Eddie Shack, who won four Stanley Cups with the Toronto Maple Leafs and scored the Cup-winning goal in 1963, has died. He was 83.
The Leafs announced his death on Sunday.
The Maple Leafs are deeply saddened by the passing of Eddie Shack.
A three-time all star and four-time Stanley Cup champion, Eddie entertained Leafs fans on the ice for nine seasons and for decades off of it. He will be greatly missed.
The son of Ukrainian immigrants, Shack was born in Sudbury, Ont., and his playing career began in an unorthodox way.
At the age of 15 — and after struggling in school — Shack left his job as a butcher to try out for the Guelph Biltmores, an Ontario Hockey Association team, where he played for five seasons and became one of its stars before being signed by the New York Rangers.
Shack made his NHL debut in 1958-59 and played for New York for two seasons where, despite having been a prolific scorer in junior hockey, he was expected to fill the role of a checker. He scored only 16 goals in parts of three seasons with the Rangers, before being traded to the Maple Leafs in 1960, where he would go on to enjoy his most successful playing years.
For seven seasons, Shack skated on the Maple Leafs’ wings, playing the part of colourful third-line agitator and endearing himself to fans despite his name rarely coming up in the goals or assists columns of box scores.
The longer he spent wearing blue and white, the more his popularity grew. So much so that in 1966, Brian McFarlane wrote the song, “Clear the Track, Here Comes Shack” in his honour. Performed by The Secrets, the song reached the top of Canada’s pop charts for two weeks and remained on the chart for over two months.
On the ice, Shack’s play earned him the nickname “The Entertainer,” a persona he drew on in a second career as a TV pitchman. His role as an agitator meant being a willing fighter, too.
Eddie Shack salutes one of his Pop Shoppe posters. (Photo by Ron Bull/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Famously, in the 1964 playoffs against the Montreal Canadiens, Shack fought Henri Richard — which culminated in Shack head-butting Richard because his arms were pinned and unavailable to keep throwing punches, sending Richard out of the game for stitches. Toronto went on to win the game, and the series, en route to claiming the Stanley Cup.
Shack’s enthusiasm for the game of hockey was on display whenever his blades hit the ice. So too was his commitment to winning, and whether it was by firing his teammates up in the dressing room between periods or by being a comedian and getting those around him to loosen up, Shack was always whatever his team needed him to be.
Shack won four Stanley Cups with the Maple Leafs in 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1967.
Although much of his tenure was spent as a third- or fourth-line forward, Shack’s most famous goal was historic. During the 1963 playoffs, Shack scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal — which, he claimed at the time in typical colourful fashion, he unintentionally deflected into the net with his backside.
As a member of the Maple Leafs, he also played in three All-Star Games from 1962 to 1964.
Toronto Maple Leafs’ forward Eddie (The Entertainer) Shack, decked out in a cowboy hat, heads up ice with the puck during the Heroes of Hockey oldtimers game at the NHL All-Star weekend in Toronto, Saturday, Feb. 5, 2000. (Kevin Frayer / CP)
In his post-Maple Leafs NHL career, Shack played for the Boston Bruins — where his Stanley Cup-winning experience earned him a more prominent role in the offence, scoring 23 goals — the Los Angeles Kings, Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins.
The twilight of Shack’s career saw him reunited with Toronto, where he played his final two seasons before retiring in 1975.
During his 17-year NHL career, Shack scored 239 goals, while picking up 226 and 1,437 penalty minutes throughout 1,047 regular-season games. He added six goals, seven assists and 151 penalty minutes in 74 playoff games.
Eddie Shack (L) and Red Kelly (R) share a moment during a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Stanley Cup for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The ceremony was held on February 8, 2014. (Abelimages/Getty)
After retiring, Shack — like his former Maple Leafs teammate, Tim Horton — lent his name to donut shops, with the Eddie Shack Donuts chain opening in 1994.
His oversized personality led to him starring in television ad campaigns, too, acting as a spokesman for companies like Esso, Journey’s End Hotels and, perhaps most famously, the Pop Shoppe — for whom he appeared on billboards and in radio spots.
Throughout his post-hockey life, Shack used his fame to advocate for literacy in schools, with the hope of inspiring students to study so they wouldn’t endure the same academic struggles that he did.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.
Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.
Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.
The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.
DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.
RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.
Takeaways
Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.
Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.
Key moment
The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.
Key stat
Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.
Up next
Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.
To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.
Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.
“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.
“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”
The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.
The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.
First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.
Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.
No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.
“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.
Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.
“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.
This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.
The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.
“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”
Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.
Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.
“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”
The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.
Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.
“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”
LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.
“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.
The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.
Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.
“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.
“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”
Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.
Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.
Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.
Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
