Goldham on Sawchuk

Here's how former defensive standout Bob Goldham remembers his Detroit teammate goaltender Terry Sawchuk:

"1955 was the last year of our dynasty. In 1956 the Canadiens dynasty began. They were two well balanced teams - the Wings and the Canadiens and it was a life and death struggle to beat them. You could tell how closely matched we were: we went down to seven games two years in a row.

"The key guy for us was Sawchuk. We called him Ukey - he was a Ukrainian boy. I played against all the great ones - Bill Durnan, Frankie Brimsek, Charlie Rayner - and Ukey was the greatest goaltender who ever lived. We could always count on him to come up with the big save. When I look back on those Stanley Cup series, what I remember is Ukey making one big save after another.

"I roomed with him. He was a tough guy to live with. Like all great athletes, his concentration on his job was so great that he ignored a lot of the other things. All he ever wanted was to be the greatest goaltender there ever was. He had a bad arm. They used to take bone chips out every year, and he used to put them in a bottle and save them.

"His whole life was being a Red Wing, when you get right down to it. We had this tremendous pride in our organization in those days. All of us wanted to end up our careers as Wings. It counted for a lot. Tommy Ivan used to say that he could send our guys out on the road without a coach and never have to worry. The boys would show up at the games ready to play. Which is a compliment when you think about it. It's something you have, I guess, the pride and I guess the guys today have it. I don't know. But we sure as hell had it."