This Day in Hockey History – November 19, 1929 – Use the Fourth, Defensemen

It only happened once that two defensemen scored four times each. On November 19, 1929, the Pittsburgh Pirates hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs at Duquesne Gardens. An audience of 3,500 witnessed Toronto’s Hap Day and Pittsburgh’s John McKinnon tally four goals apiece.

McKinnon was born on July 15, 1902, one year, one month, and one day after Day, who was born June 14, 1901. Unsurprisingly then, Day began his NHL career with Toronto in 1924, while McKinnon began his with the Montreal Canadiens in 1925. The following season, McKinnon began playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the one after that, Toronto’s franchise became the Maple Leafs.

When they played each other on November 19, 1929, Day struck gold first. Almost immediately, Pittsburgh had to serve a penalty giving Toronto the power play. Only 50 seconds into the game, “Day scored the first shot on a lone effort, and the second was rolled up when Day made a perfect pass to Blair, who shot it through Joe Miller for the tally.” Half a period later, at 12:10, McKinnon, as the Pittsburgh Press summarized, “gave the Pirates their whirlwind start and allowed them to overcome the early lead.” On a pass from Frank Frederickson, he “sent a 40-foot shot high and hard into the goal.”

In the second session, Day again led things off, scoring at 2:24 during a power play. About three minutes later, McKinnon matched him when he “drove through alone and scored on the rebound of his own shot.” McKinnon launched what the Ottawa Journal considered “probably the wildest scoring bout that the Pittsburgh team has ever indulged in. Their rally started when two penalties cut the Toronto team short.” Only 45 seconds after McKinnon’s goal, Harold Darragh joined him. McKinnon grabbed the lead with an unassisted goal after about 30 seconds. Over a minute and a half later, Frederickson increased the count to four goals in three minutes. McKinnon netted his fourth and final goal of the night at 13:05. Of his performance, one newspaper stated, “McKinnon flashed a variety of form in his great exhibition.” His teammate Hib Milks closed out the period with three minutes remaining.

The third period continued the Pirates’ scoring streak. Milks earned his hat trick (with Frederickson scoring in between) by 10:30. Then Day made a valiant attempt to catch up. According to the recap, “Drury received a penalty and while he was off the Leafs scored twice, both by Day on passes from Bailey.” Day’s goals were only 55 seconds apart. Having scored four goals (all assisted by Ace Bailey), Day’s two penalties towards the end of the game contributed to Toronto’s failure to score any further goals.

The Pirates crushed the Maple Leafs 10-5. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the game was more exciting than “a rodeo, grid setto, a fistic encounter, and a wrestly match combined.” The Ottawa Citizen noted, “The game was a wide-open affair from beginning to end, with the new code of rules being seen at its best as a goal-scoring vehicle.” These new rules had been set on September 28, when forward passing in all zones was first allowed. Their intentions were to open up scoring opportunities, and within the first five games played that season, the NHL had a total of 42 goals. Of course, 15 of them had been scored in this one game. To combat this free-for-all scoring, the NHL closed a loophole in the forward-passing rules by creating the offside rule on December 16.

After his four-goal night, McKinnon finished the season with a total of ten goals. His entire NHL career lasted 208 games, during which he only scored 28 goals. Meanwhile, Day had scored four goals and assisted on the only other Toronto goal. By the end of the season, he had only scored three other goals. Remaining with Toronto until 1937, Day spent his final NHL season playing for the New York Americans. He retired with 86 goals in 586 games.

Additional Sources:

• Mike Commito, Hockey 365: Daily Stories from the Ice (Toronto: Dundurn, 2018), kindle edition.
• “Toronto Ice Team Loses to Pirates,” Pittsburgh Press, 20 Nov. 1929, p. 32.
• “Scores Pile Up in Hockey,” Pittsburgh Press, 20 Nov. 1929, p. 34.
• “Corsairs Smash Toronto Attack With Ten Goals,” Ottawa Citizen, 20 Nov. 1929, p. 10.
• “Pirates Go On Big Scoring Rampage And Trounce Toronto Leafs By 10-5,” Ottawa Journal, 20 Nov. 1929, p. 21.
• https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/tor-vs-pir/1929/11/19/1929020014#game=1929020014,game_state=final