THIS DATE IN HISTORY: July 6
Two members of the Hockey Hall of Fame share this birth date.
1930: George Armstrong, captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs' four Stanley Cup teams in the 1960s, is born in Skead, Ontario.
Armstrong plays two games with the Maple Leafs as a 19-year-old in 1949-50. Two years later, he's a regular, and he is named captain in 1957-58.
Armstrong isn't especially fast and doesn't have great hands, but he becomes one of the NHL's best two-way players. Though he never scores more than 23 goals or 51 points, there were few players who could work the corners better. Armstrong helps the Maple Leafs to the Stanley Cup Final in 1960, and to championships in 1962, '63 and '64. Toronto returns to the Final again in 1967 and upsets the favored Montreal Canadiens in six games, with Armstrong's empty-netter sealing a 3-1 Cup-clinching victory.
Armstrong retires after the 1970-71 season with 296 goals and 713 points in 1,187 games, as well as 26 goals and 60 points in 110 playoff games. He is voted into the Hall of Fame in 1975.
1948: Defenseman Brad Park, who undoubtedly watched Armstrong play before becoming a star in his own right, is born in Toronto. However, he winds up with the New York Rangers, who make him the second player chosen in the 1966 NHL Amateur Draft. Two years later, he's a full-time Ranger and becomes one of the greatest defensemen in franchise history. Park is a First-Team All-Star three times and a Second-Team All-Star twice with the Rangers. He helps New York advance to the Stanley Cup Final in 1972, but the Rangers lose to Bobby Orr and the Boston Bruins.
Three years later, Park winds up as Orr's teammate when he's traded to Boston along with center Jean Ratelle for center Phil Esposito and defenseman Carol Vadnais. He's a First-Team All-Star twice with Boston, though he and Orr play very little together due to Orr's knee injuries. Park finishes his career with the Detroit Red Wings in 1985 and retires with 213 goals and 896 points in 1,113 games. The one thing he doesn't do is win the Cup; the Bruins make the Final in 1977 and 1978 but lose to Montreal.
Park joins Armstrong in the Hall in 1988.
MORE MOMENTS
1995: Philadelphia Flyers third-year center Eric Lindros wins the Hart Trophy as regular-season MVP. He joins three-time winner Bobby Clarke as the only Flyers to win the award after finishing with 29 goals and 70 points in 46 games during the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season. Lindros also wins the Lester B. Pearson Award (now the Ted Lindsay Award), given to the MVP as voted on by the players.
At the same ceremony, Peter Forsberg of the Colorado Avalanche, part of the package that the Flyers gave up to get Lindros in a trade, wins the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie. Ron Francis of the Pittsburgh Penguins wins the Frank Selke Trophy as the NHL's top defensive forward and the Lady Byng Trophy for skillful and gentlemanly play. His former teammate, Paul Coffey of the Red Wings, wins the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman for the third and final time.
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