Each day from now until the Winter Classic, Sportsnet will count down the greatest Toronto Maple Leafs of all time.
Few NHL careers were as long, varied and successful as that of Clarence “Hap” Day. His nickname evolved from his boyhood moniker—“Happy”—because of his easygoing, fun-loving attitude off the ice (and because, as Day always said, his given name was not his favourite). But through 33 years in the game as a player, team captain, referee, coach and executive, Day’s approach to hockey was extremely serious. “I liked a laugh and a practical joke,” he said years after his hockey days had ended, when he was the owner
and operator of the Elgin Handle Company in St. Thomas, Ont. “But hockey was where I earned my living for a long time, so I never kidded around about it.”
Day was an NHL rarity in the 1920s—a player who had attended college. He was studying pharmacy at the University of Toronto and playing college and senior hockey in Hamilton when Charlie Querrie, owner of the Toronto St. Pats, persuaded the winger to turn pro in 1924. Day agreed when Querrie assured him he wouldn’t miss many classes and could operate a retail pharmacy after graduation. In Day’s first big league game, he played left wing on a line with eventual Hall of Famers Jack Adams and Babe Dye. Two years later, he was team captain.
Day retained the “C” when Conn Smythe bought the St. Pats in 1927 and changed their name to the Maple Leafs, switching his captain to defence and allowing him to operate a small drugstore in the majestic Maple Leaf Gardens when it opened in 1931. In 28 years of blue and white, Day placed his name on the Stanley Cup seven times, once as captain in 1932, five times as coach in the 1940s and one final time as assistant GM in 1951.
Teammates, opponents and those who watched the game closely during Day’s career claim he was among the smartest, most creative men in the league’s history, and many of them point to his performance when the Leafs won the 1932 Stanley Cup as the pinnacle.
“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 but with a batch of scouts and videotapes,” said teammate Red Horner during an interview in 2000. “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.”
Day’s approach was simple. “I learned early that it was defensive play that won hockey games,” he said. “Good defencemen and goalies are important, but defence must be a total team project.”
Ironically, most of his mates pointed to his attacking excellence as critical to the ’32 Cup victory. The Leafs trailed the Montreal Maroons by a goal late in the semifinal when Day made a dazzling rush with the puck through the entire Maroons team to tie the score. Bob Gracie won the series in overtime. That set the Leafs up against a strong Rangers team in the Final. Day had a goal and an assist in the first game, then set up two scores late in the third contest to spur a sweep. “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,” King Clancy said. “I guess he suddenly remembered everything he’d learned as a winger.”