The year is 1954. The Stanley Cup finals are again played between Detroit and Montreal.Both teams were so stacked with superstars that one writer compared the series to a Hall of Fame All Star Game.
Representing Detroit is Gordie Howe, Terry Sawchuk, Ted Lindsay, Red Kelly, Marcel Pronovost and Alex Delvecchio.
The Flying Frenchmen feature Rocket Richard, Jean Beliveau, Jacques Plante, Boom Boom Geoffrion, Doug Harvey and Dickie Moore.
April 16, 1954. The Stanley Cup finals has gone to game seven and into overtime. It is a time for heroes. With all the living legends skating in this game, a hero will not be hard to find.
NHL playoffs are about heroes, and often heroes are not who expect them to be. Enter Detroit's Tony Leswick. Leswick was the super-pest of his day, badgering Rocket Richard in this series. But on this night, he became a scoring hero, albeit in the most fluky of fashions.
Leswick would get credit with the overtime game winning goal when he dumped the puck deep into the Montreal zone. Doug Harvey attempted to play the puck, only to have it take a crazy bounce off of him. More surprised than anyone was goaltender Gerry McNeil, who was shocked to see the unsuspecting puck bounce past him and into the net, giving Detroit a 2-1 win.
1 comment:
And 11 days later I was born.
Post a Comment