The Life Of Andy Blair (Part Three)

Winnipeg's Andy Blair was a star forward with the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1920s and 1930s.

This is part of a four-week series that I have written on the great Andy Blair. I hope you enjoy this one as it took months to put together a few years back, and made for one heck of a tale in a previous book I’d written. Enjoy!

During his first three years as a Maple Leaf, Andy made the mistake of keeping more or less aloof from his teammates between games, resulting in him being considerably out of touch with the actual doings of the boys. At Dick Irvin’s suggestion he moved into a suite next to Irvin, Clancy and Finnigan at the Royal York Hotel. From a mental standpoint Blair found his new surroundings very congenial and now fully felt like one of the boys. 

The 1931-32 season would mark the pinnacle of Blair’s sports career as he would win his lone Stanley Cup. To kick things off, Blair played in the first game ever played at magnificent Maple Leaf Gardens when it was opened on November 12^th, 1931. It brought rave reviews and a capacity crowd of 13,233, the largest for a Toronto sporting event to that time – the top ticket price was three bucks.