	1st in NHL	Won Stanley Cup
Montreal Canadiens	1956–57	70	35	23	12	82	2nd in NHL	Won Stanley Cup
Montreal Canadiens	1957–58	70	43	17	10	96	1st in NHL	Won Stanley Cup
Montreal Canadiens	1958–59	70	39	18	13	91	1st in NHL	Won Stanley Cup
Montreal Canadiens	1959–60	70	40	18	12	92	1st in NHL	Won Stanley Cup
Montreal Canadiens	1960–61	70	41	19	10	92	1st in NHL	Lost in Semi-Finals
Montreal Canadiens	1961–62	70	42	14	14	98	1st in NHL	Lost in Semi-Finals
Montreal Canadiens	1962–63	70	28	19	23	79	3rd in NHL	Lost in Semi-Finals
Montreal Canadiens	1963–64	70	36	21	13	85	1st in NHL	Lost in Semi-Finals
Montreal Canadiens	1964–65	70	36	23	11	83	2nd in NHL	Won Stanley Cup
Montreal Canadiens	1965–66	70	41	21	8	90	1st in NHL	Won Stanley Cup
Montreal Canadiens	1966–67	70	32	25	13	77	2nd in NHL	Lost in Cup Final
Montreal Canadiens	1967–68	74	42	22	10	94	1st in East	Won Stanley Cup
Total		914	500	255	159

Awards

• Stanley Cup champion — 1935 (with Montreal Maroons as a player)
• Stanley Cup champion — 1944, 1946 (with Montreal Canadiens as a Player)
• Stanley Cup champion — 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1965, 1966, 1968 (Head coach of Montreal Canadiens)
• Hart Trophy — 1939
• Scoring Leader — 1939
• Lady Byng Trophy — 1946
• NHL First Team All-Star — 1939, 1940, 1945
• NHL Second Team All-Star — 1946

See also

• Captain (ice hockey)
• Stanley Cup
• List of members of the Hockey Hall of Fame

External links

• Toe Blake's biography at Legends of Hockey
• Toe Blake's career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database

Preceded by Gordie Drillon	NHL Scoring Champion 1939	Succeeded by Milt Schmidt
Preceded by Eddie Shore	Winner of the Hart Trophy 1939	Succeeded by Ebbie Goodfellow
Preceded by Walter Buswell	Montreal Canadiens captain 1940–48	Succeeded by Bill Durnan
Preceded by Bill Mosienko	Winner of the Lady Byng Trophy 1946	Succeeded by Bobby Bauer
Preceded by Dick Irvin	Head coach of the Montreal Canadiens 1955–68	Succeeded by Claude Ruel