Leonetti Mike - Captain

BY JOHN IABONI

Stunningunprecedenteddaringzanyemotionalrecorded for all time.

Those words applied to Darryl Sittler when he became the first and of this writing, still the only player in NHL history to record 10 points in one game. In my view, they also relate to those of us in the media who watched the achievement unfold. When the cheers subsided we were the sole sources to relive it, encapsulate it, and bring our followers behind the scenes.

These were the days of 8 p.m. game start times, with this monumental contest ending at 10:27 p.m. the 27 extremely fitting for the star of the night. Our approach was to do running copy after each period and top the story with a quick lead for our first edition, which had to be on press by 11 p.m. Our later edition would clear at midnight, allowing a little extra time for a rewrite.

Now remember that we had no email, cellphones, Twitter, Instagram. A telecopier operator would put each typescript page on the fax machine drum for the six-minute transmission via telephone back to another machine at our office at 333 King Street East. That was about as instant as we knew back in the day.

The first period showed a promising night for Sittler (two assists) and the Maple Leafs (up 21) but nothing like what was about to unfold. Over the next 20 minutes, Sittler had electrified everyone with a hat trick and two more assists. That had me constantly turning to our only source of reference in those days the 197576 NHL Media Guide with All-Star Game photos of Ken Dryden and Eddie Westfall on the cover.

Page 121: Chicagos Les Cunningham (January 28, 1940, against Montreal) and Max Bentley (January 28, 1943 against New York) along with Bostons Leo Labine (November 28, 1954) each had the NHL record with five points in one period. Sittler had just joined them.

Page 118: Montreals Rocket Richard (December 28, 1944, against Detroit) and Bert Olmstead (January 9, 1954, against Chicago) headed the list for most points in one NHL game with eight.

Could/would Sittler tie them? Could/would he get nine? What about ten? Nah! Hey, why not?

That carom shot off Brad Park to catapult Sittler into double-digit territory truly capped the surreal night. So I hurried like someone possessed, pounding those typewriter keys into submission. I ran down to get a quick quote from Harold Ballard (in which he said Sittlers feat was even greater than Paul Hendersons Game 8 goal in the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union and promised to reward his captain with some kind of heirloom). I went to a payphone to dictate that quote to a copy editor for insert into the main game story for that first edition.

Then I headed to the dressing rooms for quotes to cover sidebar/colour stories. En route I ran into Wendy Sittler, whose glowing smile was a story unto itself. She was so proud of her husband and elated that Sittlers parents, Ken and Doris, were able to attend the game. The next day, Sittler told me that his parents got tickets to the game at the last minute because Greg Hubicks wife wouldnt be using them. Talk about something being meant to be!

Once I got to Sittler in the dressing room, there he was sipping on champagne. Only days before, while Darryl was mired in a scoring slump, Ballard lamented to the media that he needed a centre for his club.

Mr. Ballard still looking for the centreman, eh? Sittler said, grinning from ear to ear.

It was one of those nights when everything happened, he said. Some nights you have the puck and nothing happens. Itll be hard to forget something like this.

Citing that his pregame ritual was nothing different, Sittler did add, Well, my son (Ryan) fell in the mud when I was babysitting himother than that, nothing different.

Leafs coach Red Kelly commented that Sittlers night was a fantastic performance which couldnt have happened to a greater guy. Bruins coach Don Cherry added, Everything Sittler touched turned to gold tonight but he sure worked for them. Hes just a great centre.

Coincidentally, Sittler and Cherry collaborated for Team Canada some seven months later, when the Leafs captain capped his remarkable 1976 with the Canada Cupwinning goal against Czechoslovakia.

In between, Sittler thrilled fans once more with his five-goal playoff game on April 22, 1976, in that seven-game war against the Philadelphia Flyers. Covering the Leafs during the Sittler years produced numerous exceptional moments complete with highs and lows.