By Tom Annelin / HockeyThunderBay.com
BORN on this date, August 8, 1916, 107 years ago, the late Murdo MacKay is another unsung Lakehead hockey hero from days gone by.
Beginning his career in the local junior ranks at age 16, MacKay skated with such Fort William clubs as the Juniors, Cubs and Kams.
His final Jr. season was in 1935-36 where his stellar play on the ice led the Kams to a first-place finish in the five-team Thunder Bay Junior Hockey League standings.
MacKay’s contributions as a 19-year-old saw the gifted centreman pace the TBJHL in both goals and points with 16 and 32 respectively as he produced at a two-point-per-game clip on the campaign.
This included finishing ahead of a crafty 16-year-old forward and future Hockey Hall of Fame Honoured Member, Edgar Laprade, who led the Port Arthur Juniors offensively.
In postseason action, MacKay once again paced the Kams with eight tallies and a trio of helpers in six playoff contests.
There Fort William won the TBJHL championship versus Laprade’s Port Arthur squad, who had knocked off the second place Westfort Maroons in semifinal play.
In the end, the Kams twice edged the Juniors 2-1 in a pair of tightly contested affairs to win the total-goal set 4-2.
Moving on to the Thunder Bay Amateur Hockey Association final against the Rainy River Blackhawks, the Fort William offensive trio of MacKay, Bill Horbachewski and Tini Esse proved to be unstoppable in a 9-1 romp in the opener.
With an eight-goal spread entering the finale, the Kams finished it off with a 5-3 triumph and won the overall affair, 14 markers to four.
Heading to Manitoba and a Abbott Cup western Canadian semifinal date with the Elmwood Maple Leafs of suburban Winnipeg, Fort William’s season would come to a close following a two-game sweep.
This featured an overtime loss in Game 2, after letting an early two-goal lead get away and allowing a late tying tally with 1:16 remaining in regulation.
The skill set of MacKay however caught the eye of the New York Rovers, who played out of Madison Square Garden in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League.
Through four years there, he bettered his goal and point total each season, wrapping up his tenure there in second spot all-time in franchise offensive production, on 149 in 186 games, including 76 markers while also earning an EHL All-Star nod.
This featured him leading the Rovers in tallies in 1938-39 with 44, a year after when he had 20 and saw New York finish first overall.
Heading to the American Hockey League in 1940, MacKay joined the Philadelphia Ramblers, who like the Rovers, were a farm team of the New York Rangers.
Next came a move to the AHL’s Buffalo Bisons, where he would eventually play for six campaigns and continually had a penchant for providing extended multi-game goal and point streaks.
Joining the Royal Canadian Navy, beginning in 1942, MacKay would serve his country throughout the remaining duration of the Second World War.
Returning to Buffalo in the fall of 1945, MacKay led the Bisons stampede to an AHL Calder Cup title, leading them in goals with 32 and finishing second overall in scoring on 63 points.
His efforts there also earned him a five-game call-up to the Montreal Canadiens where he made his NHL debut on January 16, 1946 against the Chicago Blackhawks.
In that contest, MacKay assisted on the Habs lone marker in a narrow 2-1 setback.
Overall, he went on to appear in 19 regular season affairs with Montreal, along with dressing in 15 playoff games as a member of the Canadiens.
MacKay’s lone NHL tally came in a playoff contest with the Habs against the Detroit Red Wings back on March 26, 1949, in which he notched the game-winner, in a 3-2 decision in the third match-up of the series, that the Wings took in five games.
Returning to the AHL he proved to be a model of consistency with the Bisons over his time with the club.
Among his career highlights there was on March 2, 1950, where in a road meeting at the New Haven Ramblers, he notched his 30th tally of the season for Buffalo, which marked the first time in American Hockey League history that a player had scored 30, or more, goals for the same team in five consecutive seasons.
Named a first team AHL All-Star for 1948-49, the ever popular MacKay with the Memorial Auditorium faithful, went on to finish third all-time in Bisons’ history in terms of points.
He registered 379 in 363 outings, with his games played-to-points ratio better than both Larry Wilson (784 GP-696 PTS) and Billy Dea (641 GP-482 PTS), who are the only two ahead of him in total points.
His 1.04 PPG average was also among the most in the tenure of the franchise.
Just how good was he with the Bisons?
In his stint of a half-dozen years there, MacKay led the team in goals five times and was second the other time.
Add in ending up second in overall scoring on three occasions, along with a first, third and fifth place effort, made him one of the best players the franchise ever had.
Following his very successful stint in Buffalo, he headed to the Cleveland Barons in 1950, where MacKay went on to win another Calder Cup with fellow Lakehead products Steve Wojciechowski and Ray Ceresino.
Completing his playing career with the fabled Quebec Aces, he skated alongside the legendary Jean Beliveau from 1951-53, before hanging up the blades.
In his two years there with the Punch Imlach-coached Aces, they won a league championship, an Alexander Cup, which saw both Canadian senior and professional teams competing, along with another finals’ appearance in Quebec.
That final season saw him skate with two other forwards from Fort William, Gaye Stewart, and Alf Baccari.
Completing his two-decade run, MacKay was a tremendous offensive performer with 820 points to his credit in just over 900 appearances.
Add in another 80 points in the playoffs, he wrapped up his time in the game with 900 points in total, including 460 goals, in 1,020 match-ups.
Inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in September of 1999, MacKay was rightfully recognized and remembered for his on-ice excellence that established him as yet another Lakehead hockey legend.