Great centremen : stars of hockey's golden age / by Paul White.

"Hockey."

Includes bibliographical references.

With only 39 seconds left in the game, the Toronto Maple Leafs trailed their arch rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, by a score of 2ñ1 in the 1951 Stanley Cup Final.Desperate for a goal, the Leafs pulled goalie Al Rollins in favour of an extra attacker. The face-off was deep in the Canadiensí end. Veteran Toronto centre, Ted ìTeederî Kennedy stood at the face-off circle checking the positions of his teammates. His plan was to draw the puck back to fellow centre Max Bentley, who was playing the point.Kennedy looked up to see that Montreal had sent out Billy Reay, their best centre, to take the face-off.Better bear down, thought Teeder. Reay is a tough face-off man.But before the linesman could drop the puck, the Montreal bench called for one last change.When he saw the Montreal change, Kennedy couldnít believe his eyes! Elmer Lach was coming over the boards. Teeder had a long history with Lach. He was sure he could easily beat him on the draw.The puck dropped. In the blink of an eye, Teeder swept the puck back to Max Bentley. With a single swift motion, Bentley swung toward the net and fired the puck.A black blur streaked straight for the net. But suddenly it seemed to change direction. In a flash, it shot behind a startled Gerry MacNeil into the Montreal net.The score was tied!They headed into overtime.That was when Bill Barilko, a hard-hitting defenceman known more for his booming bodychecks than for his scoring prowess, netted perhaps the most mythical goal in the history of the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was the last goal Barilko would ever score... Paul White is a freelance writer who has been writing about sports history for more than a decade. He is a graduate of Trent University where he achieved an Honours BA in History and Canadian Studies. Great Centremen is his third published book. At present he lives in the Georgian Bay region of Ontario. When he isn't writing about hockey history you can find him either on the golf course or paddling a canoe. Of course he can always find time to talk about his beloved Red Wings.