Few guides for this tour

Stops included London and Paris and Antwerp, also Geneva and Zurich in Switzerland, along with Dortmund, Essen, Krekfeld, and Berlin in Germany, as well as Vienna. Quite an ambitious itinerary for two teams from the Original Six.

Bucyk, now 75 years old, is on the Bruins’ current European romp that took them last night to Liberec, Czech Republic, and he remembers only bits and pieces of it all.

“Heck, it’s over 50 years ago!’’ Bucyk exclaimed the other day, when asked if he could plumb some of the tour’s highlights from his memory bank. “We didn’t make the playoffs much in those days. For the Bruins and the Rangers back then, heck, a trip like that was our playoffs.’’

Details of the tour are so long gone and hard to find that even the Bruins media relations department on Causeway Street failed to dredge up anything about it in the club’s records. Heidi Holland, editor of the slick and voluminous “Bruins Guide and Record Book’’ (a must-have, go to bostonbruins.com), reported back with an account of the trip she discovered on greatesthockeylegends.com.

“‘European fans,’’ according to the site, “were treated to competitive, exciting games and introduced to some of North America’s brightest stars. The Rangers (who finished fifth in the regular season) were bolstered by the addition of Chicago’s Bobby Hull for the tour.’’

Dick Johnson, curator of the New England Sports Museum, reported that he was aware of the trip but knew few details.

“Twenty-three games,’’ said the jovial Johnson. “The team enjoyed more ice than a Polaris submarine.’’

According to Johnson, a reproduction of the ’59 tour poster (available these days on posters.com), hangs in the Causeway Street museum. Cinzano was one of the trip’s sponsors.

“Maybe they were promoting creative uses of ice,’’ opined Johnson. “I want to know who shot the tour highlight film — Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman?’’

Actually, parts of the trip were preserved on film. Bucyk said he brought a movie camera with him in ’59 and rolled celluloid at various stops.