The man I am covering today, Hap Day, spent 33 years in the NHL as a player, referee, coach and assistant general manager. Nearly all that time was spent with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
But it all began on June 14, 1901 in Owen Sound, Ontario when he was born.
As a teenager, he began to develop his hockey skills while attending Midland High School. According to legend, he would walk from Port McNicoll to Midland, Ontario, a distance of three kilometres, so he could play in hockey games at the town’s rink. He gained the nickname of Hap for his easy and chipper nature.
In 1922-23, Day began to play for the Hamilton Tigers of the Ontario Hockey Association. With the team during two seasons, he played in 21 games and recorded 32 points.
In 1924-25, he began to play for the Toronto St. Pats after he was signed as a free agent on Dec. 9, 1924 by owner Charlie Querrie. At the time he was studying pharmacy at the University of Toronto and only agreed to play for the team if it didn’t impact his studies or classes. At first he played rookie before he switched to defence, the position he remained at for the rest of his NHL career.
The Hamilton Spectator wrote,
“Hapy Day, for a fellow that has only a short acquaintance with the game, has developed into a pretty fair defense fielder.”
In his first season with the team, he played in 27 games and recorded 17 points, which was good enough for 10th in the league and third on the team behind Babe Dye and Jack Adams.
In his next season with the team, 1925-26, he recorded 16 points in 36 games. At this time, the team was on a decline and missed the playoffs. Day finished fifth on the team in scoring. He also received a big payday when his salary was increased to $6,000 for the season.
In 1927, the St. Pats were bought by Conn Smythe and renamed the Toronto Maple Leafs. Smythe made Day the team captain and also made him a partner in his sand and gravel business. That season, even though the team finished in last place, Day was third on the team in scoring.
The Hamilton Spectator said of Day becoming captain,
“In Toronto, it is firmly believed that Day will make a splendid captain as he is popular with everyone and the dashing type of player that usually makes a good leader.”
Day said of being named captain,
“Being named captain by Smythe was a great honour, a true compliment to be chosen. The players voted on it, but they didn’t put anybody in there that Mr. Smythe didn’t want.”
In his first season as the captain of the Maple Leafs, the team once again did poorly and did not make the playoffs. His 17 points in 22 games was good enough for second on the team behind only Bill Carson. He led the team in assists with eight. That season on Jan. 14, 1928, he became the first Maple Leaf to record a hat trick.
In 1928-29, the team began to improve, and Day finished seventh on the team in scoring with 12 points in 44 games. The team made the playoffs and defeated the Detroit Cougars before losing to the Rangers in the semi-finals. In four playoff games, Day had one goal.
In 1929-30, the Maple Leafs missed the playoffs, finishing fourth in the Canadian division. Day had an excellent season, recording 21 points in 43 games and finished sixth on the team in scoring.
Day continued to serve as captain and in the 1930-31 season, the team did well and finished second in the Canadian Division. In the Maple Leafs last season before they moved from Arena Gardens to Maple Leaf Gardens, the team added superstar King Clancy to the team. Clancy and Day became one of the best defensive duos of the 1930s in the NHL. That season, Day finished with 14 points in 44 games.
The next season, 1931-32, was a banner year for the Maple Leafs. After the team finished second in the Canadian Division, they christened their new arena, Maple Leaf Gardens, by winning the Stanley Cup. Day captained the team to the championship, recording 15 points in 47 regular season games and six points in seven games in the playoffs. His six points was good for third on the team. One of his greatest moments came in the clinching game of the semifinal when the Leafs were trailing by one goal. He went end-to-end to score on the Montreal Maroons and the Leafs won the game in overtime.
King Clancy said,
“I thought we were dead against the Maroons until Hap, who had been leaning on us to play conservatively, took off like a rocket on that great rush to tie it up. I guess he suddenly remembered everything he’d learned as a winger.”
With Maple Leaf Gardens built, Smythe allowed Day to operate a pharmacy out of the building as he had studied the field in university.
In 1932-33, Day helped the Maple Leafs finish first in their division but they were unable to repeat as Stanley Cup champions. Day recorded 20 points in 47 games, seventh on the team. In the playoffs, he had only one point in nine games. He led the team with 21 penalty minutes in the playoffs.
The following season, the Maple Leafs, with Day as captain, once again finished first in the Canadian Division. During the regular season, Day had 19 points in 48 games, while in the playoffs he recorded no points in five games.
While he had a nickname for his cheerful personality, Day was always serious when it came to hockey. He said,
“I liked a laugh and a practical joke but hockey was where I earned my living for a long time, so I never kidded about it.”
This was an opinion shared by his teammates and opponents, many who believed he was the smartest hockey player they had ever met. His teammate Red Horner said,
“Hap Day was far ahead of his time, a very intelligent man with an exceptional ability for analyzing the game and how it should be played. Much like those in charge do now with a batch of scouts and videotapes. Hap, not the coach, would tell us, then show us, how to play each opponent. If we did what he did, and what he told us to do, we were successful.”
For the third season in a row, Day captained the Maple Leafs to a division title. His career was starting to slow down though, and Day finished with only six points in 45 games. In the playoffs, he once again recorded no points, this time in seven games.
While still playing for the Maple Leafs, Day coached the West Toronto Nationals to a Memorial Cup in 1936. His time coaching the team meant that he sometimes missed games with the Maple Leafs. After the Nationals won the Memorial Cup, he was unable to make the trip with the Maple Leafs to play Chicago.
While he was loved for his happy demeanor with the Maple Leafs, that didn’t mean Hap couldn’t cause trouble on the ice during his career.
As a player, Day was well-known for his habit of grabbing an opponents stick and holding it such a way that it looked like he was being hooked. This led to many penalties against innocent transgressors while Day got off scot-free. It worked until one game when he grabbed the stick of Bill Cook who just let go of the stick. When the ref saw Day holding two sticks, he was sent to the penalty box.
Day’s last season as captain of the Maple Leafs, and with the team, was 1936-37. By that point, he was near the end of his career. While the team added new superstar Syl Apps to the team, they finished third in the Canadian division. Day recorded just seven points in 48 games and no points in the playoffs.
On Sept. 23. 1937, Day was sold to the New York Americans. His 11 years as the captain of the Maple Leafs is second only to George Armstrong.
The Windsor Star wrote,
“At 37, Hap Day is one of the league’s veteran players. The amiable blond from Owen Sound has been with the Toronto team since 1924, when it was known as the St. Pats. A high scorer in his younger day, the dimpled druggist has fallen from that category in later years but he continues to be a fine play-maker and heady guard.”
In 1937-38, Day recorded only three points in 43 games in his one season with the New York Americans.
Upon his retirement, Day had recorded 202 points in 586 games.
For two seasons, Day worked as a referee.
He returned to the Maple Leafs as coach in 1940-41 and coached the team through the entire decade. When he was hired, Andy Lytle of the Toronto Star was singing his praises stating,
“I’d like to say, strictly without authority, that I think Hap Day is the most competent coach the NHL has presented to us in the last two decades.”
In 546 games as coach of the Maple Leafs, he had a record of 259 wins, 206 losses and 81 points. During that time, he helped guide the team to dynasty status. The Maple Leafs made the playoffs every year under his watch except 1945-46. During that decade, the Maple Leafs while coached by Day won the Stanley Cup in 1942, 1945, 1947, 1948 and 1949. He was the first NHL coach to win three Stanley Cups in a row.
Day’s philosophy as a coach was summed up when he said,
“Two goals should get you a win, for one goal you might have to settle for a tie. You can be short in ability but that is no excuse for coming up short in action.”
He always told his players that when going with an offensive man on the wing, it was important to keep inside, between the player and the puck. He said,
“If the offensive man moved hard to get free for a pass, the Leaf player would keep close, getting the inside elbow in front of his check so that he could be ridden off.”
The 1942 Stanley Cup win was especially sweet as the Leafs were down three games to none against the Detroit Red Wings. To shake up the roster, Day benched two of his stars, Gord Drillon and Bucko McDonald, and brought in two young players named Don Metz and Ernie Dickens. This worked and the Leafs battled back and won the series and the Stanley Cup, the only team to ever do so. Day said,
“No team ever will duplicate what we did in the final.”
The 1948 Maple Leaf team was especially good. That season, the Leafs finished first in the NHL with 32 wins. They then lost only one game in the playoffs on their way to the Stanley Cup. The team that year had Turk Broda who won the Vezina, while four of the top 10 leading scorers were members of the Maple Leafs. The team also had seven future Hall-of-Famers on it.
Day said of that team,
“I think the 1948 team compares with any club in history. We had Syl Apps, Ted Kennedy, Max Bentley and Nick Metz. Very few clubs in history have ever had four centremen of that ability.”
By the time he was promoted to assistant general manager, he was the winningest coach in Maple Leafs history. He was surpassed by Punch Imlach in the 1960s but still remains second all-time for the team.
In 1951, as assistant general manager, Day had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup for a seventh time. He became the only person to captain, coach and manage the Toronto Maple Leafs to Stanley Cup championships.
By 1955, Conn Smythe had given Day control over most hockey operations but he did not have the title of general manager. That season, Day said the team had a new strategy. He said,
“Guts, goals and glamour are what we are going for this year.”
In 1957, after the Leafs were eliminated, Smythe publicly embarrassed Day by stating he didn’t know if Day would return to the Maple Leafs the following season. Highly offended after so many years with the franchise, Day resigned.
He said,
“I was publicly dismembered. I felt I was walking the plank.”
Day stated there was no bitterness and he had the greatest respect for Smythe.
Almost immediately, Hap Day was offered the presidency of the American Hockey League, which he turned down. He said,
“I have talked to three of the AHL Governors regarding the position as league president, However, until I hear something definite, I have no idea whether or not I would take the position.”
After he left hockey, Day began running Elgin Handles in St. Thomas, Ontario until he sold the business in 1977 to his son.
In 1961, Day was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, joining many of the players he played with and coached. Joining him in the Hall that year was Day’s teammate and the player he coached, Syl Apps.
In 1967, he nearly took a job to become the general manager of the Los Angeles Kings but decided not to.
The influence of Day was so large that when Johnny McLellan took over as Leafs coach in 1969, he said,
“The next guy who tells me what Hap Day would have done with this team is gonna get his brains knocked out, if he has any.”
At the start of the 1988-89 season, Day went to Maple Leaf Gardens for the last time when he made the ceremonial faceoff.
While he seemed in good health, with some joking that he had the gift of immortality, the next year was a very difficult one.
His granddaughter was killed in a car accident, and his twin sisters both died within a few months of each other. His son, Kerry, stated that his father seemed to lose his zest for living.
On Feb. 17, 1990, Day died at the age of 88 in St. Thomas, Ontario.
The day he died, the Maple Leafs wore black armbands to honour Day. There was also a minute of silence to honour him at the Maple Leafs game.
In 2016, his #4 was officially retired by the Maple Leafs.
