Don Metz followed his older brother, Nick, east from Saskatchewan to Toronto. After playing junior with St.Michael's College, Don played senior hockey in Toronto, finishing the 1937-38 season as the OHA Senior's leading scorer. Don's 42 points in sixteen games earned him a shot with the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1938-39 playoffs.
The aggressive-checking redhead bounced between Toronto and the AHL Pittsburgh Hornets in 1939-40, but he was recognized as a dependable forward and found himself playing fulltime in blue and white during the 1940-41 and 1941-42 seasons. In fact, Metz started out as a spare part in the 1941-42 playoffs, but Leaf coach Hap Day played a hunch, inserting him and rookie Gaye Stewart into the lineup in place of veterans Hank Goldup and Gord Drillon at a desperate time in the series.
Day's strategy worked, and the Leafs turned the tide, erasing a three-games-to-none deficit in the finals against the Red Wings and winning four straight games to shock the world and win the most improbable of Stanley Cup wins. Don Metz played a substantial role, scoring four goals and three assists in the four games he was employed in the final. That Stanley Cup was one of two Metz would enjoy during the nine partial seasons he played in Maple Leaf Gardens.
