One of the National Hockey League’s early immortals was a player named Francis Michael “King” Clancy. He broke in during the 1922-23 season as a defenseman. Today his name is entered in hockey’s Hall of Fame.
For much of his rookie season Clancy saw no action at all. Finally, in overtime against Hamilton, he was sent into the game.
After the face-off, Clancy got possession of the puck. He passed to a teammate, then skated down the ice into the fray. Clancy got the puck back and took a wild swipe at it. The goal judge, standing behind the net, signaled a score.
The goalie protested that the puck had really gone in through the side of the net and shouldn’t count. The official stood firm. That was how it went into the record book.
King Clancy had scored a goal on his first shot as a major-league hockey player.
From The Giant Book of More Strange But True Sports Stories by Howard Liss. Illustrations by Joe Mathieu.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Clancy
It seems Clancy was quite a character. The story goes that he started a thousand fights and never won one. He also played all six positions in a game in 1923.
Seems after he retired as a player he spent a good portion of the rest of his life in the Maple Leafs front office where critics say he was paid to do nothing.
Sorry but everyone in the loafs front office get paid to do nothing.
I kind of figured you’d be here to confirm that.