Gaye Stewart

Stewart had a Gayeold time in the NHLBy Mike Wyman NHL.com correspondent
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By the age of 16, young Gaye Stewart was a Toronto Maple Leafs prospect, his rights locked up by the club, already fast-tracked toward an NHL destination. Leaving Fort William, Ontario, his hometown on the north shore of Lake Superior, he went east and suited up for the Toronto Marlboros, almost immediately becoming a scoring sensation.
After two seasons with the Marlies, Stewart turned pro in early in March 1942, assigned to the Hershey Bears for the remainder of the American Hockey League season. A month later, Indianapolis defeated Hershey in the Calder Cup finals. While the other Bears may have gone into hibernation, Stewart did not.
"The morning after we lost in the playoffs to Detroit's farm team in Indianapolis, I was told to join the Leafs in Detroit," he said. "I managed to get into three games and got my name on the Stanley Cup."

Stewart stuck with the team going into the next season and soon showed that he had brought his scoring touch with him. The 5-foot-11, 170-pound right wing recorded 24 goals and 23 assists, a rookie performance that was recognized with the 1943 Calder Trophy.
Like many young men of his generation, the 20-year-old Stewart enlisted in the armed services, joining the Canadian Navy. Stationed briefly in Montreal, he suited up for the QSHL Royals for a handful of games. He also played alongside and against numerous NHL peers in defense leagues both in Montreal and, later, in Halifax.
"For most guys, it was two years out of your life out of hockey." Stewart recalled. "I was lucky, I managed to play every winter, but a lot of guys got sent overseas and didn't get the chance to play."
A civilian once again, Stewart returned to the Maple Leafs and proved that he was no flash in the pan. Playing for a fifth-place club, he finished second to Max Bentley in both the NHL's scoring race and the Hart Trophy balloting for League MVP in 1945-46.
Named to the first All-Star team, Stewart's 37-goal output led the League, a feat that no Leaf has repeated in the 60 years since.
By the late 1940s, the Leafs had rebuilt and were once again among the NHL's top contenders. In Stewart's view, much of the credit for the team's successes is due to the man behind the bench, Hap Day.
"He was a very disciplined person," Stewart said. "I think it rubbed off on us players and we responded in kind."
Day -- who played 14 NHL seasons as a defenseman and won five Stanley Cups with the Leafs -- was decidedly defensive in his coaching approach. He felt that the key to victory lay, not in outscoring the opponent, but in allowing fewer goals. So, expectedly, there were occasional philosophical differences between coach and his more offensively minded forward.
"I was trying to score goals, so I wasn't too concerned about being that much defensively. He quite often said that some nights I didn't know who was playing goal for us because I never got back that far," Stewart chuckled.
After playing and coaching in the AHL, Gaye Stewart served as an NHL referee for two years. In 1946-47 Stewart's seven points in 11 games helped drive the Leafs to the Stanley Cup. They would go on to win it again the next two seasons, but Stewart was not to be a part of the subsequent triumphs.
Intent on getting Max Bentley from Chicago, Conn Smythe cleared one end of his bench to make room for him. He sent "The Flying Forts", the forward line of Stewart, Bud Poile and Gus Bodnar, all natives of Fort William, and a pair of defensemen, to the Windy City in exchange for Bentley. A total of seven men were involved in the trade, the biggest and one of the most controversial up to that time.
"It was blockbuster deal but it didn't do much for Chicago. We still never made the playoffs,' Stewart said.
While the team foundered, Stewart continued his scoring ways, racking up 70 goals in his three seasons with the Blackhawks. Named to the second All-Star team following the 1947-48 campaign, Stewart was named team captain prior to the next season.
On the move once again, this time as part of an eight-player trade, Stewart found himself with Detroit to start the 1950-51 schedule. Playing on a team that emphasized offense, Stewart fit in well and was off to a strong start as a Red Wing until suffering a broken hand.
Medical services in the game's six-team era concentrated on getting hockey players back on the ice as soon as possible. Stewart was sent to the Detroit Orthopaedic hospital to have the limb set.
"I had my hand on a hockey stick and they built the cast around it so that I could just slip the handle into it and play," he said. "That effort lasted one game because the cast disintegrated by the end of the second period. That didn't deter them. The next morning I was back at OH and they were putting another cast on. It did the same thing so they decided there was just no way I could be fixed up. Today, you probably wouldn't see the guy for about three months."
Traded to the Rangers after his season in Detroit, Stewart spent a season and a half in New York before being acquired by Montreal, the fifth and last stop on an NHL career that saw him come one team short of completing an "Original Sixpack".
After playing and coaching the AHL Buffalo Bisons, Stewart returned to the NHL. This time, he dressed a little differently.
"They asked me if I'd join the officiating staff as a referee. I didn't have any experience, but I lasted two years. I learned more about hockey when I refereed than I did anywhere else," he said.
Now retired after 29 years with Molson Breweries, the 83-year-old Stewart, still a keen hockey fan, enjoyed the 2005-06 season.
"I was considered a big power forward in my day and I wasn't 6-feet tall. Now they've got power forwards who are 6-4 and boy, can they skate," he said. "I sure liked the way they played hockey this past winter. It was a vast improvement.
"From a league standpoint they've had an excellent season. They really sold a lot of people on the game during the playoffs and fans are going to be expecting to see more of that stuff in the future."