| Born: | August 12, 1912 | Draft: | Undrafted |
| Hometown: | Coniston, Ontario | Position: | LW |
| Known For: | “Punch Line” and 11 Stanley Cups | Shoots/Catches: | Left |
| National Team: | N/A |
Joseph Hector “Toe” Blake, (August 21, 1912 – May 17, 1995) was a Canadian ice hockey player and coach in the National Hockey League (NHL). He is best known for his three-decade association with the Montreal Canadiens, with whom he won the Stanley Cup eleven times as a player or coach. In 2017 Blake was named one of the ‘100 Greatest NHL Players’ in history. He comprised the “Punch Line” with teammates Maurice Richard and Elmer Lach.
Blake coached the Canadiens for thirteen years, winning eight Stanley Cups — the most titles for any coach in the team’s history and second-most league-wide, after Scotty Bowman, who won five Cups with the Canadiens, one with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and three with the Detroit Red Wings. As of 2015, no coach has equaled his 500 regular-season wins with the Canadiens. Notably, he won championships each in his first five seasons as a head coach, this streak being an NHL record that stands to this day.
Years as an NHL Player: 1934-1948
Years as an NHL Coach: 1955-1968
Toe Blake Statistics
Deeper Dive
- 50 Years Ago in Hockey: The Coaches – Toe Blake
- Greatest Montreal Canadien to Wear Each Jersey Number
- Montreal Canadiens Top 20 Goal Scorers of All-Time
Achievements
- Hart Memorial Trophy — 1939
- Led NHL in Points — 1939
- Lady Byng Memorial Trophy — 1946
- NHL First Team All-Star — 1939, 1940, 1945
- NHL Second Team All-Star — 1946
- Stanley Cup Champion (as player) — 1935, 1944, 1946
- Stanley Cup Champion (as coach) — 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1965, 1966, 1968
- Inducted into Hockey Hall of Fame — 1966