Hockey Heritage North Foundation brings Lakeshore Blue Devils Jersey Home...

The Hockey Heritage North Foundation is pleased to announce that as their contribution to the 100th Anniversary of the discovery of gold in Kirkland Lake they have acquired a 1940’s Lakeshore Blue Devils jersey emblematic of the 1940 Allan Cup Championship team.

Hockey Heritage North Foundation member Steve Cox discovered the jersey on the Classic Collectables website one year ago. The HHN Foundation’s initial bid was unsuccessful, however, in May of this year the jersey resurfaced and the bidding was on again. This time the Foundation was successful in the bidding. The Classic Collectable website is the site that is used by the Hockey Hall of Fame and Hockey Heritage North to help establish the value of the artifacts in their collection and also the same site that sold the 1972 Paul Henderson Team Canada jersey for over $ 1 million dollars.

The number nine blue and white jersey was worn by Stu Smith during the Allan Cup competition as indicated in the Northern Ontario Hockey Association team’s lineup from an April 20, 1940 program. The 1940 Blue Devils went on to win the Allan Cup with a line – up that included Smith, Bill Durnan, Bob Walton, Johnny McCreedy and Butch Stahan who all spent time in the National Hockey League. Smith had two goals and two assists in four games with the Montreal Canadiens over parts of the next two seasons in the midst of a long playing career before going on to play for the senior Ottawa Senators.

Further research regarding the Lakeshore Blue Devils hockey club has confirmed that three players with NHL experience that played for the Blue Devils were not included in the Kirkland Lake NHL’ers honoured at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex and the monument located in front of the bus station. These players include Stahan and Smith of the 1940’s Allan Cup team who both spent time with Montreal Canadiens and Johnny Crawford who played for the Blue Devils during the 1936-37 season and went on to play over 600 games as a solid defenseman for the Boston Bruins during the 30’s and 40’s. The HHN Foundation plans to induct these players and also have them included in the NHL’ers honoured by the Town of Kirkland Lake as they fit into the same category as Bill Durnan, Don Grosso, Roy Conacher and John Doran. These are players that were born elsewhere but moved to Kirkland Lake and played a part in the rich hockey history that the town on the mile of gold has established over the past century.

Plans are underway to unveil the jersey as well as honour the players that were missed in the previous listing of Kirkland Lake players that played in the National Hockey League.