August 25 NHL History
1939: Recently retired NHL star Babe Siebert drowns while on vacation at his family’s cottage on Lake Huron in St. Joseph, Ontario. Siebert is preparing for his debut as coach of the Montreal Canadiens after ending his playing career following the 1938-39 season, but never gets the chance. The NHL stages the Babe Siebert Memorial Game at the Forum in Montreal on Oct. 29, 1939, raising $15,000 for Siebert’s widow and daughters. He is elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1964.
1976: The NHL comes to the Rocky Mountains for the first time with the relocation of the Kansas City Scouts to Denver. But the renamed franchise, now known as the Colorado Rockies, enjoys little more success in its new home than it had during two seasons in Kansas City; the Rockies make the Stanley Cup Playoffs once in six seasons before the franchise moves again, this time to New Jersey.
1977: Two longtime rivals whose NHL careers continue into their 40s are part of the new class at the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Center Alex Delvecchio, who spends all of his 23 full NHL seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, and defenseman Tim Horton, who spends two decades with the Toronto Maple Leafs before playing for three other teams, are inducted into the Hall along with three builders: Harold Ballard, Joseph Cattarinich and John “Bunny” Ahearne.
Delvecchio is still third among all NHL players in games played with one franchise (1,549), trailing only longtime linemate Gordie Howe and defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom. Horton is a linchpin in the Maple Leafs’ four Stanley Cup championships in the 1960s and still an effective defenseman when he dies in an auto accident at age 44.
Delvecchio and Horton are named to the 100 Greatest NHL Players presented by Molson Canadian in 2017.
