Kingston goalie Bill Taugher. (Photo: Kingston Whig-Standard archives)

If you follow this space, you know the mystery Gare Joyce has been trying to solve in The Kingston Whig-Standard. It is a century old, and it involves a fabled local goaltender and a solitary appearance he is purported to have made with the Montreal Canadiens.  

Bill Taugher, who would be 119 years old if he were alive today, has long been said to have played a game with the Canadiens during the 1925-26 season. His surname was recorded as such in reputable publications, but as Joyce set out to write that story, he came across more questions than answers.  

What happens if Taugher never actually appeared in net with Montreal?  

For one, Joyce struggled to find mentions of the game in local media reports from the time. It’s a suspicious omission, at the very least. Consider this comparison.  

“When David Ayres, the 42-year-old Zamboni driver, wound up in goal for the Carolina Hurricanes against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Toronto on Hockey Night in Canada in 2021, he became an instant celebrity, Disney backing development of a biopic," Joyce writes. 

"While a movie of Bill Taugher’s life might not have been in the cards if he had in fact stepped in for (Georges) Vezina, the storyline would have been fast-tracked into lore, nonetheless. A kid being unexpectedly drafted into action by illness or injury to an NHL team’s goalie a century ago would have been as big a story as Ayres’s.” 

Except it wasn’t. You can read more about the mystery right here.

As Brian Smiley reports in The Brantford Expositor, one of the most powerful teams in the OHL will be playing short-handed for the next couple of weeks. The cause? It’s not illness or injury – it's the world junior hockey championship.  

Jett Luchanko (Canada), Ben Danford (Canada), Adam Jiricek (Czechia), Adam Benak (Czechia) and Vladimir Dravecky (Czechia) have all been called into national duty for the big tournament, which runs Dec. 26 to Jan. 5 in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minn. 

“I’d like to see our guys come back with confidence,” Bulldogs coach Jay McKee tells Smiley. “It’s an honour for them to represent their countries and it’s a good experience. It’s an opportunity for them to represent their countries on a big stage.” 

In the meantime, the team will make do with a platoon of replacements.  

“We try not to give them too much information with systems because we want them playing free and not thinking too much on the ice,” McKee tells Smiley. “We’ll give them three or four things that we want them to hone in on but honestly the message to all of them is don’t be worried to make mistakes. 

You can read the whole story right here.

67's head coach Dave Cameron. (Photo: Tim Austen, Ottawa 67's)

Without looking: How many Ottawa 67’s can you name?  

Not the stars of the past – the kids on the roster this season.  

“While the (Brantford) Bulldogs are all-in for a run at the Memorial Cup with 10 NHL draft picks — including five first-rounders — the 67’s had just one, Carolina Hurricanes seventh-round selection Filip Ekberg, before adding Toronto Maple Leafs seventh-rounder Sam McCue in a trade with Brantford earlier this month," Don Brennan writes in The Ottawa Citizen.  

Despite that workmanlike roster, the 67’s are still one of the highest-flying teams in the Eastern Conference standings.  

Brennan directs credit to coach Dave Cameron. And he is not alone.  

“I think it comes from coaching staff,” five-year veteran Cooper Foster tells Brennan. “Dave’s a very structured coach. He demands a lot of us in the ‘D’ zone, and I think our team has embraced that. We don’t cheat for offence. We create offence from our defence. 

You can read the full story right here. 

An item in last week’s newsletter about the trade that sent forward Colin Fitzgerald to Sault Ste. Marie incorrectly implied that first-round draft picks can be traded in the OHL.  

From that newsletter item: “Peterborough received six picks in return, but none are in 2026, and none are higher than the second round.” 

Here are the picks the Petes received for Fitzgerald. 

- 2nd round 2028 (North Bay)  
- 2nd round 2029 (Oshawa)  
- 3rd round 2027 (Oshawa)  
- 3rd round 2029 (Oshawa)  
- 4th round 2028 (North Bay)  
- 6th round 2029 (Sault Ste. Marie) 

“OHL teams are not allowed to trade first round draft picks,” league spokesperson Josh Sweetland confirmed in an email to Postmedia.  

We regret the error.

(Photo: Dan Janisse, The Windsor Star)

If you're able, it might be worth zooming in on the jersey being worn by Windsor Spitfire goalie Joey Costanzo in this picture. 

Are we thumbs up, or thumbs down, on that alternate sweater?