TORONTO — In the black-and-white negatives at the back of the book, Bill Barilko is 24 years old, the winning scorer sprawled forward on the ice; aloft on his teammates' shoulders; smiling alone in the dressing room. In the last one, his Toronto Maple Leafs jersey is torn at the forearm and shoulder, and a sweaty strand of hair curls onto his forehead, which glistens in the light.
That was April 21, 1951, the night Toronto beat the Montreal Canadiens for the Stanley Cup at Maple Leaf Gardens on Barilko's lunging goal 2:53 into overtime. Four months later, the young defenceman vanished in a friend's plane into the northern Ontario bush, his resting place for 11 years.