October 11, 1967: A huge day in the history of the National Hockey League, as five of its "Second Six" expansion teams play their 1st regular season games:
* At the Oakland Coliseum Arena (now named the Oracle Arena), the Oakland Seals defeat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-1. Bill Sutherland scores the 1st Flyer goal, while Kent Douglas scores the 1st for the Seals.
This is a false dawn for the Seals: The team later known as the California Golden Seals will make the Playoffs just once before moving to become the Cleveland Browns in 1976, and in 1978 becoming the last major league sports team to date to actually fold; while the Flyers will finish 1st in the NHL Western Division, be mostly competitive until the late 1980s, and win the 1974 and '75 Stanley Cups.
* At the St. Louis Arena, the St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota North Stars play to a 2-2 tie. Larry Keenan scored the 1st goal for St. Louis. Bill Masterton, a longtime minor-league star finally getting his chance with expansion, scores the 1st for Minnesota.
But, with no helmet and a shaved head offering no protection, later in the season, he will hit his head on the ice, and become the only player in the League's 104-year history (so far) to die as the direct result of an in-game injury. The NHL will dedicate an annual trophy for perseverance and courage in his memory.
* At Pittsburgh's Civic Arena, former Ranger star Andy Bathgate scores the 1st goal in Pittsburgh Penguins history, but the Pens lose 2-1 to the Montreal Canadiens, as Jean Beliveau scores his 400th career NHL goal.
* The Los Angeles Kings will debut on October 14, at the Long Beach Convention Center, as The Forum in Inglewood is not yet read. They beat the Flyers, 4-2. The 1st L.A. goal is scored by Brian Kilrea, a nephew of 3 NHL players, who goes on to be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame for his work as a coach and executive in junior hockey in the family's native Ottawa.
Jack Kent Cooke, owner of the original Toronto Maple Leafs, the minor-league baseball team that gave its name to the city's NHL team, bought the rights to the Los Angeles franchise when he was told that there were 300,000 Canadian expatriates living within a 3-hour drive of Los Angeles. The team's early struggle for attendance led him to sell the Kings, the NBA's Lakers, and The Forum to Jerry Buss in 1979. Cooke said of those alleged 300,000 people, "Now I know why they left Canada: They hate hockey!"
As I said, the Flyers won their 1st Stanley Cup in 1974, and their 2nd in 1975. They have not won it since, going 0-6 in Finals. The Penguins won their 1st in 1991, and now have 5.
The North Stars never won it, and in 1993 they moved, becoming the Dallas Stars, winning the Cup in 1999. In the process, they, in a manner of speaking won a Cup for the Seals/Barons franchise as well. A year later, the expansion Minnesota Wild took their place in the Twin Cities. They haven't won a Cup, either.
The Kings did not reach the Stanley Cup Finals until 1993, and didn't win a Cup until 2012. They won another in 2014. And the Blues finally won one in 2019, to complete the circuit.
*
October 11, 1967 was a Wednesday. So there was no football. And the NBA and the just-founded ABA were about to begin their seasons. These other games were played in the NHL that day:
* The New York Rangers beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 6-3 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The Boston Bruins and the Detroit Red Wings played to a tie, 4-4 at the Boston Garden.
* Along with the Kings, the Maple Leafs did not play.
And there was baseball played that day, Game 6 of the World Series at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski, Reggie Smith and Rico Petrocelli hit the only back-to-back-to-back home runs in Series history. Petrocelli adds another, and the Boston Red Sox defeat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-4, and send the Series to a deciding Game 7.
Cardinal manager Red Schoendienst, himself a World Series winner as a player with the Cardinals of 1946 and the Milwaukee Braves of 1957, announces his choice to pitch Game 7: Bob Gibson, on 3 days rest. Sox manager Dick Williams, knowing that his ace, Jim Lonborg, would have only 2 days rest, announces his starter to the Boston media: "Lonborg and champagne."
Those words are put on the front page of the Boston Globe the next day, and it ticks the Cards off. And the last thing anyone wants to see in a World Series game is a ticked-off Bob Gibson. As it turned out, Lonborg had nothing, Gibson hit a home run off him, and Gibson went the distance. The Cards won, 7-2.
There is one other notable baseball story on October 11, 1967: Former Brooklyn Dodger star Gil Hodges, who married a Brooklyn woman, Joan Lombardi, and stayed in the Borough after the Dodgers moved, leaves the managerial post of the Washington Senators, to become the manager of the Queens-based Mets. The Mets do compensate the Senators. Hodges will only manage the Mets for 4 seasons before a heart attack claims his life, but one of those seasons will be the Miracle of '69.