1948 - Montreal's captain Toe Blake hit the boards in New York, and suffered a double fracture of his ankle, putting an end to his NHL playing career and the Canadiens' famous "Punch Line". Canadiens lost 3-1 to the Rangers.
1953 - Rookie Gump Worsley, filling in for injured Chuck Rayner, recorded his first NHL shutout to lead the Rangers to a 7-0 win over Montreal in New York.
1976 - 
Although I’ve never met @suitoflights in person (our closest encounter was both being at the Five Hole for Food street hockey game last summer), I’ve always admired her wit and honesty on Twitter. Thus, it was a no-brainer when it came to picking my first guest for the 2013 year. In her words: Jocelyn (@suitoflights) [...]
1920 - Montreal's Newsy Lalonde scored six goals as the Canadiens beat Toronto St. Pats 14-7, at the Mount Royal Arena in Montreal. The combined 21 goals by both teams was an NHL record.
1935 - New York Americans' Lorne Carr picked up four assists in a 5-5 tie against the visiting Maple Leafs. In the second period, the official scorer awarded four assists on a goal by Toronto's Joe Primeau.
I first heard this story a few days ago via an excellent source on Facebook. But I was not able to find an online obituary until now. Former Boston Bruins standout Murray Henderson has passed away at the age of 91.
Paul Hunter of the Toronto Star penned a beautiful obit. I have put together a biography of Murray Henderson. My hard drive found a file featuring a number of great quotes (
1936 - Chicago's Johnny Gottselig became the first player in NHL history to score four goals in a game and account for all the goals scored by his team - the milestone came in a 4-1 win against the Americans, at New York.
1979 - Boston officially retired Bobby Orr's uniform #4 during a ceremony preceding an exhibition game between Bruins and Soviet Wings at Boston Garden. (Wings won, 4-1).
Do you know what I think is the most interesting thing about this photo? That's goaltender Tiny Thompson posing for this photo. No pads. No blocker. No goalie glove. But lots of sticks.
1944 - Toronto's Babe Pratt became the first defenseman in NHL history to get six assists in a game. They came as the Leafs beat Boston 12-3, at Maple Leaf Garden. George Boothman added his only career hat trick for the Leafs.
1947 - Toronto's forward Howie Meeker scored five times to set an NHL record for most goals in a game by a rookie, as the Maple Leafs beat Chicago 10-4. The record was 
1933 - Detroit Red Wings beat the Maple Leafs 6-1 in the first CBC hockey broadcast carried coast-to-coast from Maple Leaf Gardens.
1980 - Minnesota North Stars beat Philadelphia 7-1 to end the Flyers' NHL record 35 game unbeaten streak (25-0-10). The game took place before 15,962 fans at Minnesota, the largest crowd in team history.
1981 - Kings' Marcel Dionne became 14th player in NHL
Tom Scanlan owns one game-used hockey stick from every NHL player to score 500 goals. Video from the Toronto Star.
1944 - Detroit Red Wings obtained Bill "Flash" Hollett from the Boston Bruins, in exchange for Pat Egan.
1954 - Montreal GM Frank Selke complained about the use of "motion pictures" in making hockey rulings, but announced that he would not appeal an 8-game suspension of Bernie Geoffrion, who had been involved in a stick incident vs the Rangers on Dec. 20.
1979 - Wayne Gretzky and Gordie 
From Doug Moe of The Wisconsin State Journal
Storytelling must run in the family. Bill’s father, Billy Reay, was a natural. Nobody spun better tales around the big breakfast table at the Coventry Village senior community off High Point Road. It was Billy Reay’s last residence. Mornings, he held court while the guys drank coffee.
Reay — who died in Madison in 2004, at 86 — had a deep well of
From DurhamRegion.com:
One of the most legendary hockey figures within Durham Region, Wren Blair, has died.
The former coach and general manager of the Allan Cup and world champion Whitby Dunlops teams of the late 1950s died at Hillsdale Manor in Oshawa on Wednesday. He was 87.4
Blair traveled many a road in the game of hockey. From his efforts in building those championship Dunlop teams, 
1976 - Buffalo Sabres beat touring Soviet Wings 12-6 at the Aud, making them the first team in NHL history to defeat a Soviet squad. Gerry Desjardins was the winning goalie for the Sabres.
1984 - Edmonton Oilers beat the Minnesota North Stars, 12-8 to set an NHL record for most goals by two teams in a game. Wayne Gretzky led the scoring with four goals and four assists, and Mark Messier added
1958 - Detroit Red Wings named Sid Abel as their new coach, replacing Jimmy Skinner. Abel went on to coach the Red Wings for the next 10 years.
1978 - Detroit beat the Czechoslovakian team Pardubices 5-4 in an exhibition game at the Olympia in Detroit. Red Wings' center Vaclav Nedomansky scored a goal and added an assist against his former countrymen.
1980 - Gordie Howe became the first 
Bentley Brothers
1936 - Chicago's Paul Thompson scored the first penalty shot in the Black Hawks' history, as Chicago lost 4-2 to the visiting Detroit Red Wings.
1943 - Chicago defeated the Rangers 6-5 as the Black Hawks introduced a new brother act. Max and Doug were joined by Reggie, to make a trio of Bentleys, the first three brother combo on the same team in NHL history.
1952 - Maurice Lock out this NHL:
This is hockey. The billionaire owners and the millionaire players can stay home as long as they want. The game goes on. It is on frozen sloughs and lakes all across the world, and in the drafty local rinks, and on the streets and driveways right in front of your house that hockey's heart will always beat. The NHL and NHLPA can never take hockey away from us.
This photo 
For this special edition of Clay’s Canucks Commentary, I pull a few friends together for the 3rd annual Canucks Christmas Carol. Once again I am joined by my friends Joe, Oggy, Jason, Pat and the foreign exchange student Kevin. Kevin came all the way from overseas to watch some hockey but he gets something else [...]