Ferny Flaman, Don Simmons and Jim Morrison from the 1958-59 season. Photo provided by user tm50 on fanbase.com
Boston Bruins history for September 13:
1931: Don Simmons (full name Donald William Simmons) was born in Port Colborne, Ontario. He got his shot as an NHL goalie when Terry Sawchuk became ill and left the Bruins in 1957. Though he played reasonably well in Boston, and became the first goalie to start wearing a face mask after Jacques Plante introduced the concept in 1959, he really shone when he was with the Toronto Maple Leafs. While in Toronto, he won three Stanley Cups in a row from 1962 to 1964 and went to the 1963 All-Star Game. He last played for the New York Rangers before retiring. After his career, he founded Don Simmons Sports, an Ontario-area sporting goods store specializing in goalie gear that is still in business today. He died in 2010.
1948: Dave Reece (full name David Barrett Reece) is born in Troy, N.Y. His one season in the NHL, 1975-76, was played with the Bruins and got off to a good start–he had a then-record seven wins, five losses, two ties, two shutouts and a 3.32 goals-against average–but then an infamous event happened that basically spelled the early end of his career minding the net for the NHL. In a February 1976 game, he was in net for all 11 goals scored by the Maple Leafs, including another NHL record–set by Toronto’s Darryl Sittler when he scored six goals and four assists for a 10-point game.
Bruins coach Don Cherry never pulled Reece, even when the game started to go completely not his way, and he never played in the NHL again after that. He did, though, play in the AHL, go to a World Championship and make the preliminary cut for the 1972 Olympic team. His biggest success may be with reshaping the hockey program at South Kent School, a boys-only boarding school in Connecticut. He served as the school’s admissions director and head recruiter, searching for high-quality players and bringing South Kent from a team in the basement to a championship-caliber squad. Today, he lives in Vermont.
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