Royals sat rinkside to watch hard-hitting bonus hockey before home opener
As part of the Leafs’ centennial season, the Star is taking a look back at significant moments in the franchise’s history:
The Toronto Maple Leafs opened their 1951-52 season on Oct. 13 against the Chicago Black Hawks, but that afternoon, the two teams played a 15-minute exhibition game for the benefit of two special guests. Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, were in Toronto, and were treated to their first hockey game.
Princess Elizabeth, who became Queen Elizabeth II on the death of her father, King George VI, on February 6, 1952, is the world’s oldest reigning monarch, celebrating her Sapphire Jubilee with her 65th year as Queen of the United Kingdom as well as Canada and the remainder of the Commonwealth. Her historic visits have taken her around the globe, including an afternoon at Ma- ple Leaf Gardens.
There hadn’t been time in the Royals’ exhaustive itinerary to attend the Maple Leafs home opener that evening, so in order to accommodate their schedule, an exhibition game between the Leafs and the Black Hawks was created to begin promptly at 3 p.m. and last no more than 15 minutes. The timing of the exhibition contest would fit the Royals’ schedule and still allow the Prince and Princess to meet their next commitment, which was at Riverdale Park. It was decided that proceeds from the contest would benefit the Crippled Children’s Fund, Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe’s favoured charity.
Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip arrived at Maple Leaf Gardens and were escorted by Conn Smythe and Ontario Premier Leslie Frost through the main entrance of the arena to a reserved box. Seats in Box 50 on the west side had been replaced with chairs much more suitable for royalty, and the box was decorated with a giant Union Jack flag. Both Conn Smythe and Premier Frost sat in the box with the Royal couple.
Leafs captain Ted Kennedy was instructed on proper protocol in greeting the princess and her consort. He remembered being told, “Don’t speak unless they speak to me. I call them each ‘Your Royal Highness.’ I don’t bow, just shake hands and bow my head slightly.” Diane Charters, a youngster selected for the occasion, was lifted up in order to hand Princess Elizabeth a bouquet of flowers.
Once the 14,000 spectators were settled, the game got underway. Ed Fitkin, in On the Hockey Beat, reported, “Princess Elizabeth’s eyes sparkled as she intently followed the play. She recoiled slightly at heavy checks, and talked and smiled with Mr. Smythe frequently.” On several occasions, Princess Elizabeth asked Smythe for explanations on what was taking place. Conn Smythe was impressed by the Royal couple and their observations. “They both enjoyed the game tremendously. Prince Philip roared with laughter at the upsetting bodychecks and the way the eyes of Princess Elizabeth glowed as the players shot by her at full speed.” One reporter commented that the Royals “were introduced to a new phase of Canadian life that must certainly have been unique in their experience.”
“It was a very exciting day for us,” recalled Danny Lewicki, one of the Maple Leafs playing that afternoon. “Just to think she would be there!”
The game ended in a scoreless tie, but Ted Kennedy called the game “the most intense 15 minutes of hockey ever played at Maple Leaf Gardens.” “Body contact was hard, but no fights broke out,” reported The Globe. “The Princess betrayed her emotions by a wide-eyed look and an automatic jump of the Royal shoulders when a player was hit hard.”
The Leafs’ captain kept a photograph of his meeting with the future Queen of England in his home until his dying days. It was one of the few souvenirs of his 14 years with the Maple Leafs that he displayed. Kevin Shea is a hockey historian and author of The Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club: Official Centennial Publication, 1917-2017.