Leafs - Habs Forever Rivals

Forever rivals

Red versus Blue, my guys, their guys, English versus French, it's been an age old battle, and it as a rivalry, this one has legs. It has staying power. Fans in Toronto and Montreal go to each others games,. in full battle gear, some with signs, some with painted faces. All ready for another edition of the Leafs and Habs.

On Ice or on Tables the fight continues

I remember the ball hockey games played on the streets, Ellerbeck versus Jackman, Chester versus Arundel, and 2 brothers, Paul and Tim, living on Arundel Ave., one a dire hard Habs fan, the other a Leaf fan, and they would fight each other over hockey supremacy in their own home.
    In those days I played goal, as I had the good net, and thin goalie pads, and a see through hard plastic mask, so I played for Browning Ave., and we had few players, so we'd team up with Jackman and we had a semi organised league, stats were kept and intermissions we're arranged.  So we'd play for hours on the weekend, according to home work and chore schedules.
     Some games we'd barely have enough players, no sit outs, no rotation, no rest at all.  Arundel Ave were all Habs, Ellerbeck had Black Hawks, it worked out well that we had more than enough fans of Bobby Hull, and Glenn Hall as Gumper and Beliveau filled out the Arundel 9, and constantly Tim wanted to move out of his team to the Jackman/ Browning Leafs, but family honour deprived him. I do remember on a warm November Saturday Tim peeled off his coat to display a blue Maple Leaf shirt, and his team would not let him play until he put the coat back on.
     Intermission sessions were surrounded by a chorus of " Need em' need em', got em' Need em' " as we exchanged cards to grow our set, all hoping to complete it before the area stores would run out and no boxes were out on the counter.  A horrible sight if you were 3 or 4 cards left to go.

Here Johnny Bower plays against the evil empire with help from Horton  and partner Allen Stanley. The Pocket Rocket looks back for feint hope of a  scoring chance.


This time their is no hope, it is in Bower's glove.

On Chester Avenue I played against the ed Wings and Gordy Howe and Delvecchio and shut them out like me idol Johnny Bower in the 1964 Cup Finals, and for a brief moment on a cold morning, the the temperature well below zero, and snow drifts against the cars, we waged against Detroit, then battled the Habs of Arundel for street supremacy.  That day we won, many times we seemed to run of day light before returning back on Sunday after the church kids put their jeans and jackets on to finish the fight.

I wonder if Tim and Paul continue to fight for hockey supremacy as the Leafs and Habs do today.


Go Leafs Go !