Toronto Hockey: Where would our national past-time be without it!

If Canada is the birthplace of hockey, Toronto is definitely the neighbourhood where it grew up! Toronto hockey is known world-wide as a major hub for developing hockey talent. From the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL) to it’s over 30 rinks, it’s no wonder the city can handle the 30 000 kids that register for Toronto hockey programs each year!

Toronto Hockey Legends 

This months focus is on Toronto hockey legend Herb Carnegie (1919-2012)

The Jackie Robinson of hockey that never was.

Earned multiple MVP’s on various semi-professional teams with all-white rosters.

As one of hockey’s unsung hero’s, Herb Carnegie not only broke records, he was insturmental in breaking down race barriers. In 1956, after having his NHL hopes cut short, Herb Carnegie started a Toronto Hockey foundation known as  “Future Aces”, which now has over 200 public schools participating in the GTA.

 played center for the Quebec Aces and Shawinigan Cataractes from 1944-1954

Living in hockey Mecca, Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the 1920s – 1950s

Herbert Carnegie died on March 9, 2012, at a Toronto hospital

Jamaican parents on November 8,1919, in Canada and was raised in northern Toronto.
Carnegie was named to the Order of Ontario in 1996, Order of Canada in 2003 and the Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship in 1988.

He never made it to the National Hockey League ranks where people believed he would of became the first black player. 

In 1987, he founded the Herbert H. Carnegie Future Aces Foundation to provide bursaries for college and university. 

In 1996, he published his biography, A Fly in a Pail of Milk: The Herb Carnegie Story.

Frank Mahovlich first saw the trio in 1942.  “I was just so amazed at the way he played.  He was much superior to the others on the ice…  The black line was so amazing because of their great skills – the skating, the passing, the goal scoring.  I was a centreman for many years.  I might have envisioned myself going down the ice like Herb Carnegie.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hj_hebbCXg 

Jean Beliveau remembers when he played with Carnegie in the Quebec Aces.  “I witnessed Herb’s brilliance.  There was no question that the years I spent with him still evoke some of my best hockey memories.  Herbie was a super hockey player, a beautiful style, a beautiful skater, a great playmaker.  Those days the younger ones learned from the older ones, I learned from Herbie.”

There, Herb was honoured as the most valuable player for three consecutive years: 1946, 1947 & 1948.  During the 1947-48 season, Herb recorded Gretzky-like numbers – in 56 games he scored 127 points