Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insight with readers each Wednesday.
This week, Stan recalls how Maple Leafs Hall of Fame goalie Walter "Turk" Broda was benched for a week after his boss Conn Smythe said, "You're too fat for me!"
It was a fact of Maple Leafs life on November 29, 1949, that when Toronto hockey boss Conn Smythe roared, his players listened -- and five of them were benched and forced to go on a diet because they were overweight.
"We are not running a fat man's team," warned Smythe, who singled out key players. Defenseman Garth Boesch, forwards Harry Watson, Vic Lynn and Sid Smith as well as four-time, Stanley Cup-winning goalkeeper Turk Broda.
After his team had won an unprecedented three consecutive Stanley Cup championships -- 1947, 1948, 1949 -- Smythe figured that his skaters had slipped on the soft road to obesity in their quest for a fourth straight title.
"Broda is overweight at 197 pounds," Smythe asserted in his riot act attended by the Toronto press, "He is off the team until he shows some common sense. He has been ordered to reduce to 190 pounds."
Smythe's remarks signaled what would become the weeklong talk of Canada, otherwise labelled "Broda's Battle of the Bulge." The four other players also could have been underlined on Smythe's notepad but Broda, 35, was the headliner. He not only was the NHL's longest-running puckstopper but also one of the most successful and popular athletes in the dominion.
"Broda had been the hero of the 1949 Cup victory," wrote historian Eric Zweig in his oral history of the Maple Leafs.
But that was old business. Smythe's Leafs had plummeted from first place on November 1, 1949, and 29 days later were heading for the cellar. They had gone six games without a win, tying only one. "It's conditioning that's needed," barked Smythe. "Nothing but conditioning. If it isn't Turk's fault, we'll find out who it is."
On that dissonant note, Conn promoted beanpole goalie Gil Mayer from his Pittsburgh American Hockey League farm team.
"We're starting Mayer in our next game," he explained, "and he'll stay in here even if the score is 500-1 against the Leafs -- and I don't think it will be."
Except for a World War II stint in the Canadian Army from 1943-46, Broda had never missed a game over twelve seasons in the Toronto net. Now he had five days to shape up until a Saturday match against the Rangers -- and drop the fat.
Turk's teammates also were under pressure, but Broda remained the lead story.
"Smythe hatched this scheme," wrote Kevin Shea in his Maple Leafs history, "to get his team some positive press."
Two examples proved Shea's point. Toronto restaurant owner Sam Shopsowitz took an ad in the local papers, declaring, "For that old Broda look, eat at Shopsy's."
Another restaurant owner drew a caricature of Broda stopping eight pucks at once and captioned it: "Just three weeks ago I was the best goalkeeper in the League. If I'd only eaten a few more king-sized steaks at the Palisades, I'd be fat enough to fill the whole net and they would never score on me!"
Photographers followed Broda's daily checkups and Turk obliged them with an edible play-by-play:
"I've been eating apples and killing my thirst with oranges. For my evening meal I had a lean steak and spinach."
Mrs. Betty Broda interrupted: "Walter is just one of those persons who is naturally inclined to be stout."
With only a couple of days before the deadline, Smythe made a deal with Cleveland of the AHL, obtaining 23-year-old Al Rollins, rated the best goalie not in the NHL. Turning to Broda. the boss added: "If you make 190 pounds, you can play. Nothing would give me more pleasure than to see you get down in weight and get your timing back."
At the finish line, Watson, Boesch, Lynn, Smith and Meeker all weighed in under the limit. Now it was Turk's turn to mount the full-faced Toledo scale. Broda exhaled as the pointer stopped at 187.5. He made it! Now it was a matter of beating the Rangers that night at Maple Leaf Gardens.
