Rogers Hometown Hockey makes memorable stop in Timmins

There’s a lot that can be said about leaving a legacy.

Bill Barilko’s tale is legendary in Canada after four Stanley Cup wins with the Toronto Maple Leafs (1947-49, 51).  Frank Mahovlich made an impact with six Stanley Cups of his own (1962-64, 67 with Toronto, 1971 and 1973 with Montreal).

It was one dynasty to another and now both are enshrined together at the place where it all started, the hallowed McIntyre Arena in Schumacher.

And the entire country was able to witness it with Rogers Hometown Hockey on Sportsnet Sunday afternoon.

Mahovlich and Barry and Frank Klisanich—Barilko’s nephews—were in Timmins this weekend to take in the atmosphere, and watch the banners that hung in the Air Canada Centre drape along the front facade of the Mac.

Barry gave thanks to MLSE for making this happen.

“I think that’s a tribute to Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, first of all for doing this to honour past hockey players who have had their numbers retired.  And for them to go through the trouble to bring the banners to their hometown is wonderful.  We owe them a gratitude of thanks.” he said.

Frank added he’s “just honoured to be a part of it.”

Mahovlich told the Hometown Hockey crew he’s “just thrilled” to see the banner in his hometown.

“I’m ecstatic for the kids to see me up there, it touches my heart,” he added.

Coming back to the Mac, Mahovlich was happy to see it looked the same as he envisioned it.

“It’s a beautiful place for a young boy,” he said, and talked about how the basement area used to be a bowling alley.

“Greg Hicks used to be down here, we used to set pins up, five-pin bowling…this was a nice place.  Nice bowling alley, curling rink, gymnasium, basketball.”

The 78-year old recalled tales of his Cup winning teams in Montreal, including knocking out the Bruins, and contesting with the Broadstreet Bullies in Philadelphia.

One in particular, Mahovlich told local media the story of Game 3 of the 1973 Stanley Cup semi-final pitting the Big M’s Canadiens against the Flyers.

“We went into Philadelphia, and the series was tied 1-1,” he started, setting the stage.

“Henri Richard and I brought the puck behind our net, and (then-Habs General Manager) Sam Pollock was sitting behind the Philadelphia goalie.

And we started to come down the ice.

He says they “passed it back and forth about eight times” on the rush. before Mahovlich “left it on the crease for Henri.”

“And he tapped it in.”

“Sam Pollock said ‘that was the best goal I ever saw in my life,'” he recalled.

For Barilko, the story has been told a million times, it’s engraved in Canadian lore.

A few months after scoring the Stanley Cup-winning goal against the Montreal Canadiens in OT in 1951, Barilko and Dr. Henry Hudson went off on a fishing trip and never returned.

Wreckage from the plane remained missing until 1962.  That happened to be the same year the Leafs won their first Cup since Barilko’s clincher 11 years prior.

The number 5 was retired by the team.

Frank says seeing the support for his uncle and watching his banner fall alongside the Mac was a proud moment for their family.

“Just extremely proud that Bill Barilko, 65 years later, is still remembered as one of the most important goals in Leaf history,” he added.

Barry added Barilko “made it to the Toronto Maple Leafs by hard work, and getting out of the goal.”

“He was a goaltender when he first started hockey.  And his brother Alec, told him, he says ‘If you want to get out of net, you got to learn to skate better.  So he worked on his skating, and that’s what got him out of the hockey net and became who he is as a defenseman.”

And while he died at just the age of 24, the late defender left behind a memory that…well, Frank put it best.

“Bill Barilko represents everything that’s good about hockey,” he said.

“He had a dream he had to work hard to get better.  He was 17, he started his professional career with the Hollywood Wolves, years later, he’s on the Stanley Cup-winning Toronto Maple Leaf hockey club.”

“It doesn’t get any better than that.”

Overall, the Hometown Hockey weekend brought so much to the community.

Let’s do the math:

• a crowd of 1,662 for the Rock game (a crowd not seen by an NOJHL team in a very long time)
• a packed house for the NHL Alumni game Friday night
• support nearing $100,000 for the Faceoff for Funds fundraiser
• the Timmins hockey story told to a nationwide audience
• the homecoming of the two Maple Leaf banners
• thousands of festival attendees

We sure remembered our legacy in a big way.  We did good Timmins, we did real good.

Here’s more on what happened over the weekend.