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Joseph Hector " Toe" Blake (August 21, 1912 – May 17, 1995) was a Canadian ice hockey player and coach in the National Hockey League (NHL). Blake played in the NHL from 1935 to 1948 with the Montreal Maroons and Montreal Canadiens. He led the NHL in scoring in 1939, while also winning the Hart Trophy for most valuable player, and served as captain of the Canadiens from 1940 to his retirement. He won the Stanley Cup three times as a player: in 1935 with the Maroons, and in 1944 and 1946 with the Canadiens. While with the Canadiens Blake played on a line with Elmer Lach and Maurice Richard which was dubbed the Punch line, as all three were highly-skilled players. In 2017 Blake was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history. He was also known as " The Old Lamplighter" due to his skill for putting the puck in the net.
Blake retired as a player in 1951, and soon after turned to coaching. After several years in lower leagues he was named the Canadiens' coach in 1955, and would remain in that role until his retirement in 1968. He was the first coach to win 500 games with one team. As coach of the Canadiens he won the Stanley Cup a further eight times, and helped Montreal become one of the most dominant teams in NHL history.
While playing with the Canadiens, he was part of a trio called the "Punch Line," with Elmer Lach at centre and Maurice Richard at right wing. He scored the Stanley Cup-clinching goal in the 1944 Stanley Cup Finals at 9:12 of the first overtime of game four, helping the Canadiens complete a four-game sweep of the Chicago Blackhawks. The following season, the Punch Line became the second set of linemates ever to finish first, second, and third in NHL scoring in one season (Lach had 80 points, Richard 73, and Blake 67). They followed the Boston Bruins' Kraut line of 1939–40, and would be followed by the Detroit Red Wings' Production Line in 1949–50. During a loss to the New York Rangers on January 11, 1948, Blake collided with Rangers' skater Bill Juzda, awkwardly hit the boards and suffered a double fracture of his ankle, ending his NHL career. In 1998, he was ranked number 66 on The Hockey News’ list of the NHL's 100 greatest players of all time to date. At the time of his retirement from the NHL Blake was second all-time in career scoring with 527 points, 21 points behind Bill Cowley for the all-time record. He had the all-time record for career points in the playoffs with 62 points in 58 games.
Blake coached the Canadiens for thirteen years, winning the Stanley Cup eight times — the most titles for any coach in the team's history, the most with one team, and second-most league-wide behind Scotty Bowman, who won nine Stanley Cups in total (five Cups with the Canadiens, one with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and three with the Detroit Red Wings.) His 500 regular-season wins are still the most in Canadiens history. Notably, he won championships in each of his first five seasons as a head coach, this streak being an NHL record that stands to this day. The only other person to have performed a similar feat in his first five seasons as a coach or manager of any particular team in North American professional sports is Casey Stengel of the New York Yankees, although unlike Blake's case the Yankees were not the first team Stengel managed.
Blake retired after the Habs clinched the Cup in game four of the 1968 Finals, ending 33 consecutive years at ice level with the Canadiens organization.
Blake turned down Jacques Plante's request to wear a mask during games for fear that it would impair his vision. However, after a shot from Rangers player Andy Bathgate broke Plante's nose in a game on November 1, 1959, Blake finally relented.
His nickname came from a childhood experience: his younger sister had difficulty pronouncing his name, rendering it as something like "Hec-toe". Thus, the nickname "Toe" arose, and ultimately replaced the nickname he had been given as a scorer, the Old Lamplighter, because he often activated the light behind the goal.
After retiring from the Canadiens, Blake and his family resided permanently in Montreal. In 1952, he opened Toe Blake's Tavern, at the corner of Guy Street and Saint Catherine Street in Montreal, just a few blocks from the Montreal Forum. The tavern closed in 1983.
Blake suffered from Alzheimer's disease in his final years. When respected writer Red Fisher visited him in the nursing home in 1989, Blake could not recognize his old friend. Blake died on May 17, 1995, at the age of 82.
He was the uncle of Mike Blake.
In 2011, the community centre in Blake's hometown of Coniston, Ontario, was renamed the "Toe Blake Memorial Arena" in his honour.
Personal life
Born in what is now the ghost town of Victoria Mines, Blake was raised playing outdoor hockey in the town of Coniston near the city of Greater Sudbury in Northern Ontario.
Legacy
Blake was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966 in the player category, and was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1982. A park located next to his Montreal West home is named in his honour.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
1929–30 Cochrane Dunlops NOJHA 4 — 1930–31 Sudbury Cub Wolves NOJHA 12 6 1930–31 Sudbury Industries NOHA 10 4 1930–31 Sudbury Cub Wolves Memorial Cup — 6 1930–31 Sudbury Wolves Allan Cup — 0 1931–32 Sudbury Cub Wolves NOJHA 4 — 1931–32 Falconbridge Falcons NOHA 18 2 1932–33 Hamilton Tigers OHA Sr 26 2 1933–34 Hamilton Tigers OHA Sr 28 4 1933–34 Hamilton Tigers Al-Cup — 4 1934–35 Hamilton Tigers OHA Sr 48 — 1934–35 Montreal Maroons NHL 0 0 1935–36 Providence Reds Can-Am 65 2 1935–36 Montreal Canadiens NHL 28 — 1936–37 Montreal Canadiens NHL 12 0 1937–38 Montreal Canadiens NHL 33 2 1938–39 Montreal Canadiens NHL 48 10 2 1939–40 Montreal Canadiens NHL 48 — 1940–41 Montreal Canadiens NHL 49 5 1941–42 Montreal Canadiens NHL 19 2 1942–43 Montreal Canadiens NHL 26 0 1943–44 Montreal Canadiens NHL 10 2 1944–45 Montreal Canadiens NHL 25 5 1945–46 Montreal Canadiens NHL 2 5 1946–47 Montreal Canadiens NHL 6 0 1947–48 Montreal Canadiens NHL 4 — 1948–49 Buffalo Bisons AHL 0 — 1949–50 Valleyfield Braves QSHL 15 0 1950–51 Valleyfield Braves QSHL — 0
Coaching record
Awards
See also
Bibliography
External links
Categories: 1912 Births, 1995 Deaths, Buffalo Bisons Players, Canadian Ice Hockey Coaches, Canadian Ice Hockey Left Wingers, Deaths From Alzheimer's Disease In Canada, Neurological Disease Deaths In Quebec, Hart Memorial Trophy Winners, Hockey Hall Of Fame Inductees, Lady Byng Memorial Trophy Winners, Montreal Canadiens Coaches, Montreal Canadiens Players, Montreal Maroons Players, 20th-century Canadian Sportsmen, Members Of The Order Of Canada, National Hockey League Scoring Leaders, Ontario Hockey Association Senior A League Players, Providence Reds Players, Ice Hockey People From Greater Sudbury, Stanley Cup Champions, Stanley Cup Championship–winning Head Coaches
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