During a long and distinguished National Hockey League (NHL) career spanning more than two decades, Francis “Flash” Hollett made many spectacular plays, scored quite a few goals and collected a lot of memories. None more outstanding than the one that happened in April, 1939.

     Hollett and the Boston Bruins facing the Toronto Maple Leafs in front of a highly vocal home crowd at the Boston Gardens, the Stanley Cup final series deadlocked at 2-2 and the Bruins leading the fifth and deciding encounter by a single goal. With two minutes left, Boston drew a penalty and things didn’t look so rosy any more. Then out of the blue comes Flash, streaking down the ice to latch onto a Milt Schmidt pass. The rest is Stanley Cup history: Flash swept around Toronto goalie Turk Broda to score that famous goal which gave the Bruins the biggest prize in professional hockey.

     “It was my greatest thrill,” Flash recalled a half-a-century later while sitting in his Port Credit home and taking a stroll down memory lane.

     There were other hockey thrills, too, enough to elevate Flash among the bona fide stars of the game: z He won two Stanley Cups with the Bruins; z Set a scoring record for defencemen (20 goals) that stood up until the legendary Bobby Orr broke it three decades later; z Was chosen to the NHL first all-star team in 1945; z Became captain of the Detroit Red Wings after being traded by Boston.