Editing Toe Blake (section)

==Playing career==
[[File:Punch Line.jpg|thumb|250 px|The Punch line: Maurice Richard (bottom left), Elmer Lach (centre), and Toe Blake (bottom right)]]
Blake played junior and senior hockey in the Sudbury area and was part of the 1932 [[Memorial Cup]] champions, the [[Sudbury Cub Wolves]]. He played for the [[Hamilton Tigers (OHA)|Hamilton Tigers]] of the [[Ontario Hockey Association]] during the 1934–35 season before he signed with the [[Montreal Maroons]] of the [[National Hockey League]] on February 22, 1935; he made his NHL debut two days later on February 24, against the [[Chicago Black Hawks]].<ref>{{harvnb|Coleman|1969|p=238}}</ref> Blake played eight games with the Maroons in the [[1934–35 NHL season|1934–35 season]], but was held scoreless; he did not play in any of the team's playoff games, but when the Maroons won the [[Stanley Cup]], Blake's name was added to the trophy. Blake then played for the Canadiens until his retirement in [[1947–48 NHL season|1948]]. He won the [[Hart Memorial Trophy]] as the NHL's [[Most Valuable Player]] in [[1938–39 NHL season|1938–39]]; that same year he was also the league [[Art Ross Trophy|scoring champion]] with 47 points. For the last eight seasons, he was team [[Captain (ice hockey)|captain]], and led the Canadiens to [[Stanley Cup]]s in [[1943–44 NHL season|1944]] and [[1945–46 NHL season|1946]]. In the latter year, in which he incurred only one minor penalty, he became the first Canadien ever to win the [[Lady Byng Memorial Trophy]] for sportsmanship, which only [[Mats Näslund]] has replicated since as of 2022 (in [[1987–88 NHL season|1987–88]]).

While playing with the Canadiens, he was part of a trio called the "[[Punch line (hockey)|Punch Line]]," with [[Elmer Lach]] at centre and [[Maurice Richard]] at right wing. He scored the [[Stanley Cup]]-clinching goal in the [[1944 Stanley Cup Finals]] at 9:12 of the first overtime of game four, helping the Canadiens complete a four-game sweep of the [[Chicago Blackhawks]]. [[1944–45 NHL season|The following season]], the Punch Line became the second set of linemates ever to finish first, second, and third in NHL scoring in one season (Lach had 80 points, Richard 73, and Blake 67). They followed the [[Boston Bruins]]' [[Kraut line|Kraut Line]] of [[1939–40 NHL season|1939–40]], and would be followed by the [[Detroit Red Wings]]' [[Production Line (ice hockey)|Production Line]] in [[1949–50 NHL season|1949–50]].
[[File: Toe Blake.png|thumb|right|Toe Blake]]
During a loss to the [[New York Rangers]] on January 11, 1948,<ref name=break>{{cite web|title=Our History 1947-1948|url=http://ourhistory.canadiens.com/season/1947-1948|publisher=Montreal Canadiens|access-date=February 9, 2015|archive-date=February 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200222113815/http://ourhistory.canadiens.com/season/1947-1948|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=HHOF /> Blake collided with Rangers' skater [[Bill Juzda]], awkwardly hit the boards and suffered a double fracture of his ankle, ending his NHL career.<ref name=Christie>{{harvnb|Christie|1995|p=E6}}</ref><ref name=HHOF>{{cite web|title=Spotlight: One on one with Toe Blake|url=http://www.hhof.com/htmlSpotlight/spot_oneononep196602.shtml|publisher=Hockey Hall of Fame|access-date=February 9, 2015|date=January 2, 2009}}</ref> In 1998, he was ranked number 66 on ''[[The Hockey News]]''’ list of the NHL's 100 greatest players of all time to date.<ref>{{harvnb|Dryden|1997|p=139}}</ref> At the time of his retirement from the NHL Blake was second all-time in career scoring with 527 points, 21 points behind [[Bill Cowley]] for the all-time record. He had the all-time record for career points in the playoffs with 62 points in 58 games.<ref name="Hackel">{{harvnb|Hackel|2017}}</ref>