This Day In Hockey History: Feb 17th

1910 - Playing for a local senior team in Chicoutimi, Quebec, Georges Vezina made more than 60 saves to help his team to a 1-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens. A short time later, Vezina became the Canadiens' goalie for the next 15 years.

1923 - Ottawa's Cy Denneny scored his 143rd career goal (in a 2-0 win over Montreal) to pass Joe Malone as the All-Time NHL goal scoring leader.

1927 - Toronto beat the N.Y. Americans 4-1 in the team's first game after changing their name from the "St. Patricks" to the "Maple Leafs." Pat Patterson scored the first ever "Leafs" goal.

1944 - Maurice Richard scored his second career hat trick (in a span of 2:13 in the third period) as Montreal won 3-2 at Detroit.

1945 - Montreal's Maurice Richard tied an NHL record with his 44th goal of the season, in a 4-3 win at Toronto. Richard's 44th of the year tied him with Joe Malone, who had 44 goals in 1917-18.

1951 - Gordie Howe scored his 100th career NHL goal and added an assist in a 2-1 Red Wings' victory in Montreal on a night Maurice "Rocket" Richard was honored with a car and other gifts in a ceremony at the Forum.

1952 - Montreal's Elmer Lach picked up his 354th career assist to become the NHL's all-time leader in assists. He passed Bill Cowley.

1960 - Rangers' trainer Joe Schaefer became the first New York native to tend goal for the Rangers, when he took over for injured Gump Worsley in the second period of a 5-1 loss to the Black Hawks.

1979 - Bernie Parent injured his eye in a game against the Rangers, at the Spectrum. The injury marked the end of his NHL career. In 486 career games with the Flyers, Parent was 232-141-103 with a 2.42 GAA and 50 shutouts.

1988 - Vancouver rookie goalie Kirk McLean registered his first NHL shutout, stopping 27 shots in a 5-0 Canucks' win over Pittsburgh.

1993 - Hartford's Pat Verbeek scored his 300th career NHL goal and added his 300th career assist in a 5-3 Whalers' loss to Buffalo.

Happy Birthday to Luc Robitaille, Lindy Ruff, Vinny Prospal, Jim Rutherford, Darren Pang, Todd Harvey, Michael Frolik, Hnat Domenichelli, Paul Meger, Drew Miller, Nathan LaFayette and Vladimir Vujtek