A Hockey Eclipse History

Back in the day, long before the internet and cell phones, there was a total solar eclipse that happened across North America in 1979. Like the one that happened today, a number of cities and people got to experience the total blackout of the solar eclipse that happened, and it got me thinking about what hockey happened that day when one considers there were NHL games and the IIHF Women's World Championship being played today. A number of the women playing in Utica were out with their eclipse glasses to see the moment the moon crossed in front of the sun, so one has to wonder if the 1979 solar eclipse had any effect on the teams playing that day.

Let me be clear in saying that there is zero causation or correlation between the celestial event and how any team fared following the eclipse today or back on February 26, 1979. Anyone who wants to use the eclipse as a factor in any score or any result is welcome to do so, but I'll dismiss those associations immediately. It's an eclipse and they happen often, but it just so happens that these two dates - today and February 26, 1979 - feature total solar eclipses that are visible in North America. In short, eclipses did not lead to wins or losses.

Back on February 26, 1979, though, there were two NHL games that day after North America was wowed by the eclipse. Coincidentally, the WHA had no games scheduled for that day as three games were played on February 25 and two more were played on February 27, but the day in between had zero WHA players on the ice for games. That's just a crazy coincidence considering Winnipeg saw the full eclipse and the Jets were not playing that day.

The early game on February 26, 1979 saw the Toronto Maple Leafs visiting the Buffalo Sabres in a game where fisticuffs started the game, but goals seemed to settle things down. After Buffalo's Dave Schultz and Toronto's Joel Quenneville got familiar with one another, Lanny McDonald scored his 27th goal at 8:16 of the first period as the Leafs took the lead. Toronto's Dave Hutchison and Buffalo's Larry Playfair dropped the gloves three minutes later as both took a five-minute break after their skirmish, but Toronto held the one-goal lead through 20 minutes of play.

Don Luce would bring Buffalo even with his 19th goal at 4:59 of the second period, and he'd make it a 2-1 lead at 12:12 of the third period when he notched a 20th goal. Ric Seiling's 16th goal at 18:37 would be more than enough for the Sabres on this night as Don Edwards stopped 25 shots to secure the 3-1 win for the Sabres over the Maple Leafs. Paul Harrison took the loss for the Leafs as he stopped 27 shots in this game.

The late game saw another Canadian team hit the road as the Vancouver Canucks headed south to Los Angeles for a game against the Kings. This game had no displays of pugilism, but there was a star who lit the lamp early as Marcel Dionne scored his 43rd goal of the season at the 7:31 mark to put the Kings up 1-0. Charlie Simmer would add his seventh goal at 18:06 as Dionne and Dave Taylor both recorded two points in the opening frame, and the Kings went into the break with the 2-0 lead.

From Simmer's goal onward, it was a goalie show as Vancouver's Gary Bromley and Los Angeles' Mario Lessard stopped everything sent their ways, and that meant that the final horn saw the Kings emerge victorious with a 2-0 win. Lessard stopped all 24 shots he faced for his third shutout of the season while Gary Bromley stopped 37 of 39 shots he faced.

If you're wondering what happened after the "eclipse day" games, all four teams would make the playoffs that season as part of the preliminary best-of-three round, but none of these four teams faced one another. Philadelphia beat Vancouver 2-1 in their series, the Rangers swept the Kings 2-0 in their series, Toronto upset Atlanta with a 2-0 series win, and Pittsburgh upset Buffalo in their series by a 2-1 count. Toronto would be swept out of the playoffs by the Montreal Canadiens in the following round.

What's cool is that the Maple Leafs and Canucks were also playing games tonight as they seem to be the NHL's "total eclipse teams". The Maple Leafs hosted the Penguins in a game where they won 3-2 in overtime as Austin Matthews scored his 65th goal of the season while the Canucks were playing host to the Golden Knights in a game where they won 4-3 where Conor Garland scored a hat trick and Brock Boeser scored his 40th goal of the season.

The NHL should put a note on their 2044 schedule to have the Leafs and Canucks play against one another in some sort of special game because the next total solar eclipse will happen on August 22 or 23, 2044. That seems like it would be way too early for NHL games, though, so maybe the Leafs and Canucks will get a break that day. Of course, there could be some international tournament like the World Cup of Hockey being played, so who knows how the game will change over the next twenty years?

I hope you were able to see the eclipse today if you were in an area where it was visible. I was not in one of those areas, so my eclipse experience was minimal. I guess I'll just have to wait until 2044 for the next blackout, and it's almost assured there won't be any hockey being played that day by Canadian NHL teams.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!