Legends Row in Maple Leaf Square is growing. Last week, three more statues of Leafs players were added to the line up of statues already there. This is the fourth installment and now Turk Broda, Dave Keon, and Tim Horton have now taken their place outside the Air Canada Centre.
The unveiling of the latest statues coincided with the opening ceremonies for the 100th season of NHL hockey in Toronto. That first year, the Toronto team was the Toronto Arenas and their only competition were the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators. The Arenas didn’t last very long; they folded because of financial problems. For the 1919-20 season, the Toronto team was the St. Pats and their uniforms were green and white. They remained the St. Pats until 1927 when Conn Smythe bought the team and changed the name to the Maple Leafs. (The NHL was formed Nov 26, 1917 so technically we may have jumped the gun by a year, but we can fudge that and call it the 100th season!).
below: Goalies Turk Broda (right) and Johnny Bower (left) have a chat while George Armstrong stands in the background. Broda (1914-1972) played goal and spent his whole NHL career with the Maple Leafs during which time they won the Stanley Cup five times.
below: Dave Keon, number 14, stands behind the bench with his teammates. Keon (b.1940) pl ayed for the Maple Leafs for 15 years during a career that lasted from 1960 to 1982. He won the Calder trophy his first year and he was the team’s top goal scorer for many years.
below: It looks like Tim Horton may have to share his stick. I suspect that he’s going to have the problem fairly often! Tim Horton (1930 – 1974) was a defenceman who played for the Leafs during the 1960’s when they won the Stanley Cup four times. Also during this period he set the record for playing in consecutive regular season games, 486.
Previous Legends Row posts
- Over the boards when the first three statues were installed. (Sittler, Kennedy and Bower)
- Leafs expansion, two Swedes, (Salming and Sundin)
- Two number tens (Apps and Armstrong)
as I walk Toronto 
Neat. I’ll have to check em out!