On August 26, 1951 Leaf defenceman Bill Barilko and his fishing companion Dr. Henry Hudson perished in a plane crash after returning from a fishing trip in Northern Ontario.

Four months earlier, Barilko had scored the game winning goal in overtime of the 1951 Stanley Cup Final. The remains of Barilko, Hudson and the wreckage of the Fairchild 24 plane would not be found for another eleven years. Coincidentally the Maple Leafs did not win another Stanley Cup until 1962.

Barilko's tale is immortalized in the Tragically Hip song "Fifty Mission Cap". The Leaf defenceman's biogrpahy "Barilko - Without A Trace" written by Kevin Shea is available through Fenn Publishing