The "Hardy Boys" and Hockey?: Leslie McFarlane - "Here's Hockey", Part 1

Image Source:
http://www.nfb.ca/history/1950-1959/

The Hardy Boys books series is a much loved part of our cultural heritage.  What is the connection to hockey history?  The real author of many of the Hardy Boys books was Leslie McFarlane (pseudonym, Franklin W. Dixon).  He was a Canadian journalist, screen writer, author, and film maker.  He was nominated for an Oscar and wrote for the TV show Bonanza.  While much has been written about his Hardy Boy experience, hockeyhistory.org is most interested in his cultural connection to hockey history.

He wrote about his hockey connections in his 1976 autobiography, Ghost of Hardy Boys p. 114-120. We recommend reading his account of a time in hockey history when stick handling was highly esteemed because the rule didn’t allow forward passing; a goal keeper had to stay on his feet; only 2 substitutions were allowed; the games were played on natural ice; and play stopped by the ringing of a hand bell by the lone referee (Leslie describes how the ref would hit unruly spectators who were leaning over the boards on the head with the hand bell). He was:
-father of hockey broadcast legend and hockey historian, the great Brian McFarlane (See part two in this series).
-a hockey reporter covering the Sudbury Wolves hockey team: 

Fans, however, were not content with just watching the game; they insisted on living them over again in every detail on the sports pages. No mere one-column survey of highlights would do -they demanded, and got, a play-by-play account to the extent of about half a page (p. 115)

 -  a telegraph play-by-play commentator dictating play to a telegraph operator who relayed the account.

 To see Charlie Langlois or Babe Donnelly wind up behind the net and go zigzagging all the way down the ice to draw out the goalie and slam the puck into the net was to see hockey at its thrilling best (p. 114)

-an employee of  the National Film Board of Canada  where he wrote and directed,  Here's Hockey! below:

National Film Board of Canada

References

McFarlane, Leslie (1976) Ghost of the Hardy Boy, Methuen Publication, New York

 Greenwld, Marilyn S. (2004) The Secret of the Hardy Boys: Leslie McFarlane and the Stratemeyer Syndicate, Ohio University Press, Athens Ohio

National Film Board of Canada:

    http://www.nfb.ca/history/1950-1959/