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Home > Hockey > Hockey Hall of Famers > Clarence (Happy) Day
Clarence (Happy) Day
Clarence, Happy Day was born on the 1st of June 1901 in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. He played 14 National Hockey League seasons from 1924 to 1938. He died on the 17th of February 1990. He was inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame in 1961.
On December 10, 1924, Day made his NHL debut as a left wing, after his rookie year, he shifted to defense, where he spent the rest of his career. Day was a born leader, and He captained the team from 1926 until 1936. Starting in 1931, he was paired on defense with King Clancy; together they formed one of the best twosomes in the league.
In the spring of 1932, the Leafs christened their new home, Maple Leaf Gardens, with the team's first Stanley Cup championship under Conn Smythe's management and Day scored a key goal. In a two-game, total-goals semi-final against the Montreal Maroons, Day made a spectacular rush, something defense players rarely did then, to tie the score and send the second game into overtime. Bob Gracie got the winner for the Leafs and they moved on to the finals against the New York Rangers. Day scored three goals in the first two games and the Leafs won the famous, tennis series, by scores of 6-4, 6-2 and 6-4.
Fortune smiled on Day in 1940, Leafs owner Conn Smythe hired Day and over the next 10 years he was the most successful coach in the NHL. In his first year the Leafs lost to Boston in seven games, in the semifinals. But in 1942 he coached the team to the greatest Stanley Cup comeback of all time. The Leafs lost the first three games of the finals to Detroit but stormed back to win four in a row and claim the Stanley Cup.
In all, he won five Cup championships as coach of the Leafs, in 1942 and 1945 and then three in a row from 1947 to 1949, the first time in NHL history that a Stanley Cup hat trick was accomplished. After he gave up coaching in 1950, the Leafs immediately appointed Day assistant to general manager Conn Smythe, although Day in fact had the responsibility of running the team until 1957. He picked up another Stanley Cup with coach Joe Primeau in 1951, and was appointed general manager for 1957-58.
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