April 14, 1955: The Red Wings Kiss the Cup... Goodbye

April 14, 1955: The Detroit Red Wings, taking the home-ice advantage of which they were assured when Maurice Richard was suspended, beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 in Game 7 at the Olympia Stadium, and win the Stanley Cup. Alex Delvecchio scored 2 goals, with Gordie Howe scoring in between them.

It is their 2nd straight, their 4th in the last 6 years, and their 7th overall. At this point, only the Canadiens themselves with 7 and the Toronto Maple Leafs with 9 can at least match that. Howe, Red Kelly, Ted Lindsay, Marty Pavelich, Marcel Pronovost, and Johnny Wilson played on all 4 Cup winners. Delvecchio, coming into his own after replacing Sid Abel as the center on the "Production Line" with Lindsay on the left and Howe on the right, played on the last 3 of them. Goalie Terry Sawchuk had played for them in the 1949-50 season, but did not appear in the Finals.

Larry Hillman, age 18, became the youngest player to have his name engraved on the Cup. Of those, Howe, Kelly, Lindsay, Pronovost, Delvecchio and Sawchuk all made the Hockey Hall of Fame.

So did Jack Adams, the Wings' general manager. It was the 9th Cup win he had been a part of: The 1918 Toronto Arenas (Maple Leafs) and the 1927 Ottawa Senators as a player; the 1936, 1937 and 1943 Wings as both head coach and general manager; and the 1950, 1952, 1954 and 1955 Wings as GM only.

When the Cup is presented, Wings coach Jimmy Skinner -- kisses it. As you can see, NHL President Clarence Campbell, in the dark suit, seems amused by it. Howe, to the right of the photo, looks skeptical. But Skinner's kiss does start a tradition.

Skinner was in his 1st season as Wings head coach, having taken over from Tommy Ivan, who was appointed general manager of the Chicago Black Hawks.

The Wings will not take part in this tradition again for 42 years, due mainly to some epic mismanagement by the owners, the Norris family. Luckily, Skinner, Ivan, Howe, Kelly, Lindsay, Pronovost, Pavelich, Wilson and Delvecchio all lived to see that 1997 Cup win. Sawchuk did not. (UPDATE: Delvecchio died in 2025, making him the last surviving player from the 1952, 1954 and 1955 Cup wins. Pavelich, who lived until 2024, was the last survivor from the 1950 win,

In contrast, with Richard playing as if a man on a mission, the Canadiens won the next 5 Cups in a row. Richard then retired, but Les Habitantes kept on winning: From 1956 to 1979, they won 15 of the 24 available Stanley Cups.

In 1998, The Hockey News released their list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. Howe was listed 3rd (behind Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr), Sawchuk 9th, Lindsay 21st and Delvecchio 82nd. Norm Ullman was called up to the Wings for the 1955-56 season, and would be ranked 90th. In 2017, all but Ullman were named to the NHL's 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players.

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April 14, 1955 was a Thursday. There were 6 other games played in the majors that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 8-4 at Fenway Park in Boston. Elston Howard plays left field for the Yankees from the 6th inning onward, and singles in his 1st at-bat, making him the 1st black player for the Yankees. I have a separate entry for this event. Mickey Mantle went 1-for-2, with 2 walks. Ted Williams, the Red Sox' biggest star, did not play.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the New York Giants, 10-8 at the Polo Grounds. Don Newcombe was the winning pitcher, Sal Maglie the losing one. Newcombe himself hit 2 home runs, and was also backed by homers from Roy Campanella and Carl Furillo. Jackie Robinson went 2-for-3 with 2 walks. Hank Thompson and Bobby Hofman hit homers for the Giants, and Willie Mays went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. For the Pirates, Roberto Clemente made his major league debut 3 days later.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Redlegs, 6-4 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Ernie Banks went 3-for-4 with a home run. He and Randy Jackson hit home runs in the top of the 10th inning to win it.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-3 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. (It was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961.) Al Kaline went 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs in a losing cause.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Athletics, 7-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Braves, 8-7 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Bill Virdon won it with a home run in the bottom of the 11th. Stan Musial also hit a home run. Hank Aaron went 2-for-6, but neither hit was a homer.

The NFL was out of season. The NBA season ended 5 days earlier, when the Syracuse Nationals beat the Fort Wayne Pistons in Game 7 of the Finals.

April 7, 1974: The Jack Adams Award Is 1st Awarded

April 7, 1974: The National Hockey League's regular season comes to an end. And, for the 1st time, the League awards a Coach of the Year award. It is named the Jack Adams Award.

Adams was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame as a player, a center. As a rookie, he played in the NHL's 1st season, 1917-18, for the Toronto Arenas, the team that won the Stanley Cup that season, and became the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1927. That was his last year as a player, and he was with the Ottawa Senators, and they won the Cup. In 1922, he was with the Vancouver Millionaires, and they reached the Finals, losing to the Arenas/Leafs, who were then known as the Toronto St. Patricks.

The team he coached also changed names. In 1927-28, the franchise's 2nd season, he was named head coach and general manager of the Detroit Cougars. In 1930, they became the Detroit Falcons. In 1932, they adopted the name by which they have been known ever since: The Detroit Red Wings. He remained their coach through 1947, winning the Cup in 1936, 1937 and 1943; and reaching the Finals but losing in 1934, 1941, 1942 and 1945. He remained their GM through 1962, and they won the Cup again in 1950, 1952, 1954 and 1955; and reached the Finals but lost in 1948, 1949, 1956 and 1961.

In 1959, he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 1966, he was named the 1st recipient of the Lester Patrick Trophy, for contributions to hockey in the United States. He died in 1968. In 1974, he was honored with his name on the Coach of the Year award. In the off-season, the NHL realigned, and named one of its Divisions the Adams Division. Also honored were Lester Patrick, James E. Norris and Conn Smythe.

Fred Shero was named the 1st winner of the Jack Adams Award. That year, he led the Philadelphia Flyers to their 1st Stanley Cup.

Perhaps appropriately, the 1st 2-time winner was a Detroit coach, Jacques Demers in 1987 and 1988. Pat Quinn, with the 1980 Flyers and the 1992 Vancouver Canucks, was the 1st to win it with 2 different teams. Scotty Bowman, Pat Burns, Jacques Lemaire, John Tortorella and Barry Trotz have also won it twice. Burns is the only one to win it 3 times.

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April 7, 1974 was a Sunday. There were 6 games played in the NHL that day:

* The New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 6-4 at Madison Square Garden. Steve Vickers, Rod Gilbert and Jean Ratelle each scored 2 goals.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-4 at the Boston Garden. Bobby Orr was involved in all of the Bruins' goals, scoring 2 and assisting on the other 4.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Minnesota North Stars, 6-2 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Bill Barber scored a hat trick, and also had an assist.

* The Atlanta Flames beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-3 at The Omni in Atlanta. In goal for the Pens, Andy Brown faced 31 shots and stopped 25 of them. In so doing, he became the last goaltender in the NHL to play without a facemask. I have a separate entry for this event.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-2 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Detroit Red Wings, 7-4 at the Chicago Stadium.

The World Hockey Association was already into its Playoffs, with 3 games:

* The New England Whalers beat the Chicago Cougars, 4-3 in overtime at the Eastern States Coliseum (now the Big E Coliseum) in West Springfield, Massachusetts.

* The Toronto Toros beat the Cleveland Crusaders, 4-0 at Varsity Arena in Toronto.

* And the Minnesota Fighting Saints beat the Edmonton Oilers, 8-5 at the St. Paul Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Football was out of season. There were 3 games in the NBA Playoffs:

* The New York Knicks beat the Capital Bullets, 106-105 at Madison Square Garden. Walt Frazier scored 38 points. This was the Bullet's 1st season in the Washington, D.C. area after 10 years as the Baltimore Bullets. The next season, they adopted the name "Washington Bullets."

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Bulls, 102-87 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.

* And the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 114-92 at the Milwaukee Exposition and Convention Center Arena, a.k.a. The MECCA (now the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena).

And there was 1 game in the ABA's Playoffs: The New York Nets beat the Virginia Squires, 116-88 at the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virignia.

And these games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-4 at Shea Stadium. The Yankees had just begun a 2-year exile, groundsharing with the Mets while the original Yankee Stadium was being renovated.

Thurman Munson hit a home run. Chris Chambliss went 1-for-4. Pat Dobson outpitched Dick Tidrow. Just 19 days later, the Yankees would acquire Chambliss, Tidrow and Cecil Upshaw from the Indians for 4 pitchers.

* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Jon Matlack outpitched Jim Lonborg. Jerry Grote went 3-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Cleon Jones and John Milner each also had 3 hits for the Mets. Mike Schmidt went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* A doubleheader was split at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The Baltimore Orioles won the opener, 5-1. Ross Grimsley Jr. nearly went the distance, while Woodie Fryman didn't get out of the 1st inning, giving up all the Baltimore runs.

The Detroit Tigers won the nightcap, 8-4. Mike Cuellar and Lerrin LaGrow started, but neither factored in the decision. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Al Kaline, in his final season and playing in his hometown, led off the top of the 10th inning with a walk, and this was followed by singles by Willie Horton, Ron Cash, Bill Freehan and Ed Brinkman. (Ron Cash was no relation to Tiger star Norm Cash, but was an uncle of future player and manager Kevin Cash.) Horton and Mickey Stanley hit home runs for the Tigers, Bobby Grich for the O's.

Over the 2 games, Brooks Robinson went 4-for-9 with an RBI, while  Kaline went 2-for-8 with that walk.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Phil Niekro outpitched Clay Kirby. Pete Rose went 2-for-5. Johnny Bench went 2-for-3 with a walk. With manager and former slugging partner Eddie Mathews ordered by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn to play him, despite his having hit the record-tying 714th home run and everyone but Kuhn wanting him to hit the record-breaking 715th at home, Hank Aaron went 0-for-3 with 2 strikeouts, before Mathews decided he'd carried out Kuhn's order, and replaced him in the field and the lineup.

* The California Angels and the Chicago White Sox were tied 4-4 after 10 innings at Comiskey Park in Chicago, when the game was called due to rain.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers 8-4, at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Reggie Jackson went 3-for-5 with 2 home runs and 7 RBIs.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 9-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Andy Messersmith went the distance for the win, while Jim McAndrew didn't get out of the 3rd inning. Ron Cey went 4-for-4 with 3 RBIs, and Steve Garvey and Jimmy Wynn hit home runs. For the Padres, Willie McCovey went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Dave Winfield did not play.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 8-4 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals were rained out at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 24. The Cards swept, 3-1 and 4-0. Lou Brock did not play in the 1st game, but went 1-for-4 with a stolen base in the 2nd game. Bob Gibson pitched a 4-hit shutout in the 2nd game, striking out 11. Over the 2 games, Willie Stargell went 1-for-8.

* The Boston Red Sox and the Milwaukee Brewers were rained out at Milwaukee County Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 6. The Sox swept, 6-3 and 6-0. Reggie Cleveland outpitched Jim Slaton in the 1st game. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4 with a walk, while rookie Robin Yount went 0-for-3.

Neither Yaz nor Yount played in the 2nd game. Juan Marichal, running out the string in Boston, pitched 7 innings of 2-hit shutout ball, outpitching Clyde Wright, and Diego Seguí finished the 3-hit shutout.

* The Kansas City Royals and the Minnesota Twins were rained out at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 7. The Royals swept, 7-6 and 5-1. Harmon Killebrew only appeared as a pinch-hitter in the 1st game. Rookie George Brett did not appear in that game. In the 2nd game, Brett went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Killebrew went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Over the 2 games, Rod Carew went 3-for-10 with 3 RBIs.

* The Chicago Cubs and the Montreal Expos were rained out at Jarry Park in Montreal. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on September 11. The Expos swept, 6-1 and 13-4.

March 13, 1918: The 1st NHL Champions

March 13, 1918: The National Hockey League's 1st Championship is decided -- although the Stanley Cup Finals were yet to come. Fittingly, it is decided between the 2 teams that have won the most NHL Championships.

The NHL had been founded on November 26, 1917, to replace the National Hockey Association. The NHL was founded because Eddie Livingstone, owner of the Toronto Blueshirts, 1914 Stanley Cup winners, was driving the other 5 team owners nuts. Since they couldn't get rid of him, they got rid of themselves, founding a league, and leaving Livingstone with control of a league with one team in it. The other owners "didn't take their ball and go home," they just left Livingstone with nobody to play with.

World War I was on, and the manpower drain meant that the Quebec Bulldogs, 1912 and 1913 Stanley Cup winners, had trouble fielding a team that season. The Montreal Wanderers, Stanley Cup winners in 1906, 1907, 1908 and 1910, could field a team. But their arena burned down on January 2, 1918, taking their office, documents, uniforms and other equipment, and they never played another game.

That left 3 teams: The Toronto Arenas; the Montreal Canadiens, 1916 Stanley Cup winners; and the Ottawa Senators, Stanley Cup winners in 1903, 1904, 1905, 1909 and 1911. The League had a split-season format: Montreal had the best record in the 1st half, Toronto the best in the 2nd half. So 2-games, total-goals series was set up.

On March 11, they played at the Mutual Street Arena in Toronto. The Arenas won, 7-3. Two days later, at the Montreal Arena -- not the one that burned down, although it also would, 2 years later -- the Canadiens could only win, 4-3, and Toronto were the Champions.

Mutual Street Arena

They then faced the Vancouver Millionaires, 1915 Stanley Cup winners and Champions of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, for the Stanley Cup. All the games were played at the Mutual Street Arena. Toronto won Game 1, 5-3. Vancouver won Game 2, 6-4. Toronto won Game 3, 6-3. Vancouver won Game 4, 8-1. Game 5, on March 30, decided it. At 10:30 of the 3rd period, Corbett "Corb" Denneny scored to give Toronto a 2-1 lead, and that held up, making them "World Champions" and giving them the Cup.

Hail the Champions: Goalkeeper Harry "Hap" Holmes; defensemen Harry Cameron, Ken Randall (also the Captain) and Harry Mummery; centers Reg Noble, Corb Denneny and Jack Adams; and wingers Alf Skinner, Russell "Rusty" Crawford, Jack Coughlin, Harry Meeking and Jack Marks. Their head coach was Dick Carroll.

Holmes, Cameron, Noble, Adams and Crawford would all go on to be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame as players. But Adams is better known as the man who led the Detroit Red Wings to 7 Stanley Cups as general manager, the 1st 3 as their head coach. The NHL's Coach of the Year award is named for him.

In 1920, to try to draw more fans from Toronto's Irish community, the Arenas changed their name to the Toronto St. Patricks, and switched to green uniforms. Under this name, they won the Stanley Cup again in 1922.

In 1927, they were bought by a syndicate led by Conn Smythe. Of wholly English descent, and a Canadian nationalist, Smythe didn't like the Irish, so he renamed the team the Toronto Maple Leafs, and switched back to their former blue color scheme. In 1931, he opened their new arena, Maple Leaf Gardens.

From 1942 to 1979, of the 38 Stanley Cups awarded, 28 were awarded to either the Leafs or the Canadiens. In total, the Canadiens have won it 24 times, the Leafs 13. The Red Wings are next-best, with 11. However, the Leafs haven't even reached the Stanley Cup Finals since 1967; the Canadiens haven't won since 1993, and have reached the Finals only once since. But their rivalry remains as hot as ever.

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March 13, 1918 was a Tuesday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. And the NBA hadn't been founded yet. So this was the only score on this historic day.